New Blood: Morbius and the Vampire Genre (2) (Connecting Marvel to...Twilight?)

Welcome back! This segment is the second in a two-part article spotlighting Marvel's very own resident Living Vampire, Dr. Michael Morbius! A Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, Morbius suffered from a rare blood disease whose cure instead transformed him into a creature of the night with an insane thirst for blood.

In the previous segment, I reviewed Morbius' appearances from his 1971 introduction in The Amazing Spider-Man through his two solo series as protagonist, and finally his cure in early 1980, again in one of Spider-Man's series. But of course, as they say, you can't keep a good vampire down!

The prodigal vampire returns. Cover by Jackson Guice.

In Roy Thomas and Jackson Guice's Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #10-18, Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, was aging in the absence of real vampires to feed her unnatural appetite. (This story occurred during the brief period where vampires were eliminated from the Marvel Universe, in the wake of the "Montesi Formula" storyline in Doctor Strange #59-62, Jun.-Dec. 1983.) She abducted Morbius and restored him to discover if his blood could act as substitute, only to find it could not. The Living Vampire escaped and briefly took up residence with Strange and his allies, who couldn't prevent the negation of the original spell.

After Todd McFarlane brought him back in a pair of issues of Spider-Man, Marvel took another look at their horror characters. With the new Ghost Rider title gaining success, the administration sought to build an imprint around the character and supernatural concepts. Hence, the "Midnight Sons" were born, and Morbius became a charter member of the loose grouping that also included Ghost Rider teaming with original Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze as Spirits of Vengeance; Tomb of Dracula alums Blade, Frank Drake and Hannibal King as Nightstalkers; and a group of supernatural investigators tracking down evil pages from the cursed book, the Darkhold.

The Midnight Sons rise, and with them was Morbius. Cover by Ron Wagner.

In the new series by writer Len Kaminski and artist Ron Wagner, Morbius ingested demon blood and found he could now transform between human and vampire selves. After encountering Ghost Rider and allies and suffering the loss of his former love Martine, he vowed he would now only drink the blood of the guilty. He spawned another vampire in assassin Vic Slaughter, and encountered villains like Dr. Paine and Nightmare.

Eventually, the series went off the rails, with Kaminski replaced by Gregory Wright due to disagreements with artist Wagner (who left shortly after). From the end of the first year, Morbius was involved in crossover after crossover--including "Siege of Darkness" across the entire "Midnight Sons" line--that robbed the series of any momentum. Not-ready-for-prime-time artists like Isaac Cordova and Nick Napolitano mired the series down as Wright kept telling stories of the demon blood and characters derived from it.

The series was mired in too many crossovers for its second year.

During the last half-year of the series, Marvel passed Morbius to writer Lisa Trusiani, a writer whose main claim to fame to that point had been the company's licensed Barbie comic. Drawn by Craig Gilmore, an unknown, rough-around-the-edges artist, the series just kept sinking. The stories degenerated into an unintelligible mess, with Martine coming back from the dead...or was that really her? Gilmore left a few issues before the series mercifully faded away with issue #32.

Shortly following the conclusion of Morbius' solo series, the character debuted on the small screen during the second season of the 1994 Spider-Man animated series on Fox. Voiced by character actor Nick Jameson, Morbius was recast as a college student like Peter Parker, who experimented with vampire bats and found himself transformed into a vampire-like creature. Since the censors didn't allow vampires to feast on necks, this vampire's fangs were useless; rather, this Morbius fed on "plasma" using suckers on his hands. He appeared in seasons two and four, during which he interacted with Spider-Man, Blade, and the Vampire Queen Mirium, who intended to use the Neogenic Recombinator technology that created Morbius to create a race of vampires.

Without a series of his own, Morbius reverted to type. Cover by Romita Jr.

