>>150805579
People try to compare The Punisher to The Shadow and other hero pulps as a "gotcha" for why his sort of character (gun-toting vigilante) exists within the hero genre, but his archetype didn't really come into existence until Mack Bolan and the Doctor Who radio show (and arguably, long before that).

Liberals don't like The Punisher for the same reason they're uncomfortable with Mack Bolan and Dirty Harry. It's not because they're particularly gun-toting vigilantes who kill criminals, it's because of the framing and overall tone being not only very grounded in comparison to more fantastical counterparts, but in how this sort of archetype wants to double-dip. And because these sorts of characters belong to long-running episodic storytelling that sell themselves off of being power fantasies, shit gets messy. Pic related.