Lionsgate is ramping up for a big push at Comic-Con International next week for its two December-releasing comic book movies, The Spirit and Punisher: War Zone. Punisher: War Zone stars Ray Stevenson and Julie Benz and producer Gale Anne Hurd will be feature in panel on Thursday, July 24 from 8-8:30 p.m. Stevenson and Punisher cover artist Tim Bradstreet will be signing at the Marvel booth on Thursday, July 24 from 2-3 p.m.

Updated with San Diego Comic-Con panel and signing information including these cool new wallpapers.

Thursday 8:00pm-8:30pm Lionsgate: Punisher: War Zone Producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Incredible Hulk) and stars Ray Stevenson (Rome) and Julie Benz (Rambo, Dexter) take you into the world of the Punisher for an exclusive first look. You won't be prepared! Room 6B

Punisher #59 will arrive in stores on July 16 from Marvel Comics. The issue is written by Garth Ennis, with art by Gorlan Parlov and a cover by Tim Bradstreet. Here's how Marvel describes the issue: "'Valley Forge. Valley Forge,' part 5 of 5. Garth Ennis concludes his seminal run on Punisher -- in style. It all comes down to a tape. And what seven desperate and insanely powerful men have done to conceal it. So far, they're off to a good start: A Special Forces Squad has got the drop on the Punisher and is poised to fulfill the kill order. But then there's a twist -- a development no one could have seen coming, least of all Frank Castle -- and things get really interesting." Punisher #59 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.99.

List of PLAYSTATION 3 games compatible with DUALSHOCK 3 Wireless Controller in Europe. As of July 8, 2008. Punisher: War Zone (Zen Studios)

What was it that Humphrey Bogart said? "Here's lookin' at ya' kid!" Correct me if I'm wrong, folks! E,Punisher, Rios.....ENJOY

LOT #1056 Thomas Jane “The Punisher” signature costume from The Punisher. (Lions Gate, 2004) Consists of signature black skull shirt, black commando fatigue pants, distressed tactical vest with skull logo painted on front (and featuring large bullet holes) and custom leather trench coat. Completing the ensemble is a pair of stunt Colt .45 pistols from the film. $6000 - $8000

Click here to bid !!!

It seems these Top Tens might become a weekly affair here for the foreseeable future or until we ‘jump the shark’ and do a Top Ten with something about ‘babes’ in comics. God, I’m dreading the day I ever do it, but we aren’t above making other, very important and very serious, Top Tens that are formed with an exacting science, applied to rigorous tests, and made from only the finest ingredients.

Keeping that in mind, we’ve decided to bring you the Top Ten Manliest Superheroes. Now what makes a superhero manly? I like to think a ‘manly’ man is best known for his lack of knowledge on fashion, his chauvinist attitude toward feelings (marked by a great emotional dysfunction), and his general willingness to fight at the drop of a hat. Taking this all into consideration, we give you the Top Ten Manliest Superheroes:

6. The Punisher – Let’s face it, The Punisher’s all black attire and skull symbol won’t win him any Fab Five Fashion awards, making him all the more manly, and he certainly fits the bill of emotionally dysfunctional (a problem that goes back to his time in Vietnam). The Punisher is excessively violent, and he has no qualms about picking a fight, or ending it with a shotgun either. He even only has sexual relations with equally dysfunctional women (as he did recently in Ennis’ Punisher run).

The Punisher is the type of masculine tiger that is probably a little too dysfunctional for society or at least the one he lives in. He simply isn’t appreciated in his time. If only he lived in the Dark Ages then his manliness would be hailed across the land and stories would be told to small children about the Punisher who’d chop their head off and spit down their neck if they didn’t do what they were told. What a wonderful time.

Yo Micro and PUNISHER fans, I just want to share a work in progress, I look forward to critiques, my next project is a 18 to 20 inch sculpted figure, hoping MARVEL will pick it up.....who knows, maybe you'll be standing in line for an autograph at a Wizard World Con or Comic Con for my graph....(I did make a bobble head of one of my superior officers to prove a point, photos included, no names to protect the innocent, HAH!) As far as the bobble head, it was presented during my retirement party and promotion party for a friend that made Sergeant.....I'm still getting requests for more bobble heads......"Duh, and then I woke up!" Seriously, I'd like to thank Mr. Tim Bradstreet for his inspirational artwork which helped me set some of the poses. Enjoy! As always, Philly's own Efrain, PUNISHER, Rios.

