According to AC Comics, Western comics were at the height of their popularity from 1948 to 1958. The Western comics of those days would often use film stars as characters in their stories. Silver screen stars Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Tim Holt were just a few actors who had comic books written about them. Titles like Johnny Thunder, who was known as The Mystery Rider of the Wild West, were often seen shooting at bandits while saving the damsel. Between the '30s and the '70s, Marvel Comics published numerous gun-slinging westerns like The Gunhawk, The Ghost Rider and Kid Colt.
According to Comics Alliance, comics began picking up steam in the late '30s and early '40s. World War II was a very popular setting for many comics that were hitting shelves at that time. Heroes like The Blackhawks fought off Hitler and the Axis Powers long before the United States had even entered the war. The '80s brought the immensely popular G.I. Joe comics -- which, in addition to spawning a toy line, a cartoon, and a movie, printed 155 issues over the course of 12 years. Other popular war comics include Sgt. Rock of Easy Company, Frontline Combat, Enemy Ace, and Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.
Modern times brought us comic book characters from our own world that were willing to fight for justice with whatever means available to them. Unlike superheroes, characters like The Punisher's best resource for justice were guns. With every issue since his introduction in 1974, Frank Castle (The Punisher) bestows his bloody justice on organized crime figures in an effort to make the streets safer for ordinary citizens. Other gun-toting modern comic characters include the Preacher, Captain America and Deadpool. Deadpool was introduced in 1990 and was a member of the same mutant program that produced popular characters like Sabretooth and Wolverine.