Legendary comic book writer Garth Ennis agrees The Punisher is no superhero - he's a gunfighter. The Punisher is one of Marvel's most iconic characters, a brutal and bloody vigilante who's known for taking down criminals with extreme prejudice. He may appear in Marvel comics and TV shows, but in truth he's an oppositional force, created to contrast with a traditional superhero's moral code. That's why many of the Punisher's best stories have placed Frank Castle side-by-side with classic heroes like Spider-Man and Daredevil.
The Punisher controversy was sparked when a St. Louis police union called on officers to use his logo in protest against internal investigations. Comic book writers were appalled, insisting that any law enforcement official who feels the Punisher represents them either doesn't get the character, or is probably in the wrong job. Legendary writer Kurt Busiek went one step further, claiming that the Punisher is a serial killer. Now another major figure from the comic book industry has waded into the debate.
Garth Ennis is generally considered one of the best Punisher writers in the business, and in an interview with CBR he's confirmed that he too thinks the Punisher is no hero. "Essentially he’s a gunfighter rather than a superhero," he explained, "and being one step closer to the real world as a result, he’s just the character you want when you’re exploring the nastier side of human existence."
Ennis' comment appears to suggest that the Punisher should be treated as a modern-day Western rather than a superhero comic, and frankly he's right. The best Punisher stories place Frank Castle in a frontier world where crime runs rampant and conventional law enforcement officials are unable to keep the peace. He embodies the desperate desire to exercise control and seek retribution in the face of the ugliness and horrors of modern society. Perhaps students of film have been looking in the wrong places when they debate whether or not the Western genre has died; perhaps its themes and ideas have simply been transformed into complex characters like the Punisher, who operate in a world that's disturbingly modern.
Like the traditional cowboy gunslinger, the Punisher is vengeance personified, a simple system operating in a complex world. He represents the hope that the criminal will get what's coming to him, that evil will be destroyed rather than accepted, and that the suffering of the innocents will be avenged. Of course, that doesn't mean the Punisher logo should be embraced by the police; the truth is that the police are supposed to represent the legal system that keeps evil in check, rather than choose a symbol that speaks of a lawless modern-day outlaw.
Source: CBR