Imagine if the best superheroes of all-time got together for one giant showdown. It'd be a gut-wrenching, no-mercy melee. You can stop dreaming. Welcome to RedEye's "Best Superhero" tourney, which will run over the next few weeks and determine the best superhero ever. Selecting the field was no easy task. RedEye's superhero selection committee talked with comic experts and spent hours deliberating before choosing our elite 32-superhero field. Now comes your part. The polls for the first round are open, and will close on Friday, July 11 at 2 p.m. The Sweet Sixteen will begin immediately afterward. Enjoy yourselves, and may the best superhero win! Cheers, RedEye

Taken in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The platoon was called the "Punishers" and this was located outside their barracks.

Hey there micro, I found this picture on the ar15.com forums with the following comment: 'This is a prototype weapon used by the Punisher in the final battle of the movie. It is a Smith and Wesson model 500 that was converted by Knight's Armament Co, by request from Jon Barton and Monty Hom to give the Punisher the most unique hand cannon ever seen! ' I can't vouch for it's validity, but it's a cool gun none the less, cheers, Matt

Josh sends in his custom Punisher tattoo.

Matthew send in some Punisher Tattoos he found while surfing the net.

In the realization of Punisher War Zone poster, were you given full autonomy or did you have any directive from director Alexi Alexander, or from Lionsgate? You obviously mean Lexi Alexander - The teaser I worked up was art directed from within Lion's Gate Film's theatrical marketing division. I had worked in association with Tim Palen before on the first film. I'd have to say they gave me almost full autonomy. I picked through the gallery stills and chose my favorite shots. I created a photo rough using elements of several shots to patch together a full version of Ray Stevenson that had a more complete unity of balance. I sent it over to LGF and they had very few notes for me, and those had to do with deciding upon a background as I had offered them several options. They picked what they wanted and then I illustrated the figure and painted it up digitally. It was extremely painless in terms of art direction. They pretty much just turned me loose.

Can you tell us when approximately will these posters be finished? If they are yet, are you thinking about their spreading?

As of now there is only one teaser image that I was asked to do. It is my understanding that it will be revealed at the San Diego Comicon in July.
I am hoping I'll get a crack at designing the theatrical posters but that decision has not yet been made. My name is in the hat if they decide to go that direction. As for spreading, do you mean leaking out to the public, or my thoughts on how this stuff is seen almost immediately after it hits the internet?
Either way, this stuff spreads like a wild fire. It gets released and everyone picks up on it. It takes about a day for anyone who is interested to get a look at stuff like this. Then the debate begins . . . It's either a work of genius or it's a complete piece of crap. People either love it or they hate it. Those conversations get so ridiculously emotional. And Punisher fans are a traditionally fickle bunch. Bless them all.

As you anticipated, you've been heard by the production as a consulting. Can you talk about this and tell us if you had direct contacts with the director or the cast?

I mainly talked about artistic direction with Lexi Alexander, the director, and Steve Gainer, the Director of Photography. This was just a phone conversation. Gale Anne Hurd wanted to bring me up to the set for a week but unfortunately my passport was expired. I missed a great opportunity to watch these folks in action and to share further ideas. But that's OK, they did just fine without me. I extremely appreciate the offer. Very flattering.

In the film, as seen in the trailer, a "Bradstreet Hotel" makes an appearance. What feelings did you have in seeing this little tribute?

I was working on a film in New Mexico last fall when I first saw evidence of this. Pictures had circulated online. I didn't know if it was a joke or if it was actually a set piece from the film. Gale Anne Hurd confirmed that it was an actual set piece. It's a pretty amazing tribute. Again, VERY flattering. I am honored that they would do something like that. When I saw the trailer recently I was just flabbergasted when I saw that in the actual context of the film. Gale, Lexi, Ray, Steve, and Lion's Gate have all been tremendously supportive and invited me into the family. That is very classy.

What are your future projects?

I'm finishing up "Bad Planet", a six issue comic series from RAW Studios. Also putting the finishing touches on my new art book "Archetype", it's a 300 page hardcover retrospective published by Desperado. Getting ready to go to print with "Shock Festival". Shock Festival is a tour de force journey through the twisted back-alleys of an underground Hollywood Babylon that never existed, but should have. I'm on tap to production design "Dead Of Night" later this summer. Dead Of Night is the film adaptation of "Dylan Dog". And finally, I'm working on a screenplay with writing partner Todd Farmer for RAW Entertainment based on my story. Hope to talk a lot less generally about that soon.

Will it be third time lucky for Marvel's most malevolent (anti)hero? "Our movie isn't a sequel." Leading man Ray Stevenson is determined people don't get the wrong idea about Punisher: War Zone. This might be the third movie to feature Marvel's dark avenger Frank Castle, but that's not to say Stevenson and director Lexi Alexander have any interest in following in anyone else's footsteps. "This isn't Punisher 2 or even Punisher 3," continues Stevenson. "It's a complete reboot. I don't want to take anything away from anything Thomas Jane did - and I think his movie stands up on its own - but our take's very different. It's a newer, darker version."