In the absence of a regular title, suddenly Morbius reverted to his previous characterization as Spider-Man villain with Peter Parker: Spider-Man #77-80 under writer Howard Mackie and artists Claudio Castellini and John Romita Jr. He popped up in Don McGregor and Brian Hagan's Blade limited series, canceled just three issues into its run of six.

Once again Marvel employed Morbius' sometime ability to transform other characters into vampires. In Peter Parker: Spider-Man #7-8, he bit the vampire hunter Blade. The unique enzymes in his saliva reacted with the hunter's already-unique physiology, transforming him into a "Daywalker" and in so doing aligning the character more closely with his recent movie depiction. At the time, early buzz surrounding the Blade movie sequel had Morbius as its primary villain, but that idea was nixed in later versions of the script, and Morbius remains unseen in live-action.

After a few years' absence, Morbius returned in Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin's Blade series (#7, Mar. 2007), having signed the Superhuman Registration Act during Marvel's Civil War and allied himself with S.H.I.E.L.D. to try to apprehend the hunter. Later, he appeared as part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s A.R.M.O.R. unit during Fred Van Lente and Kev Walker's Marvel Zombies 3 and 4 series, first captured by his other-dimensional, zombie-infected analogue, and later as head of a new group of Midnight Sons that included Daimon Hellstrom, Topaz and Werewolf By Night. After that, he and the Werewolf retreated under New York City, where they and the Man-Thing found a "disassembled" Punisher and rebuilt him as Franken-Castle (Punisher #11, Jan, 2010).

Morbius soon became a hero of sorts, again. Cover by Greg Land.

When last seen, Morbius took a blood sample from Spider-Man to work on a cure for the Werewolf in Amazing Spider-Man #622 (Apr. 2010) before perplexingly allying himself with Dr. Octopus against Spidey (Amazing Spider-Man #642, Nov. 2010). He's currently appearing again, in Dennis Hopeless and Juan Doe's Legion of Monsters limited series, starring as the apparent leader of a team that includes the Werewolf, the Living Mummy, the Manphibian and Elsa Bloodstone--virtually the same team as co-starred alongside Franken-Castle in Punisher. And fans reading The Amazing Spider-Man may have seen a familiar face during "Spider-Island"...!

Over the years, the character of Morbius may have struggled. Certain writers wisely emphasized the fact that Morbius was a scientifically-created vampire, while others have treated him like just another vampire character. Sometimes he's been able to spawn other vampires like himself, while at other times we're told that's patently impossible.

Still, the other traditional tropes of vampirism in fiction have remained with him. Like many other vampire protagonists (and antagonists, for that matter), he reviles what he is and wishes he didn't have to ingest human blood to survive. His addiction to blood compares favorably to any traditional human addiction to alcohol, or drugs, or sex. The difference with Morbius is that due to the nature of his condition, we're told without that blood as sustenance he will die.

Morbius with the new Legion of Monsters. Art by Juan Doe.

A major asset to Morbius' ongoing characterization is the fact he is a biochemist, and as such, he is well equipped to identify the various symptoms of his condition and effect potential cures. He creates formulas to temporarily make himself appear human. He tries to manufacture artificial blood. He looks after his fellow monsters' medical needs. Often, he considers the curses of other monsters like himself in scientific terms. Sometimes that outlook is an asset; sometimes, not so much.

What is most important about Morbius is that he is really the first popular vampire protagonist in literature. His power set and appearance follow that of the traditional vampire, unlike Dell's "New Dracula." And virtually every other do-gooder vampire out there who angsted about his condition--from Andrew Bennett of I...Vampire!, to Nick Knight of Forever Knight, to Angel of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to Edward Cullen of Twilight fame and many more--can ultimately trace that lineage back to Marvel's leading Living Vampire.

The premier vampire anti-hero? Art by Dave Cockrum.

And just think: we might not have had a Morbius had Stan Lee agreed to Roy Thomas' idea for Spidey to fight Dracula way back in 1971...

