u/Det_Rafto

Poor poor Frank

Recently Ive been doing a massive reading order on Frank. Starting from Circle of Blood and going through every main series the Punisher has had. And one thing I think has remained steady is I think Billy Russo is just a bad archenemy for the Punisher to have.

In the older series, he’s portrayed as a complete joke. Which I think works to show us that its a little silly for the Punisher to have a recurring villain. He has a couple of alright storylines like jigsaw puzzle but I don’t find him compelling or interesting at all.

Ennis completely ignores the guy which I think is a very smart move although you can argue Nicky Cavella is his interpretation of him in MAX. I think Cavella succeeds where Jigsaw fails because Cavella is a genuinely horrific monster who “pushes” Frank over the edge in “Up Is Down, Black is White”.

You then see Russo portrayed in Matt Fraction’s War Journal run. I think this Run actually has a pretty good start. Franks relationship with Cap is interesting and I think mostly works with 616 Frank’s character. The run quickly falls off at the halfway point and the Jigsaw arc is no exception. Its a boring arc with a storyline we have seen depicted many times and in much better ways. Jigsaw wears his own punisher suit with inverse colors and is again portrayed as a comedic idiot with no real menace. I think this Run introduces something interesting between the two however, Frank says something along the lines of Maria loving jigsaw puzzles and as a result something in him is inherently attached to Billy. He’s a walking reminder of his late wife. Is it silly? Absolutely. But at least its SOMETHING to establish between the two.

Rick Remender then uses Billy’s son Henry as Frank’s tech guy. It establishes tension between the two but Billy is only seen in one issue in the main run. He is then the main villain in “In the Blood”. Again, its a storyline we have seen much better a million times before. He’s not scary, menacing, he’s just boring and hollow.

I know he’s in Rosenberg’s Run which I havent read yet but I have heard absolutely nothing about him there so I can only assume he is still boring. And Benjamin Percy also has him in the current ongoing. Maybe Percy can have a good spin on him.

But those are just my thoughts. I think Frank has had very interesting villains in the past like Bushwhacker, Barracuda, General Nikolai, but not that many. So maybe it’s just because Frank isn’t made to have a rogues gallery. Do you guys like Billy? I’d love to hear what you guys think.