Punisher: Franken-Castle

Punisher by Rick Remender

by Rick Remender, John Romita Jr. (Illustrator), Tony Moore (Illustrator)

In the belly of New York, skulking and forgotten creatures of the night uncover the remains of a man in a familiar outfi t. Frank Castle is dead. What exactly IS Frankencastle? Longtime collaborators Rick Remender and Tony Moore (Ghost Rider, Fear Agent, The Walking Dead) are reunited for the greatest struggle in the afterlife of the Punisher. Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster...

Collecting: Dark Reign: The List - Punisher, Punisher 11-16, Franken-Castle 17-21, Dark Wolverine 88-89

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Fantasy, Horror, Superheroes, Fiction

338 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Rick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. He is the writer/co-creator of many independent comic books like Black Science, Deadly Class, LOW, Fear Agent and Seven to Eternity. Previously, he wrote The Punisher, Uncanny X-Force, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Franken-Castle is exactly what you would expect it to be...sort of.

Daken kills Punisher in a spectacular Chopped-Your-Whole-Body-To-Pieces kind of way, and Morbius comes along and sews him back together again, Frankenstein-style.
Why?
Some dude from a bjillion years ago is back from Hell (or a pocket dimension of it), and he's out to kill off all the monsters. They need Castle to help them fight off this bad guy, who looks suspiciously like Red Skull did when he was just a face inside a metal body.
Naturally, when Frank wakes up he isn't too pleased. In fact, he starts destroying things (mainly Morbius) before they can get his brain totally squared away.
Turns out, even the Punisher needs his brain.
Whodathunkit?
So, in order to keep from turning into a mindless creature, Frank has to take pills every 12 hours.
Psst. This keeps him from being too powerful.
Yay! Morbius and the Legion of Monsters now have their Secret Weapon!
Or not.
Frank ain't gonna help.
Wow. What a shocker.
Along comes a monster-kid (think: moloid child), who befriends Castle by plying him with candy bars.
At this point, you know that kid doesn't have a long shelf-life.
Bad guy shoots Candy Bar Kid, Punisher gets pissed, and now It's On!

This half of the story was pretty campy, but if you enjoy Legion of Monsters, then you'll like seeing all of the characters run around with their new Franken-Punisher hybrid.
I liked it, but didn't love it.

Next up is a story about Franken-Castle chasing down Lady Gorgon.
It's ok, but once again, it didn't really make me sit up and take notice.
However, once the story moves into Castle chasing down Daken territory, I enjoyed it a lot more.
I thought the dialogue between Daken and Punisher was funny, and adding Wolverine into the mix certainly didn't hurt.
This was the best part of the entire book for me.
Although, if you check out Mike's review, he appears to have had the exact opposite reaction. So, I'm thinking this is a matter of personal taste.

The last story is set on Monster Island. The art was kinda cool, and the story (once again) was ok.
It's basically about fixing the whole problem of Marvel having a second Frankenstein. Yeah, that's not gonna work long term.

So.
Frank gets 'healed', and must reach deep inside his warm fuzzy chest in order to relinquish the Bloodstone responsible for his miraculous return to the living.

If you're in the mood for Marvel monsters, this one would fit the bill.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was absolutely crazy (in a very good way). I enjoyed Rick Remender’s « Uncanny X-Force (seven volumes, for each of which I wrote a review) run and, while not being a Punisher fan (at the time), I found the basic premise of this story intriguing enough to give Franken-Castle a chance. I really enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

The book is essentially divided into two parts :

(1) Frank Castle gets killed (and chopped up, for good measure), gets put back together by the [Marvel Monsters] and helps them fight a monster-hunting sect of some sort and retrieve a mystical stone. Wacky, extremely violent, but fun.

(2) Franken-Castle goes after his own enemies, not the least of which is Daken, the very person who killed him and diced him up, then fights (and then teams-up with) Wolverine, then heals with the help of the stone, and finally returns to blowing away drug-dealers and whatnot.

The ideas that Remender throws at the reader – not the least of which is turning the Punisher into a Marvel Monster himself – are great and reminiscent of Grant Morrison, but on a less whacked-out scale (it’s hard to out-do Morrison in the whacked-out department, anyway). The story flows along nicely, never transitioning too suddenly, and it never feels forced. The we get to the two chapters written by Way & Liu (when the story crosses over in Dark Wolverine), and that’s when I was rolling my eyes and got a bit annoyed. The writing for these two chapters is really different than Remender’s and it seems like they were just trying to constantly wow the reader with their 'action' sequences. That was truly the only part in the whole thing where I got impatient with the story; I just wanted to get past these endless battles between the Punisher and Daken. Other than Romita Jr.’s art, of which I’m not always a fan – and Dan Brereton’s is an acquired taste, which I haven’t… completely – I’ve got no issues with the art; it’s great, in fact.

