The Punisher is a 2001 comic book series by Marvel Comics, released under the Marvel Knights imprint. It's written by Garth Ennis, with some of Ennis's issues also having art by Steve Dillon, reuniting the creative team from the previous series. The series is the sixth volume of The Punisher.
The series, set in the shared Marvel Universe, stars the titular Punisher, Frank Castle, and serves as a Sequel Series to The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank.
Although it's set in the shared Marvel Universe, the stories tend to focus on Frank, a Badass Normal and lethal vigilante, confronting criminals rather than supervillains. There are occasional references to stranger happenings (one story includes ghosts), and some well-known superheroes do appear (such as Spider-Man, Wolverine and Daredevil), but they're very much the exception. The stories featuring superheroes are at the more comedic end of the scale, whereas some of the mundane crime stories are bleaker and very much played for drama.
The first issue was released June 13, 2001. The series ended with issue 37, released February 01, 2004.
The Punisher (2001) contains examples of:
- Alcohol-Induced Bisexuality: Detective Soap, generally portrayed as heterosexual, ends up in bed with John 'Bubba' Prong, who he meets in a bar, after an especially drunken night. It's played for laughs, portrayed as just one more poor drunken decision by Soap. And then briefly played for drama, with the reveal that John is a serial killer.
- Enemy Rising Behind: Sid Saggio, the only gangster to survive the initial massacre in "Squid", was mocked by his associates for spending his weekends diving off Brooklyn, hoping to see a Giant Squid. When he finally confronts the Punisher on a pier, a huge tentacle rises up behind him and he's dragged into the sea and crushed to death. He does get a little post-mortem satisfaction from telling his associates' ghosts that he was right, though.
- Giant Squid: Sid Saggio, antagonist of the single-issue story "Squid", spends his weekends diving off Brooklyn in the hope that he'll see a giant squid. His thinking is that they wash up everywhere when they die, so why not Brooklyn? At the end of the story he has the Punisher, who's wounded and seemingly disarmed, held at gunpoint on a pier. And then a huge tentacle rises up behind Sid, grabs him and drags him into the sea, saving the Punisher. Sid gets a very close look at the squid before he dies, though.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Frank rescues a man with Identity Amnesia from the mob and looks after him for a few days. His guest complains that the food doesn't taste right. That's because his guest is an amnesiac Bruce Banner, and Frank's putting C-4 plastic explosive in his food so that he can detonate it to subdue the Hulk later.
- Temporarily Exaggerated Trait: Ennis writes Wolverine as a broad parody of his usual Marvel Universe portrayal. His intelligence and skills are downplayed and he's portrayed as a violent drunk who relies on his healing factor to survive.
- Writer on Board: "Downtown" takes Frank to Belfast, where he's caught up in the sectarian violence and gang wars that followed the Good Friday Agreement and the end of The Troubles. Writer Garth Ennis grew up in Northern Ireland and Frank's ally Yorkie Mitchell's explanation of the history and the current situation is a blunt and bitter Wall of Text.
