10 Questions with Gregg Hurwitz About Punisher #61
Russell Burlingame Reporting
ComicRelated: How connected is your Frank Castle to the Garth Ennis continuity? Ennis himself seemed to disdain continuity a bit and never really created too much of it, I don't think. Still, obviously every writer in an ongoing series leaves SOMETHING the next guy can pick up on if they're so inclined.
Gregg Hurwitz: What I've picked up on from Ennis is the aesthetic. He changed our understanding of Castle in so many ways, and added a lot more grit and street to the book. As for literal continuity, I didn't grab any threads from Ennis's previous arcs. Except dedicated readers will notice the homage in Frank's first captions....
CR: Obviously, you're a fairly new writer to comics. How did it come about that you would be following on the heels of arguably the most successful writer ever to touch this character?
GH: I love The Punisher. I'd done some writing for Marvel -- Foolkiller, Wolverine -- and my projects were mostly tough, noirish, real-world stuff. Axel Alonso knew how much I loved Frank Castle, and I guess he liked the work I'd done for him already, so he was ready to take a gamble on me to try to fill some pretty big shoes.
CR: Castle in this issue looks very movie-inspired...possibly even more than he has in the last few Ennis issues that I read. Was that just an artist choice, did it come from you or was it a Marvel directive to jive with Punisher: War Zone?
GH: If that's the case, it must've been an artist choice, though I don't think Campbell was drawing with that end in mind. I think it's just his style. I couldn't be happier with the job Campbell did on these books.
CR: It's interesting that, in all these years, your issue is the first time I think I can remember reading a Punisher comic where Frank actually says, "They're dead and no amount of killing can bring them back." Seems so obvious...what made you decide to tackle that?
GH: Well, I wanted to do something new without reinventing a wheel that didn't need reinventing. I thought that if I opened on the 30-year anniversary of Frank's family's death, we'd find Frank a bit more reflective, and perhaps open to a different kind of mission. Which is shortly what is presented to him. I wanted to get at the core of Frank, and that's something you can't drive at head-on. So as much as we find him reflective, he will only flit at the edges of that pain. We can find him weary, but we'll never find him beaten.
CR: This issue also has the feel of a Western in a lot of ways--particularly the old Eastwood "Man With No Name" flicks (also a comic at the moment). Castle as savior to some village of Mexicans seems like an unlikely match in a lot of cases. Is this a way of putting him on more of a traditionally heroic route?
GH: Yes, this is a clear Western/Seven Samurai theme, altered and MAXed out. I think it is unlikely in certain regards, but also perfectly logical. There are some punishments coming up that Frank is only too happy to mete out.
CR: Have you kept up on the women disappearing in Juarez, just over the border? This feels a lot like what's going on in Manhunter right now, too.
GH: Yes, I'm familiar with the Juarez disappearances, and this story riffs on that a little while being its own animal, with its own explanation.
CR: The "they are dead" monologue feels a bit like one of Rorschach's less disconnected rants; how do you feel a book like Watchmen has paved the way for characters like Frank?
GH: I'd say that the "they are dead" monologue owes more to Garth Ennis and Raymond Chandler. Not that I wrote it with anyone specific in mind -- it just sprang up in my mind while I was thinking about the book, and I thought it the kind of dressed-down street poetics that wouldn't be out of place in Frank's consciousness.
CR: It's interesting to see some of the pages here. As a novelist, and not necessarily someone familiar with visual storytelling, is it tough to lay out some of the dialogue-light or dialogue-free pages (like the ones where Frank encounters his "stalker")?
GH: Well, I write screenplays and pilots as well, so I relied on those skills a bit more when it came to the visual-intensive pages. Every medium requires different muscles, and while I can certainly draw on some skills I've honed in other fields, when I'm writing a comic, I always try to focus on the specific demands and challenges of that medium.
CR: What is it about Frank that would have led these people to believe he's a candidate for what it is they need?
GH: Whispered rumors. Enticing headlines. Heated word-of-mouth, stoked into legend.
CR: Do you have a tease for the rest of the arc? Any pages where he kills 37 people in one panel (It's happened before!)?
GH: I gotta go for 38!
Well, by now we know that a hated nemesis from Frank's past will appear. There's a lot of killing between here and daylight. And, as is always the case when Castle is involved, it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.
I'll also add that the end of issue #2 will find Frank facing an emotional challenge the likes of which he hasn't ever confronted.
Visit this week's Hot Shot of the Week here.
Learn more about Gregg Hurwitz at gregghurwitz.net.
Page last updated on October 12, 2008