Punisher/Jigsaw: Comics Daycare

[Abishai100]

The Punisher (Frank Castle) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru, with publisher Stan Lee green-lighting the name. The Punisher made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (cover-dated Feb. 1974).

The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture in his war on crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob for witnessing a killing in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on the mob and all criminals in general by using all manner of conventional war weaponry. His family's killers were the first to be slain. A war veteran and a United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper, Frank Castle (born Francis Castiglione) is a master of martial arts, stealth tactics, guerrilla warfare, and a wide variety of weapons (source of information: Wikipedia).

There have been multiple film-adaptation of Punisher --- The Punisher (Dolph Lundgren - 1989), The Punisher (Thomas Jane - 2004), and Punisher: War Zone (Ray Stevenson - 2008).

Punisher's biggest and most symbolic nemesis is Jigsaw, a disfigured mob-goon who wields pure bloodlust against Frank Castle and humanity.

The Punisher/Jigsaw 'dynamic' symbolizes a pop-art investment in pro-pedestrian 'civics dialogue' (relevant to our modern age of 'consumerism politics/culture' --- i.e., Money Monster).


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PUNISHER: You're an evil dragon, dude.
JIGSAW: Why? What do you have against 'organized crime'?
PUNISHER: Humans are not supposed to act out on ruthlessness.
JIGSAW: Why are you a vigilante?
PUNISHER: I stand for the weak and defenseless...
JIGSAW: I'm sure even the weak have bloodlust.
PUNISHER: Maybe, but no one has to act out on it!
JIGSAW: Well, I do. You're in trouble.
PUNISHER: Why?
JIGSAW: What do you think? You can save Facebook?
PUNISHER: There's nothing 'evil' about pantyhose.
JIGSAW: Tell that to the last bank-robber who wore one to conceal his face.
PUNISHER: You can't treat everything like 'toys,' Jigsaw.
JIGSAW: Watch me!
PUNISHER: I call you an evil dragon, because you remind me of anarchy and violence.
JIGSAW: Nobody hates guns, Frank...
PUNISHER: I bet in another lifetime, you were the Lightning-rod Man.
JIGSAW: Oh, goodness, don't tell me you're trying to sell me insurance, Frank...

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Punisher (Marvel.com)

 

[Abishai100]

Wildcat

I like how that Punisher-Jigsaw 'vignette' turned out, so I'm adding an addendum about the general human intrigue of war and conflict, since such a subject is very *symbolic* in our age of contract-gauged 'etiquette' (e.g., European Union, NATO, etc.).

So here's a mock dialogue I cooked up about two 'folk mythos' oriented figures --- Abaddon (a prince of gates) and Red Dragon (a prophet of nihilism).

Enjoy!


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ABADDON: Have you no respect for Homeopathy?
RED DRAGON: I prefer NyQuil.
ABADDON: What do you think about Haight-Ashbury?
RED DRAGON: I prefer Euro-Disney.
ABADDON: Do you use Facebook?
RED DRAGON: I like YouTube...
ABADDON: What is the essence of terrorism?
RED DRAGON: It's night-vision, of course.
ABADDON: I enjoy Punisher (Marvel Comics) storyboards.
RED DRAGON: Punisher's enemy (Jigsaw) is rather...Satanic.
ABADDON: Well, he represents the pure villainy of organized crime in the modern world.
RED DRAGON: Do you like the horror-film Candyman?
ABADDON: I prefer Halloween.
RED DRAGON: I think Apple-Microsoft is more interesting than IBM-Oracle.
ABADDON: I like the consumerism-inquisition novel Barbarians at the Gate (about Nabisco).
RED DRAGON: It seems that capitalism creates 'profiteerism-wildcats' (e.g., Bill Gates).
ABADDON: Piracy may become an adventure...
RED DRAGON: Let's not be paranoid.

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Abaddon

Red Dragon

 

[Abishai100]

Casino: Dungeon


I'd like to compare Marvel's Punisher to DC Comics' Two-Face (Harvey Dent).

Harvey Dent was once a respected DA for Gotham City until a hideous disfigurement caused by corrosive acid rendered half his face burned and drove him insane. Harvey titled himself 'Two-Face' and decided to become a fanatical vigilante --- the diametric opposite of the more sensible and heroic Gotham vigilante, Batman.

Two-Face carries a special coin which he flips to administer extreme punishments. If the coin goes one way instead of the other, he might arbitrarily let someone go unharmed. Two-Face believes the pure 'chance' of crime and punishment and justice itself leaves sanity in the hands of 'crusading radicals,' which makes him dangerous to Batman's brand of 'tempered vigilantism.'

So Two-Face, like Punisher, is a semi-madman and passionate vigilante, but he simply goes too far (especially with his deranged coin-flipping).

We can therefore use a Two-Face/Punisher 'dynamic' to explore modern age urbanization paranoia-related evaluations of 'the consequences' of 'gambling with criminality.' This makes for interesting storytelling for all generations.


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PUNISHER: Why do you wield that 'fate coin'?
TWO-FACE: Justice is blind...
PUNISHER: Justice is not random...
TWO-FACE: Do you think victims of crime think they deserved to be humiliated, as if it was 'God's plan'?
PUNISHER: No one wants to feel 'unsafe,' but legal processes separate vigilantes from terrorists.
TWO-FACE: Aren't you tired of crooked lawyers helping heinous criminals evade prosecution?
PUNISHER: Legal failures must be evaluated with respect to an overall 'systemic faith.'
TWO-FACE: Do you have faith in lawyers?
PUNISHER: I have faith in the study of law.
TWO-FACE: You think that separates you from your nemesis (Jigsaw)?
PUNISHER: Jigsaw is involved in 'organized crime' which is another name for 'intentional malice.'
TWO-FACE: Well, I'm tired of MTV!
PUNISHER: I'm not asking you to embrace Facebook, Harvey, but consider the value of 'empirical fortunes.'
TWO-FACE: I don't want to fail...

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Money Monster (Wikipedia)