JOAN the MOUSE

Real Name: Joan (last name unknown)

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: unrevealed

Affiliations: Nathaniel Bumpo, Punisher (Castle), Spacker Dave (former neighbors);
    Frankie (her dog)

Enemies: Ma Gnucci's men, Josef and his Russian gangsters

Known Relatives: none

Aliases: none

Base of Operations: a cottage in the backwoods of Vermont 
formerly an apartment in New York City

First Appearance: Punisher V#1 (April, 2000)

Powers/Abilities: Joan is a very quiet, unobtrusive woman who prefers to keep to herself. She frequently resorts to bakery in order to give herself an excuse to see someone or to demonstrate affection. She speaks at a barely audible level and does not watch the news because it scares her. That being said, she is perfectly capable of following orders and not completely flipping out when confronted with a violent situation.

Her dog, Frankie, proves the old adage: It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Height: 5' 4" Weight: 100 lbs.

History:
BTS - became the neighbor of John Smith, which was actually an alias for Frank Castle, the Punisher

(Punisher V#1) - Joan watched from the crack of her door as "Mr. Smith" returned to his apartment.

(Punisher V#2) - Joan brought "Smith" a plate of cookies.

(Punisher V#3) - Joan asked "Smith" if he'd enjoyed the cookies, and he confirmed that he had.

(Punisher V#5) - Joan had baked too many pies again, so she brought one to Smith.

(Punisher V#7) - Joan saw a trail of blood in the hallway and followed it into "Smith"'s  apartment and found a badly wounded Punisher--though she did not recognize the costume, nor had she ever even heard of the Punisher. She fetched another neighbor, Spacker Dave, and the two moved him to a bed to care for him. When some of his enemies, agents of Ma Gnucci, came looking for him, Joan feigned ignorance and they left her alone. Spacker Dave blew their cover, however...

(Punisher V#8) - As Castle lay there bleeding, Joan asked him why he killed criminals. She was hoping it was because he wanted to make the world safe for good people, but he told her it was just because he hated criminals. They then heard screaming from Dave's room, and Castle had Joan help her to his feet and hand him his ballistic knife. With her aid, he stumbled over to Dave's room and killed the two criminals who were torturing Dave for information. Castle then had Joan contact a "doctor" to perform emergency surgery on himself and Dave. In gratitude, the Punisher told Joan his real name: Frank.

(Punisher V#9) - When Joan heard that the Punisher was moving out, she told him that he made her feel safe. She really wanted to move out of the city and live someplace quiet, but she was too scared to do so. In fact, she was pretty much scared of change of any kind.

(Punisher V#11) - Dave and Joan saw the Russian throw the Punisher right through his own door and out into the hall. Castle yelled for them to run away as he was thrown through the door into Mr. Bumpo's apartment.

(Punisher V#12) -     After a month of not hearing from "Smith," Dave, Joan, and Mr. Bumpo noticed that his door was ajar. The found his room empty, except for three stacks of money, each with one of their names on it. Joan's note said:
    "Joan.

        Just go.

      Frank."

BTS - Joan took the money and moved to a small house in Vermont.

(Punisher VI#19) - While fleeing from an out of control firefight against Russian mobsters he had tracked to the backwoods of Vermont, a badly injured Castle stumbled across Joan's cottage. She found him passed out in her pond, helped him into her house, washed his clothes and hand grenades, brought him some bandage materials and sewing thread for his wounds, and made him some pies and cookies. Since he was in no condition to walk or drive, and as the men would be coming after him, Castle thanked Joan and told her to call the police to arrest him.
    Joan felt like she owed everything she now had and steadfastly refused to betray him to the police. So he told her to go retrieve the biggest gun from his wrecked car, and then had her set up the room for the approaching mobsters. As the mobsters came in, Joan did everything she could to help the Punisher, obeying his every order to the letter. Dozens of mobsters were killed, and Joan was only upset when some of the ducks were killed by stray fire.
    The leader of the mobsters, Josef, confronted Castle and Joan with his Rottweiler, Stalin, but Joan's little dog, Frankie, leapt at it and bit off its tongue. Josef fell into a hole under a rug that they had made, and Castle finished him off from there.
    Joan had a crush on Frank and tried to get him to quit being the Punisher and just stay with her. He stayed around for a few weeks until his ankle healed, helping her rebuild her house. At the end of that time period, Joan understood that he had to go

Comments: Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

 

Last updated: 05/03/04

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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