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The Punisher in the DC Universe

Feb 25, 2016

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I gotta confession to make. I greatly favor DC Comics. It’s true. I’m a DC Comics person. I find DC Comics far more appealing and likeable than Marvel Comics. After all, I grew up watching Hanna Barbara’s The Superfriends and the 1966 Batman television series, both which I greatly enjoyed watching to this day. To be honest with you, I don’t care about every Marvel character (I hate Deadpool!!) out there except Punisher whom I wish he’s a part of the DC Comics Universe, mainly in the Vertigo Comics division, instead of the Marvel Universe the way things are going right now for the vigilante concerning how Marvel is downplaying him especially in recent comic book runs such as the previous Punisher run by Nathan Edmondson for instance. If he does find himself in the main DC Comics universe, he’ll end up in either Gotham City or Star City in the Batman and Green Arrow worlds challenging both vigilantes over ways crime should be fought only to team up with them to take on bigger villains later on, just like what he does with Daredevil and Spiderman in the Marvel Universe.
Like Batman, Punisher is driven into becoming a vigilante by the tragic loss of his family at the hands of criminals. Arrow, on the other hand, was driven into vigilantism for the sheer Robin Hood style fun of it, although like both Batman and Punisher, Arrow have, too lost his family years ago; he only lost his parents to a pride of lions while out on a safari in Africa. Like both DC characters, Frank has no superpowers, but that doesn’t mean he’s useless or powerless against every evil threat he comes across. He’ll take on every evil threat he encounters in the DC Universe using any means necessary to defeat the evil threat and accomplish his mission. In the Marvel Universe, he is able to take out the strongest of the Supervillains and the superheroes, too but he won’t kill the superheroes out of respect for them and as long as they don’t cross the line. If they do, however, Punisher will have to hunt them down and kill them whether he respects them or not.
In some ways, life in the DC Universe for The Punisher will be no different than what he deals with in the Marvel Universe on the day to day bases. But in other ways, things will be entirely different for The Punisher to face in the DC Universe. For example, in the Batman world, Frank will end up facing tough competition from other vigilantes such as the Black Spider for instance. Like Frank, they kill criminals, but they also kill innocent people for getting in their way. Something Frank will never, ever do. Punisher have made a commitment to never, ever take innocent lives even when they sometimes get in the way. Like Frank, there are many anti-heroes in the DC universe who are somewhat dedicated to take out any greater threat known. But the DC anti-heroes (especially those that make up The Suicide Squad) are all on the side of villainy. They only do “heroic” things for the likes of Amanda Waller in exchange for lighter prison sentences. Recently in the Marvel Universe Frank joined a team of anti-heroes for a short time, only to turned against them due to the fact that the anti-hero team (The Thunderbolts) all engage in villainy which Frank greatly abhors. Frank works best as a loner. He’s never cut out to be a team player of any kind. Even the Avengers will not allow him to join the team because of his brutal and lethal ways of fighting crime.
The only pet peeve Frank has with the superheroes is that they have the tendency to get in his way of exterminating villains and that often times lead to conflicts between superheroes and The Punisher. It is very likely that The Punisher in the DC Comics universe will have similar problems with the likes of Batman, Green Arrow, and the other members of the Justice League always getting in the way of fulfilling his mission. But then again, there will be some members of the Justice League who will tolerate and eventually come to respect and understand him for who he is and what he does to fight crime.
Can Frank find himself in the DC Universe and be a part of it someday? That’s up to Marvel to decide, not me. After all, Marvel still own all the rights to The Punisher and they’re not willing to give up on him just yet. But maybe someday if they do decide to sell all of the Punisher rights to the likes of DC Comics, Dark Horse, IDW, or Archie Comics, I hope the new owners to The Punisher Rights treat him with great respect and make him one the most popular, high-ranked comic book characters ever.

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

The Punisher in the DC Universe