Hrm...
further thoughts on the alignment thing...
(Disclaimer: everything I know about the Punisher is at least second-hand)
Personally, I figure that alignment really comes down to two things - what you're willing to do to get what you want, and why you want what you want. under that, the Punisher's alignment is really dependant on subtleties in the author's take. If his real motivation is "That's not right, and I'm going to make it stop." and he makes a serious attempt to avoid hurting innocents along the way when possible, that's pretty clearly Good. If his real motivation is "You hurt me in a way that will never heal, and I'm going to make you suffer - you and everyone else like you, for as long as there is breath in my body to do it." and he thinks of innocent casualties as "Huh. That sucks. Oh, well." then that's pretty clearly Evil.
On the Shocker side (to drag this kicking and screaming back on topic) I'd say that he's a chaotic evil, suffering from alignment shock as he starts (maybe?) dragging himself up the pole to good. He's certainly never stopped being chaotic, and he does tend to backslide a fair amount, but he's been giving his few virtuous neurons a bit of a workout recently. Currently in the story, I'd call him chaotic nuetral with evil tendencies. (the remaining evil tendencies mostly being in his NO MERCY mode.)
further thoughts on the alignment thing...
(Disclaimer: everything I know about the Punisher is at least second-hand)
Personally, I figure that alignment really comes down to two things - what you're willing to do to get what you want, and why you want what you want. under that, the Punisher's alignment is really dependant on subtleties in the author's take. If his real motivation is "That's not right, and I'm going to make it stop." and he makes a serious attempt to avoid hurting innocents along the way when possible, that's pretty clearly Good. If his real motivation is "You hurt me in a way that will never heal, and I'm going to make you suffer - you and everyone else like you, for as long as there is breath in my body to do it." and he thinks of innocent casualties as "Huh. That sucks. Oh, well." then that's pretty clearly Evil.
On the Shocker side (to drag this kicking and screaming back on topic) I'd say that he's a chaotic evil, suffering from alignment shock as he starts (maybe?) dragging himself up the pole to good. He's certainly never stopped being chaotic, and he does tend to backslide a fair amount, but he's been giving his few virtuous neurons a bit of a workout recently. Currently in the story, I'd call him chaotic nuetral with evil tendencies. (the remaining evil tendencies mostly being in his NO MERCY mode.)