The Punisher has always been a complicated Marvel antihero: a man whose creator imagined him as a reaction to the failures of government at home and in the Vietnam War. So why is the Punisher’s trademark dripping skull insignia — a menacing image used throughout history to denote imminent death — being painted on police vehicles, adopted by members of the military, and donned by white supremacists?
This episode of Endless Thread explores the story of The Punisher’s symbol as a meme, and looks at how well we understand its origins, its use today, and whether its creator — or Marvel — can take it back.
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
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it's a great show at a w b, you are in Boston, but examines the blurred line between the online world and the real world, and their recent series is all about means those little bits,
culture that are easily passed round. The internet and romantic convey a lot of information in a single glance means
changing everything, our politics, to our sense of humour to how we communicate online and in real life. I was recently too,
with an episode of the series of totally my wheel house, as both a young, copper, collector and a lover of effective logos. It's all about the punish her skull now to brag
but I had the very first punish are limited series. Comics are the kid and I love them
hunger, is a character that really appeals to a twelve year old. Who has a chip on her shoulder,
ass. He was about ass, but since his first appear
as a villain in spider man. The punisher skull emblem has escaped the pages of the complex and is now being painted on police vehicles adopted by
most of military and dawned by
supremacists something
The original creator of the character finds troubling does at least here.
is the story of the Punisher symbol as a meme, its origins its use today and whether its creator or Marvel or Disney for that matter can take it back. This is endless threat
hosted by a Everson and Ben brought Johnson.
origin stories kick off with radioactive spider, bites or alien planets, and some
some begin with good old fashioned bloodshed,
society. Won't
the guilty
he will. He was of young.
On that
an honourable soldier and he
had a family
I'm all his family was killed and cross fire in a mafia. She
out the central Park and when the police weren't able to bring me criminals to justice, he went and took the launch
don't hands. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid mower. If it's an emotional response, no, not vengeance.
Punishment to kill me
sure it wasn't intended to be a good guy, but he was intended to be a vigilante anti anti Euro who at least had its own code of justice and wooden cross. You know certain line, but was definitely consider
This guy knows a lot about the punisher because he invented him
I'm Jerry Conway, I'm a cop, a greater and tv writer
oh creator of upon assure and various other characters have appeared on tv and movies, including three punish our films, which we heard some snippets from Jerry was a professional comic book greater by the age of sixteen
he's in his late sixties, now with tufty white hair
he has a nerdy laugh dead. He follows statements with witches endearing on the internet. He describes him
as a minor pop culture icon and a modest
unassuming fellow well liked by those who don't know him and Jerry
is pretty modest. Considering he's scripted classics like marvels, the amazing spider man, it was
in that series back and nineteen, seventy four, the Jerry introduced, the punisher as a villain and exceptionally violent and murderous one
he was a bad guy the eyes in a Marvel universe. There is no such thing as a complete bad guy. You're not be.
No mustache, toilers admirable universe with demand. It becomes
on a shared has a real name, Frank Castle and, like so many bad guys in comic books. Frank has a tragic backs:
the horrors of fighting in the Vietnam WAR, followed by the murder of his entire family left Frank Traumatized, a misguided, tortured, soul,
still Jerry says over the years. The character has made it very clear what he does is wrong:
the ways enemies identify him. A huge terrifying
white skull with for extra long fangs plastered across his extremely muscular chest
and it's this symbol. We
I tell you more about because, even if you ve never heard of the Punisher
I bet you ve seen that skull emblem before the one with the
twenty eyes in the piano key like teeth, maybe you ve noticed it on tee shirts, hats, bumper sticker smashed up with pro,
police thin blue line flags. You may
have even spotted it. On officers, uniforms patrol cars or permanently etched on skin was a photo. Somebody attack
the blue lives, Punisher Lover in other, the blue stripe variation,
got it on their arm and then above it did had tattooed I dont reed and then below it. Punisher comics. I thought yep
so. We ve been wondering how, in the world did the mark of a fictional vigilante assassin who is not
society side and has a hit list. A mile long become a totem
mainstream law and order, and lately almost a visual dog whistle.
political factions in the? U S that seem increasingly associated with violence. Call me Amory seaports and call me then brought Johnson from the W B. You are pod cast universe. We bring you endless through
before we go any further
You might be muttering to yourself. Weight is the Punisher Sky
symbol, a meme. It has no impact font. It doesn't tell
story in multiple panels, but it does have the
their essential meme ingredients defined by our chorus of me MAX.
