<P> A 12 - issue miniseries by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, again titled The Punisher (April 2000--March 2001), under the Marvel Knights imprint, revived the character's popularity . An ongoing series (37 issues, August 2001--February 2004), primarily by Ennis and Dillon, followed, succeeded in 2004 by an ongoing Ennis series under Marvel's mature - readers imprint, MAX . Returning the character to his lone vigilante roots, those series combined crime - focused stories with black humor . The look of the Punisher was modified further removing the white gloves and pairing his traditional skull imprinted shirt with combat trousers, black combat boots and a black trench coat . Castle has used this costume on occasion in mid-2000s stories before The Punisher War Journal vol. 2 . </P> <P> Continuing his run on the character, Garth Ennis used the freedom of the MAX imprint to write more realistic and hard - edged stories than had previously been seen . Ennis has stated that he would "like to see less superheroes"; this desire is reflected in the gritty, realistic tone and the anti-heroic portrayals of both the title character and Nick Fury, who made two guest appearances in the series . Punisher also made it explicit that Castle's timeline was fixed, while Marvel adjusted those of its other characters, with his history never altered or moved up in time . Promotional art for the cover of Punisher vol. 6, #44 (March 2007), gave his birth date as February 16, 1950, but that was removed for the published issues . After the departure of Ennis as writer, the series was renamed Punisher: Frank Castle with issue #66 . </P> <P> The imprint depicts the Punisher being active for almost 30 years, with Punisher vol. 6, #19 (June 2005) specifying he had killed approximately 2,000 people . Whereas the traditional Punisher stories remained within the United States and involved antagonists and settings of conventional domestic crime, stories of the MAX Punisher often focus on current events, ranging from corporate fraud to sexual slavery and the War on Terror . Many characters are past or current intelligence and military operatives from governmental agencies like the American CIA, the Soviet KGB, and the British SIS and SAS, as well as various militaries and militias from the Balkans and Middle East, including the IRA, all with agendas rooted in past conflicts like the Cold War or the Yugoslav Wars . </P> <P> The miniseries Born by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson further examines Castle's roots, tracing them back to his third tour of the Vietnam War, where he undergoes a psychological and possibly supernatural transformation into the Punisher to survive a massive assault on his fortification by the combined forces of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army . The one - shot Punisher: The Tyger, by Ennis and John Severin, went even further and showed that Castle had lived with murders, deaths and criminals from his childhood . </P>

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