Dark Wolverine #88-89 and Punisher (titled Franken-Castle) #17-20 (2010)

This series was retitled Franken-Castle for these issues, just to make it hard to alphabetize your collection.

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Frank is revived from the dead after having been cut into bits by Daken.  

He’s got the magical bloodstone for a heart, which gives him augmented strength and durability.

He immediately goes after Daken, for revenge.

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He hits Daken with a truck and a train.

He is about ready to kill him when Wolverine arrives to defend his son. So, having hit Daken with a truck, Punisher hits Wolverine with a car.

Daken takes the opportunity to watch the battle, wait until Franken-Castle is depleted, and then steal the bloodstone.

See this is the problem with Daniel Way. Most of his stories do the same thing over and over. This is the second time Daken has “killed’ Frank Castle.

The power of the stone makes Daken even more homicidal, so Wolverine flips sides to help Punisher take down the kid and get the stone back for Frank.  In the big final battle, though, he still stops Frank from killing Daken.

I am one of the few defenders of the Franken-Castle era, but I admit that these issues aren’t great.  Wolverine as a character barely makes sense (in terms of defending Daken and then not defending him and then defending him again).  It feels much more like Daniel Way’s influences here than Rick Remender’s.  Remender tends to be more thoughtful, while Way is all about nonstop chaos and action.

The next issue of Dark Wolverine will be the series finale, and the next arc in Punisher will conclude the Franken-Castle era.

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