Hellboy's pistol

[Poe Ghostal]

Hey all,

Just some random speculation regarding Hellboy's pistol on a lazy Wednesday morning. According to Tad, Mignola based Hellboy's pistol design on a watergun. Has anyone ever seen a watergun like that? Tad, have you seen the real one? I'd love to see a photo of it.

The second question has some mild Island spoilers, so scroll down:












Does anyone know if HB still has his pistol post-Island? I think I saw it on the Fegredo page (and presumably Duncan can answer the question himself, if he sees this post), but I'm not sure.

[Neil Hill]

I guess my question would be, when would he have lost his pistol recently? I don't remember any scene where he would have lost it. Perhaps you thought he lost it while under water?

I guess you're right though Poe, because he didn't use it in The Island when he could have (several times), so perhaps it is lost.

[Poe Ghostal]

I don't even think he used it in Conqueror Worm. Presumably von Klempt took it away from him when he captured HB (I mean, why wouldn't he?). HB might have gotten another one from the BPRD at the end of Worm before he quit, but it's not clear.

And then, between being at the bottom of the sea for two years and "dying" after fighting a gigantic sea monster in Island, who the heck knows? I imagine it'd be tough to hang on to a pistol through all that.

However, I suspect he does have it (or will in Darkness Calls). It's an iconic part of the character (like Batman's batarangs or Ash's shotgun), and iconic weapons have a way of appearing in their owner's hands no matter the circumstances.

Maybe we'll get a funny little scene where HB finds the gun floating in a pool on the shore as he arrives in England.

[jackups]

Can i just ask do we not call it the Samaritan ,I like the idea,but do we just not use it for the comics.:confused:

[Tad]

The water pistol Mike used as reference looks nothing like any of the guns Hellboy has used except for the handle and trigger area. Hellboy doesn't have a single gun in the comics. Seems like they were blowing up or being lost in the early days. The gun only has a name in the Guillermoverse.

Making Hellboy the kind of character who names his gun doesn't match the comics guy, IMHO. Hellboy is more the type to choose whatever is at hand - gun, rock, wrench, statue of St. George, whatever.

[Poe Ghostal]

Yeah--it's a minor distinction, but I do feel that the Samaritan of the film is arguably a character all its own, whereas the comic pistol, while distinctive, is definitely just a big gun.

[Poe Ghostal]

The water pistol Mike used as reference looks nothing like any of the guns Hellboy has used except for the handle and trigger area. Hellboy doesn't have a single gun in the comics. Seems like they were blowing up or being lost in the early days. The gun only has a name in the Guillermoverse.

Making Hellboy the kind of character who names his gun doesn't match the comics guy, IMHO. Hellboy is more the type to choose whatever is at hand - gun, rock, wrench, statue of St. George, whatever.
True (and I've heard the exact same argument has been made for Robert E. Howard's Conan versus the Marvel Conan and his necklace, or the Conan of Conan the Barbarian and the Atlantean sword).

However, I do think having a big gun is an important part of Hellboy, regardless of how quickly he drops it. After all, you gave the animated Hellboy a big gun, yesno? Did you consider not giving him a big gun? Or giving him, say, a .45, rather than something with a big round barrel?

I agree comic HB wouldn't name the gun (though it does have a history in Seed, at least), but having a pistol of some sort seems to be part of the character's iconic design.

[Tad]

We definitely gave Hellboy a big ol' cannon but made it a multiple shot pistol. Hellboy would always choose the largest weapon that's still convenient to stick in his belt. He's not big on finesse.

It doesn't happen in either movie but HB wouldn't think twice about using the empty gun as a sledge hammer or throw it in the gears of some huge machine. Indiana Jones thinks more of his hat than HB thinks about his gun.

[Poe Ghostal]

We definitely gave Hellboy a big ol' cannon but made it a multiple shot pistol. Hellboy would always choose the largest weapon that's still convenient to stick in his belt. He's not big on finesse.