I recommend this to people who want to try something different and are willing to be surprised.

This book deserves 5 stars, but because of John Romita Jr.’s art in the first chapter and the two chapters written by Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu, I must downgrade my rating to 4 stars.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most polarizing of the Punisher tales. I for one thought it sounded ridiculous when I first read the synopsis, but I was pleasantly surprised once I read it. For one thing, I am a huge Punisher fan and I am a huge monster fan, so mashing together appealed to me on those fronts. But the idea of the Punisher as Frankenstein? I mean come on? But it was actually handled really well, and it starred a ton of the marvel monsters, including some of the more obscure characters. (Manphibian anyone?)

Basically the son of Wolverine cuts the Punisher into pieces (literally) and Morbius along with some other monsters put him back together. It's really not as silly as it sounds, but I will admit it may not be everyones cup of tea.

If you are a die hard Punisher fan, but only liked his more realistic MAX series, then this may not be for you. If you prefer the Punisher tales with more superhero interaction, this would be more for you. If you are a fan of Marvel Monsters AND the Punisher, I'd say give this one a try.

It really all depends on your personal tastes, but overall it's still a fun read!

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is much more like the Remender writing I came to like in Fear Agent. This is a much-hyped turn of the Punisher story, and it's both a "fresh" take on Frank (who's ever thought to kill him this dead?), and a crazy story of monsters aplenty (and how much less horrific they really are).

I really like the gruff Werewolf/wolf-man - bit unlike the gruff anti-hero from Fear Agent, crossed with a little Wolverine.

Remender tackles revenge as the theme of this book, and while it's not a massive insight, the way he holds up a mirror to Frank's barely-there breath is an interesting line of storytelling.

God how I dislike Daken. The longer this piece of crap gets his own story, the more I hate idolising and hero-ising narcissists and cry-babies. It's actually painful to read yet another story where he's about to get the death he so much deserves but Deus Ex Machina keeps him alive every time. I like my heroes to get improbable saves, not worthless pieces of scum like Daken Of The Slime. I feel ill slogging though this, and frankly every time I read Liu's work on this turd, I lose a little more respect for her talents.

In the end, redemption...and a reboot. Yawn. I enjoyed the Remender part of the ride that got us here, but get that Daken shit out of my way, and sorry - too many lame reboots lately (Daredevil's painfully awkward retcon from Shadowlands, anyone?), makes me pretty jaded about yet another "fresh start". How's about Marvel stop dreaming of the good old days, and let us really enjoy the fruits of some actual *development* in the characters' otherwise trapped-in-amber lives?

Some artists on these runs are better than others. Tony Moore is rather expressive, but sure hard to follow any action sequences (very sloppy panel flow), so I'm not caught up in those parts of the story. Brereton has an interesting approach that's definitely not Marvel house style, so he gives the book a mood I wouldn't have expected.

Spoiler plot notes:Frank gets sewed up by Morbius into a Frankenstein-like creature, and defends the Marvel Monsters with whom Morbius is living from Hellsgaard (a German monster hunter), who's after a fragment of the Bloodstone. Frank defeats the monster-hunter, leaves him in limbo. Morbius patches up a near-dead Franken-Castle with the bloodstone, and Frank goes to seek revenge on all those who tried to recently kill him. He causes the Hand to kill Lady Gorgon, then tries to kill Daken (but is stopped by Wolverine). Frank finally exiled to Monster Island to heal up completely (no more metal parts), then the monsters and Elsa Bloodstone convince Frank to give up bloodstone. Frank returns back to New York to focus again on the criminals.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a lot of reading lol.
I didn't get to read the actual death issue, as it's not on MU, but I get the gist.
What follows is, as some have rightly pointed out, Frank Castle:Fear Agent. Which I mean in the best complimentary way. The artists Tony Moore and co., alongside Rick Remender actually wrote FA, so this makes sense.

Henry, Jigsaw's son returns, and aids Frank in the odd world of the undead and monsters, which Frank discovers are just as victimized as the human world. The bad guys are ridiculous, but it makes it totally heroic and easy to cheer Frank's mayhem and violence. We also get support from Man-Thing, Möbius, the Bloodstones, and a crossover/revenge story with Daken, who actually killed Frank.

3 guesses if you figure out who gets involved there...

