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Radiation Interrogation: Matt Fraction
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Location: Blogs Atomic FalloutRadiation Interrogation |
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| Posted by: Jake Bell |
Wednesday, November 22, 2006 12:01 AM |
 The Punisher has been kind of exiled to the world of MAX comics for a while. Why bring him back into mainstream continuity?
I think Mark Millar and the Powers That Be saw that the events of CIVIL WAR gave The Punisher a perfect cue to come bounding back onto the main stage of the Marvel Universe-- and they're right. There are a lot of folks out there that miss a Punisher that tangles it up with the superpowered guys, and the time was right to have him pop back up from underground and go gunning for bad capes. It's a war, after all, and he's the ultimate soldier. Game on, Marvel U.
How will the mainstream Marvel Punisher differ from the MAX Punisher? Do you have to pull any punches?
Well, it's a Marvel Universe book, and that's maybe the easiest way to say it. We spell ours "Rykers" and theirs is "Rikers", you know? It's the difference between a superhero comic compared to an urban crime/vigilante comic for adults.I don't have to pull any punches, because I'm acutely aware of what punches are appropriate for the book, if that makes any sense. I'd never even try to tell a story as blistering and profane as THE SLAVERS in our book, just like Garth would never have his Frank Castle take a shot at Stilt-Man in his.
How does the rest of the Marvel Universe view Frank Castle?
He's an absolutely unwelcome wild card. He plays by a set of rules wholly his own and refuses to fall in line to any codes other than his own. He's violent, angry, unpredictable, and has no compunctions about taking certain lives. In practically every case, he could viewed as no better than the villains he stops.
And the villains he stops are terrified. Here's a "superhero" that isn't content to tie them up with webbing and leave them hanging from a lamppost. He has a lethal set of rules they're not used to dealing with as a going concern.
In Civil War, Punisher waltzes into Cap's HQ and immediately becomes one of the big wigs. Why does he have that much clout?
Like I said above, he's the ultimate soldier. He's lived on his wits and cunning for years, conducting a one-man asymmetrical war against unspeakable odds. And it's dark days for Cap's guys and they need all the help they can get-- the deal they have to make with themselves is, if we gain a tactician and strategist with an unparalleled black ops skill set, do we also gain a guy who, best case, is a loose cannon and worst case a full blown psychopath and-- from certain points of view-- a serial killer?
Punisher and Captain America are both soldiers, but very different ones. What plans are there for that relationship now that they're on the same side of a war?
All I can say is hold on for WAR JOURNAL 2 & 3-- our first arc uses the lens of CIVIL WAR to stare long and hard and Cap and The Punisher and, in a lot of ways, Steve and Frank, and what happens when these two soldiers, from two very different wars, suddenly collide on a new kind of battlefield. And, beyond that, the ramifications of the CIVIL WAR echo through Frank's life for a long time to come.
Garth Ennis has become the quintessential Punisher writer. Is it intimidating to write the same character at the same time?
ABSOLUTELY. Not just as a neophyte writer, either, but as a fan of Garth's book. The only solace I found was in knowing we were going to be such a completely different book, built for a completely different audience-- I hope there's overlap but if Garth's book is strong, bitter, and black coffee, we're a dozen cans of Red Bull, followed by two dozen more cans of Red Bull, a little crank, and then maybe some Red Bull. Once we came together as a team and started executing, I knew that any comparisons would be fatuous at best, and just convenient at worst. You may as well compare hummingbirds and B-17s.
Describe the contribution of Ariel Olivetti? Once you saw his art for the book, did it change the way you wrote in any way?
Ariel Olivetti is Thor's Own Hammer personified into a vessel of pure comic book artistry and cross-continental politeness and joy. He was put on this earth to bless us with his catastrophically powerful pages, and perfectly rendered Superhero Arms. We knew very very early on in the process that Ariel was our artist, so I was-- almost from page 1-- custom tailoring the book to him. He brings power, dynamism, energy, and larger-than-life-excitement. If you love Ariel's work, like I do, then PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL is the book to see-- it's the comic I've wanted to see Ariel draw for almost 10 years now; I just happen to be lucky enough to be writing it.
How do you approach writing Punisher differently than writing Iron Fist? What similarities will we be able to see?
As a book, and as a character, Frank is much more internalized and obsessive, to say nothing of lethal and clever and viscious. There's a darkness to him that Danny Rand doesn't have. Also, working with and learning from Ed Brubaker on IRON FIST makes that book's creation a great game of one-upsmanship where we're always trying to bring out the best in one another, or at least blow the other's guy's mind.
In terms of similarities, both guys are absolutely convinced they're doing the job they were put on this earth to do. Spider-Man might wrack himself with guilt over whether or not he's helping make the world a better place, but both Frank and Danny never doubt it for a second.
The Punisher made guest appearances in just about every comic in the 1990's. Do you have a favorite story from that era?
Any story in which The Punisher didn't have a long ponytail and high-tech sweatband.
Give me your pitch if you were writing a sequel to the classic cross-company crossover Punisher vs. Archie.
Five words: Frank. Gets. Betty. AND. Veronica.
Oh, and three more: Die Jughead Die. |
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