2 more examples of news propagandists exploiting Gerry Conway's rejection of the Punisher for their own leftist agendas

It's been a week or so since veteran comics and screen writer Gerry Conway passed away, and here's 2 more examples of leftists exploiting his rejection of his own creation, Frank Castle, for the sake of tearing down on crimefighting as a vigilante, Spider-Man's being built on this theme notwithstanding. First, there's Polygon:

Over the years, the character has been fleshed out by dozens of creators, multiple films, and even a popular Netflix TV series. Details and timelines have changed, but, through it all, Frank Castle has remained solidly in the realm of antihero. With hundreds of deaths on his conscience from his time as a shell-shocked vigilante, he claims to only kill those that "deserve it." Yet, considering the pretty clear PTSD he's suffering dating back to his first appearance, let's just say that he might not be of sound mind to make those choices.

Conway himself was actively outspoken for years around the misappropriation of the Punisher's logo by deluded militants vowing to take justice into their own hands. Both on his personal social media and through various interviews, he maintained that a violent police force would have no common ground whatsoever with Frank Castle. Deluded though he may be, Castle believes himself to be a complicated necessity in a world of bright optimism. In Conway's words, “He thinks he's doing right, but we know he's doing wrong.”

All this coming from possibly the same kind of people who do virtually nothing to make the neighborhood/city safer. What exactly is so literally wrong with terminating murderers and rapists? This kind of thinking is practically what led to the demise of Jason Todd in Batman back in 1988, even though it was never clearly confirmed he'd actually thrown a rapist off the roof in a storyline from several issues prior. Simultaneously, it's bizarre and hypocritical how the same propagandists never take issue with how Wolverine's been depicted killing plenty of similar villains in past comics, and nobody utters a word about that, if at all. Even Lobo at DC never seems to undergo this kind of scrutiny.

And then, interesting how they bring up optimism; the same people who go out of their way to defend Batman's angle at all costs, along with horror movie franchises and such like Aliens, and never had any issues with DC going miles out of their way to make their universe dark as possible in the worst ways over 2 decades ago. Also, what's so inherently optimistic in a universe where the Hulk and Daredevil reside and received such an emphasis? Or the X-Men and Dr. Strange? Somehow, it doesn't sound like an accident they brought up optimism. But, why do they think that bizarre exaggeration is actually going to make a great shield for their positions, built as they are on lapses in logic?

Next, there's Popverse, who begin with the following:

In 2022, Gerry Conway recounted meeting someone with "the Blue Lives Punisher logo — you know, the blue stripe variation on it" tattooed on their arm. "And then above it," he said, "They had tattooed 'I don’t read,' and then below it, 'Punisher comics.' And I thought, yep."

Was Conway telling the truth? Or a half-truth? Since he's gone, there's no way to ascertain it now, but if he was taking things out of context or lying about the tattoo saying "I don't read Punisher comics", that was very appalling, because it suggests he was trying to make out "right-wingers" to be inherently stupid and uneducated.

Conway's April 2026 passing has left a giant hole in the comic book community, and in looking back at his legacy, it's hard not to see his relationship with Frank Castle - who he co-created with John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru in 1974 - as less than triumphant. For his entire life, Conway held that the Punisher was not created to be emulated, and that the adoption of his logo by members of the military, police, and overarching alt-right movement signaled both a deep misunderstanding of the character and a moral failing of those institutions.

I'm not here to argue that he got any of that wrong. Even if he wasn't the guy who, you know, helped created the goddamn character, I'd take a look at today's headlines and be pretty convinced of his position. But what I am here to tell you is this - that as we remember Gerry, we should not only recall his critiques of the deeply confused wannabes that wear the Punisher's symbol - we should remember the time Gerry fought back.

That moment was in part the subject of a 2022 episode of the 99% Invisible podcast, which is where I got the opening quote to this article. The show, which is a psychological deep-dive into the ways design affects our lives and culture, decided to dedicate an entire episode to the Punisher skull logo, its usages by conservative groups, and of course, the comic book history that led Conway & Co to creating it.

