See, if I was a villain, I would have started with missiles to draw them out, then dropped daisy cutters on them, and THEN send down my people to wipe out the survivors. And have another daisy cutter on hand, just in case.
Well, there’s logic to what you say, although I suspect that Tactical was more interested in punishing the Squad face to face.
Comics are weird. I remember when Superman was fighting Doomsday in the cartoon, and Superman flew Doomsday into space and then smashed him down in Metropolis. Superman could just Doomsday in orbit, problem solved. And he could have smashed a wheat field instead of causing untold damage to Metropolis.
Strangely, I’m beginning to realize that in the superhero medium there are just ways some things are done, even if they don’t make sense. It’s like the compulsory misunderstanding fight and then team up so common among Silver and Bronze Age Marvel characters.
“Comics are weird. I remember when Superman was fighting Doomsday in the cartoon, and Superman flew Doomsday into space and then smashed him down in Metropolis. Superman could just Doomsday in orbit, problem solved. And he could have smashed a wheat field instead of causing untold damage to Metropolis.”
Ah but there is a logic to these things, Scott. For example if Superman had left Doomsday floating in orbit, or thrown him into the sun, he wouldn’t have died, and they would’ve had to call the story something other than the Death of Superman. For another example, if Supes had smashed down in a wheat field with Doomsday instead of the middle of Metropolis, Lois wouldn’t have been around for him to die in her arms.
Not much drama having Supes die alone in a wheat field with only crows to witness his passing, right? I suppose the writers could have had him fly to Lois with his last strength and die then, but they chose not to do it that way.
I guess what I come away with is that the superhero genre has it’s own set of literary devices.
Clark Kent and his disguise (glasses) would be one good example. In the real world people would pick him out as Superman every time.
Another fiction is that superheroes could take out lots of men armed with guns. To a certain degree, some of the Batman techniques would work against an armed opponent, but then often they wouldn’t work. Essentially, guns trump handheld weapons (baseball bats, lead pipes, knives, etc.) which trumps unarmed fighters. They say “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight,” but they could amend that to “don’t bring martial arts to a gun or knife fight.”
Heh, well, if superheroes couldn’t take out whole crowds of gunmen, they wouldn’t be superheroes now would they? Nope, they’d be ordinary shmoes like you and I, who know the best way to deal with a gunman is to have a gun yourself (preferably one with a bigger ammo clip), and the best way to deal with a group of gunmen is to run away as fast as you can.
Actually, from what I’ve heard, a well-trained, experienced unarmed fighter (like a special forces soldier) could probably disarm a gunman, IF the gunman makes the mistake of bringing the gun within arm’s reach AND the fighter can take him by surprise. For everyone else, though, it’s strictly Do Not Try This At All (never mind at home).
To bring this back to your fine comic, it might have been more interesting to have the Iron Brigade bombard the Squadron with bombs and missiles then send their people in to mop up the survivors. The survivors would most likely be the Squadron’s most powerful, like Titanium Tom and Utopian, so it’d still be a heckuva fight. The only problem is Johnny Saturn almost certainly wouldn’t survive the bombardment-I don’t think his body armor’s THAT good.
Correction. A trained martial artist can disarm someone with a gun, especially if the person with the gun is not heavily trained, as long as they are in close quarters. The advantage of guns are their range. Once you get into melee range, the advantage shifts back to the martial artist, as few people know what to do when some guy is in their face, kicking them in the solar plexus.
Ranged weapons beat melee weapons until you get to melee range. In melee, a trained martial artist’s hands and feet are just as deadly as some melee weapons. There’s a reason why you never see Batman charging a line of gunmen head on, afterall. He jukes and jives, and attacks from odd angles (such as above), or from concealment or surprise, all in attempts to make marginally trained gunmen miss while he gets close enough to go to work.
See, if I was a villain, I would have started with missiles to draw them out, then dropped daisy cutters on them, and THEN send down my people to wipe out the survivors. And have another daisy cutter on hand, just in case.
