Wanton Punishment Part I

I still really got nothing to do today. I kept reminding myself that I only one more week left minus Thursday before the JIRA evaluation period expires. And then my P.A. did nothing serious to pay attention to this work. Please, come on. We got to finish this, then I want to do something else. I've seen other colleagues at work with tasks in hand. What about me? Are you leaving me behind?

One thing that annoys me is that my Indian colleague sitting next to me kept crying at certain times. She must have been hit hard since her father passed away last December, sometime before my grandmother does. But it's already four months already and she's still mourning? Maybe it's the Indian folk music that she played and listening through her earphones makes her something like that. But she's still staying back in that circle of mourning. The truth is that you can't stay in there forever. You need to move on. Can't she get this to her senses?

Anyhow, since today marks the official release of The Punisher Vol 7: Man of Stone, I will be writing three parts of wanton punishment in retrospective about one of comics finest and popular vigilante: The Punisher. In case you do not know, here is the TPB cover of Man of Stone.

Most fans agree as I do that Irishman Garth Ennis, who writes The Preacher is the only man who can write The Punisher at its best compared to anyone else. The Punisher is the modern day incarnation of Josey Wales as modeled by Forrest Carter (1925-1979) in its Wales duology titled Gone To Texas and The Outlaw Josey Wales respectively, with the latter being made into a film starring Clint Eastwood. Like Wales, Frank Castle is a man who lost his family to evil and resolved to wage a one-man war against crime. His modus operandi is not on revenge -to him revenge is a dark emotion -, but punishment where there are circumstances where law cannot punish the guilty. His rules are somewhat similar to the Hammurrabi Code concept: "an eye for an eye." The Punisher is the best selling title in Marvel's MAX line - aimed for adult, matured readers only. Full of violence, profanity, uncensored stuff all intact. That's where The Punisher should be.

In each of the story arcs, Ennis has placed a common theme and sometimes Bond references (He's a James Bond fan BTW) in the storyline and setting. If you go through the arcs, you will notice that these themes represent the crimes that are committed by the USA - which is part of its hegemony - the quest for Global Domination. Famed critic Noam Chomsky, in his book Hegemony or Survival outlines the sins of America in its greedy quest to become the undisputed superpower on the planet.

The first story arc In the Beginning marks the return of Frank's associate Microchip, but this time working with a team led by a rogue CIA agent Robert Bethell. In 1989, Francis Fukuyama declared that greatest moment in world history is the fall of Communism and the Cold War. In here, Frank was questioned of his role in the new millennium - just as in GoldenEye, Bond is questioned of his role in the post Cold-War era. For both men, they were the past. Whatever he did was during the post Vietnam War is now under question, and maybe no longer be accepted. To Microchip, Frank is a direct relic of the Vietnam War. He thinks that Frank never has enough of what he did, ever since the moment he became the Punisher back in Vietnam. Some of the scenes were referred to in the prequel to the series, Born. In the world where we live in fear of Al-Qaeda and the post-911, the CIA thinks that they can erased his past criminal records clean and give him a clean slate by making hunting the terrorists including Osama Bin Laden.

Castle always work alone. At times, trust is something that gets a person killed. He had encountered double-crosses. The latest double-crossing by Microchip is something that he'd never forgive. He gave Microchip a chance to run while he is alive but in the end...was punished for squandering the opportunity before Frank changed his mind. James Bond is described as a blunt instrument for the government - an extension of its dirty work. Frank saw through this and immediately said no - knowing that he'd be manipulated - something evident later on in Mother Russia.

Bethell is a corrupt agent who would smuggle drugs for weapons and money. His crossing with New York mobs coupled with Nicky Cavella and his gang made him an easy target. He's a CIA agent - he can do anything - good or bad - and maybe things tilting to your favour. And while Frank is held captive by Bethell, the gangs think they can eliminate two birds in one stroke. Lewis Larossa modeled Cavella after actor David Strathairn but in the later arc, it's different since it was drawn by Leandro Fernandez. A common cliche in stories is the recurrence of a female damsel-in-distress character that most people seem to be tired with. Thankfully, it was avoided. Kathryn O'Brien is the partial flipside of Castle - an instrument of the corrupt bureaucracy, an unlucky woman who had to do the worst to save her image and sanity. Wisely, she was written as a all-round character with her own independence and the ability to take care of her reputation.


The second story line, Kitchen Irish was mainly about Irish gangs in New York fighting for the will left by an old man Nesbitt worth 10 million dollars. The premise is somewhat the famous Gangs of New York, fighting for control in the turbulent period of 1847-1863. The questioning here is of some people are still stuck back in the past. The past actually serves as lessons for us, to remind us while we move on, taking care to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Many of Irish people are still scarred over the fighting between the Irish Republican Army and the pro-British faction during the 30 year civil war of Northern Ireland, the worst being the Bloody Sunday in 1972. Ennis, being a Irishman himself suffered during those times there. In the later point, Michael Morrison lamented:

"What are we like anyway? All that misery and bloodshed back home and we come to the States and the best we can do is just fucking carry on with it? Did you not even hear what Maginty was saying? We don't have to slaughter each other! We can get what we want without that! We're free now...free of the frigging past!"

In GoldenEye, Bond's ex-partner turned villain, Alec Trevelyan's motives was purely blaming on the past: the British sending his ancestors, the Cossacks of Lienz to their deaths in World War II. In Harry Potter series, Voldemort turned bad because of the past where his Muggle father, Riddle Sr. abandoned her mother, Merope. See the coincidence? It's like letting the past shaping you into a pervert and succumbing to the evils conjured from it. What about the River Rats? They are still kids inside...playing pirates!

The Continuity IRA is also a political example of the syndrome. To that cell, anything short of a total victory is like capitulating to the British. People are sick of fighting already. They want to go on and rebuild their lives rather than destroying because of a group of perverts. In this context, there is no Kingdom of Heaven. A kingdom of heaven is a place where there is no fighting, everyone living together in harmony, each respecting one another, work together. Some don't like it...take the Nazi Germany for example. Purity of race?

Here's one of Tyler Durden's quotes in Fight Club:

"The people that you're after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances, we guard you while you sleep. DO NOT FUCK WITH US."

There was a saying that once you are a baddie, forever you are a baddie. This would be the case for old Napper French. He had enough of doing the past job and retired to a happy life until the Dublin nigger Maginty dragged him back into the gang fight. The past haunted him and it showed clearly to the little boy. The question is no matter how hard you try to forget the past, why does it come back to haunt us?

A problem with the arc is that there lacks the opposite sex relationship between a man and a woman. Ennis attempted to address one by putting it here, but it is not until when we reach the later story arcs, that we have somewhat a complete working relationship between man and woman later on. However, though it worth to point this out, Frank ended up being the supporting character of the story. Kitchen Irish remains the least cohesive story arc of all. Maybe it is full of black comedy as the MAXI series and it is not serious enough. The arc is pretty independent of the others. In the next few storylines, neither one is associated with Kitchen Irish. But perhaps you should take the inspiration from The Devil's Own or Gangs of New York as the source of reference when reading this. Or maybe read Frank McCourt's memoirs such as Angela's Ashes or The Teacher Man.

An interesting side note about Kitchen Irish is the locations used. For example, Pier 86, The Intrepid Museum is Frank's setup point for The Westies and the gangs fighting here. For those who do not really know which part is it in New York, it is located on 46th Street below the Joe DiMaggio highway. That's Pier 86. Secondly, the fictional O'Malleys bar used in the shootout is actually the McSorley's Old Ale House, located at 15, East 7th Street, near St. Mark's Square.

Next: Mother Russia and Up Is Down, Black Is White