Tonight I went to see the Punisher at the dollar theatre. Not to be confused with the 1989 movie version of this comic, starring Dolph Lundgren, which I never saw, but wanted to at the time. I believe I had a graphic novel adaptation of the movie. I also had one of the first Batman movie. I pored over both of them like they were Bibles.

The Punisher was the first superhero that I really remember getting into. Seeing that movie tonight made me remember why. The Punisher, as a character, is supremely simple. He JUST kills bad guys. That’s it. He doesn’t worry about who he is, or where he’s going. Who he is is the Punisher, and where he’s going is to kill bad guys. It’s really very simple and joyful in its simplicity. He doesn’t really maintain a secret identity (but that’s not to say he doesn’t go undercover occasionally). He also isn’t a huge fan of getting distracted by pretty girls - like say, Batman, Superman, or Spiderman, who are constantly getting in trouble with girls (Quick History Lesson: Punisher originally appeared in a Spiderman comic, and then became a successful spin-off series). Oh, and he most assuredly doesn’t have any superpowers at all. Just a lot of guns and spring-loaded knives and anti-personnel mines. That and a seemingly endless ability to get shot and stabbed, but never stopped. It’s sort of a sweet life, totally devoted to his work. I can relate to that on some level, the single-mindedness.

Anyway, this movie was a hoot. I liked it much better than Hellboy, even though I’m a bigger fan of the Hellboy comic now. Haven’t picked up a Punisher title since I was maybe 16, I don’t know. While I thought Hellboy was kind of all over the map, and not close enough to what I think of the comic, the Punisher movie was pretty much spot on. Exactly as over the top, and ridiculous and filled with revenge murders as the comic.

Speaking of people dying, earlier I remembered this awesome book I once looked at at the store. It was called “Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death“. Seems there was this historical tradition in Japan of monks, poets and sometimes samurai of crafting a beautiful little poem just before they were about to die. They were really incredible, and usually welcomed the rest of death and return to Nature with open arms. This article has some samples in case you’re interested.

Tonight I also bought Philip K Dick’s “A Scanner Darkly,” and Neal Stephenson’s, “Cryptonomicon.”