Read the "What If?"-like title where he "Kills The Marvel Universe" It's excellent!
Also, 2009 will see a new ongoing series!
"Welcome, back, Frank!"
I thought Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe was awful. Not necesarily a terrible idea, but very poor execution.
When most writers write a story they are, at least contractually, obligated to have the main characters survive (usually), sometimes resulting in some bad Deus Ex Machinas, but when they do a What If type tale the characters die from things that wouldn't kill them in the regular book, ("Oh, no! Wolverine died from a paper cut!" "But what about his healing factor?" "Clearly you don't understand how dangerous a paper cut can be!")
Kill the Marvel Universe is no exception. The most ludicrous being how easily he kills Dr. Doom. But killing all the other heroes just shows what wusses the villains of the MU are if one determined guy can kill them all off so easily what does it say about all these supposedly cold-blooded villains?
Even the opening. I can buy him killing one, or two, of the X-Men, but he took down IIRC 5 or 6.
So much for being prepared for Mutant prejudice. *rolls eyes*
Guess what, Keith? As a MU buff, I know that there's NO WAY Frank could possibly defeat Wolverine in hand-to-hand combat!
Because according to the power rating in Marvel's Official Handbooks, Wolverine is a Level 7 in Fighting Ability, meaning that he is a "master of all forms of combat"!
How about that! And for that matter, before he was murdered at the end of the Civil War back in '06, Captain America was also a Level 7 in fighting ability! (He does not possess any other superhuman powers, that could be why.)
But for some reason, Daredevil is only a Level 5, but he could still always defeat the Puinsher in a fight. That is, if Frank didn't have ANY GUNS AT ALL!
What do you think of that?
Keith, I know just what you mean when you talk about the "Kills The Marvel Universe" one-shot from 1995 that has been re-printed several times. It's completely unrealistic, I totally agree with you!
But then, it was a "What If"? They are meant to be taken with a grain of salt, just to let you know!
I was talking to friend of mine a few months back & he mentioned an article in some magazine (Wizard?) that did a listing of Marvel characters in a bar fight & apparently they had Punisher surviving to 5th place or something because he is such a good fighter, but had no actual powers.
I think my favorite scene involving the Punisher was an issue of Amazing Spider-Man where Hobgoblin is shooting at what he thinks is Spidey, but then Hobby gets a big ol' "Oh *bleep*!" look on his face when he realizes he was shooting at the Punisher.
As for What If's I don't mind a grain of salt (heck, most superheroes in general require that), but throwing the whole salt shaker in my face is just too much.
When I read a What If/Imaginary Story/Elseworlds type tale I want it to feel as if it could have happened just like a regular story.
For those of you who thought The Punisher Meets Archie was bad enough, Marvel has a free digicomic, Punisher Meets Eminem out. I just read it. 'Bout what you'd expect.
Excelsior!
Wow! That was horrible.
Shame Punisher was so Johnny on the spot, had he just taken a half-hour break for dinner Barracuda would have killed Eminem & we'd have had a happy ending. ;-)