The Punisher: Born
| Born | |
|---|---|
Born #1 (August 2003)
Art by Wiesław Wałkuski |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher |
MAX (Marvel Comics) |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | August - November 2003 |
| No. of issues | 4 |
| Main character(s) |
Frank Castle Stevie Goodwin |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Garth Ennis Darick Robertson |
| Written by | Garth Ennis |
| Penciller(s) | Darick Robertson |
| Inker(s) | Tom Palmer |
| Letterer(s) | Virtual Calligraphy's Rus Wooton |
| Colorist(s) | Paul Mounts |
| Editor(s) | Joe Quesada |
| Collected editions | |
| Hardcover | ISBN |
Born is a four-issue comic book limited series written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by Darick Robertson, and published by Marvel Comics through the MAX imprint in 2003.
The miniseries was released through Marvel's MAX imprint, though the events of it are regarded as canon to the main Marvel Universe in Civil War Files, an in-universe spin-off of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe in which Iron Man notes that the Punisher is "the sole survivor of the Firebase Valley Forge massacre."
Regarding the ambiguous conclusion to the story, writer Garth Ennis noted:
"To me, that whole sequence was about – it's written in that classic way where maybe it's there, maybe it's all in his head. It's more a man coming to terms with his own fate, his own destiny, and the path he'll walk through the world. A man being honest with himself about who he is. At home he has the wife, the kid, the other kid on the way, meanwhile he's up to his neck in horror. He likes it, and he's coming to terms with that and admitting it. Ultimately, it's his ability to embrace this that allows him to survive and come home to his wife and kids. He's made a kind of deal with the attraction to the violence in himself that will, in a way, draw his family into that world too. Again, you can read it anyway you want, but that's my own personal take!"
Ennis announced in 2013 that he would be writing another Punisher limited series, and two years later expanded on this statement by revealing that the miniseries would be a Born prequel titled The Platoon.
Born documents Frank Castle's time serving as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps during his final tour in Vietnam in 1971. The story is told primarily through the eyes of Stevie Goodwin, a young Marine counting down the days of his service and Frank Castle, a tough Captain with a finely honed killer instinct and survival skills who is described as being "in love with war". The story chronicles a crucial 4-day period of the platoon stationed at Firebase Valley Forge, a remote strategic outpost on the South Vietnamese-Cambodian border.
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Wikipedia