Yeah, take that, Vampirella.

~G.

SUGGESTED READING:

• Marvel Zombies 3
• Marvel Zombies 4
• Punisher: Franken-Castle
• Rise of the Midnight Sons (Out-of-Print)
• Spider-Man: The Gauntlet, Vol. 3 - Vulture & Morbius
• Spider-Man: The Next Chapter Vol. 2 (Coming Soon)

New Blood: Morbius and the Vampire Genre (1)

A quick note about the article you're about to read: It was originally prepared for inclusion at Comic Book Revolution's site during the month of October. Unfortunately, due to some scheduling issues, it didn't surface there. Fortunately for you, dear reader, it's now available to read on this very site! Part two of this two-part retrospective will be available very, very soon, followed by an entry on "I...Vampire!", DC's 1980s supernatural series, with special contributions by original series talent! In the meantime, enjoy this trip down memory lane...

In today's age of vampire protagonists, it's difficult to imagine a time when vampires were always the "bad guys." It's even harder to wrap one's head around the idea that comic books were forerunners of the trend. And just consider that, for the longest time, vampires and the living dead were forbidden by the Comics Code Authority!

Impossible? No!

This October, we're all about things that go bump in the night, and that means bringing up unusual facts like these. So of course, we've gotta discuss...Dell Comics' Dracula!

Take a few deep breaths and stop laughing.

While this article may be about a certain living vampire, I must first note this three-issue wonder. While vampires were forbidden throughout the sixties, apparently heroes that experiment with bat blood, gain certain vampiric abilities, and go out in public dressed in a bat costume are just hunky-dory. He didn't have fangs. He didn't suck blood. He was just...a little batty. Three issues, and best forgotten.

A few years later, when the Comics Code Authority relaxed their restrictions on depictions of the living dead, Marvel Comics rushed in to capitalize. According to Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 11, writer Roy Thomas originally wanted Spider-Man to face the "#1 bloodsucker of all time," Dracula. However, editor-in-chief Stan Lee voiced opposition, preferring Roy and artist Gil Kane to offer up an original, villainous character.

Now this is more like it. The Amazing Spider-Man #101. Cover by Gil Kane.

Enter Dr. Michael Morbius, a Nobel Prize-winning Greek biochemist with an incurable blood disorder. With his friend Nikos and lover Martine, he tried to produce a cure using extracts derived from vampire bats. That cure may have rid him of the disease, but left his skin chalk-white, his bones hollow, his fangs sharp, and his body thirsty for fresh blood! Hence the good doctor became Morbius, the Living Vampire!

With an origin tale that evoked the classic scenes aboard the Demeter in Stoker's Dracula, Thomas and Kane brought Morbius into the Marvel Universe in The Amazing Spider-Man #101-102 (Oct.-Nov. 1971), in the middle of a storyline where the web-slinger had briefly grown four extra arms. It was almost easy to pity the scientist-cum-vampire. In trying to cure his own illness, he made his situation much worse.

In a cursory way, his nature compared him favorably to another of my favorite characters, Dr. Robert Bruce Banner and his alter-ego, the Hulk. Both men were scientists whose work led to drastically unforeseen consequences. Both men's alter-egos could be construed as evil. Both men really, truly wanted a cure but couldn't get it.

Morbius's 2nd appearance: Marvel Team-Up #3. Cover by Gil Kane.

At first, Morbius stuck around as Spider-Man's antagonist throughout the aforementioned story and a few issues of Marvel Team-Up (#3-4, Jul.-Sept. 1972) wherein he sought a cure with assist from a colleague he kidnapped. The story introduced, briefly, the idea that Morbius could create others like himself--something, like Morbius' reaction to daylight, writers could never keep straight.

