January 31, 2008

What Batman Thinks About Gun Control

I remember the 1st time I saw the new BATPOD Motorcycle that's gonna be in The Dark Knight, the next Batman movie. I was kinda mad because it had those giant-size guns on the front. Now, don't get me wrong, I think the new Bat-Bike looks really really great & is very unique. It has an awesome post-modern look that is refreshing to see. But, there was some Hollywood Industrial Designer-Guy who said, "Huge guns are cool!". Well, anyone who knows the Batman character knows he doesn't like guns one single bit. His parents were killed by a hand gun for Christ sake. Through out the history of the Batman comic books there has always been a theme with Batman & his rejection of guns. It's been an issue from the very beginning all the way to modern times. The other day, while surfing the net, I came across a story by this guy who is trying to collect all the "moments" where Batman is confronted with using a gun & how he rejects it. Here's a link to check it out. I think it's sort of in "rough-draft" but it's still pretty interesting to read & has some cool graphics. He's asking people who have pictures, or scans, of Batman with a gun to send them in. ( Ha Ha, take a look at picture up above where Batman is shoving a gun into the mouth of a criminal. It has the trademark logo "Grell", which I think is an homage to the famous Batman artist Mike Grell, kinda funny ).
CLICK HERE To Visit a Story About Batman & His Thought on Gun Use!!

8 comments:

Bubbashelby said...

I'm hoping the Bat-Pod shoots rubber bullets. I could see that as an homage to Frank Miller's Bat-Tank from The Dark Knight Returns, where Batman says "Rubber bullets...honest."

I think depicting Batman as having an aversion to guns in any form (like a phobioa of sorts) is silly. He is averse to taking life, yes, but can use a gun to wound or disarm, or disable a vehicle. In fact, I imagine Batman would train himself into an expert marksman for just such a reason.

Take for instance the scene in Batman Begins, where he turns a goon's gun on another goon's foot.

So I'm okay with rubber bullets.

Neal P said...

In Detective Comics #327, the very first "New Look" Batman story, Batman grabs a henchman's gun and holds it on the bad guys until the police arrive. This was editor Julius Schwartz's first go-round with Batman and he later admitted that this was a mistake. He just wasn't familiar enough with Batman at that point.

Anonymous said...

In Detective #327, the first "New Look" Batman story, Batman grabs a gun from a henchmen and holds it on the gang of bad guys until the police arrive. This was editor Julius Schwartz first story with Batman and he later admitted that this was a mistake. He was not familiar enough with Batman's mythos at that point.

Tommy! said...

"Rubber Bullets...Honest"
That's funny!

Anonymous said...

In Batman Begins, the Batmobile had machine guns to cut down obstacles (such as the garage wall on the rooftop chase scene in the first one.)

It's only there to get immediate dangers out of the way, not people.

ozz said...

The first panel is from a story in the first issue of the Batman comic book. I don't think the 'Batman doesn't kill' policy hadn't been put into effect quite yet. The books Batman Unmasked by Will Brooker and Batman: The Complete History by Les Daniels and Chip Kidd both elaborate more on that idea.

I'm not sure where the second panel comes from.

ozz said...

Ah, after I posted my first comment, I clicked the link to the other blog that you provided. I see that the writer mentions where each panel comes from.

Anonymous said...

"His parents were killed by a hand gun for Christ sake."

I thought Joe Chill killed his parents, in most continuities. What's this one where simple metal tools become sentient?