It’s always great news when a network picks up a comic series for development into a television series, and we have news of the latest: Fox has picked up Marvel comic The Punisher, with Ed Bernero (Criminal Minds) as executive producer along with Marvel, to be developed by ABC Studios.

Deadline broke the story, and reports this about the project:

The Punisher is described as an hour-long procedural with a Marvel signature and a new take on one of Marvel’s more iconic characters, Frank Castle, a rising star detective with the NYC Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher seeking justice for those the system has failed.

We’re really interested to see what happens with this on a number of levels. They can’t change the name of the main character, but another detective with the name of “Castle” could be problematic. And will they be developing both The Punisher AND The Spectre, which they picked up earlier this year? Fox wasn’t particularly kind with Human Target, its last comics-based series, but we have great hope that Fox has learned from their wonky scheduling and will deal with these new shows more supportively.

They were even less kind to Locke & Key, which never made it past the pilot. The deal for The Punisher is a “put pilot” commitment, however, and that means that the network will pay a penalty if they don’t air the pilot. Here’s hoping. Fox has been GREAT with Fringe, so we’re cutting them A LOT of slack. We’ll keep you posted.