Of course, they manage to solve the undead Frank part way too easily in one issue, but by this point, I'm pretty sure I'll accept it, because I saw Frankencastle, the dead Punisher, ride a Dragon and attack a castle defended by Japanese Ninja Samurai working for a 150yr old European zombie man encased in an arm or suit that looks like Kenneth Brannagh wore in Wild Wild West...oh and of course, the void of nothingness.

Little cameo in the mural of Monster metropolis of Ghost Rider, which really makes me curious...


If you can take a grain of salt and read this like a 16 yr old kid instead of a comic critic, I think you'll smile, especially at some of the Remender jokes. It's a jump the shark kinda awesome book.

Plus it leads to a new Punisher and new Daken series...yay?

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty gonzo story, but you need to inject a little craziness into a book like the Punisher every now and then. Personally, I enjoyed all the monster stuff, the underground cities and pulp villains. Going to have to go looking for more of them!

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Punisher is such an absolutely stupid fucking character that turning him into a literal Frankenstein and having him hang out with the Marvel monsters is a stroke of genius. This is a fun, dumb comic.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was weird but kind of interesting. Good volume.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

(This review was originally published by Graphic Novel Reporter on December 1, 2010)

Rick Remender plumbs the vaults of Marvel lore to produce a wholly original adventure for the Punisher, one that's as much raucous violence as it is an allegorical examination of the central conceit behind Frank Castle. After being brutally murdered and cut into pieces by Daken, the evil son of Wolverine, Castle's remains are reanimated by Morbius, the vampiric leader of the Legion of Monsters. Stitched back together, his limbs replaced with hydraulic machinery, he is reborn as a Frankenstein-like monster, right down to the bolts in his neck.

Marvel's monsters are being hunted down and exterminated by a group of ninjas, led by Robert Hellsgaard, himself a freakish creature of science. Hellbent on revenge after the murder of his family by werewolves, Hellsgaard created a heavily weaponized suit of armor to keep him alive. Now, pitted against Castle, the two fight for control of the Bloodstone, a magical artifact that bestows regenerative effects upon those who bear it.

Remender takes some very bold maneuvers with the Punisher franchise throughout the lengthy Franken-Castle storyline. On the surface, the premise is outlandish, but it works well by building off the history and characters within the Marvel universe. Mind you, this is not the Garth Ennis Punisher that exists within the MAX brand of comics; those adult volumes are steeped in realism and gritty violence. This is quite squarely the Punisher of the mainstream Marvel Universe, where Frank Castle rests comfortably alongside the X-Men and Spider-Man, where magic, myth, and monsters are all tangible subjects and tools for storytelling. This Frank Castle is just as likely to take on mafia sleaze or a superpowered, murderous mutant. The only constraint within this universe is the imagination of the writer, and it's quite clear that Remender has imagination to spare.

That the Punisher can stand alongside characters like Morbius, Manphibian, and a werewolf and have that story be entertaining and engrossing is a testament to the skills of Remender as a writer. Long decried as a monster by many within the Marvel community for his murderous sense of justice, Remender takes the premise to a whole new level by turning Castle into a literal monster straight out Mary Shelley's classic work. It allows him the opportunity to then meditate on the figurative and literal interpretations of how monsters are created and what defines them. The end result is a carefully constructed story that makes for a very fun read.

The art by Tony More is a treat, too. Moore is perhaps best known for illustrating The Walking Dead, so having him serve as a draftsman for the majority of this monster mash-up is terrifically enjoyable to see. He has rendered a Punisher unlike anything that's been seen before in the history of the character, while remaining true to the spirit of the character in conceptual design.

Perhaps the most important thing to note and reiterate about the Franken-Castle story is that this really is unlike anything that's ever been done with the character. It's a bold and imaginative take on a long-running series character, and it is a ridiculously enjoyable romp. It has all the typical violence and mayhem of The Punisher, but torqued in a unique fashion in order to tell a fresh and original story that is creatively invigorating for the character. To turn this revenge-fueled gun-happy vigilante into what is essentially an ode to the Universal Horror creature-features and create a gruesome, entertaining The Monster Squad-like riff is the kind of original, outside the box, off-the-wall thinking that makes comics so much fun to begin with.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to believe a major comics company would let one of their prime books go so far down an obscure rabbit hole like this. This is either complete garbage or some sort of madcap genius. One of the oddest experiments in recent comics history that I can think of...