However, Marvel soon saw an opportunity to develop the character further when they created a series of black-and-white magazines. Vampire Tales debuted in August 1973, and featured the first in a multi-part story with the Living Vampire as protagonist. The stories by Don McGregor emphasized Gothic horror, teaming Morbius with Amanda Saint, a young woman pursued by the Demon-Fire death cult. Art by Pablo Marcos, Rich Buckler, Tom Sutton and Mike Vosburg was wonderfully atmospheric, with ink washes and other techniques that gave the tales a gravitas unseen in the color comics. The creators took Morbius' plight very seriously, prominently displaying that, without that meddling Spider-Man, Morbius really could hold his own. Following the Demon-Fire cult arc by McGregor, Doug Moench and Sonny Trinidad came aboard for the final duo of tales before the series folded with its eleventh issue in 1975.

Morbius moonlights in the B&W mag Vampire Tales. Cover by Luis Dominguez.

Speaking of color comics, the powers-that-be at Marvel must have been impressed with the sales figures of the early black-and-white magazines, for it wasn't long before Morbius headlined one of Marvel's many anthology comics. With Man-Thing gone to his own series the previous month, Fear #20 arrived in February 1974 with a new star. Whereas the magazine told true horror tales, the comic told tales with a more scientific bent, including the saga of the Caretakers, a race of long-lived aliens who believed humanity to be on the verge of extinction due to impending nuclear war. To that end, they undertook Project: Second Genesis to create a new race of humanity. Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber and Doug Moench all wrote the story at different turns, and the inconsistency doomed the series. Similarly, the series had a new artist nearly every issue. Not even a young P. Craig Russell could stick around.

Moench and artist Frank Robbins stayed together a few issues, during which monster hunter Simon Stroud migrated from the Man-Wolf's stories in Creatures on the Loose to fight the vampire. Perhaps due to the absence of the freshly-canceled Vampire Tales, Moench picked up that series' horror flavor in a tale featuring demonic entities and more "living vampires." Unfortunately, the book again fell victim to inconsistency with then-untested writer Bill Mantlo and more guest artists, and issue 31 would be its last--also in 1975, a few months after the magazine's finale.

Whereas Vampire Tales was about the horror, Fear emphasized sci-fi.

Without a solo book to call his own, the vampire who'd broken out in two books returned to villain status following guest appearances as part of the Legion of Monsters (Marvel Premiere #28) and alongside the Thing (Marvel Two-in-One #15). He again plagued Spider-Man, first alongside the Man-Wolf (Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1) and later by himself in the newly-minted Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (#7-8, with a reprint of Marvel Team-Up #3 in issue #6). A few years later, without any further appearances, Morbius returned in issue #38, where former Fear writer Mantlo promptly cured him in an incident involving Spider-Man's radioactive blood and a bolt of lightning.

Morbius would appear irregularly over the next few years. In David Kraft and Mike Vosburg's Savage She-Hulk series (#12-14, Jan.-Mar. 1981), he appeared in court to defend himself against crimes committed while he was a vampire. At the same time, he battled a psychological addiction to blood cultivated during that period. As part of a team consisting of Bruce Banner and Walter Langkowski, he consulted with Reed Richards when his wife Sue suffered complications during her second pregnancy (Fantastic Four #266-268, May-Jul. 1984). And in West Coast Avengers #5-6 (Feb.-Mar. 1986) he encountered the team while trying to cure Jack Russell, the Werewolf By Night, and referred the team to the race of Cat People to assist in solving a problem with Tigra, one of their members.

Morbius: Cured at last! Cover by Allen Milgrom.

But a character like Morbius couldn't stay "normal" for long. In the second segment, coming soon, I'll turn my attention to the Living Vampire's 1989 return, his time in the "Midnight Sons," and the time he nearly became a star on the Silver Screen!

Join us, won't you?

~G.

