The Punisher’s skull logo turns up in all the wrong places — what its creator thinks about it now

CHICAGO — The Punisher turns 50 this month.

Normally, when anybody turns 50, you want to congratulate them. But the Punisher outlived his welcome somewhere during the Reagan administration. He is an artifact of a time when Americans could still agree broadly on what was right or wrong, moral or criminal. He should have died decades ago, and yet there he is, every day, glowering.

Probably, you don’t know you’re looking at him. He’s cultural white noise to many and a cultural dog whistle to others. He stares at you from T-shirts and tattoos and, most noticeably, those little stickers on the backs of cars — or rather, typically, from the back windows of big trucks and SUVs. The bigger the wheels, the more likely it’ll have a Punisher sticker, looking super spooky and warning you without really saying anything.

The Punisher logo is a skull with four teeth