Monster Mash-Up

The subject matter of my Countdown to Halloween posts has been primarily horror movies.  I'd like to spend at least one writing about another medium where monsters appear: comic books.  In particular, I want to tell you about the craziest, most out-there mash-up I've encountered in a long time.  It's a recent storyline from Marvel Comics called "Franken-Castle" and it drops violent vigilante Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, into an adventure with our seldom-seen friends, The Legion of Monsters.

A little background about the cast of characters…  In the early to mid-1970s, Marvel was publishing stories featuring representations of iconic creatures in titles such as The Monster of Frankenstein, Werewolf by Night, and The Tomb of Dracula.  There were also characters who didn't have their own titles, such as N'Kantu the Living Mummy and Manphibian, as well as their own horrific superhero creations like Ghost Rider, Morbius and Man-Thing.

 

The individual characters rarely crossed paths; however, they frequently appeared as part of black and white anthologies in Marvel's sister imprint, Curtis Magazines.  Magazines like Haunt of Horror, Masters of Terror and, yes, Legion of Monsters, were free from the restrictions of the comics code and often contained more graphic material than their color counterparts.  (The first true superhero-like team-up appeared in Marvel Premiere #28, when Ghost Rider, Morbius, Werewolf by Night and Man-Thing joined forces to battle a mystical being, Starseed.)

 

The popularity of these monsters has risen and fallen in the last forty years.  For long periods of time, they have disappeared from the Marvel Universe.  But at some point, they became collectively known as their own sort of superhero team: The Legion of Monsters.  At the beginning of Franken-castle, the Legion of Monsters are operating from Monster Island, trying to survive a mysterious army of assassins who have been given the charge, "Destroy all monsters".

Concurrently, the Marvel Universe has taken a dark turn when villain Norman Osborn is seen as a hero following his participation in foiling an alien invasion.  Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, threatens to expose Osborn's truly murderous ways and ends up on his hit list.  After a brutal battle on a rainy rooftop, Dark Wolverine rips Castle to shreds and his body is thrown into an open sewer.  This is where our mash-up begins…

But first, a quick background for The Punisher…  He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 in February, 1974.  When Frank Castle's family is slain, he becomes a vigilante with an arsenal that includes murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and torture in his war on crime.  Think Batman with no scruples.  And this antihero is definitely not a team player.

Now, back to "Franken-Castle"…  Frank Castle's battered body is retrieved from the sewer and stitched back together on Monster Island by Dr. Michael Morbius, who hopes Castle will help protect the Legion of Monsters from the threat of the army of assassins, identified only as the Hunter of Monster Special Force.  Castle has no intention of doing so.  He's more angry about waking up "a cobbled husk of meat and machine".  However, when the innocent start being murdered, he feels a familiar rage and chaos ensues.

The story of "Franken-Castle" (written by Rick Remender) is told over the course of 13 single comic books.  The first arc, beginning in Punisher, Vol. 8, #11 (November, 2009) resolves the conflict between the Legion of Monsters and the Hunter of Monster Special Force by uncovering the identity of the latter's mysterious leader.  But then the Legion fades a bit into the background as Franken-Castle strikes out on his own and ultimately faces Dark Wolverine (and his father, Wolverine) again in a four-part arc that crosses over into two issues of the Dark Wolverine comic.

With issue #17, Punisher was re-titled, Franken-Castle.  However, the concept was jettisoned by the end of #21 as the bloodstone in Castle's chest keeping him alive actually restored his body to its original health.  I was disappointed that the storyline reached this inevitable conclusion, especially since the letter columns in early issues promised the reimagined character would remain the status quo.  I guess Marvel couldn't permanently change The Punisher, so I should appreciate the year-long fantasy on which he embarked.

The "Franken-Castle" stories are unbelievably fun.  Imagine taking a man who is metaphorically a killing machine and turning him into a literal killing machine.  Just look at the weapons with which he's equipped:

And when he ultimately teams up with the Legion of Monsters?  Well, let's just ask, did you ever think you'd see The Punisher doing this:

Pictures speak louder than words, so I won't say much more about "Franken-Castle".  Maybe this has encouraged you to run down to Clint's Comics this weekend to hunt for back issues.  (Tell Jim I sent you.)  Sometimes it's exciting to take a beloved character and throw him into an entirely new situation, even if it is only temporary.  As evidence, I had never read a Punisher comic book in my life.  However, I could not get enough of Franken-Castle.