The Punisher's Skull, a ghostly white skull with infinitely extending dintillaries, is usually painted on a pitch-black background.
Its popularity in the United States rivals Captain America's Shield, and it can be found everywhere in cultural shirts, mugs, and even socks. Many American soldiers and police officers prefer to use this totem for tattoos and doodles.
So, how was this totem born, and what is the meaning?
ABOUT THE PUNISHER
The Story of the Punisher
The Punisher, the Punisher, commonly known as Uncle Punisher, is a famous comic book character owned by marvel comics, a dark hero similar to Batman.
The character first appeared in Fantastic Spider-Man #129 (cover date February 1974).
Francis "Frank" Castle, an Italian-American, was killed by the mafia after witnessing a killing in New York's Central Park. Since then, Uncle Punishment has embarked on the path of "vigilante" ("civil protector") who single-handedly single-handedly committed crimes. He uses murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and torture to combat criminals. A veteran and former reconnaissance sniper in a reconnaissance company directly under the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force, he excelled in hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla warfare, and marksmanship, and was proficient in the use of a variety of weapons and firearms.
Variant cover of Original Sin #4 (August 2014). Art by Gabriele Dell'Otto
Punisher War Journal vol. 2, #5
(May 2007)
Cover art by Ariel Olivetti.
The Punisher Armory
When debuted in 1974, the brutality and bloodlust of the Punishers made him an outlier in mainstream American comic books. By the end of the 1980s, the Punishers were part of an anti-hero wave. At its most popular, the character appeared in the four-monthly magazine: The Punisher, Punisher War Magazine, Punisher: Warzoney, and The Punisher Armory.
League of Super Heroes
(2009-2011 American cartoon)
The Punisher also had some mainstream success on television, making cameo appearances in Spider-Man and League of SuperHeroes as the depiction of his violence was downplayed in front of a home audience. In the feature film, the Punisher has also been played by several stars.
The Punisher (1989)
Played by Duff Longel
The Punisher (2004)
Played by Thomas Jane
The Punisher: Warzone (2008) played by Ray Stevenson
Jon Bernthal played the role in the second season of the Daredevil and The Punisher TV series.
THE BIRTH OF THE PUNISHER
The birth of the Punisher
Gerry Conway, then author of The Amazing Spider-Man, conceived the image of the Punisher, and he also helped design the character's unique costumes. Conway recalled in 2002: "In the '70s, when I was writing comics with Marvel Comics at DC (Detective Comics), I would sketch out my ideas for the costumes of the heroes and villains of the new characters, give the artists rough advice, and represent the characters I imagined. Initially, Conway painted a figure with a small Grim Reaper skull on his chest. Marvel's artistic director John Romita, Sr. used this as the basis for the design, enlarging the skull to occupy the entire chest of the character. The Punisher, the artist of Fantastic Spider-Man, Ross Andru, was first published.
Amazing Spider-Man #129 (Cover time February 1974)
Stan Lee, then Marvel's editor-in-chief, recalled in 2005 that he had suggested the character's name:
Conway was writing the script, and he wanted a character who would later become a hero. He proposed the name "Assassin". I say the word assassin has too many negative connotations, and I don't think a hero in a comic book would be called an assassin. I remember before I had a relatively unimportant character, one of the galactic robots, and I used to call him the "Punisher," which I thought was a good name for the character Conway wanted to write. So I proposed, "Why don't you call him Punisher?" I was an editor at the time (Lee was named publisher in 1972), and Conway said, "Okay. ”
Netflix DRAMA "The Punisher"
PUNISHER ICON MEANING
The symbolic meaning of the Punisher totem
Among the superhero symbols, there are few provocative and inflammatory symbols such as the Punisher totem. Superman's Diamond "S" promotes decency and heroism, and Batman's bat symbol strikes fear. However, the punisher's logo, the ghostly white skull with teeth, is as daunting and controversial as Frank Castro himself.
Gais Ennis #57封面 the Punisher MAX.
Ennis's escape is considered one of the modern versions of the Punisher, the prototype of the "drip" skull image.
The allegorical meaning of the Punisher symbol perfectly occupies the most uncomfortable shady areas of the Wayne diagram: politically conservative viewers, law enforcement, and fantasizing about super-masculine power. For some, it symbolizes honor and perseverance, while for others it symbolizes aggression and destruction.
Garth Ennis (Stun Comics author Garth Ennis) notes that the character has been described as obsessed with revenge: "The Punisher sees the world in a very black and white way, and he solves his problems with an absolute end. "His reaction to any problem is to fight back if he is suspicious." ”
You Guilty
You Are Dead
You are guilty, you are dead
Marvel writer Steven Grant points out that Martin Heidegger took Søren Kierkegaard's philosophy a step further and closer to the description of the Punisher: "Since we can never hope to understand why we are here, if there is anything that needs to be understood, then the individual should choose a goal and pursue it wholeheartedly, even though death is inevitable and action is meaningless." "This is the punisher I imagined — a man who knew he was going to die, who knew his actions meant nothing to the big picture, but who pursued his own path because that was his choice."
God don't care of me.
So I must be in charge of myself.
God is blind to my things,
I can only be responsible for myself.
Conway, co-creator of the Punishers, said: "This is a great Locha ink test. Unlike Spider-Man, Spider-Man is Spider-Man, who is certain and will not change. Since the Punisher's description in the original book is brief, this allows for many different angles and interpretations. One can project all sorts of one's own ideas on him. Who you are, you will see in him.
Despite the various fans of the Punishers, this masculine character and its totem are clearly appealing to police and law enforcers.
soldier
The skull of the Punisher was originally used as a marker during the Iraq War. The U.S. military wears it as an unofficial armband or graffiti it on equipment. Especially during the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, THE Navy SEALs 3 often did this. The U.S. military widely uses the marking of the Punisher's skull because it admires the Punisher's superpower as a special operator.
According to the US media, the pursuit of the totem by former Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle (the prototype of the movie "American Sniper") has made the popularity of this symbol soar.
Kyle wrote in his 2012 autobiography: "We all thought what the Punisher did was cool, and he straightened it out. "So we inherited his symbol, the skull, and made it our own." Kyle and his men sprayed skull totems on Humvees, body armor, buildings and guns. "We want people to know, 'We're here, we're with you.'" ”
Former Navy SEALs sniper Chris Kyle
In the film Black Hawk Down, the Humvee machine gun mount panel is spray-painted with punishers
Enforcers
In late 2010, skull badges became popular in the Blue Lives Matter movement. Many companies produce decals, stickers, and T-shirts that are printed with the Punisher's totem and have a fine blue color, or cover the American flag over the skull.
In 2017, the Catersburg Police Department in Kentucky posted a Punisher skull decal and a sign with "Blue Lives Matter" on the hood of a police car. But the signs were later removed under pressure from public protests. The police chief said citizens and police have different understandings of its meaning, "We get so many phone calls that they say the disciplinarian's sign means we're going out and killing people, and that's not the meaning behind it." I didn't think so. ”
Catlettsburg police car decals
This Is Not Revenge ,
This Is Punish.
It's not revenge, it's punishment!
Although Conway, the creator of the Punishers, did not quite agree that military and police law enforcement officers believed in this role as a failure of the national judicial system. But also, as he says, the true meaning of the Punisher totem is in the hearts of its pursuers themselves.
Hummer Machine Gun Seat Punisher Patrol
Punisher Machine Gun Seat Culture Shirt