The Four Color Media Monitor

Marvel continues to emphasize the modern far-left narrative that Frank Castle is nothing more than a "murderer", not pausing for even a second to consider how past writers portrayed him, or how he was first introduced as an anti-crime vigilante who went after mainly lethal mobsters and such, after a syndicate murdered his own family in NYC's Central Park during a picnic outing. Now, the far-left Polygon is paying lip service to current SJW writer Jason Aaron's newest take on the Punisher, which sees his late wife resurrected only as an excuse for rejecting Frank, after all he did to avenge innocent lives like hers and their children, and prevent more innocents from being murdered by violent criminals again:

Punisher, from writer Jason Aaron and artists Jesús Saiz and Paul Azaceta, is not explicitly a book that tries to redeem a character co-opted by hate, but it’s not a book that’s unaware of the context in which it exists.

And that’s never felt more sneakily true than in its conclusion, in which — after becoming an unstoppable god of murder and war — Frank Castle’s resurrected wife undoes his godlike powers, divorces him, and takes all of his money. [...]

The log line on Punisher was that Frank Castle was the destined avatar of the Beast, the god of murder worshiped by the Hand ninjas from Daredevil comics. And it largely stuck to that gonzo mandate, with Saiz delivering the epic visuals to match. Frank developed a whole suite of superpowers and used them to strike down armies and murder Ares himself — the book was anything but about taking out low-level criminals and earthly mobsters.

Azaceta, on the other hand, delivered the flashbacks to the story, redefining Frank’s childhood in the key of “evil-god-destined serial killer” and telling the story of Frank’s wife, Maria Castle, in such a way as to make it clear that if there was ever anything good in Frank it was from his family — who grew to hate and fear him for loving war more than them.

Is this Punisher series gonna stop people from worshiping the character’s murders as righteous behavior? No. There ain’t no book anybody can write or draw that’s gonna do that. Was it a fascinating read with a conclusion that quietly emasculates Frank in all the ways that those same people consider most important? Yes.

Here, the writer is justifying the notion of turning Frank into a "beta male", who can't possibly be heroic in any way, shape or form, and completely ignores the violent crimes committed by many of the villains he faced off with in the past. This is one of the most truly insulting tales I've ever heard of, with the worst part being that Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway's throughly unlikely, in all his modern wokeness, to lament the destruction of a character he and Ross Andru worked to create in the mid-70s.

I think the worst part is that Bill Mantlo may have sowed the seeds exploited by today's PC advocates around 1983, since he may have told at the time he disliked the Punisher, and wrote a story in Spectacular Spider-Man where Frank gunned down the wrong kind of people. Well gee, what makes Mantlo think that's going to improve anything by shoehorning Frank into scripts where he'd be made to look bad? Mantlo's writing, based on that, was very hit-or-miss, and it's a shame he had to let his personal disagreements get the better of him at the time. If the early 80s story were de-canonized, it'd be for the best. There's no need to allow a bad storyline to remain nailed in continuity till the end of time.

Here's a bit more about the premise of this 12-part story from Bam Smack Pow, who're just as embarrassingly bad in their take on the Aaron tale:

During this 12-issue run, Frank Castle joined The Hand, gained supernatural powers, and his wife Maria was resurrected. All of this concluded after Maria attempted to kill him. She hated how he used their family’s death to fuel his war. Frank didn’t understand until she took half of his worth and started a charity in their children’s names. She told him that’s the right way to honor their son and daughter. After that, Frank used the last of his powers to disappear. He’s later seen in Weirdworld keeping kids safe.

12 issues and Jason Aaron created something different. He created a series about a nearly fifty year-old man and changed him from top to bottom. This is something that should be praised.

So they're also, in pure knee-jerk fashion, justifying the abuse of a character whose stories should've been retired long ago, and as some may realize, it's unlikely the abuse will stop with this disgust, even if Frank's in the afterlife now. The article gets worse:

There have been mixed reviews on this Punisher run. Some people are saying it took away what made The Punisher special, but however you feel about that, characters are going to change. It’s been evident over the last five years. Classic romances no longer exist, teams are disbanding, and heroes are becoming villains and vice-versa. That’s not a bad thing. Keeping things the same is how people get bored. This is why Jason Aaron’s bold move with The Punisher will help revitalize the character.

It started with Punisher’s skull logo being changed. There was speculation as to why this was happening. A lot of it was down to the logo becoming synonymous with violence. Then there’s giving him powers. People always wanted to know what it would look like if Frank Castle didn’t need guns. Now we know. He could kill a god and take on the Avengers. Finally, if Frank Castle has given up being a killer, this writer applauds that decision.

Frank Castle’s greatest attribute isn’t killing and he isn’t defined by his guns. If he’s no longer fueled by war and killing, this gives him a new outlook on life and how he decides to truly honor his family. That means new stories, friends, and opportunities.

In that case, is Wolverine defined by his blades? As I may have noted at least a few other times, notice how nobody seems to have anything negative to say about an X-Men mainstay who occasionally killed criminals as well, whether rightly or wrongly, and in sharp contrast to Punisher, nobody gives a damn about Wolverine or what's defined him as a character. Classic hypocrisy right there.

And while the writer who penned this puff piece may not think it's a bad thing that classic romance is being canned, and heroes/villains switch places, it most certainly is troubling when it's all done for the desperate sake of PC wokeness. Something he clearly doesn't want to acknowledge is the problem. What's disturbing is that today's largely leftist writers not only don't want to create art that's inspiring, but these hack op-ed writers don't want to pen articles that do either. So they wind up justifying some of the worst possible directions taken with classic creations, and won't complain it's not improving a dismal situation, nor will they argue in favor of boycotting Marvel/DC for all the desecration they've heaped upon their stable of characters for the sake of woke pandering.

There's no telling if this is seemingly the last Punisher story that'll ever be published, but if it is, it's a terrible one indeed, yet the columnists refuse to admit it, in all their determination to be in lockstep with other PC advocates, emphasizing the notion the Punisher's very creation was wrong to begin with. Truly however, the only real ending stories for the Punisher were in the mid-90s, and indeed, it should've stopped there. All this makes clear one of the greatest weaknesses with serial fiction as practiced in the USA: they simply don't know when to quit, and it's led to only so much PC abuse of classic creations ever since. When Marvel/DC does finally fold, it'll be a blessing.

Labels: dreadful writers, history, marvel comics, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, politics, Punisher, violence