Later, Police Chief Cameron Logan told io9: “We’re getting so many calls, and they’re saying that the Punisher logo we’re out to kill people, and that’s not the meaning behind that.” Cameron added that he would do “a little more research” in the future.įorhan explains away the dissonance as such: “It’s adopted a new meaning over the last few years.
In February 2017, a Kentucky precinct endured heavy criticism when it branded vehicles with Punisher decals with the words “Blue Lives Matter” over them.
Police brutality is a plague in modern America, yet the embrace of the Punisher by police is chilling, if not plain bad optics. Copyright laws seem to be unenforced after all, everyone has a skull.īut there is a disconnect between Frank Castle’s penchant for violence and law enforcement. Thin Blue Line USA, whose spokesperson Pete Forhan tells Inverse is a law enforcement “support company” that makes merchandise for law enforcement families, has a popular “Punisher” collection of flags, shirts, patches, and other items that combine the skull with the “thin blue line” design. The vast majority of Punisher stuff are produced and sold by Marvel, but it’s not hard to find the Punisher Skull without Marvel’s involvement alongside pro-police merchandise. It was a focal marketing point for The Punisher, the new 13-episode series streaming on Netflix. The skull, as ubiquitous as Captain America’s shield, is on jerseys, t-shirts, coffee mugs, even tube socks. For some, it symbolizes honor and gritty determination, and for others, unbound aggression and destruction. The Punisher’s Skull, a ghostly white cranium often painted over a pitch black background, perfectly occupies the uncomfortable shaded areas in the venn diagram of politically conservative audiences, law enforcement, and hyper-masculine power fantasies. But a white skull with long dripping teeth? The logo of the Punisher is as intimidating, and controversial, as Frank Castle himself. Superman’s diamond “S” communicates decency and heroism, while Batman’s silhouette bat strikes fear in those who prey on the fearful. Few superhero emblems are as provocative as the Punisher’s.
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