Its visa, you know I deal that is shared by people and it is modified and it avoids like a gene. There really ways in which we structure and then create a short hand for a whole set of ideas. I think at the heart of any mean in all matters back up to like a larger kind of mackerel.
Going on in culture like other means, the punish her skull is getting re mixed all the time. With a lot of the means we have explored in the series so far
that happens? Serendipitous Lee, but the Punisher Skull feels different. It hasn't just been tweaked or re purposed
according to its creator. Its meaning has been turned upside down and as a symbol, it might be in a major period of transition into something much more sinister. Today we're looking at how the punisher symbol has become estranged from the punishes origin story, which for most means is normal, but in this case its content,
show and at the heart of a battle, punisher style, to reclaim what the symbol means
Emory there were basically three places. I spent all my time during minuscule, because I was extremely cool
the record store, which is cool escorts,
the candy star, which my dentist would say, is not cool and the comic book shop with beyond the first to some, not a fall
I'm a book nerd, but I do remember the punisher from like the nineties, the nineties era of the Punisher. Ok, what do you remember
super rough looking. He was like unshaven super Harry. If his body was architecture, it would be from the brutal list school in a sort of like a chunk doubt of rough hewn slabs
plus, he always was surrounded by this like spiral,
of shells flying out of his guns out of his uzis or whatever you know, and in most
really. What I remember was that
huge white skull logo, because it was bad ass, as most schools are enduring Conway would agree when he was first dreaming up
I am sure he was inspired by an early comic book, called the phantom featuring a warrior against evil who wore a skull, shaped ring and his base of operations was the skull cave had so I received this is enormously cool.
And an end that, along with the idea of pirates, you know with the skull and crossbones you know of the pirates with something I thought it would make for you no kind of an interesting design for a guy who was an assassin unit working against the mob. That was the impulse for the skull going back to the phantom and too
joy Roger. The Jolly Roger was, of course, that black flag with the White Human School in diagonally crossed bones identifying a pirate ship there was about to attack. In the end, the punisher kept the scary skull lost the crossbones, but there's more to the genesis of this crazy popular skull motif than just swash buckling. Rogue pirates inciting terror on the high seas
According to NEAT Powell, I'm a cartoonist graphic novelist and I live and blooming Indiana neighbours, the first cartoonist
ever to win a national book award for his trilogy about the life of civil rights,
its leader Jean Louis and while name Might
live in blooming. Ten he'll always be
Little Rock Arkansas and a punk. Yes, definitely punk going
thirty years. That is one of the many punk and metal bans mate has played in. So he not only come
from subcultures teeming with school iconography and a military family. He was also a marvel kid back in the Eightys and Ninetys, but made says he didn't get interested in the Punisher, specifically until a few decades later fast.
forward to twenty. Sixteen he's living in southern Indiana gone about my business, taken, my kids to and from school when he starts noticing this pronounced shift towards a hyper masculine. Look we're talkin, big beards, blacked out trucks, Gandhi, cows and overrun
over that menacing long in the tooth. Skull image is obvious to me that the Punisher Sky
was central along with black and white american flags, etc.
Was central to the north
illustration of this. This
military aesthetic for Nate. Seeing the punisher symbol in this context was jarring,
So he starts researching the saga of the punish, her skull, icon and turning it into a comics essay beginning with the roots of the skull and crossbones or deaths head imagery. Naturally, I was expecting to land
on pirates. I was not expecting to land on a protein paramilitary unit as in private tears, and this is a really important distinction. We think of pipe
tears, Jolly Parent, Levin treasure, Horton Rum, guzzling Scully wags, with no real power behind them right, but private tears are different from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Privateers are given the nod and the financial backing of
Loney governments to seize and plunder enemy ships says Nate without
Following the usual rules of war not being outside,
the law simply being above the law bottom line. He discovered that this
who has always been a symbol of power beyond good and evil, but, first and foremost, a declaration of power itself,
in the twentieth century, the Nazis adopted the dead, said or total cup
The Nazi death head is a specific
design and its one that you can identify on pickup truck.