To truncate the (very listenable) episode, Conway speaks about making the Vietnam War an important part of Frank's past, which he calls the "fundamental social crime that we [his generation] felt that the government was perpetuating," and the bitter irony that now members of the government are putting the Punisher skull on their squad cars and humvees. And after years of witnessing them do so, Conway found a perfect opportunity to counter their misusage, and in doing so, support a movement that those tough-guy claimants couldn't stand:

Black Lives Matter.

In 2020, as the nation saw a tide of protests inspired by the murder of George Floyd, Gerry took a stand in a way that only a comics legend could. That was the "BLM Skulls for Justice campaign," in which the seminal Marvel and DC writer tried to reclaim the logo "potentially as a symbol for justice rather than for oppression. That, while The Punisher was a very problematic hero, he was trying to fight on the side of right."

The BLM Skulls for Justice campaign gave artists of color - Demonte Price, Don Nguyen, Wess Hancock, and Sam Ines, to be specific - the opportunity to rework the skull logo into a symbol that stood against the alt-right, not bolstered it. By the end of the campaign, a number of redesigned skulls adorned merch like t-shirts and hats, and perhaps most importantly, raised $75K for the LA chapter of BLM. Now let me ask you this, reader - does that mean that Conway was successful?

No, or at least not ideologically. Also note how they obscure Floyd's criminal record, in one of the saddest cliches of modern times, which is to totally distort facts for the sake of political agendas. Oddly enough, the columnist does admit it's not like Conway's "campaign" was truly successful:

That's up to the individuals who come across this article to decide, and for my part, I think the answer is somewhere in the vicinity of: "not for long." The 'I don't read Punisher comics' guy is still doing his thing, most likely, and the logo is still being used in some outrageously toxic places (for example, as a personal motif of the current FBI drinker - sorry, director). But here's why I say this story matters. When Gerry Conway had the opportunity to stay silent about an important issue, he didn't. Whether or not the proverbial needle was able to move regarding the Punisher skull, he pushed. Listen to Gerry put the idea into his own words as he wrapped up that podcast interview.

"I’ve heard one or two people on Twitter," Gerry told his interviewers, "Saying that there’s literally no way that the Punisher logo can ever be anything except a symbol of oppression. I think that’s just, you know, no, 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 putting out sweatshirts that had the BLM logo with The Punisher logo is a, you know, it’s a pretty hefty 'F- you' to people who deserve to have an 'F- you.'"

Maybe the Punisher's skull being a symbol of something decent, or at least, a symbol not to be idolized, is a battle we've lost. Symbols can go that way. But as one of the greatest Marvel Comics creators seems to indicate here, maybe we can trade that skull for a middle finger, and maybe do just as well without it.

Well that has to be one of the most vile suggestions a would-be "journalist" could possibly make. And we wonder how good manners have deteriorated for many years, as less seem to be teaching any valid etiquette today. And somebody who makes a fuss over what he claims are "important issues", yet has none when it comes to the horrors illegal immigration into the USA has resulted in, has no business claiming moral superiority, let alone reading any comics himself. Come to think of it, what if he doesn't read Punisher comics either? Don't be surprised if quite a few leftists stay away from even the modern Punisher comics being turned out by Marvel, and from what I can tell, there's probably less at this point than before anyway. Besides, the real Frank Castle's tales pretty much ended when his last solo book did in 1997. Most annoying, IIRC, is that prior to the Punisher getting his own solo books, writers like Frank Miller and Bill Mantlo expressed dislike for the character in the very pages of the comics they wrote, all without considering it's not Frank's fault for the personality components he was built upon. Remarkably, writers like Steven Grant, Mike Baron, Carl Potts and Chuck Dixon showed more respect when said solos were launched, and the stories they wrote that I read portrayed Frank as anything but an insane man who didn't make distinctions between worser and lesser evils. What Mantlo did should honestly be expunged from continuity altogether, and now that I think of it, he was one of the earliest writers who put questionable politics into some, if not all, of his writings.

I guess if there's something really sad about Conway's passing, it's what he left behind - a political agenda he did not need to build up. Like various other comics writers today, he set a poor example by going out of his way to insult entire segments of fandom who did appreciate the subsequent stories starring the Punisher, which Conway didn't even write himself. So, did he believe successive writers who took even the most perceptive approach to how Frank could be characterized were wrong? Sadly, we'll never know now, and there's no telling how much longer Marvel's going to keep trampling on Frank Castle as a fictional character for the sake of woke brownie points.