PUNISHER #15 cover by Mike McKone

By TJ Dietsch

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Some have fangs and want to suck your blood while others come wrapped in ancient toilet paper.

And sometimes they're deceased vigilantes pieced together by a "living vampire" and given powers beyond previous imagining.

That's the case with The Punisher lately, as he's been hanging out in the Morlock tunnels with the Legion Of Monsters, helping defend them against monster hunters and the like in PUNISHER written by Rick Remender. Now, this June, the series title experiences a metamorphosis like its star and becomes FRANKENCASTLE with issue #17.

But what of the classic, mobster-whacking, human Punisher you might be wondering.

"You've got [PUNISHERMAX by Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon], if you want hardboiled crime, [so] that's where you go," Remender notes. "Over here, for as long as I'm on the series at least, Frank's going to be this current patchwork monster."

Don't think just because he's getting a new title that The Punisher will be moving on up out the sewers. Remender promises the Legion of Monsters will still figure prominently into the story, even after the current arc with the Bloodstone comes to a temporary end.

"Frank's still going to be down there with the Legion of Monsters," Remender promises. "What's changing is that Frank has a new power set and he's capable of accomplishing more than he used to be. In the past year and a half we've seen Frank get his ass kicked pretty good a few times from folks like The Hood, Daken, Lady Gorgon, the Hand, Jigsaw and Microchip. Things have been rough and for me it's always been natural that when you put Frank in these situations he's not going to come out on top every time. He's an objectivist who takes on more than he can

PUNISHER #16 cover by Mike McKone

chew obviously and sort of leans in to some pretty crazy scenarios; he keeps going out there and sort of mindlessly attacking the evil that he sees, but the evil is of the power level that fights the Avengers and all kinds of super-powered folks, so Frank has had a rough time."

Changes aside, Frank will be continuing to participate in his favorite contact sport: exacting revenge on those people who've beaten him down over the years, including, of course, Daken, the man who seemingly killed him.

"[Former ally] Stuart Clarke is on the list and there's a surprise waiting for Frank when he goes into that scenario," Remender teases. "You've got, obviously, Daken. You've got Microchip and the Deadly Dozen high on the list, especially Basilisk and Death Adder who gave Frank some reason to be upset. The list is pretty long; between The Hood and Daken and Microchip and Jigsaw and Lady Gorgon, he's got his work cut out for him."

The Punisher won't just be running into monsters and villains though, there's a world full of heroes out there who not only think Frank Castle died, but also aren't expecting to see the monstrous version who will be tearing through the Marvel Universe. He'll first be popping up over in DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #894 in April, but Remender promises more guests to come in the pages of FRANKENCASTLE, including a top secret upcoming crossover to be announced soon.

FRANKENCASTLE #17 cover by Mike McKone

Until then, though, Remender wants fans to know how excited he and the FRANKENCASTLE crew- which includes editors Axel Alonso and Sebastian Girner, artists Tony Moore and Roland Boschi, and flashback painter Dan Brereton-are about creating this book month in and month out.

"I think that it's as much fun as you can have for $2.99 anymore," he touts. "Tony and Roland and Brereton are absolutely, completely excited and charged about this and I think it shows in the book, so if you haven't given it a shot, you should go out and grab the first two or three issues to get into the groove."

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