SUGGESTED READING:

• Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Vols. 1-2
• Essential Savage She-Hulk Vol. 1
• Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 11
• Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1
• Vampire Tales, Vols. 1-3

A Tale of Three Hulks--Or Is That Four? (Reviewing Hulk #30)

Howdy ho, Tweeps, peeps, and just plain geeks (and I say that endearingly)! This episode's delayed a bit since it was supposed to come over the weekend. Ordinarily I strive to put up reviews before the Saturday following a book's release, but with so much happening, can you blame me? To be fair, you guys got an interview with writer Greg Pak, a review of the first issue of his Silver Surfer book, another entry in my "Storm Warning" series on Firestorm, and an aside about Franken-Castle. Before you ask: Yes, I'm hoping to scale back the comic talk soon and discuss some movies, TV, and other things like I've been promising. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks, eh? Meanwhile drop me a line (my e-mail address is on the main site page!) and tell me what YOU want to see! Now, are we ready to make like Bobby "Boris" Pickett and his Crypt Kickers...?

 

Hulk #30 

"Marvel Two-In-One

 
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artists: Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines
Colorist: Morry Hollowell
Letterers: Ed Dukeshire
Production: Irene Lee
Assistant Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel Comics

What more intriguing way of uniting the previous Hulk creative team with the current one than matching today's writer with yesterday's artist? Gabriel Hardman may be an excellent artist, with his work in the last five issues looking even more terrific than in Atlas, but you have to say that for the first two-plus years of this title's existence, the boisterous, stylistic artwork of Ed McGuinness kept fans coming back month in and out. Certainly he didn't draw every issue of the first twenty-four, but it was clear the project belonged to Ed. It's no secret that he's been a Hulk fan for many years, and wanted a prolonged run on the book. All good things must end, and so after the finale of "World War Hulks," during which the Red Hulk's identity stood revealed, Ed and his frequent co-conspirator, Jeph Loeb, left the book. Evidently Ed found a hole in his schedule and an itch he wanted to scratch, because he's back, for one month only, and with him he brings loads of silliness right out of DC's Silver Age.

Maybe that last bit is an understatement of writer Jeff Parker's involvement in this story, but I can't help stating this book is full of the kinds of big ideas and imagery that are hallmarks of McGuinness' best work, from Superman/Batman and of course previous issues of Hulk. This one's got it all, from Woodgod, voted "most likely to reappear in Greg Pak's Hulk run because he's one of Bill Mantlo's creations," to the perennial silly favorite among Marvel aliens, the Impossible Man, to various pre-code Marvel monsters including Xemnu the Titan, the original Hulk from Journey Into Mystery #62 as well as a monster that echoes one of Superman's most backwards foes. (And if that last bit doesn't clue you in to who Parker and McGuinness are riffing, then all my jokes are lost on you.) All of the above doesn't even come close to the audacious addition of the cover's core conceit: The Compound Hulk! (Who says this isn't the age of ambitious alliteration?)

I know it's well within Parker's talents to tell outrageous and fun stories, but McGuinness's involvement amps it up to the next level. The story is framed, simply enough, as a contest as schemed by longtime Hulk and She-Hulk foe Xemnu. It's an excuse, pure and simple, to bring all kinds of monsters and DC homages into the book and get McGuinness to draw big, bombastic action sequences, but it's still fun as anything and strings together all kinds of things the artist never got to draw during his earlier tenure. Does it bother me that our green Hulk, who guest-stars this month (and why shouldn't he do that anytime he wants?), is unable to defeat the horde of humongous hellions by himself, leading to he and the Red Hulk cavorting as a Compound Hulk? Or that the character they're combined to battle is a white-skinned, green-pantsed, erudite echo of our own red-and-green goliaths? It's all in service to the spectacle, and spectacles don't get much bigger than when drawn by--well, you know!

What strikes me as the big continuity nerd that I am is the league of monsters Xemnu's assembled. On that terrific double-splash in the middle of the issue, there's Zzutak (from Strange Tales #88), Taboo (from Strange Tales #75 & 77), the Blip (from Tales To Astonish #15), the Creature from Krogarr (from Tales To Astonish #25), Fin Fang Foom (from Strange Tales #89) and others I couldn't even identify. (If anyone knows the two of whom I speak, shout 'em out and be duly No-Prized!)

