Who would think that the Punisher Morbius Man-Thing a bunch of public domain horror "monsters" would make for an engaging and thought provoking story. Just another reason to love everything [a:Rick Remender|52980|Rick Remender|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1284601593p2/52980.jpg] writes. ( )

There seemed to be a lot more potential in the Punisher's war against the Hood and his army of revived villains (as detailed in the two previous Punisher volumes), but writer Rick Remender instead chooses to set that aside and take the character in his most outrageous direction yet. Realising that the Hood has failed, Norman Osborn hires Wolverine's son Daken to take Frank down. Daken succeeds, not just killing the Punisher but carving him up into chunks. As the hardcore Punisher fanbase scream, "You can't do that!", Remender screams back, "It's comics - we can do anything!" then proceeds to prove this by having Frank stitched back together by the Legion of Monsters (Morbius, Werewolf By Night, Man Thing, The Living Mummy, Manphibian et al.) Now he's become a true monster: Frankencastle. If that sounds utterly ridiculous to you, well, yes, it is. But really, what's so wrong with that? We need more utter ridiculousness in mainstream comics, if you ask me. Comics should be fun.

Anyway, the League want Frankencastle to help him stop former monster-hunter Robert Hellgaard from killing off all their ugly-wugly friends. Reluctant at first, Frankencastle eventually agrees and what follows draws upon Remender's obvious love of horror comics, Universal monster films and old-time Marvel history. At times it feels more like Hellboy than the Punisher, but it's definitely more interesting than watching Frank Castle take down another drug cartel or other "real life" crime syndicate. If you read superhero comics primarily for escapism, this delivers exactly what you're looking for. It's only a shame it all falls apart so spectacularly at the end of the book, beginning with an unnecessarily padded rematch with Daken (a crossover with that character's own book, the non-Remender issues being particularly weak). Then it's as though Marvel wanted to press the reset button as soon as possible, without developing the idea any further, and Remender is given one issue to hurriedly tie up all Frankencastle's loose ends and restore the status quo.

The art in Frankencastle is mostly good, especially the issues drawn by Tony Moore, Roland Boschi and Dan Brereton (good to see him back in mainstream comics) who relish every moment of their monster mayhem. Though I'm normally a huge fan of the John Romita Jr. / Klaus Janson team, the opening episode seems a little rushed, and the art for the Daken rematch is awful, particularly the issues drawn by Stephen Segovia, whose work reminded me of the worst of the 90s. ( )