You can't blame Stevenson (Titus in the BBC's 'Rome') for wanting to distance War Zone from Jonathan Hensleigh's Punisher picture. Despite claims that his film would restore Frank Castle's reputation after the dire Dolph Lundgren movie of 1989, Hensleigh's movie emerged as a disappointing mixture of mis-firing star vehicle (John Travolta slept through his part as the villain of the piece) and curiously bloodless action film.

Sure, it might have aspired to comic-book writer Garth Ennis's sterling character relaunch, but in Thomas Jane (Stander) it found a Christopher Lambert look-alike with even less charisma than the Gallic star.

"Frank Castle has one story, the mythology stays the same," says Stevenson, "but I've been lucky enough to ground it in a different environment where Frank Castle belongs, a place which is very bleak and cold and dangerous."

If you're amongst the millions who didn't see the previous Punisher movies and you've never picked up the comic-book, Frank Castle (born Francis Casiglione) is a man driven to the brink of insanity by the murder of his family. Determined that the guilty parties should pay, Castle becomes The Punisher, a vigilante bent on meting out a particularly brutal form of justice. Since he cares little for the law, this one-man army falls foul of everyone whether cop or criminal. But even with the whole world against him, The Punisher continues to fight for what's right, regardless of whether society's sense of morality squares with his.

A long-term favourite with the Marvel crowd, Stevenson and Alexander hope that their picture will make Castle a bona fide A-list superhero. Their inspiration for this incarnation of the Punisher story is the acclaimed 'Marvel MAX' series scripted by the likes of Darick Robertson and the Irish-born Garth Ennis. A gritty title with an appreciation of Castle's past, the MAX books paint The Punisher as a man whose 30-odd years of killing have left him short on emotion and big on brutality.

Says Stevenson, "The one thing I concentrated on was to really make our movie as close to the MAX series as possible. I think we really achieved it in terms of the look and the tone. When I look at the dailies I think I'm looking at a 'MAX' book - it's the same tone." Meanwhile, the fact the script sticks closely to the source material would seem attributable to adaptors Matt Holloway and Art Marcum, the guys who scored a global hit with Iron Man.

And if fidelity to a great title doesn't win over the fans, there's always the weapons. "We've got some amazing stuff," enthuses the affable actor. "Frank's guns are an extension of his violent self. He has a Smith & Wesson .50 calibre handgun which could stop a tank in its tracks - it's a helluva thing. And they've designed a very special knife which is based on some of the weapons the GIs improvised when they were serving in Vietnam. It's a terrible weapon - it could cut people clean in two!"

As passionate as Stevenson is about Punisher Version 3, he can't rival the excitement of director Lexi Alexander. The woman behind the (frankly shocking) Green Street, the German-born Alexander is confident her film can embrace what the other pictures shied away from. In an interview with 'Wizard' magazine, she explained that, "the feeling of [this film] is going to be much darker, and I think that one thing the comic fans will realise immediately is that the world we create feels like the comic book world in terms of the look as well."

Not that it was easy to recreate the world as depicted in the 'MAX' magazines. "We shot in minus-degrees all night for eight weeks," laughs the director. "I had a cold for eight weeks and didn't see daylight for months. I felt like a vampire."

Still, it takes more than cold weather and late nights to aggravate Alexander. "Lexi's a kick boxing champion," says Stevenson with a real sense of admiration. "She knows what it is to be tough." And, by the sounds of things, the director realises that Punisher fans prefer Frank Castle when he gives no quarter. "Our film will definitely be a hard 'R', and, luckily, [distributor] Lionsgate has been great about it. They haven't given me any guidelines in terms of violence. I think they are a really good studio to make a violent movie with."

But can spilt blood and broken bones salvage a franchise that's long seemed out for the count? One thing seems certain - if Stevenson and Alexander stuff up, it'll be the end of Frank Castle's film 'career'.

Hot Topic unleashed these beauties over the weekend.  Support Frank no matter what the social engagement.

Visual effects company Pixel Magic has revealed that they are working on effects shots for 'Punisher: War Zone'. Their other credits include '300' and 'Spider-Man 2'.

How did you get involved in this project? My initial exposure to the picture was because of the studio, Lions Gate. They sent the script over to me to bid the visual effects work. I created a bid for the work as well as my approach to the potential vfx shots.

Before starting the making of the film, did you discuss with director Lexi Alexander about how to proceed? What were your meetings like?

I flew to Montreal just before production was to begin to meet with Lexi and the production team there. I met with Lexi Alexander, D.P. Steve Ganier, VFX Supervisor Bob Short, and producer Jack Murray.
We discussed the shots as they were conceived at that time and the relationship to my vfx breakdown that I had generated. As in all movies, the ideas discussed before shooting evolve as the movie progresses and shooting takes place in actual locations. The meetings were short and direct, with the idea that some of them would be worked out as shooting evolved.

