Random Happenstance

I can't tell if this is a failing of current comic book media and hype and so forth, or if I was asleep at the wheel, or if Marvel just shoved this out the door; but tomorrow, new Frank Castle Punisher book! I'm sure I'll give Punisher: Red Band #1 a go, although I'm not entirely sure how "mature" those Red Band books are compared to, say, PunisherMAX. I'm thinking more blood, in a splattery way, but that could be because the only other Red Band book I think I've read so far was Blood Hunt, and I wasn't super-impressed with that one. This also probably means the Joe Garrison/new Punisher from last year is getting memory-holed, unless he's immediately gunned down in the first few pages of Punisher: Red Band #1, which feels like a dick move but I wouldn't put it past 'em. Anyway, I know I read the first issue of Joe's book, and got the next three from the cheap bins but I'm not sure I've sat down and read them yet. I remember thinking creating a new Punisher would be a thankless job, where you'd have to answer a multitude of masters and none of them would be happy with the end result; but we do have one of Joe's few guest-spots handy: from 2024, Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #2, written by Erica Schultz, art by Michael Dowling.

I've been onboard with Elektra as DD since she started that back in 2021, and stuck with her series even as I fell off of the regular Daredevil book again: I don't think Zdarsky stuck the landing there, and the inevitable relaunch seemed like rehashing plot points we've seen multiple times, not just in other comics, but in Daredevil! (Matt had lost his memory and come back...somehow...as a priest; so he had to get his DD-groove back, Bullseye was back, Matt drives multiple relationships into the ground, etc.) I just love that Elektra took that outfit, mostly with the intent of showing Matt something, but it ultimately became something redemptive for her. And also harder than she had thought: there's an issue where she has a fight with a big burly bouncer type, and is frustrated when it lasts more than three seconds. It was tougher when she couldn't just stab them in the lungs! This issue, Elektra was trying to find her missing...ward? Student? Sidekick? It's hard for me to imagine her having really strong maternal instincts, but she had been taking care of this girl Alice since the King in Black crossover: I think Alice was just taken somewhat forcibly by a concerned relative, and Elektra thought the Mafia Maggia got her, which leads to trailing Crossbones to Madripoor, fighting him on a train, and then the new Punisher showing up. He's there to kill Crossbones, but doesn't seem like killing Elektra would really break him up, either.

Elektra doesn't go into detail about her history with Frank, instead describing that as a point in her life where "killing was a pastime...something I did out of boredom." She can't give up Crossbones, since he might be the Maggia contact she was supposed to meet, so she's forced to fight the new Punisher. In a nine-panel grid, she hits him multiple times, seemingly ineffectively against his armor; but then a final shot with her trick sai pops his chest piece right off! Then the Maggia contact shows, and not unlike Frank, Joe has a remarkable ability to pull a gun seemingly out of nowhere. After a standoff, where Joe seems to think she was willingly working for the Maggia, he takes a shot at Elektra, but she dodges it easily and knocks him out. The Maggia contact was not as agile, and takes it in the neck! He dies gurgling blood, unable to tell Elektra anything; and the Punisher escapes. Elektra was now forced to find the Maggia in Madripoor, but plans to kill the new Punisher later...

It's not as readily apparent here, but I think in his own series Joe was a bit more sci-fi; his guns not as military-issue or store-bought as Frank's. The better to differentiate him from Frank, or from wanna-bes; there's maybe something to that idea. They are still guns, though: I'm not sure he ever got a Spider-Man crossover, and I could see that going badly. "So, you've got all this high-tech stuff, does that mean you're more nonlethal than Fr--nope, blew that guy's brains out. Never mind."  Also, if you remember Jason Aaron's Punisher series, which ended with Frank apparently "...no more" but really on Weirdworld; well, Frank won't, since he'll be back with no memory for like the sixth time. (And I was harshing on Daredevil for reusing plots!) I wonder if anything will come up from it later, or if the new book is just going to snowplow forward and call it good.