Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

Deliciously creepy, super violent, and Cloonan gets the Punisher.   She gets that he won't hurt kids or those involved in law enforcement - so long as they're clean.   It's gritty, it's dirty, and it's a revenge fantasy, pure and simple.   

That isn't to say that Punisher isn't complex: he has his lines that he draws in the sand, and to some he seems heroic because he truly does want to protect those who are innocent.   Those who others might not be able to help because they're not there, they don't see the day to day problems because they're fighting off larger level problems like alien invasions or people trying to destroy or take over the world.   Or perhaps there aren't any easy solutions within the law, so they truly can't do anything. 

Anyone like Frank Castle would disgust me in real life, but he brings to life and deals with real life problems: slow moving justice while people are injured or killed, for example.   He also deals with larger than life characters that aren't so much about real life - like The Face who literally collects faces.   Or at leas the skin off those faces.   He does so in a way that makes me feel better about problems that aren't easily solved: justice is oftentimes slow to give due process to, well, everyone.   Everyone and everything needs to be treated fairly and with care, but it's so frustrating sometimes. 

That being said, the Punisher is a far easier - and quicker - solution.   He simply strolls into town and kills all the drug dealers and murders and rapists that he can find and then moves onto the next town.   He's mobile, too, so he's spreading the bloody - and illegal - justice around.   (He's been on trial and everyone calls him out for being a mass murderer and serial killer.)   It's quick, it's neat, and it's a comic book so you know he never kills anyone innocent.  It would never work in real life, and it would be repellent.   But I need to deal with these issues.  I need catharsis.   And when real life inevitably shows me that justice is not always served, I have Punisher.  

I feel so much better after having read this.   Love, love, love this series!