Maggie, an NPR journalist, and Adam, a high school counselor, are like-minded, white, progressive newlyweds on the cusp of starting a family in Austin, Texas. On their way home from purchasing a pregnancy test, they’re accosted by two men with a gun, demanding valuables. Maggie, a Texas native, watches in horror as Adam quickly hands over their money. When the muggers demand Maggie’s new wedding ring, she’s prepared to stand her ground, but is utterly shocked when Adam tearfully pulls the ring off her finger. The men laugh at him for crying and then leave on scooters with the goods.
Adam and Maggie each process the experience in completely different ways. After reporting the incident to the local police and getting home, Maggie busies herself checking all the door and window locks and weighs her options for which kitchen utensil might be prime weapon material. Oblivious to her actions, Adam kicks back at the kitchen table, apparently relieved, patting himself on the back for how he deescalated the situation. He pushes Maggie into taking the pregnancy test, in hopes of finding a positive outcome to the day, but a negative result compounds Maggie’s distress. She surprises Adam by inviting friends over late at night, satisfying her need for safety and comfort, but confusing Adam. Their conversation turns to guns, igniting in Maggie the desire to purchase one for herself. Adam recoils at this idea, claiming that people like them do not own guns. But the very next day, Maggie purchases a gaudy American flag-painted gun behind Adam’s back.
What follows is a story of each character frustratingly steamrolling over each other’s needs and emotions as they fall deeper down the rabbit hole of the gun debate. Every character they encounter has a viewpoint to contribute to their journey, shifting their individual views, and creating conflict in their marriage. Meanwhile, a subplot builds with David, a troubled high school senior under Adam’s counsel. His mental health along with issues at home, school, with peers, and with his fledgling film career disenfranchise him enough to start him reading a mass shooter’s manifesto and researching guns. As he inappropriately encroaches on Maggie and Adam’s personal lives, the reader is led to believe he could become dangerous.
Billed by left leaning writer Dave Cowen as an attempt to “heal our polarized divide”, he and right leaning illustrator, Gabriel Wexler, use the characters to start a conversation exploring the deep divide over gun ownership. They touch on many aspects of the issue, like mass shootings, self defense, racism, and mental illness, although the length of the book prevents them from delving deep into any of those topics. It’s hard to cover this divide well and with enough nuance, and although I think the creators make a good effort, it’s a tall order. Their conclusion boils down to respect each other and try to get along, which is not surprising, but also not very deep given the harms and trauma done by guns in America. They don’t promise answers though, their goal is to start the conversation.
Where it gets clunky is in the dialog. Cowen uses brief narration at the beginning and end of the book, indicating where the story takes place and when time has passed, but doesn’t extend it to exposition, which then falls onto the characters to explain. This causes them to speak to each other in unnatural ways to the point where I initially thought Maggie and Adam were meant to be caricatures of what conservatives thought a progressive couple is like in private. As they encounter friends and colleagues throughout the narrative, some of them will launch into monologues to share gun history or philosophy as if they prepared a speech, contrasting sharply with the seemingly impromptu conversations they’re drawn in. This isn’t a story about two deeply connected people reconciling their conflicting and shifting views about guns so much as it’s an essay on polarization with a graphic novel built around it.
In addition to awkward dialog, there were some issues with the panel layout. The art itself is very simple, which doesn’t take away from the overall story because even with simple lines and color, character emotion comes through clearly. However speech bubbles often cover character faces and actions in a way that’s distracting. A handful of panels and even the occasional page seem to add little to the story and probably could have been cut or expressed in a different way. With so many creative and flexible ways to construct a graphic novel, I wondered why a panel-by-panel format was chosen to tell this story.
For content warnings, obviously guns are prominent, and while no one is injured by one on screen, people are threatened with them, guns are fired, and news breaks of a mass shooting. There is also marital conflict, brief mentions of divorce, abortion, and suicide. Maggie and Adam often ignore and cross each other’s boundaries throughout the narrative, up to and including sexual consent. Even with all the conflict, the book does have a peaceful ending, and Maggie and Adam reconcile their differences. Even David’s story has a positive outcome.
Even though I felt the format was ill-suited for this story and it’s a tough read, it’s still unique and could be a good fit in an adult graphic novel section. I think it’s a subject we need more serious coverage of in graphic novels and manga and I see Should We Buy A Gun? as a first step in a difficult ongoing conversation.
Should We Buy A Gun?
By Dave Cowen
Art by Gabriel Wexler
Seriocomics, 2025
ISBN: 9798992055092
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)