here in Amerika today, the skull was also used by: U S: troops throughout World WAR two, but especially in Vietnam,
come in the morning in the early seventys, we had, you know, number national traumas
young Jerry Conway, whose career was just getting off the ground at the time. The biggest of all was the? U S military involvement in the Vietnam WAR and for many
people of my generation that that was a fundamental social crime that we felt that the government was perpetuating, which
by itself sort of undermined to your senses. The government is a force for good, so
the pages of the amazing Spiderman. Jerry responded with Frank Castle in X, sniper turned skulls spot,
being vigilante killing machine it. It sounds like a came from frustrations with their governments use of violence- oh yeah yeah I mean it was it felt like that the government is taking on the wrong
people and ignoring the people who were really dangerous. The punisher was
controversial from the get go, but like any good comic
character and meme. Once he shot out of Jerry's pen into the Marvel universe. He kept evolving in gaining fans, lots of fans.
for a period in the eightys. The punisher was
became marvels, most popular character. Next Spiderman
Maybe Jerry says, because during the Reagan years the Punisher embodied this ultimate truth,
This notion that one man could wage war against crime itself govern.
it is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.
Just like a black and a black and white character in a black and white air? Exactly, and I think that I have often said that the punished
represents kind of a roar shark test for the error that he's that readers fought discover him in
for me and the early seventies. He was you know, response
two pages
national error in american history,
in the eighties he's a triumphant character,
representing you, don't black and white view of
the world and in the two thousand sees the dysfunctional punisher, the despairing tragic euro, who
is really an outcast and no longer represents anything except a zone it over the last few decades,
there have been punished, spin, offs books, films in tv series-
adapted and written by other people that have increased its visibility, and, it must be said, some of these mutations
great and some were decidedly not bring one of the options that,
Monsieur armoury reads kind of like a gun catalogue, and
but the movies are just so so bad
Jerry, refuses to see these movies, but all in all, while was
watching his blood thirsty baby grow up. He was proud of him, didn't feel too attached, and
Actually part of the value of the comics is that you can reinterpret these characters as long as you, you maintain some truth to the
original arch type that they represent. You can reinterpret for the first time in which are creating about fifteen years ago, though, something very different started to happen, not to punish her as a character, but to his
symbol, it left off the page and took a hard right turn, not in storylines, but serious,
I r l in large part because of U S, Navy Seal Chris Kyle Kyle served for tourists in Iraq and was our
led the deadliest sniper in. U S, history, he credits himself with over a hundred and sixty kills.
Chris Kyle also worshipped the Punisher his unit actually
called themselves. The punishers and put the skull insignia everywhere
in his best selling Memoir Kyle Rights quote we spray painted it on our home
yours and body armor, and on our helmets and all our guns we spread painted it on
every building or wall we could. We wanted.
well to know we're here, and we want to be with you.
You'd, I didn't think it was the best thing in the world, but I could kindest see it because the punisher
was that I was
sharpshooter in Vietnam and in his updated version, was a Iraq war. That
So you know it made sense to me that somebody working in that world, you know being a soldier, might embrace that. What
later. Jerry had imagined Frank Castle story as complicated cautionary tale to soldiers, like Chris Kyle, Frank, wasn't in anti hero. He was a hero, the punish your skull because
sort of an icon for some members of the. U S. Military iraqi security forces even show
militias in the fight against ISIS. Then huh
Punisher historian, Nay Paolo, says it made another leap. Moving from the
S military into american law enforcement as very clear
here direct response to the movement for black list,
throughout the United States around twenty fourteen writers,
tensions between police and communities of color were reaching a boiling point that notorious long thing. Skull started showing up on blue lives matter. Paraphernalia, police challenge, coins officers, uniforms patrol cars.