It doesn't happen in either movie but HB wouldn't think twice about using the empty gun as a sledge hammer or throw it in the gears of some huge machine. Indiana Jones thinks more of his hat than HB thinks about his gun.
I've never been quite clear on whether the comic HB gun was a revolver or a single-shot weapon. The GURPS guide says it's single-shot, but I suspect there are instances in the comics where HB fired multiple shots. Not that it matters--MM just did whatever the story needed, and it's not an important point (though, on a side note, I do think it's a bit amusing that HB fires off 5 or 6 rounds in the movie just after we've been given a clear shot of the 4-round chamber of the Samaritan).

In any event, I'm definitely not arguing that comic HB has any sort of a totemic relationship to his pistol. But I do think it's his iconic weapon, like Batman's batarang, or Jason's machete. Jason finds lots of ways to kill people, but when you think of Jason you usually envision a machete in his hands.

[Kelly Tindall]

I remember two guns from the comics... the gun that he got from The Torch of Liberty which seems to have been abandoned (like the Torch himself), and the Zinco gun.

The Zinco gun was definitely a multiple-use gun... He used it to kill several of the Women of Thessaly until it locked up and exploded.

HB's got a bunch of guns, I guess.

-K.

[Grim Tim]

Don't forget The Wolves of Saint August - that was the first instance of Hellboy having something other than his signature big-ass revolver (it was a more modern-looking semi-automatic type pistol).

He promptly dropped (and presumably lost) it, though...

[Phil Masters]

The GURPS guide says it's single-shot, but I suspect there are instances in the comics where HB fired multiple shots.
When we asked, Mike said specifically that it was single-shot. I think that we did indeed then find instances in the comics where HB apparently fired repeatedly without reloading, but the clearest such case seemed to be in Wake the Devil, so we concluded that was a Zinco-made new model - with the Zinco fatal flaws, and after it blew up on him, HB would be the sort to say "screw the fancy stuff" and go back to one-shot cannons.

It should be said that Mike isn't really a tech-head; I think he mostly just likes the idea of "Really Big Thing that go BLAM!", and the one-shot biggest-possible-shell idea just fits HB's style. Me, I like the movie revolver design, which combines proper Hellboy massiveness with multi-shot practicality and the old-fashioned idea that revolvers are more reliable (and you get to hand-load the grossly wacky bullets), but it's really all down to taste.

[Poe Ghostal]

When we asked, Mike said specifically that it was single-shot. I think that we did indeed then find instances in the comics where HB apparently fired repeatedly without reloading, but the clearest such case seemed to be in Wake the Devil, so we concluded that was a Zinco-made new model - with the Zinco fatal flaws, and after it blew up on him, HB would be the sort to say "screw the fancy stuff" and go back to one-shot cannons.

It should be said that Mike isn't really a tech-head; I think he mostly just likes the idea of "Really Big Thing that go BLAM!", and the one-shot biggest-possible-shell idea just fits HB's style. Me, I like the movie revolver design, which combines proper Hellboy massiveness with multi-shot practicality and the old-fashioned idea that revolvers are more reliable (and you get to hand-load the grossly wacky bullets), but it's really all down to taste.
Interesting--so Mike said it was single-shot? Cool.

I actually prefer the single-shot idea myself. It reminds me of Terminator 2 where Arnie uses the M79 grenade launcher, which can fire a variety of ammunition (including tear gas grenades, illumination grenades, incendiary grenades, and what's essentially a giant shotgun shell). I see HB's pistol as a highly modified, slightly smaller version of an M79.

[Ninth Hispana]

.....Well done Mr Poe,the 79 does indeed fire explosive grenades,though I don't suggest you use them at short range.HB's old gun is similar to a custom 79 but also some types of flare pistols.....

[Poe Ghostal]

Yeah, that's true Hispana. It kind of looks like a large flare pistol that shoots like a smaller M79.

On a somewhat related note, I recently became aware of bomb lances (http://www.whalingmuseum.org/kendall/whalecraft/arts/brand_adv4.gif)--something of a primitive missile launcher used in 19th-century whaling. It fired explosive missiles (the bomb-lances are actually the ammunition, and the weapon is just called a whaling gun), but in form and function it roughly resembles an M79.