10 Comic Books That Made A HUGE Impact In The Real World

7. Batman Aids Gun Control - Seduction Of The Gun

Crime SuspenStories #22
DC Comics

Batman: Seduction of the Gun was a 64-page special one-shot released in 1992. It was created by John Ostrander and Vince Giarrano. The genesis for the story came from the senseless shooting of Warner Bros. executive Sandy Reisenbach’s son John. John’s family, friends, and colleagues created a foundation in his name and the creators at DC felt that they had to do something to help. All the proceeds from the comic went to the John A. Reisenbach Foundation.

In the story, Gotham City was overrun with new illegal guns thanks to a gang called the New Zealot Nation (NZN). Batman goes undercover as NZN informant Freddie Lasker who arranged to bring in a shipment of guns in an effort to trap the organisation. Robin also went undercover in the high school to protect Lasker’s daughter, Louisa. The gang’s leader, Chaka Zulu, found out Lasker was informing to the GCPD and ordered him and his daughter killed. Both Louisa and a recently partially parallelized student were killed before Robin could stop them, but Batman was ready and captured Chaka Zulu.

The comic had a decisive real-world effect in 1994 when Virginia governor Douglas Wilder sent 140 copies of the comic to the Virginia General Assembly to help persuade them to support his “One Handgun A Month” law. It was successful and the law was passed.

Contributor
Contributor

John Wilson has been a comic book and pop culture fan his entire life. He has written for a number of websites on the subject over the years and is especially pleased to be at WhatCulture. John has written two comic books for Last Ember Press Studio and has recently self-published a children's book called "Blue." When not spending far too much time on the internet, John spends time with his lovely wife, Kim, their goofy dog, Tesla, and two very spoiled cats.