Well, there’s logic to what you say, although I suspect that Tactical was more interested in punishing the Squad face to face.
Comics are weird. I remember when Superman was fighting Doomsday in the cartoon, and Superman flew Doomsday into space and then smashed him down in Metropolis. Superman could just Doomsday in orbit, problem solved. And he could have smashed a wheat field instead of causing untold damage to Metropolis.
Strangely, I’m beginning to realize that in the superhero medium there are just ways some things are done, even if they don’t make sense. It’s like the compulsory misunderstanding fight and then team up so common among Silver and Bronze Age Marvel characters.
Tara Time? Is one of the bad guys that attacked a chicken? I see a yellow body and orange feet.
Hi, Dustin! The beak-headed chicken is a character that hasn’t been properly introduced yet named Color Drunk. He pretty outlandish.
“Comics are weird. I remember when Superman was fighting Doomsday in the cartoon, and Superman flew Doomsday into space and then smashed him down in Metropolis. Superman could just Doomsday in orbit, problem solved. And he could have smashed a wheat field instead of causing untold damage to Metropolis.”
Ah but there is a logic to these things, Scott. For example if Superman had left Doomsday floating in orbit, or thrown him into the sun, he wouldn’t have died, and they would’ve had to call the story something other than the Death of Superman. For another example, if Supes had smashed down in a wheat field with Doomsday instead of the middle of Metropolis, Lois wouldn’t have been around for him to die in her arms.
Not much drama having Supes die alone in a wheat field with only crows to witness his passing, right? I suppose the writers could have had him fly to Lois with his last strength and die then, but they chose not to do it that way.
Good points.
I guess what I come away with is that the superhero genre has it’s own set of literary devices.
Clark Kent and his disguise (glasses) would be one good example. In the real world people would pick him out as Superman every time.
Another fiction is that superheroes could take out lots of men armed with guns. To a certain degree, some of the Batman techniques would work against an armed opponent, but then often they wouldn’t work. Essentially, guns trump handheld weapons (baseball bats, lead pipes, knives, etc.) which trumps unarmed fighters. They say “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight,” but they could amend that to “don’t bring martial arts to a gun or knife fight.”
Heh, well, if superheroes couldn’t take out whole crowds of gunmen, they wouldn’t be superheroes now would they? Nope, they’d be ordinary shmoes like you and I, who know the best way to deal with a gunman is to have a gun yourself (preferably one with a bigger ammo clip), and the best way to deal with a group of gunmen is to run away as fast as you can.
Actually, from what I’ve heard, a well-trained, experienced unarmed fighter (like a special forces soldier) could probably disarm a gunman, IF the gunman makes the mistake of bringing the gun within arm’s reach AND the fighter can take him by surprise. For everyone else, though, it’s strictly Do Not Try This At All (never mind at home).
To bring this back to your fine comic, it might have been more interesting to have the Iron Brigade bombard the Squadron with bombs and missiles then send their people in to mop up the survivors. The survivors would most likely be the Squadron’s most powerful, like Titanium Tom and Utopian, so it’d still be a heckuva fight. The only problem is Johnny Saturn almost certainly wouldn’t survive the bombardment-I don’t think his body armor’s THAT good.
Agreed. And, no, Johnny Saturn’s armor is not THAT good, although it’s certainly up to small arms fire and non-direct hits from assault weapons.
I don’t know, but I still three missiles seemed like overkill.
Correction. A trained martial artist can disarm someone with a gun, especially if the person with the gun is not heavily trained, as long as they are in close quarters. The advantage of guns are their range. Once you get into melee range, the advantage shifts back to the martial artist, as few people know what to do when some guy is in their face, kicking them in the solar plexus.
Ranged weapons beat melee weapons until you get to melee range. In melee, a trained martial artist’s hands and feet are just as deadly as some melee weapons. There’s a reason why you never see Batman charging a line of gunmen head on, afterall. He jukes and jives, and attacks from odd angles (such as above), or from concealment or surprise, all in attempts to make marginally trained gunmen miss while he gets close enough to go to work.