sending a message according to one Kentucky police chief, that they would
any means necessary to keep their community safe, which feels like coded language. In this
creator, Jerry Conway, could not emphasize, by definition, he's the opposite of what they are supposed to be. You know he is someone who is outside the law, taking the law into its own hands. So if there are claiming the punisher as
their symbol. There saying they are out outlaws and that they are criminals
and that they are enemy,
of society.
that really what they want to be saying enemies of the state within the state. Yes,
I mean it's it's it's such a
a mental misreading. You know of of the character that that Paul's me,
but the appropriation or misappropriation. If you ask Jerry of the punish her skull symbol, didn't stop there
Recent years, it's also become the darling of some on the right. Like Fox NEWS commentator, Sean Hannity, his predecessor present
from in less than two years now is given power back to you and factions of the far right who,
for whatever reasons, feel that government, modern society etc have failed them or left them behind or broken some kind of promise, which is not unlike the actions of the Punisher himself, an attempt to achieve justice through D
Dax, taking on the quote: forces of evil,
by any means necessary a variation of
Punisher logo turned up on some white supremacists, marching in the twenty. Seventeen unite the right rally in Charlottesville and its in vogue with the anti government militia movement, the three per centres: here's a guy. We talk to edit
Freedom Rally in Boston, this fall, who was waving a massive punisher flag, sat Skull, ok and three percent of the people and regionally fought the brain. Only three percent of the people. I am part of that three percent
it is not afraid of a gun, and, most recently it appeared among some of the armed insurrectionists that violently stormed the. U S capital. On January, sixteen agony is as against the Red Knight more. Obviously, there is a huge difference between stew.
backed police and military forces and paramilitary extremist groups, except in
world where off duty police officers are among the January Sixth writers, where military personnel eventually find work at black water and other private security firms, where
as the rage against the machine song says on those lines seem to be getting even more blurry, so neat argue
that no matter who is flaunting the punisher emblem. The skull is functioning
once again as a symbol of power beyond the law. We, basically God full circle. This logo has broken free from the gravitational
field of the Marvel Universe and any inciting influences on the character or its context. The college
simple itself reached escape.
Osity, but now we are back to its original. It's a ridge
intent,
original intent, or not the seizure of this specific skull logo, especially by american police, or some on the extreme, and far right, really pissed off there
who brought him to life and Marvel comics almost fifty years ago,
last summer after
the police officers wearing Punisher Skull, patches, well, cracking down on black lives matter. Protesters went viral. Jerry took me:
there is into his own hands, not quite punisher style. What did he do and did it work we'll find out after the break
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in June of twenty twenty racial justice protests were spreading across the country remote one.
Part of that, and also in the middle of the pandemic, like everybody else in going store crazy. So the publishers, Daddy Jerry Conway, launched the first
or be Elam skulls for justice campaign. His intentions were twofold: won support the black lives
or movement by raising money. For the LOS Angeles chapter in to reclaim the skull
potentially as a symbol for justice rather than for oppression, that, while the punisher was a very proper,
Attic hero he was trying to fight on the side of right, Jerry and
young artists of color to come up with a new interpretation of the punish her skull emblem, one that would challenge
its affiliation with quote: lawless police, oppression, fight fire with fire logo, verses logo and lots of artists answered this. Call
The top selling logo, designed by an allay based vietnamese Indy Comics artist, transformed the skull into a black power fist, the teeth, the fingers gripping the letters B. L am a blood red tier drips from one eye and by one metric the campaign was
matched success, raising over seventy five thousand dollars for the black lives matter. Los Angeles chapter farm
than Jerry ever imagine. As for Jim
is more abstract goal of reclaiming the skull for justice, I mean I I've heard one or two people on twitter
saying that, there is literally no way that the punish her lover can ever be anything except a sample of oppression, and I think that just get up now come on, but even if that were the case
sticking your finger in the eye of the bad guys is always a good deal and and putting out sweatshirts that had to be Elam Logo with the Punisher logo is a you know that it's a pretty, have t f. You too,
people who deserve to have a nephew Jerry says he launched the logo campaign independently, because
the symbol was already controversial. Also, this was what
black lives matter. Protesters were grappling with how white participants could be allies without appropriating the megaphone or the spotlight. So would Jerry's effort feel off
we had to get at least one perspective from the b l ranks and we did. But let's get one thing straight: first,
I am not a fan of superhero comics. I love anti heroes. Doktor Kimberly Mcnair is very familiar with the Punisher Cannon and
I am a member of black last matter, LOS Angeles
and I am also a pulse doctoral fellow at Stanford University and african and african american studies.
