The Abandoned An’ Forsaked - Did a Demon Seriously Kill the Punisher's Family?

CBR

By Brian Cronin

Published Mar 20, 2016

In their latest look at notable comic book retcons, CSBG looks at how the Punisher's family was apparently kiled by a demon looking to create the Punisher!!

In this feature we examine comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today, we look at how Marvel actually changed the death of Punisher's family to being DEMON-related...

Okay, so the first time we see the Punisher's origin was in his fifth appearance in Marvel Preview #2 by Gerry Conway and Tony DeZuniga...

So notice how he walked in on a mob hit.

A year later, in Marvel Super Action #1 by Archie Goodwin (I believe the first time someone other than Conway wrote a Punisher story) and drawn by Tony DeZuniga and Rico Rival. They repeated the origin, but for the first time, we get their last names, as we discover that it was the Costa crime family that was there (plus the tidbit that Frank first TRIED to go to the police with what he knew)...

We then see the two Costa brothers interact with each other...

Now, throughout this story, Frank has been telling his story to a prostitute that he had hired. He now gets to the part in his story where he comes to Florida to kill Bruno Costa, but discovers that he's already dead...

We then learn that the prostitute is a syndicate assassin and that she ALSO killed Frank Costa (totally off-panel!)...

So that was it for Frank and Bruno Costa...until it wasn't, in spectacular (ly bizarre) fashion!

Go to the next page to see how demons led to the death of Frank Castle's family.

Okay, so now in the Marvel Knights mini-series, Punisher: Purgatory, the Punisher kils himself and comes back to Earth as an angel of vengeance. You can read more about how the idea didn't work here.

In the final issue (like all the others, written by Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski and drawn by Bernie Wrightson and Jimmy Palmiotti), a demon known as Olivier reveals that he specifically CREATED the Punisher to gain a foot hold in hell...