The Virginia Tech/Punisher Link...

These pictures further heighten the coincidence. Thanks to Hot Air for linking my first post. It does seem that Cho Seung-Hui definitely had some inspiration before donning his clothing and choosing his weapons. Dr. Phil has suggested that video games are the source that provided the template for Cho's methods. Or, as I've noted, the visual parallels between The Punisher comic books and Cho's attire and weaponry are definitely worthy of further consideration. These points are not highlighted to point any fingers at the entertainment industry. Violent, hard-core action films, movies and comic books are here to stay. 99% of the public can be exposed to blistering violence and gore without descending into mass-killing murder sprees.

However, there are those who cannot help themselves. For certain individuals, there is no level of censorship or medication that will turn their twisted personalities around. Cho Seung-Hui appeared to be one of these individuals.

The majority of these Punisher drawings/pictures are by Timothy Bradstreet, an artist famous for his dark realism. Bradstreet has been creating cover art for The Punisher series for quite some time now. More pictures can be found here.

The way the Virginia Tech killer's pictures of himself mimic those of The Punisher is eerie. But in all likelihood, this is simply what it appears to be - a coincidence. Cho Seung-Hui was impressionable enough to play "Shine" by Collective soul obsessively. Perhaps he was also an obsessive comic book fan.

Interestingly enough, as a commenter pointed out in a previous post, Cho's attire and choice of weaponry also resembles many films of Chow Yun Fat, the protagonist in John Woo's Hard Boiled and The Killer. Both movies are classic Hong Kong film noir crime dramas. It is more than reasonable to think that Cho would have seen these films and become a fan of the stylized action sequences, in which hundreds of bullets are spent in wave after wave of bloody fighting. Ultimately, there may be no reconciliation between Cho's influences and his motives.