She actually studies, t shirt, culture and black activist traditions and Kin says
understands. Jerry Conway's intention to protect his creative legacy, set the record straight as
are as be Elam Allay, is concerned. Wiser premises are using this image to intimidate black people and no matter who a person-
is and where they are trying to up in that effort is something that I believe is
when the bull and something there be a lemme lay believes is absolute necessary, but
overall, we always try to coordinate efforts with parties that makes an even larger impact in. It also helps us try in steer the conversation towards. Not only has this happened to Mr Conway, and this was not the original intent or purpose or meaning of the punisher and punish a skull, but also how can we make this conversation more about not only the military use of the punishes skull, but the militarization of the police or Kim says to draw a line from that to be over policing of blackmail,
These two, how images of black people themselves have been collected or demonized in the service of white supremacy? Her point is there are so many possibilities to take the conversation about one symbol to the next level and to me this is really a beautiful thing, because it is Mr Karl ways. Ancient
way in to a movement that is about broader things. Jerry did tell us that he didn't expect that the black lives matter movement would adopt the justice themed Punisher logo. As there
but we still wanted to ask him a bigger question that we ve been puzzling over the one that hovered above the campaign. Do you think it's even possible to sort of give a movement a logo? Theirs is
saying, and I and I love the saying- is by Mr Watson season Morey Elder, and he says, if you have come here to help me you're wasting your time, but you have common,
Does your liberation is bound up with mine? Then let us work together right and so the idea of gifting a movement
imagery or assemble. You have to work with those people who are at the centre of the movement. You have to work with those people, dont give any thing,
you create it with the people. These days, the tug of war over the Punisher skull symbol rages on over the last few months,
team has gone searching for the punisher I, and even though we ve spied the tooth skull and plenty of places. It was
easy finding people who wanted to talk about it. We did, however, strike gold at the quote: stand up for
freedom rally in Boston event, organised to oppose vaccine mandates. There. We chatted with a few dozen folks about what that skull means to them and all
we can say is there is still not a clear consensus, doesn't mean it.
two about us.
Schools have always been a power symbol throughout the world, and how is this possible more than anything around a black Harley Davidson fat boy with eighteen on it
it's right there has to America flags on the bars and it looks awesome. I feel like the punishable I'm coming through America Patriot, supporting our country, yeah, that's cool skull. You have seen around. I dont like when the thin blue lines put over it, though, because as to boot liquor flag and when you put the punish her school over to boot liquor flag in the com
he killed police. I know quite a few areas do have in doing a they. They stand for work. You know we are there.
they re now withdraw chant. Why do you think that scholars assemble pain, hydrogen for justice? Doing what's right for the people go? I didn't know what it meant before anytime. I saw I would assume the punisher when now because I ve been to so many rallies and I've seen that on hats and shapes of people that are not very nice, I'm gonna blow illumined assume it represents a hate group or hit ideology, or something on that line in the fact that in two thousand twenty, when they still more symbol that are coming up, that we don't know over just like wild, we also taught you a comic book store owner. I've been mean, and he just wasn't sure I'll be honest. When I see it, I kind of my here's go
hold ups like because I dont know what the intention is behind its those last comments about the confusion, the not knowing that really stuck with us, because with some symbols, it's really clear what they mean. No matter the context. Take the swastika
Originally, in ancient good luck symbol, it has been forever corrupted by nazi propaganda. The confederate flag, pretty hard,
to defend as just a symbol of southern heritage and pride or pay the frog. The sad car,
even in he's, been used,
that all rights, internet bigot. These are just a few of the two hundred plus entries in the anti defamation leagues, hate, symbol, database. The Punisher school is not
currently one of them. Sometimes they really is just a representation of the Marvel character.
