Wednesday, March 22, 2023

"Wings."

The double meaning of Howard's "you can't say that" to Frank was completely accidental: it took me a moment to realize. Several years ago, there was a bit of discussion over the fact that the Punisher exists in the same universe as an alien horse dressed up like Thor (who is awesome!) but let's be honest: Frank is just as unrealistic, if you get right down to it. I'm not sure Frank and Howard have ever appeared together, but I think Frank would like him: Howard is refreshingly abrasive, enjoys a smoke, and both undermines and supports Frank's worldview. There are wonders in the universe greater than Frank could possibly imagine, yet things are a bit crap everywhere, so... 

I considered Kurt offering to put Frank up in Krakoa: oh, but he's not a mutant? Yeah, but Kurt would rather see Frank on their side. Set him up with a little place on the beach, let him get to know the locals, and kind of keep him in their back pocket for emergencies.

6 comments:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Krakoa huh? I mean, does the no killing humans rule extend to him too, lol.
Seriously though I'm sure Frank wouldn't be particularly antagonistic to Mutants in general. He seems to progressive enough to live and let live as long as he's not dragged into their mutant soap operas.

Definitely weird to see Frank being this so chill and non-murdery. I know he likes going after crime blue collar, but if that particular hunt's drying up, its high time he go after white collar criminals like you and I have LONG wanted. The difference I think being, he'd attract more attention & heat on him by going that route compared to blue collar crimi9nals who I'm sure are deemed replaceable low class fodder.

Anyhoo, now we know what Marc's been up to. I'm guessing Moonstone has "helped him unlock his true potential" by being a one man-marshal law unit or something like that, no doubt benefiting her in the process.

H said...

Yeah, Frank at the beach is all kinds of wrong in a couple different ways- Marvel's covered that angle a couple of different times.

I don't get the double meaning with the "you can't say that" stuff, but how'd you (apparently) miss the Longshot one? Also, considering all the weird stuff Frank's been involved in, he definitely belongs in the same world as Howard. Just off the top of my head, he's been black, a Frankenstein's monster-esque creature, a Ghost Rider- the list goes on and on.

I get the feeling Moon Knight's not really behind all the crime punching- there's just too much for one man, even with 3 personas. Maybe he decided to go full Batman and start a franchise. That would have a lot of story potential, plus good ways for Moonstone to benefit.

If you want to see Punisher vs. White Collar Crime, check out DC's Wild Dog. I've always felt that he's 'the Punisher if a real person did it'. Most of his stories deal with white collar criminals as at least the masterminds.

googum said...

If you ever see the somewhat unfairly maligned 2008 Punisher War Zone movie, in Frank's little sewer hideout, he's got a very dad Lay-z-boy kinda chair down there. After a hard day of punishing, he enjoys a sit! For some reason, I have it in my head that on the exceedingly rare occasion that Frank's off-duty, he's off-duty. He needs one of those baseball hats you drink out of...Frank at a Yankees game with one of those, and a Hawaiian shirt with little skulls all over it...

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

A MK franchise you say? Doesn't Khonshu already have that? ;) Ha ha, but point. A Moon Knight Inc with all 3 or 4 personalities taking turns leading the group or their own squads.

Wild Dog was definitely into killing both blue & white collar criminals alike. I defintiely did appreciate that aspect of him. Of course the Arrow version of him sucked.

@Goo: I can see it too. Bruce isn't the only one who knows how to market himself.

CalvinPitt said...

H, I thought the double meaning was 1) talking about eating wings in front of the talking duck and 2) probably ruins the mood when Frank starts talking about killing people.

It's hard for me to see Frank caring whether a criminal was a mutant or not, beyond if it means he needs something stronger than bullet to kill them, but I feel like maybe in the early '90s Marvel had it where Frank didn't like mutants. Admittedly, part of that is based off one of the "Bullpen Bulletins" where they posted responses from different characters about what they did with their comics. Ben Grimm said he used them to light his cigars like Tom DeFalco did, but Frank said he liked to use them for target practice, 'especially the mutant books!'

Maybe that was just a gag, but kind of a weird one.

Does Moon Knight's body still feel fatigued if which alter is in control changes? Like, Steven's tired, but Marc takes over and feels fine? Maybe that would let Moon Knight fight crime 24/7.

H said...

@CalvinPitt, I feel like a body's a body no matter who's in control. You gotta feed and rest it at some point. Marc probably has all sorts of scars and tattoos he has no idea how he got. It would also explain all the coffee- he's drinking for three, after all.

I can also sorta see what you're saying about the double meaning. But, do Howard's arms really count as wings? I mean, he's got fingers and I've never seen him fly. I could definitely see it if Frank wanted to get some Chinese but Howard's basically a short human other than the beak and feathers.