Pixel Magic worked on other comic-based movies, as Elektra and Fantastic Four. What is the difference between these films and Punisher War Zone, regarding the special effects?

I think the difference between Punisher War Zone and other comic based movies is that the Punisher is based on the "real world", a gritty reality, as opposed to Fantastic Four which is more based on super heroes with fantastic powers. With that in mind, the vfx work must be based in reality and ideally, not even noticed. Frank Castle has no super powers, so we must be able to watch the movie without seeing the vfx themselves, the vfx shots need to support the story, not draw any attention to themselves.

The movie filming has ended since quite a while. How many months will it take to complete your work on the shootings? Can you describe the process that leads to the final realization of a special effects scene?

The movie is currently going through the editing process and very few of the vfx shots have been turned over to begin the vfx work. Studios today want to make sure the vfx shots will be in the movie and the cut is locked prior to turning over all the work for vfx to begin. This is the most cost effective approach, so that as few shots as possible will be omitted from the cut after we have begun the vfx process.

Was there an active collaboration on the set between you and the actors? Who are you most trusted collaborators? Can you talk about them?

The vfx supervisors on set were Bob Short and a Pixel Magic representative, Adam Howard (who represented us on set only). Now that we are in post, I have been interfacing with the creative team directly.

Can you describe the typical working day of a visual effect supervisor?

I will usually start on set around 6-7 am (assuming we are shooting days). During the day, I will interface with the director to make sure I understand what is expected for the upcoming vfx shots. We will shoot the shot or scene and then shoot the necessary elements to complete the desired effect later in compositing with possible cgi elements added during post. Detailed camera and lighting notes are taken during the shoot, as most likely, additional elements will be shot at a later time and the camera specifics must be matched as well as lighting so that both elements feel like they were shot at the same time. A typical day on set is 12-14 hours.
Once my day on set is complete, I generally have shots to review for other work that will be going on at the Pixel Magic office. So I will spend 1-2 more hours reviewing shots downloaded on my computer.

In today´s cinema, the most innovative and varied technologies are used. Which ones did you use for Punisher War Zone? Being this an old-style action movie, did you use "classic" effects?

As I mentioned earlier, Punisher is a movie where the vfx should only support the story, not be visible to the viewer. So the approach is more of a "classic" style, with as many live action elements shot to allow for compositing and only using computer generated elements where specifically needed. I cannot go into more detail about the shots in the movie at this time.

It has been often said that the aesthetics of this movie is much based on Tim Bradstreet work. Have you been conditioned by this in the creation of the visual effects? Did you receive any directive in this sense, regarding the final look?

Not for me, even though I am aware of Tim Bradstreet's work, I have not had discussion that the shots had to look like any of his work.
This is in contrast to the work we did on "300". For that movie, we had to match the look of iconic shots from the graphic novel by Frank Miller.

What are your future projects?

I am currently vfx supervisor on "A Thousand Words" and "Hotel For Dogs" for Dreamworks and "12 Rounds" for WWE and Fox.

At Pixel Magic, we just completed work on the John Woo epic "Battle of Red Cliff", "Get Smart" and "Nights in Rodanthe" for Warner Bros.
We are working on Hotel For Dogs, 12 Rounds and Marley and Me as well as Punisher War Zone.

Señor Microchip, Yo from Philly, hope all is well, Just wanted to share with all that I took the time to copy, cut and assemble that cute little PUNISHER paper doll. With my fingers the size of gorilla fingers and griping and cursing the scissors, I finished it in about 45 minutes (whew)! To Señor Craniodsgn of Spain, couldn't you have made it just a little bit smaller? Muchas Gracias. See attached to appreciate size. As always, thanks for a great site. Philly's own, Efrain,PUNISHER, Rios

Hola Señor Micro, I went to Philadelphia's Wizard World conference this past Memorial Day weekend and saw some really great stuff, but what caught my eye, and I had to purchase it, was this one of a kind blade that reminds me of the PUNISHER icon....overal length is 9.5 inches, blade being 5 inches. Blade is solid steel 1/4 of an inch thick at the center. It's double edged, a hefty 1/2 pound in wieght and hand made, rugged leather sheath, and the pommel is highly polished bronze resembling the famous logo we are all too familiar with.

The artist calls himself Hyena. The name of his company is Griffon Claw Armory. He can be reached at www.griffonsclaw.com all of his blades are unique, one of a kind only. He specializes in Mideval Weaponry and made to order weapons. See attached photo of my new blade and his card.

Thanks again, Philly's own, Efrain, PUNISHER, Rios