Punisher Sighted on The War of the Realms Variant cover

Apr 20, 2019

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Yesterday, Adventures in Poor Taste posted previews of the first X-Men: War of the Realms Tie-In issue which will be available this coming Wednesday. And look who’s on Whilce Portacio’s variant cover art of the X-men tie-in shown below — Frank Castle!

Frank Castle (aka The Punisher), who’s among the most prominent characters in the WotR storyline, is shown here with two more characters I don’t know anything about. But I do know just how much I love Portacio’s portrayal of The Punisher here in this variant cover art where he modeled The Punisher after Dolph Lundgren, the first Punisher actor. TBH, this is the first time I ever was aware of the comic book artist who did a lot of art for Marvel. Mainly X-Men art. Here’s a page from his comic art store web blog containing a collection of classic Punisher pages up for sale.

Glad to see that the AiPT page has a large quality image of the variant cover uploaded on their page. That gave me the idea of downloading the image onto my PC and use my PhotoShop program to crop Punisher off from the image and toss away the rest so I can have Punisher by himself to enjoy. Here’s my result.

I only care about The Punisher. No other Marvel character will do.

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

Punisher Sighted on The War of the Realms Variant cover