Marvel Comics in under fire for revamping its popular Punisher character by not only making him the leader of an Asian assassin group but redesigning his iconic skull logo, a move some fans have blasted as cultural appropriation.
The Punisher’s iconic skull logo has taken on a life of its own since being introduced in the Marvel comics in 1974, showing up among many activist groups right and left. But the company’s many artists have depicted the skull Frank Castle wears on his chest more or less the same for 40 years, Yahoo News reports.
But that grim logo is set to get its first essential redesign ever in the coming 13-issue Punisher series, due to hit magazine shelves in March.
Jon Bernthal in Marvel’s The Punisher. (Jessica Miglio/Netflix)
In the limited series, written by Jason Aaron with art by Jesús Saiz and Paul Azaceta, Frank Castle will travel down his most violent road, yet, to become the leader of the Japan-based assassin group The Hand — a villainous group that originated in 1981 in the Daredevil comics.
Since taking on the leadership of the Japanese ninja assassin group, Castle will be wearing a new skull logo that takes on the flavor of a Samurai mask, instead of the more literal skull design. Instead of a round pate, a pair of horns now sweep up from above the eye sockets, and the teeth appear more like fangs with a pair of Japanese-styled tusks arcing out right and left.
Some fans praised the new design. For others, it smacks of a white character appropriating Japanese culture.
Punisher Appropriating another culture. pic.twitter.com/tUxz4KhKGZ
— Todd Ace Crawford (Dream Investor) (@sigmacenturion) December 20, 2021
Marvel changed Punisher's logo to stick it to gun owners, but commit cultural appropriation!
Let me put this in language they'll understand: YIKES! This isn't a good look.
Meanwhile, nobody cares. It's like Matt Furie trying to kill Pepe. Once in culture, it's not your call. pic.twitter.com/rPIRFvTHxu
— Saeger Ryman (@saegerart) December 20, 2021
Great, now Punisher is culturally appropriating Ninja culture. https://t.co/OmgUyxpplK pic.twitter.com/ywHbibjWWD
— Danny Vapid (@DannyVapid) December 20, 2021
At least one of the character’s creators has been upset over appropriation in another vein. For several years, Gerry Conway, one of the character’s co-creators, has been furious over the fact that Frank Castle’s skull logo has been adopted by various groups that he hates — including gun owners, members of the U.S. military, and police officers.
In 2019, for instance, Conway blasted cops for using the the logo. He said that Frank Castle is a criminal and added, “Police should not be embracing a criminal as their symbol.”
Conway also went all-in for the Black Lives Matter domestic terror group and backed an effort to let BLM use the logo with his blessing as a way for the far-left to “reclaim” it.
“For too long, symbols associated with a character I co-created have been co-opted by forces of oppression and to intimidate black Americans,” Conway wrote on the campaign page. “This character and symbol was never intended as a symbol of oppression. This is a symbol of a systematic failure of equal justice. It’s time to claim this symbol for the cause of equal justice and Black Lives Matter,” Conway wrote in his “Skulls for Justice” BLM support campaign.
It would seem, though, that attempting to “reclaim” a piece of pop culture or somehow forcing groups to stop using it is probably a lost cause. Once something rises above its source, it becomes a force all on its own, one often divorced from it origins. The Punisher’s skull logo likely fits in that category.
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