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last week, I saw they are doing a Morbius movie in the MCU and as Michael Morbius, Living Vampire is one of top five favorite Marvel comic characters, I though I'd check out any recent appearances of the character. Which led me to this. An odd choice and collection.
When Daken, Wolverine's son decided to kill the Punisher at the behest of Norman Osborn, little did they know that the Legion of Monsters was waiting in the wings. They (and by they, I mean the afore mentioned Dr. Morbius)who turns Frank Castle into a sort of steampunk Frankenstein war machine. Initially, he is brought into the monster millieu to protect the creatures and their Monster Metropolis from a fanatical monster hunter, Robert Hellsgard, and his zealous samurai followers. After a while the story goes off the rails and turns into a multi-issue Franken-castle vs Daken vs Wolverine vs a whole lotta cops. The monsters come back and resurrect him , sort of, to become a version of himself again.
This collection grabs a bunch of the Punisher/Franken-Castle issues and brings them together. I liked this story, with Franken-Castle and the Legion. At times it had an almost Hellboy feel to it as the idea of a Frankenstein mashup of the Punisher is really pretty funny. But the mega-fight between the Punisher and Wolverine and Daken was my least favorite part and kind of felt like it was in there to fill out space. As well as bring Castle back to his more familiar self. My favorite sequences were the Dan Brereton ones. He has such a funky cool recognizable style, I honestly wished he had done the whole thing. Come on Dan! We need more of your art out there! Especially doing monsters!
So this is a mixed bag. I liked the parts that I wanted to check out; the filler- not so much. But It was certainly not time wasted.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

The gist- The Punisher is cut to pieces by Daken, Wolverine's ret-conned child. The Punisher is sewn together by the miscast Morbius the Living Vampire. He was a doctor, true, but he was a biochemist. Here, he is miscast as a Dr. Frankenstein type who pieces Frank Castle back together. These continuity discrepancies are the reason that I have been dropping modern Marvel titles like flies. This works for me because of all of these vintage collections of good comics being put out. I only bought this because of my undying loyalty to the '70s undead (Morbius, Werewolf By Night, The Living Mummy, etc.).

This is why I do more research into all of my purchases these days. I am a sucker for Marvel's Bronze Age monsters, and when I saw those snazzy covers in Marvel Previews, I was like oooh, I will definitely pick that up once it's collected in trade. I now read the solicits more carefully, noting how they list the cover artist credit as being someone different than the interior artist. In this case, the interior artists are vastly inferior. With the exception of John Romita Jr.'s fast paced greatness on Dark Reign: The List- The Punisher, Dan Brereton's occasional painted artwork and Mirco Pierfederici's work on Dark Wolverine, the artwork is horrible. The writing is so bland and uninvolved, and the story has no sense of urgency. I only finished it because the issues read so fast that I was done before I knew it. That, and if I pay for it I must read it. This is an underwhelming read.

Marvel's over-sized hardcovers have glued binding most of the time. The shocking thing about this book is that it lays flat. I could live with this book if the material didn't suck.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nem sei muito bem como descrever isto. Punisher é caçado e estraçalhado por Daken, um dos filhos de Wolverine, mas os seus restos mortais são resgatados por Morbius. Este, nos esgotos de Nova Iorque, criou um refúgio para as criaturas deformadas e monstruosas, que estão a ser exterminadas por um bando de samurais ao serviço de uma estranha entidade. Os samurais querem livrar o mundo da praga dos kaijus e outras criaturas que destroem rotineiramente Tóquio, e decidem entrar numa guerra santa contra tudo o que é criatura do obscuro. A única defesa dos monstros está na legião dos monstros, um grupo que inclui os personagens de horror da Marvel - Man Thing, Morbius, Werewolf by Night e The Mummy. E o que é que Punisher tem a ver com isto? Morbius entra numa de Dr. Frankenstein, reconstrói o corpo do anti-herói que, ressuscitado pela ciência insana, vai aniquilar aqueles que ameaçam os monstros com extremo prejuízo. E, em seguida, vingar-se de quem o deixou às fatias. Uma aventura deliciosamente over the top, sem quaisquer preocupações de grimdark ou criminal noir, apenas hiperviolência cómica.

[Alessandro Gioia · Rating 2 out of 5]

What did I just read? I really don't know.

Wolverine's son, Daken, kills the Punisher and sliced him up.
In the past Garth Ennis wrote a story about some dwarf mafia and in that volume Punisher mopped the floor with Wolverine, it was not even a contest... now his son magically was able to beat him? Bad start...

After this event there are 2 stories.

The first one is about Punisher being brought back in a Frankenstein way and lead the charge of monsters against Hellsgaard who I still don't know who he is or what his deal against monsters is).
This was a slog to read...

The second story continues after the first one where Frank goes against Daken. It was a little bit better than the first story but still not really good in any way.