Hulk #30 is an unabashed love letter to the tales that astonished me when I was growing up--not as a child of the 50s with its many monstrous icons, nor the 60s with the dawn of the Marvel Age and the many weird goings-on at DC that gave birth to Bizarro and the Composite Superman, nor the 70s with the further development of all that was Marvel into a new generation. I'm a child of the 80s but with a healthy appreciation of all that makes Marvel great, raised on Marvel Super-Heroes reprints of the Hulk's early adventures and Marvel Tales reprints of Spidey. For all that comics have advanced over the years, it's nice to see a story return to the big action and goofiness of yesteryear. Hulk fans, monster fans, fans of weird stuff--buy this book!

~G.

Breaking Rule #1 of Punisher Fans (Or, You Don't Talk About Franken-Castle)

I am not a Punisher fan.

At least, not in the traditional sense.

I don't expect the above statement to be a surprise to many of you, but I'll explain nonetheless. I enjoy my comic protagonists with a touch of the supernatural about them or their adventures, and with precious little exception, the Punisher has neither. To me, he's a guy with a huge arsenal, giving payback to criminals for killing his family, times a million. Oh, sure, I read a decent enough sampling of his stories to secure my opinion, from the Gerry Conway/Ross Andru Amazing Spider-Man stories that introduced him (as reprinted in Marvel Tales), to the Steven Grant/Mike Zeck limited series (reprinted in the short-lived B&W Marvel magazine), to the Mike Baron/Klaus Janson/Whilce Portacio regular series when I was a li'l comics fan. Of course, I've picked up "Welcome Back, Frank" and I've seen all three films. I even read the John Ostrander/Tom Lyle series from the mid-1990s. But really, the only times when I have truly enjoyed the character were when, well, he wasn't quite himself.

You Punisher fans out in the audience are rolling your eyes, right? You know what it means, and it doesn't start and end with Franken-Castle. It means I liked seeing Frank Castle shot full of too much melanin in the ridiculous "I Am Punisher (Black)" storyline (with apologies to Chris Sims and his blog for borrowing that title). It means when Marvel Knights started off with the Punisher committing suicide and being brought back to Earth as an angel with a gun, I was right there with bells on. (Please, Marvel trade department, if you're reading: it isn't too late to solicit a Premiere hardcover collecting both limited series featuring this pre-Ennis status quo!)

And I oh so loved the newest iteration of the Punisher in Franken-Castle, a fact for which I shall eternally curse the names of writer Rick Remender and his merry band of henchmen, er, artists, Tony Moore, Dan Brereton, Roland Boschi and Jefte Palo. (Okay, so I also have to give Dark Wolverine's Dan Way, Marjorie Liu, Stephen Segovia and Paco Diaz their due.)

When I first heard that the Punisher would be killed and brought back as a Frankenstein analogue, I had a good, hard belly laugh. Then I heard about how the Hood was bringing back all kinds of old bad guys to face Frank, and how Frank's wife and kids were brought back to life--right before he commanded one of those old bad guys, Firebrand, to "[t]orch 'em." It sounded so over-the-top, yet there were supernatural elements in play I couldn't resist. I pre-ordered all the "Dark Reign: The List" one-shots before this, but the Remender/Romita Jr. story sealed the deal in all its gory glory. There was just no way I wasn't ordering both the Dark Reign and Dead End collections, and then diving headlong into the monstrosity that was...well, you know.