More and more it's an image that seems to denote a distrust of authority and trust in the ultimate authority of violence. It still has a foot in both worlds.
For now, what makes all of this extra confusing is that it's everywhere guns
at your local Walmart or army surplus store, and you can find anything from punisher pajama pants to tactical
best online. You can order skull, shirts and hats galore flags decals sticker.
For your gun. Mag pop sockets there's just
so much cool stuff for people to buy in punishing expert Naples, mind, that's the real danger
the symbol is so deeply embedded in pop culture. It can be hard to pin down its meaning. Is a person wearing it only
because they're a die, hard Marvel fan or as a dog whistle of white supremacy, maybe as this
signal of anti government sentiment, something in between does it become a gateway or a cover for those ideologies and political views. The more ubiquitous it gets as a really good case study
seeing how the symbol evolves in seeing how it gains power by appearing to lose political specificity and by normalizing
chest and paramilitary activity. It allows space for all that stuff to expand and continue
What, then, should be done in whose
be doing it.
the burden to wrangle, assemble gone wild, be shouldered by its creator alone? Is there any other entity that might
The dog in this fight, if you
ask be alarm ally, member doktor, Kimberly Mcnair, I think model should sue
want to imagine a world beyond punitive justice, but I'm thinking about
credibility, I'm thinking about ways to redress. Whore
that has been done by
who have profited. They made money,
Oh right, unlike say, Pepe, the frog who belongs to one independent artist named mad fury, the Punisher is the intellectual property of Marvel. Comic
which is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company,
one of the world's largest and most litigious media and entertainment conglomerates, one that takes copyright and trademark infringement quite seriously
Disney has been known to go after just about anyone using unauthorized mouse years day. Cares dj, dead, mouse, etc
It comes to unauthorized use of the punish her skull. There have been repeated calls by fans on social media for Marvel, slash Disney to do something when we contacted reps from Mars.
does need to find out where they are in this whole wrestling match. We got it. There's been a lot of dog and reporting on this issue in comic book trade, publications and from what we can tell because of some murky trademark territory. Marvel probably has limited legal recourse to stop
the spread of the punish her skull, especially when it comes to non commercial use. Police officers wearing punisher patches, add be Elam Protests, for example, but commercial use is not a trade mark. Grayer,
and it's really easy to get your hands on some bootleg punisher merge, Jerry's best, guess as to why Marv,
hasn't crack down on these unlicensed distributors. The promoters of the
are all fly by night. You know Etsy tighter
It is and it would be, like lack em all so far. The company has come out and publicly denounced racism.
when pressed on the preparation of the skull, a marble spokesperson, told gizmo, their stance is laid out in a twenty nine.
He punisher Comic in that issue. Frank castle in,
hunters to Nypd officers displaying the skull de cow tears it off and lectures them saying, quote
You boys need a role model. His name is Captain America and he be happy to have you, which is super helpful. If you actually read Punisher comics
a stronger, often from marvelling Disney might actually put an end to the power struggle over this meme. If I'd love out right
tell him not knowin, but if, as our power
sure authority, nay power likes to say the skull symbol has in fact reached escape. Velocity chances are.
This meeting will continue to have a life of its own and, in his view, trying to redefine the punisher symbol,
The character is a massive waste of time right now. Why can't? We just continue
spending that time and spending more time trying to prevent police officers from you know, killing black citizens without accountability. Sometimes you just have to recognise that there will be no reclamation.
Projecting Conway, the debate isn't over whether the punishes symbol can ever be reclaimed as a symbol for justice remains an open question, since the punisher was spotted
capital rioters, demand
on Marvel to retire, the punish her character and his logo have only gotten louder from both fans and industry leaders. Instead of cancelling him or killing them off. Jerry Conway says let the Punisher go dormant for a few years and then
reinvent Frank Castle, give him a new mission, maybe even a new identity,
There comes a time just like in the eighties when that character can be rebooted you knowing and
into something new. I mean my personal preference would be that the next adoration of the punisher would be a black that you'd have comes back.
and faces be issues that minorities
and the world face today. Maybe then the planet,
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Transcript generated on 2022-01-25.