Why was this story given the green light? Nobody knows.
Is it bad? Yes
Should you read it? Not really unless you are a completionist. There are better stories of Punisher and other characters out there.

[Dean liapis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Huge Punisher fan and a Remender fan, but this didn't come all the way together for me. I gotta give Remender respect for trying something radically new and I do enjoy the idea overall, but coupled with the Legion of Monsters, it just isn't all that great. The villain is so-so and kind of generic, but I can see how in a wacky way, they line up with everything else going on in this book.

Worth reading for sure, but it has sort of a Lethal Protector vibe, which I just reread and realized kinda sucks too.

[Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am sure Franken-Castle has divided the readers into two camps: "It was completely bonkers" or "It was genius". Sadly, I fell into the second group of finding the story to be unbearable.

The typical violence and gore were present but the story was incredibly weak, do we really need a retelling on Frankenstein in the form of The Punisher? I don't think so (especially with Morbius as Dr. Frankenstein). The only redeeming parts featured Daken and his confrontation with The Punisher because it was fun to see how two indestructible anti-heroes battle it out.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just okay and I'm glad I finished it so that I could read something else. The story did get better in certain parts. I was able to eventually accept the absurdity of the story. It had some cool moments but was overshadowed by poor storyline. It was just very superficial. The artwork changed a lot which drives me nuts. Sometimes the art was excellent and sometimes it was really rough and I couldn't tell what was happening.

[Juliana Benitez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

After watching the new Werewolf by Night feature, I wanted to delve into the monster side of Marvel Comics. This collection of comics was a fun way to experience it, and just hammy enough to be a satisfying Halloween-time read. While the dialogue writing was good but not exceptional, the ideas and artwork truly carried this arc. Dan Brereton's art depicting Monster Island deserves a special mention.

[Jennifer Juffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy reading the Legion of Monsters. I love reading Punisher comics.
Put them together with Rick Remender writing the comics of Franken-Castle, and I found myself a winner with this book.

I really enjoyed the acerbic wit. His knack for subtlety writing what’s important is one of the reasons I truly enjoy reading anything he writes.
Throw some Nietzsche at me, and I begin to swoon.

This was a clever book. It’s a book one cannot easily judge by its cover. There are definite hidden gems in the story lines.

Humorous and thought provoking, I was never bored.

[Keian Mabalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello, my name is Keian Mabalo and my book is called- The Punisher: FRANKEN CASTLE. This story takes place in this area in the sewers calls monster metropolis. The main character is The Punisher. He was brought back to life by a group of monster scientists and now looks like a Frankenstein. Their mission is to defeat this monster hunter named Robert Hellsgaard who's family was killed my monsters. If i were to rate this book, I would rate this a 4/5 because they could have ended the story on a cliffhanger. I enjoyed the last part where The Punisher left Hellsgaard in hell where he rotted for hundreds of years. If something were to be improved, they could have ended the story on a cliffhanger. Asimilar book to this novel is Franken Castle volume 16 or Deadpool Original Sin

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little sidetrip that resurrects a dead Frank Castle as, well, Frankencastle and sets him as the protector of the Marvel Universe's benign monster population. For an idea built around a pun this is a good time, slightly marred by an overlong Wolverine crossover and a rushed finish to put all the toys back in the box.

[Seizure Romero · Rating 2 out of 5]

First it's diculous, then it's ridiculous. There is some fine art, but not even John Romita, Jr and Dan Brereton could save this mess.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The craziest thing about this volume is how not bad it is. Franken-Castle might be the dumbest thing ever, but that storyline is a really fun read with excellent art.

[Mitch Kukulka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way more fun (and much more compelling) than this setup had any right to be.

[Bobby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big, dumb, stupid fun. Pretty much gets all the mileage you can out of a silly pun.

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story arc involving the Punisher being rebuilt into a patchwork monster. Pretty good. Sort of went on a little long, and a little bonkers at the very end, but very cool.

[Brannigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wild ride. You really just have to go with it and enjoy it. It’s fun to see Frank hanging out with a bunch of monsters.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Punisher works best in the MCU when he's played in an absurd juxtaposition with the rest of rhe pantehon.

So, Fractions War Journal, Purgatory and here

This has Tony Moore, Dan Brereton, etc

A pun to good to go unused, the main theme is--the one thing that prevents Frank from being a monster, his one redeeming redeeming quality is that he only kills those that deserve it. Not anyone who is capable of crime.

[Jamil · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Entertaining

[Voma Tron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Marvel has had some pretty awful ideas over the years, but I still haven't found one that beat the premise of this book yet. Woo boy is this bad...