Which Punisher movie villains are from the comic?

[Russkafin]

I know The Russian is... I believe Howard Saint was created for the movie, correct? What about Harry Heck (I think that was his name), the guitar-playing assassin? Is he from the comics, or did they create him for the film?

Also, when did the Russian first appear? Was it in the "Welcome Back Frank" storyline? The scene where Castle and The Russian fight in Castle's apartment is taken pretty much right from the comics, correct?

I'm asking all these questions because, someone wrote an editorial in our college paper about how the Punisher movie is nothing like the comic book... and he claims that the writers of the movie created The Russian to be a rip-off of the character Tombstone! So I want to write in and tell him he's very wrong, but I want to make sure I have all my facts together first!!

[Cool Blue]

Well I'm not sure about any if this but I'll find a good Punisher web site and tell you. That's if I can find one and If I don't respond within the next 48 hrs. I must have not found one, but I'll tell you just in case.

[Cool Blue]

I tried and all I found was sites based completely on "The Punisher" movie. I just couldn't get a fan site but I would like to see others try.

[Clayface]

Well, I haven't seen the movie, and its been a while since I read the "early" Ennis Punisher comics, so I'm not going to be much help. But, I can confirm that The Russian is most definitely lifted from the comics, and Howard Saint is definitely a new villian made up for the movie. I don't recall any guitar playing assassin in the Ennis comics, but maybe I'm just forgetting him.

Spacker Dave, Joan, and Mr. Bumpo are all also taken directly from the Ennis Punisher comics, though I don't know how true the movie versions are to their comic counterparts.

EDIT: After doing some research online, it appears that Harry Heck was indeed based on a character created by Ennis as well.

[Thanos]

Harry Heck appeared on one or two pages of Welcome Back, Frank, but he didn't sing and play guitar like in the movie and was killed very easily. Most of the character's personalities were completely changed for the movie. For example, The Russian was an obvious production of Garth Ennis's trademark humor in comics, but in the movie he was a mindless moron who never said a word.

The fight between The Russian and Frank was true to the actual fight in comics to a certain extent, but the way Frank kills The Russian in comics is completely different than the movie.

Here are some useful sites for reference:

http://www.thepunishercomics.com/archives.html

http://www.thepunisher.co.uk/

[Russkafin]

Thanks for your help, everyone!

[Bryangst]

Well, for those that have read Welcome Back Frank and seen the movie, you'd know that all of the similarities from the movie are from Welcome Back Frank. And since Howard Saint was created for the movie, the only two villains that are from the comic are the Russian and Harry Heck.

And yes, I will agree, the Frank/Russian fight was more true to the comic than I'd have expected it to be. For that, I give major props to the production team. If you actually think about it... the whole movie was fairly true to the comic, minus a few parts of the movie.