Fifty Weapon Guitar: Comic Book Hinterlands, #15

By David Macpherson

In two consecutive Issues of Archie Madhouse in 1967, there were criminals who had weaponized guitars. The one from issue 87 said it was a 50 Weapon Guitar. 

 

A 50 Weapon Guitar?

 

That is a very odd and specific detail that needed to be explored. The story only featured a handful of the weapons so we felt it necessary to detail all the weapons. This issue of Comic Book Hinterlands is a lengthy list of those 50 weapons as well as a brief examination of Madhouse and comic book storytelling.

 

You will be ready to be a comic book villain after reading this book. Or, you will be at least ready to carry a regular guitar and swear that there are a lot of weapons in it. 

 

The Comic Book Hinterlands is an occasional e-zine that examines the strange tributaries of comic book history. It does not take itself too seriously, because we are talking about comic books after all. And who wants to read serious tomes about comics when you can read a goofy one? 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Macpherson
• Release date: May 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224632930

Book preview

The Fifty Weapon Guitar.

There have always been connections between guitars and weapons. Many times it is called an ax, as if the musician is about to cleave the audience in two. And when you play crazy well, you are shredding it. Weapons of mass destruction on a 33 and a ⅓  schedule.

And then we have the instances where guitarists attempt to destroy the stage they stride upon but bashing their guitar on it until the instrument is splinters.

That is just silliness. That guitar never had a chance.

But there are times when the guitar is a weapon. There is the famous 50 Weapon Guitar.

You never heard of it?

Perhaps it is not as famous as it should be.

This is from the comic book story, Captain Sprocket in The Mad Mod. from Archie’s Mad House #57 from 1967.

It is obvious that your ignorance is just a terrible mistake and you should rectify this as quickly as possible.

Or you can just ask us to fill you in and get on with this book. That seems like good advice and we can get cracking.

The comic book had a useless superhero named Captain Sprocket who was complete rubbish at everything he tried to do. The series is supposed to be funny, though much of these stories are an ordeal to get through.

This story is always the same. It is not too hot. Not as a funny superhero story. But as an ad for the latest musical weapon, this is a must read.

It has the villain, the Mad Mod, with a beret and long shoulder length hair. He has a special guitar with fifty weapons. This is amazing. We have heard of the guitar with seven weapons, but fifty is an accomplishment.

The comic story focuses on the guitar, but only demonstrates a smattering of the weapons it has.

The weapons we get to see are enticing.

What is interesting to note is that in the very next issue of Madhouse, they started the Captain Sprocket with another rocker who has a guitar with weapons. Did they not remember from the last issue that they did the same story? This might be lousy for a monthly reader of the comic, it is great for us for we can add the weapons from that story to this one list. It should be noted that the story from issue 58 did not call it a 50 Weapon Guitar, but we can dream, can’t we?

We will begin with the weapons that were mentioned in the two comic stories. This is a good way to make sure we do not miss anything.

1- Strobe light. There is a bright light that comes from the guitar. It blinds a bank guard.

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2- Tear Gas. Another bank guard complains about tear gas squirted into his eyes. That is a classic. It is not sure where in the guitar the tear gas is kept, though we think it was on the fret.

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3- Op Art Projector of Doom. That is not the name of the weapon in the comic book, but that is what it is, so we are rechristening it and from now until forever, it will be called the Op Art Projector of Doom. With the press of a button on the body of the guitar, a projection of