Comic writer Gerry Conway has passed away aged 73.
Conway was a significant figure in the industry in the 70s and 80s, working for both DC and Marvel where he wrote the classic ‘Death of Gwen Stacy’ storyline and co-creating characters such as nobody’s favourite Robin Jason Todd and the much loved riff on Mack Bolan that is The Punisher! In his later years Conway campaigned to reclaim the classic Punisher skull iconography from its use in the Blue Lives Matter movement claiming that the character and symbol are symbols of systemic failure of equal justice, not tools of oppression to be brandished by trigger happy upgraded mall security guards.
Conway didn’t have to worry about misappropriation of the Skull icon in the 1989 adaptation of The Punisher from New World Studios as Dolph Lungren in the title role doesn’t even wear it, with director Mark Goldblatt deeming the look silly. Pfffft. Not as silly as all those naked Punisher meditation scenes in the sewer.
Lundgren is Frank Castle, whose fam is unalived in a mob hit, so he commits his life to taking out crime in all forms, which in this adventure mostly sees him stuck smack dab in the middle of a war between the Yakuza and the Italian Mob. Louis Gossett Jnr is a cop hot on his tail (with a badass leather sleeved Reebok jacket). Much maligned by comics fans on release as it strayed too far from comic lore, watching now it read as a halfway decent blood and bullet affair with a crazy opening title sequence that felt like Law and Order meets James Bond. The whole film gives big Mendoooza energy, which was the style at the time.
This was filmed in Australia, with Barry ‘Miranda’s Dad’ Otto in a supporting role as an inebriated thespian who acts as Frank’s informant. There is also a CES office in the background!
Comic writer Gerry Conway has passed away aged 73.
Conway was a significant figure in the industry in the 70s and 80s, working for both DC and Marvel where he wrote the classic ‘Death of Gwen Stacy’ storyline and co-creating characters such as nobody’s favourite Robin Jason Todd and the much loved riff on Mack Bolan that is The Punisher! In his later years Conway campaigned to reclaim the classic Punisher skull iconography from its use in the Blue Lives Matter movement claiming that the character and symbol are symbols of systemic failure of equal justice, not tools of oppression to be brandished by trigger happy upgraded mall security guards.
Conway didn’t have to worry about misappropriation of the Skull icon in the 1989 adaptation of The Punisher from New World Studios as Dolph Lungren in the title role doesn’t even wear it, with director Mark Goldblatt deeming the look silly. Pfffft. Not as silly as all those naked Punisher meditation scenes in the sewer.
Lundgren is Frank Castle, whose fam is unalived in a mob hit, so he commits his life to taking out crime in all forms, which in this adventure mostly sees him stuck smack dab in the middle of a war between the Yakuza and the Italian Mob. Louis Gossett Jnr is a cop hot on his tail (with a badass leather sleeved Reebok jacket). Much maligned by comics fans on release as it strayed too far from comic lore, watching now it read as a halfway decent blood and bullet affair with a crazy opening title sequence that felt like Law and Order meets James Bond. The whole film gives big Mendoooza energy, which was the style at the time.
This was filmed in Australia, with Barry ‘Miranda’s Dad’ Otto in a supporting role as an inebriated thespian who acts as Frank’s informant. There is also a CES office in the background!
