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Frank to battle Monsters of Norse Mythology in The War of the Realms.

Mar 27, 2019

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Cover variant to Punisher WotR limited tie-in series by
Juan Ferreyra.

Honest confession: when it comes to Punisher stories, I prefer Punisher stories that take place in reality-based worlds such as in Punisher Max and Marvel’s The Punisher TV Show where no superpowered magical beings, fanciful monsters and beasts, and fantasy, fairy-tale style realms exist like what you see in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra, Princess of Power.

Admittedly, I don’t like seeing Frank in fantasy worlds where unicorns exist along with winged horses, mythical monsters, portals opening up to magical worlds, gods, dwarfs, elves, stuff that stinkin’ Deadpool enjoys being in. After all, Wade loves riding unicorns and colorful winged horses over the rainbow in many fantasy worlds in his head or in the many worlds that dotted the Marvel Universe in the comics.

To me, I find it overwhelming and at times way too much for me to see Frank get stuck in a multiverse that’s immersed in way too much fantasy just like the 2015 Secret Wars story arc from 4 years ago. Thankfully, in a lot of ways, this upcoming major Marvel event won’t be like the massive planet-colliding Fantastic Four-centric event.

Cover to Punisher #1 WotR tie-in by
Juan Ferreyra

In next month’s upcoming major Thor storyline, The War of the Realms, Frank is going to find himself wallowing in Norse mythology as he helps the Marvel Heroes save the main Marvel Earth from an approaching army of monsters and villains lead by the evil dark elf Malekith the Accursed who plans to conquer all of the mythological worlds of Norse Mythology and enslaved all of its inhabitants.

First Frank will end up battling armies of Norse mythological monsters invading New York City in a 3 part special Punisher comic tie-in. Then he teams up with many Marvel Heroes and Norse deities to find Thor Odinson, the god of thunder, the son of Odin, and a member of the Avengers, who for some reason went missing at a very bad time.

All the Marvel heroes must race against time to find the lost Avenger and get his help to stop Malekith from conquering the final realm (Midgard aka Earth) after the arch villain of Thor managed to conquered all the 9 realms in Norse Mythology saving Midgard (aka Earth), the 10th and final realm for last. Thor is the only Marvel hero who can stop Malekith from conquering all of the 10 realms of Norse Mythology.

As shown in the image above, The War of the Realms promo shows all sorts of fanciful imagery of mythical and fantasy creatures and humans that only exist alongside the super-powered heroes in The Marvel Universe. And Frank (near the bottom left), being the only Marvel Hero without any powers, is caught right in the middle of it.

At lease the storyline won’t affect the ongoing solo Punisher series written by Matthew Rosenberg where we see Frank ending up being captured and taken to Bagalia, the rogue nation of Hydra villains, where he ends up a prisoner of Hydra for many months until he found a way to escape and start a major warpath to bring Bagalia and all of Hydra to its watery grave.

OwossoHarpist

Sherry Konkus lives in Owosso, MI. She is the proud owner of the Camac Athena EX Concert Grand Harp named “Grover” and Camac Mademoiselle named “Ernie.” She’s also the proud author of The Punisher Harp Zone. Sherry is the one who came up with the idea of portraying The Punisher from Marvel Comics as the punishing harpist who plays the harp in memory of his family who was killed by the mob years ago.

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About the author

Why does The Punisher play the harp?

It’s easy to imagine The Punisher shooting up criminal hideouts and blowing off the heads of thugs and mob bosses as the ultimate punishment for their crimes. But it’s hard to imagine (and believe) that there is also very gentle side to The Punisher no one knows about except for The Defenders (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist), Microchip (aka David Linus Liberman), and Spider-man (aka Peter Parker) who actually saw and became amazed at him doing something no one has ever thought he could do with his violent hands– play the harp. A gentle stringed musical instrument no one could ever believe that The Punisher would have such talent and ability to use his otherwise destructive hands to gently and tenderly pluck and caress its strings.

Indeed, it’s very hard to imagine and believe that the Punisher’s violent hands that brake bones, strangle necks, and punch out guts are the very same hands that softly and tenderly pluck, caress, and gracefully sweep across the strings of the harp.

Why does he do it, you asked? Because Frank is doing this in memory of his family whom he communes with through songs, poems, and prayers as he gracefully wave his battle-scarred arms and hands across the strings to fill his private family shrine with harp music that moves The Punisher to joyful tears.

Where did the Idea of The Punisher and his Harp come from?

It’s a concept I, Sherry Konkus made up myself. It combines my new found obsession with The Punisher that I had since 2014 and my life long love for the harp. It is the very best concept I ever made. This is my version of The Punisher from Marvel Comics who is portrayed by me as the punishing harpist who plays the harp in memory of his late family who got killed by a criminal mob years ago and whenever he needs a break from waging a one man war against organized crime.

The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway with the help of artists John Romita, Sr. and Ross Andru. His name coined by Stan Lee. The Punisher is owned and trademarked by MARVEL.

The idea, concept, and inspiration behind The Punisher’s portrayal as The Punishing Harpist who plays the harp in memory of his family is in fact my own. Sweetest. Idea. Ever.

The Punisher Harp Zone Archive

Frank to battle Monsters of Norse Mythology in The War of the Realms.