Poor Frank Castle. Imagine doing nearly 5 years in Vietnam. Imagine accidentally witnessing a Mafia Execution and then having you and your family wiped out in order to get rid of ALL the witnesses. Imagine being the only survivor. Imagine then spending the next 30 years taking down every low life scum you catch wind of.

Imagine writing those stories of revenge with a G rating.

That’s how The Punisher was presented by Marvel for decades. With a G rating. With insinuated violence and carnage. Then Marvel decided something. ‘Let’s govern our own comics and dump that relic called ‘The Comics Code Authority’. Marvel then starts to label their own comics similarly to that of movies. They start a line called Marvel MAX, aimed at adults, with adult themes, adult situations, adult content. Frank fits nicely in this new category.

Punisher MAX doesn’t really seem to involve many of the normal ‘capes’ of the Marvel universe. His past seems to be the same, and they have aged him accordingly, putting him well into his 50’s, but still being able to take out dozens of Mafia in single evening. He doesn’t interact with Daredevil or Captain America or take on the Kingpin. He takes out pushers, pimps, slave traders, villains more akin to this world than that of the ‘Marvel Universe’. They don’t change a thing about The Punisher in the MAX series, they just let the dog off the leash.

The stories in the Punisher MAX line are brutal. Hands down brutal. People die, and you see it all. Uncensored. Unedited. Uncaring. The story arcs in 4 issue series, and every issue has a cover done by the genius of Tim Bradstreet. This is Frank at his best/worst.

Don’t get me wrong. Punisher is a bad ass in any line. Punisher is a torn man, bent on filling a hole in his soul that will never close. The normal Punisher stories in comparison to The Max line is what Boxing is to the UFC. Boxing is a timeless sport, but the UFC is so much more brutal.

This post was written by Shane Welin from JoeDios.com. Shane also contributes to Guru-Planet.com.

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