Lame or Not?

[GMartin58]

Just read an article that discusses weapons and includes the GH gas gun as a bit underwhelming. Thoughts? Is it cool or perhaps a bit lame?

https://www.cbr.com/bizarre-indy-comic-weapons/

[BiffPow]

I liked that it was non-lethal. Anyone can have a gun. Someone who cares about life doesn’t want to take it, and certainly not casually. It’s a thinking man’s weapon. Not lame.

[Ben Bentley]

I liked that it was non-lethal. Anyone can have a gun. Someone who cares about life doesn’t want to take it, and certainly not casually. It’s a thinking man’s weapon. Not lame.

I could not agree more!

[Lounge lizard]

It looks enough like a gun to fool me on first view. By the time a criminal realises it fires gas they're out like a light.

[rsaffle]

Not lame at all and it shouldn't be lethal, but it could look a little cooler though, kind of sleek and the handle is a little awkward to hold. It has an unusual angle to it when you point it. I like the tv show gun but I'm a fan of the movie version and the serial version too...both look more intimidating.

Question, does the serial Mauser with the gas chambers still shoot bullets along with the gas? I'm not sure.

[GMartin58]

Not lame at all and it shouldn't be lethal, but it could look a little cooler though, kind of sleek and the handle is a little awkward to hold. It has an unusual angle to it when you point it. I like the tv show gun but I'm a fan of the movie version and the serial version too...both look more intimidating.

Question, does the serial Mauser with the gas chambers still shoot bullets along with the gas? I'm not sure.

I'm not a fan of the movie gun as it seems ungainly but I love the other iterations including the radio gun that you rarely see! Bullets, Randy? I think not!! LOL!!

I always thought it was strange to base the 40's version on a real gun but I love the esthetic of it. In one story it was intimated that after expending one of the cartridges that it was ejected with a new one moving into place. Thinking about the operation...is the gas loaded into the cartridge under pressure or is there a reservoir of liquid knock-out drug that gets aerosolized by the compressed CO2?

Inquiring minds want to know!!

[striker]

Some of the ideas in the Hornet film and TV series were way ahead of their time. The TV series had a flying scanner that was actually a flying drone. Some people laughed at that but nobody is laughing now when you can buy your own flying drone. The idea of using gas that can harmlessly and instantaneously disable an aggressor is another one that is actually in use today. Not the gas gun itself but the use of gas to disable an aggressor.

Will a gas gun appeal to a new generation? Maybe a gas gun is underwhelming to some people. But what if the gas gun is changed to something that is unique and is more appealing visually? Personally I prefer replacing the gas gun with a Thompson machine gun (the gangster's machine gun) which will be more appealing visually. Some film makers share the same opinion as the writer of that article. So, they have replaced the gas gun with something else. Here is a Hornet fan movie where you can see the replacement for the gas gun in action.

https://youtu.be/M2Y8YFBdNzc?t=756

[AndyFish]

The only time I ever saw it in action when I was listening to the Radio Shows was with the serial, and while a gas gun sounds like a pretty decent alternative to a standard pistol the delay in both the firing mechanism and the lack of precision in where the gas pellet goes would make it a no brainer that if I were wearing the Green hat and mask I'd be carrying my trusty Beretta 92FS as my weapon of choice. But to a bunch of kids listening to the exploits on the radio I'm sure the gas gun seemed pretty cool.

[BiffPow]

The 92FS didn’t exist then (but they are good pistols). So what would you have carried during the serial/radio days, Andy?

[Jim Akin]

In the 70s, I always loved comics reprints and revival stories featuring the Golden Age Sandman, who (as I later learned) swiped a lot of the Hornet's schtick back in the 30s, including the gas gun and green fedora. (The custom gas mask he made part of his disguise was a big part of his appeal to me.) I liked the idea of a nonlethal hero who still got to brandish a cool-looking pistol. Sandman eventually ditched his green single-breasted suit and fedora for a more conventional bodysuit and a kid sidekick, Sandy the Golden Boy. There was still a nifty pistol, but in my opinion it cost him his distinctiveness within the Justice Society of America.

The idea of "gas projectiles" doesn't make a lot of sense when you stop to think about it, but neither does a guy in a batsuit, a princess with bullet-deflecting bracelets, etc. If "lame" equates to "highly implausible" or "practically impossible," then most of my favorite entertainment genres are lame. Sometimes you just have to lean into the fantasy.

[AndyFish]

No it sure wasn't- the Beretta came into being around the mid 1970s and eventually replaced the USMC's long held 1911 as the issued sidearm-- I've seen the 92 work after getting wet, being buried in the sand and basically stand up to incredible abuse. I was referencing if I were to be the Hornet today-- if we went back to the 1930s I would have probably followed the military's lead and gone with the 1911.

[GMartin58]

I've heard from some GH fans that the Seth Rogen movie disturbed them due to the lethal nature of the Black Beauty's machine guns. What's your thoughts on whether the Hornet should remain non-lethal or if he should use deadly force?

[AndyFish]

I do agree it's fantasy-- I'd rather not have another bloodthirsty vigilante out there-- I've had my fill of anti-heroes.
I didn't get all the way through the Seth Rogan mess, so I don't remember the machine guns.

[GMartin58]

I didn't get all the way through the Seth Rogan mess, so I don't remember the machine guns.

LMAO!! I've watched it 3 or 4 times I just close my eyes and hit the mute button when Rogen is on the screen!!

[BiffPow]

Rogen’s GH truly was a mess.

I’m down for non-lethal GH. I think that’s also part of the appeal of Batman, particularly the Adam West version. To my memory, the only character to die on the TV show was Jill St. John’s “Molly.” Even so, Batman was trying his best to save her. If the Hornet’s gas gun is “lame,“ then I suppose all of Batman‘s non-lethal gadgets would also be lame.

I thought the movie serials were well done. Despite the Hornet being the target of multiple death plots, he still left the criminals alive to be arrested and tried. That takes some courage - and it’s just good law enforcement, even if done outside the law.