Don't Let DC heroes play with guns!

[Captain Smith]

So in 52 # 1.

Ralph is going to shoot himself. As he holds the gun, he crosses his fingers in back of the slide. This will give him a nasty cut when he shoots himself.

But can he shoot himself. Reed absorbs and stretches bullet with ease. How about Ralph?

Next: Montoya is draw wearing a shoulder holster with a revolver. How retro! Modern departments don't use revolvers much. Some old farts might carry but she, being younger, would have a semiauto.

Next, the butt of the gun is facing backwards. It's the wrong way - how does she draw it easily? Oops.

[Bat-Mite]

But can he shoot himself. Reed absorbs and stretches bullet with ease. How about Ralph?

It was pointed out somewhere that Ralph lost his powers at some point.

[phantom1592]

So in 52 # 1.
But can he shoot himself. Reed absorbs and stretches bullet with ease. How about Ralph?

Next: Montoya is draw wearing a shoulder holster with a revolver. How retro! Modern departments don't use revolvers much. Some old farts might carry but she, being younger, would have a semiauto.

Next, the butt of the gun is facing backwards. It's the wrong way - how does she draw it easily? Oops.


Ralph doesn't have standard powers. He gets them from drinking his special Potion. It was stated somewhere that ever since Indentity Crisis he stopped drinking it. I guess being a superhero isn't fun anymore.

Montoya doesn't have to draw her gun. When the police arrive at the scene, Batman already has the bad guys tied up :p

[mattx110]

montoya is lefthanded but uses a righthander holster so she reverses the gun because she reaches with her other hand. keep in mind i just made that up right now. but it does look cooler for cops to reach into the coat awkwardly and then pull the gun out and shoot then to just pull out a gun and shoot.

[Captain Smith]

Sorry, I wasn't up on Ralph drinkin his rubber-ade. I also noted this. When Bats aimed the gun at Alex and it went click - did he pull the trigger? If it was empty, the gun should have been at slide lock.

Shoulder holsters are passe except for driving situations. Guns on the belt are the standard nowadays.

[Joker2503]

I thought the 'click' on Batman's gun was him cocking the gun. I took that as 'Crap, Batman's really gonna do it unless someone stops him."

[Captain Smith]

If it was a semi, you usually don't cock the trigger except in unusual circumstances. One racks the slide. It could be him removing the safety - that would make more sense. Should of thought of that before.

[Dustin Griffin]

Its actually a "CHAK", I assumed he was cocking it. Judging by what the characters are saying I think you can assume that he definitely wasnt pulling the trigger.

[mattx110]

i totally missed something, this went from montoya's holster to batman shooting people like that......umm, there's no snap emoticon is there?

[Rylon]

If it was a semi, you usually don't cock the trigger except in unusual circumstances. One racks the slide. It could be him removing the safety - that would make more sense. Should of thought of that before.The real reason superheros don't use guns: They don't know how!

Seriously, people who know nothing about guns (which I'm betting is most comicbook writters) always think you need to cock trigger. Always.

[mattx110]

umm... we have superheroes like green arrow and others who can't dodge bullets. all guns in the DC including automatics need to be cocked to give them a chance to kick the gun away or shoot an arrow into the barrel(easier than it looks). duh. so as a rule, all DC guns, and maybe all comic book guns must need to be cocked.:D

[Captain Smith]

The Mythbusters had some expert archers try to split an arrow with an arrow like Robin Hood. They could consistently end the end of the other arrow. However, it wasn't moving.

I supposed GA is so much better than our world archers that he could do this. For what it is worth, in training simulations it is quite common for your hands and guns to get hit by your opponents fire.

[mattx110]

hey, that whole arrow-splitting thing is good to know, but i wasn't saying he'd have to split some arrows. just arrow the guy before he can shoot. and if the gun doesn't need to be cocked, he can't hear it twirl and shoot an arrow off before getting shot. he'd just have to get shot, and that would suck. he's my fav'rit commie archer since errol flynn. and well, i wasn't alive during erroy flynn's career so this fictional character is all i have.

[sehthan]

Seriously, people who know nothing about guns (which I'm betting is most comicbook writters) always think you need to cock trigger. Always.


You're probably right about most comic writers not knowing much about guns, but the real reason stuff like that is so common is that it's an easy storytelling device. Having a character cock their gun is a shorthand letting you know they are seriously about to shoot; and it adds an extra beat to the scene, building tension.