Thinking about what I want to research...

Originally I wanted to write about how comics portrayed the Vietnam War, but I was afraid that would take me too far away from the larger collection of comics about the Punisher. My original question looked something like this:

How do comics portray the Vietnam War?

This sort of question can be a bit precarious as it will be problematic for the scope of a six page paper. In an attempt to narrow it down, I thought a bit about how I might benefit from picking particular defining characteristics. I wrote down a quick list to help me think of a better question and came up with the following:

How does the Vietnam War play a role in the narrative and character development of super heroes in Marvel Comics?

This was getting a bit closer to what I wanted as it will allow me to look at other characters and their experience with Vietnam (Captain America, Nick Fury, and even Frank Miller's Nuke). It also limits me to one publishing house and for the purposes of this paper, I think that will be useful. I'm going to try this question out and see where it takes me. My main focus will still be on the Punisher, but perhaps there are more avenues I could take once I do some research.

Finding connections...

I was trying to think of additional resources for tying to understand the American veteran's experience at home. It's difficult because so many American movies deal with the war itself, and the return home becomes an afterthought. Perhaps artists feel the need to show the trauma suffered in war in order to help the viewer understand why it could lead to things like PTSD. When it comes to art about the veteran's return home, the most obvious it seems would be First Blood. I haven't seen the movie in years, and I would like to watch it again before I make too many assumptions from memory. However, John Rambo's (Sylvester Stallone) return home is fraught with society's inability to understand why he acts as he does. He assaults (and I believe kills) a police officer and then becomes a wanted man.

Another example is the Hughes Brothers' film Dead Presidents. This film has a similar narrative arc, as it follows Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) through his tour of duty in Vietnam, and then his return home. Again, the protagonist can't adapt to his home life after the harrowing experiences of his time in war. Curtis, much like Rambo, becomes a criminal in response to a society that can't seem to find a place for him. This movie also complicates the issue by introducing the concept of race, and the general difficulties and hardships people of color face in America

In all three examples, (the Punisher, John Rambo, Anthony Curtis) the protagonists seem to suffer from PTSD and there aren't any resources to  help them cope with their reentry into society. However, the comparisons seem to fall flat as there are a number of problems in making connections between the three. The media is different, and the intended audience is also different. For example, Garth Ennis's books, for the most part, get a "PG" rating and suggests a younger audience. The two films are both "R" rated, and this means the desired audience would be adults.

I'm curious to know how the rating system would affect publication and audience in comic books.

The beginning...

Garth Ennis's run on the Punisher (2001-2009) has been one of my favorite books in recent memory. It was published on Marvel's imprints (Marvel Knights and Marvel MAX) as an attempt to try and make edgier more adult comics, and a large part of the success of The Punisher in this new publishing run can be attributed to the freedom Ennis had to explore the truly dark parts of the Punisher mythos. For years, the comic battled with its identity. Even the most dark and brooding of vigilante heroes were still morally bound to rise above the depths of their criminal counterparts. This meant that heroes could do anything to prevent crime, but never at the cost of human life. If we think about Spiderman, Daredevil, and some of Marvel's other "street heroes," they were always able to avert dangerous plots and do so without anyone dying, including the villains. But this was never the case for the Punisher, who specifically set out to kill criminals, and only gave regard to preventing the loss of innocent life.

The inherent problem of the series became one of marketing and publication. The Punisher is one of the most violent mainstream characters in comics, but you can't sell violent comics to adolescents and teenagers without some blowback. So, in order to blunt the edge, a significant amount of his violence was toned down or averted through a series of plot devices. Now, the character is entirely more marketable to a target audience, but all of the compelling character development is lost. 

I think that a large part of the problem with the Punisher's character stemmed from his origin story and America's inability to deal with the reality of its failure to help veterans after the Vietnam War.  The Punisher wasn't imbued with powers as a result of some cosmic/radioactive/genetic deus ex machina. Instead, Frank Castle becomes the Punisher after watching his family get killed in the crossfire of a mob hit. His training and service as a Marine in the Vietnam war provide him with the necessary "powers" to fight crime and become a vigilante. And unlike Spiderman or Daredevil, who gain power and see this as an obligation to serve and protect society, the Punisher's response is only to murder those who would do evil.

When Garth Ennis took over the Punisher, the Vietnam War permeated the books, and it became apparent that it wasn't just the death of Castle's family that motivated him but the trauma of war was also part of it. By including the war and its impact on Castle, Ennis was able to transform the Punisher from a one dimensional character into a highly problematic and guilt-inducing part of the American consciousness.

All of this leads me to ask how it compares with other interpretations of American veterans returning home after the war.