The story is totally over-the-top in all the ways that count, and is truly all the better for it. You just know the shots of Daken hacking off Frank's body parts and kicking them over the side of a building would never have made it into a code-approved Marvel comic--heck, I'm not sure those images would have made it into any Marvel comic until recently. Yet here they are, and the story only gets more audacious from there. Frank gets stitched up by one of my favorite Marvel monsters, Morbius the Living Vampire (looking eerily emaciated, the truest weak spot in the book's otherwise terrific art design). He becomes as monstrous in appearance as others believe he is inside, learning as he begrudgingly becomes a protector for this legion of monsters under New York City that just because they may look like monsters, that doesn't mean they act like monsters. In particular, there's a touching moment in issue #12 between Frank and a little Moloid. (You can find an animated version of the sequence online, here.) What can I say, I'm a sucker for sentimentality.


Punisher Shorts from Kai Wang on Vimeo.
Along the journey, Rick Remender shows the breadth of his knowledge of monstrous things in the Marvel Universe, giving guest-shots not only to Morbius, but also Jack Russell, the Werewolf By Night; N'Kantu, the Living Mummy (from Supernatural Thrillers); the Manphibian (from the Legion of Monsters magazine); the Man-Thing; Vlad Dracula; and even some of the creatures from Monster Isle, including the Mole Man's creature off the cover to Fantastic Four #1. The monsters stand united against Captain Robert Hellsgaard, a 19th-Century man whose family had been turned by a werewolf. Hellsgaard had to kill his own family, but no one believed his reasons, so he went rogue, allying himself with the immortal monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone until Dracula threw Hellsgaard into a portal to Limbo the hunter had created, ironically to send monsters there. Many decades later, Hellsgaard escaped and renewed his quest to rid the world of monsters by any means necessary. The hunter is in many ways an analogue to Frank himself and his attitude toward criminals. Thankfully, Frank doesn't see his current situation as black-and-white as Hellsgaard, and defeats him and his group of Japanese monster-killers, saving the Legion of Monsters nearly at the cost of his own life (again).

I don't want to spoil every surprise, so I'll just say that after the Hellsgaard story arc that runs in issues #11-16, Frank finds himself saved by the very same artifact Hellsgaard himself was after, the Bloodstone. The series returns to its crime roots, at the same time giving hints toward the future (or rather, the current Punisher arc, In the Blood). Of course, the storyline couldn't be complete without a rematch between Frank 2.0 and Daken, this time in a four-issue brawl that is well worth the price of admission. (Even if I think Daken really should have paid for what he did to Frank with his life, well, this is serial fiction, so he must live on. Boo.) The whole shebang concludes in a locale that is as remote as it is apt, in a one-off storyline with perhaps the best art of the entire arc. Dan Brereton of The Nocturnals fame does some incredibly rare Marvel work here, and together with his brief work on the origin of Hellsgaard in #14, it's just a revelation seeing him work. (Another note to Marvel: Brereton. Hulk. Now. Thanks.) The storyline ends doing something miraculous for the Frank Castle character, quite literally revitalizing him for a new generation. Those who wonder how a guy whose early life and origin is pretty firmly rooted in the Vietnam War can be as spry as Frank and can challenge the mobsters and super-villains he does, well, question henceforth answered.

So, those who like the Punisher? If you're a fan of the gritty realism that has become the character's trademark, you probably hate this storyline as much as, if not more than, Chris Golden and Tom Sniegoski's Angel Punisher arcs. If you like Frank Castle's core personality and are interested in how he adapts to an admittedly macabre situation, then this book might pique your interest. If you're like me and enjoy monsters of all sorts, and love when beloved characters are thrown in a blender and given a good, albeit temporary shake-up, you'll probably find Franken-Castle too good to pass up.

Punisher: Franken-Castle is now available in oversize hardcover from Marvel Comics. The softcover edition will be available April 27th, but why wait? Treat yourself. It's only five bucks more.

And for what it's worth, seeing that shiny new status quo at the end of this story makes me want to buy Punisher: In the Blood when the collected edition finally hits. Damn you, Remender. Damn you to...someplace warm and cozy,

~G.