Welcome back, Gangsters and Thugs, to Haunted Trails(!), your one stop shop for all your “behind the scenes of The Sixth Gun” needs! Joining me once again is ringmaster Cullen Bunn (the future conquering hero of the Marvel Universe) to pull back some curtains, dust for a few prints and reveal some things we may have missed in the latest issue of his and Brian Hurtt’s epic Oni Press yarn, The Sixth Gun!
This month brings us a very special issue of The Sixth Gun, and with this very special 21st issue comes more than a few significant revelations about the series and a few strong hints as to where we go from here. Enough of my blabbing though, let’s get to what Cullen has to say about!
Just in case you missed them though, you can catch up on all of the Haunted Trails shenanigans by peeping our coverage of issues #17, #18, #19 & #20!
Joshua Mocle: Let’s start with the most obvious foot forward here: this story has no words! You make it clear in the very first panel just why the book is nothing but art, but from a “behind the curtain” perspective what made you want to put out a “silent” issue?
Cullen Bunn: This issue was supposed to have words! This was a terrible printing error!
Just kidding.
A silent issue is something Brian and I have always wanted to do, and we wanted to wait until the perfect moment. We envisioned a scene with Becky invading a hidden stronghold to rescue Drake. What was sort of strange is that we knew this would be a tribute to the great silent issue of G.I. Joe that we both loved as kids. What we didn’t realize was that our silent issue would fall at the same point in the series–issue 21–until relatively recently. It was a perfect coincidence!
JM: Crafting a comic story that is almost entirely dependent on art to convey any and all messages proves just how much you trust Brian Hurtt with your characters and their story. Was the process of you two working on this issue any different than working on any other?
CB: The process really wasn’t that different. Brian and I met a couple of times and he asked if I’d leave a little room for him to add extra panels if he wanted. Other than that, I scripted this just like I would every issue.
JM: Digging into the story a bit, it’s clear that at this point Becky has had quite enough of the Knights of Solomon and shows absolutely no remorse in mowing them down upon discovering their compound. Is it safe to say that her character has now reached a point as a person that there’s no coming back from?
CB: Scoundrel that he is, Drake is the closest thing to family that Becky has. If my family was in danger and I was the only person who could help them, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to get them back safely. Becky has changed, yes, and her actions may haunt her for the rest of her days. But she’d do it all over again if she needed to.
JM: It’s clear that the Sixth Gun is guiding her physically, if not controlling her actions at this point. That is until she enters the compound and is blocked by the Seers. Given the immense power of the gun itself, just how powerful are these seers meant to be? And more importantly, if the most powerful of the six can be blocked like this, is it safe to say there are other things that can challenge their power as well?
CB: Well, the Seers were powerful enough to block the visions of the Sixth Gun, especially when it came to locating Drake. But in the end their abilities were no match for the weapon. After all, their vision-blocking abilities do nothing to block bullets. But The Six are not the only supernatural powers in the world, and there are definitely other artifacts and creatures that can challenge their power.
Continued belowJM: While the Sixth Gun has certainly generated projections before, it is clear that Becky is now controlling just how and why those projections manifest given her creation of a decoy on pages six and seven. What made you want to add this ability to the gun’s already healthy repertoire?
CB: The decoy Becky creates is something of a variation of the projections Becky used to communicate with Drake. The idea I had is that Becky is slowly learning to access and control the various powers of the gun. Someone like General Hume, for example, might be able to use all of the weapon’s abilities from the get-go, but not Becky. From a storytelling perspective, it gives me a chance to sprinkle in new abilities over the course of the series. The gun can do even more, and I’m excited for readers to see what’s coming. The next big “power up” comes at the end of the next arc, around issue 28. Then in the next arc, there is some really cool stuff set to occur.
JM: Finally, on page 8 we learn the dark secret of the Seers. It’s clear there has been some significant surgery done to these people. To my mind, this raises two primary questions: one, was this surgery what gave them their mental abilities or a side effect of them, and two, did The Knights of Solomon force these changes on them?
CB: I think it’s open to reader interpretation. I can tell you that in my mind they were individuals with psychic abilities, but the Knights of Solomon performed the surgery on them to focus and enhance their powers. I don’t think it was a pleasant experience for them. Becky shooting them was an act of mercy.
JM: Drake doesn’t seem too surprised when Becky barges in to save him, despite the monumental changes to her character and personality since they last saw each other. Is it safe to say things are going according to plan for him?
CB: Nothing goes according the Drake’s plans… at least not lately. He’s just one of those guys who rolls with the punches.
JM: Page 12 brings us a seemingly very important turn in the relationship of Drake and Becky, with it being Becky determining their course out of the compound. It’s a veritable “apprentice becomes master” moment. How symbolic did you intend this shift to be within the story? Or was it simply a matter of Becky just having a better sense of the place after just breaking through it?
CB: Yeah. Those few panels were meant to show a distinct change in the Drake/Becky dynamic. It’s a relationship that is important to the series for much more than the obvious reasons.
JM: This may be a spoiler, so I won’t ask it outright. But I will say that the man in that painting on Page 14 looks an awful lot like someone we know. Who’s name rhymes with “rake”. JUST saying…
CB: That image does look a lot like “rake,” doesn’t it? Yeah, that’s an important discovery. We’ll be driving that one home in the next issue. But wait… That image is ancient! How could that look so much like “rake?”
JM: Is it safe to say we’ll be learning more about this painting sooner rather than later? It definitely carries one of those “hey! This is important! Pay attention!” vibes to it.
CB: If by “soon” you mean “next issue,” then yes. I’m not saying we’re gonna give away all the details, but we’ll be spelling out some pretty big revelations.
JM: The epic escape sequence of Pages 15-18 certainly shows just how large the ranks of The Knights are at this particular juncture. Just how many ruffians and scoundrels have they got living down there? And how important are the sheer numbers of the organization to the story overall?
CB: There were a lot of the Knights living in the underground city before Becky and Drake got through with them. Now, there’s not so many. This was one of the largest strongholds for the Knights, so many of their soldiers were here. It was not, however, the only location. So, there are more of them. We’ll also come to find that the organization is even bigger than its members realize. The Knights of Solomon operate in a kind of circle hierarchy. Those on the outer circles aren’t really in the know. Some of them might not even realize they are working for the Knights of Solomon at all!
Continued belowJM: Really? A Rail Gun? That seems awfully excessive for a group that just went out of their way to keep Drake alive. Why have their attitudes suddenly shifted now that Drake is no longer tied down?
CB: If this wasn’t a silent issue, you would have heard the shooters say, “Just wing them!”
Nah. I think in the midst of all the chaos, they were just firing upon their enemies. At this point, with Drake and Becky bringing down the wrath of God, the Knights weren’t too concerned with keeping either one of them alive.
JM: On Page 24, it sure looks like the gun is telling Becky to jump into that lake. Given how much of an epically bad idea that is for Becky herself, is it safe to say the gun is officially operating out of its own self interest?
CB: The gun is almost always operating in its own interest. But even though diving into the lake may not have worked out so well for Becky, it might have been the only option left to her. Bullets are flying. Walls are crumbling. The gun was simply pointing out the only possible means of escape.
JM: So we finally meet the beast in the lake, or at least a part of it. What made you want to not reveal the full form of the monster and only it’s appendages. Or at the appendages the sum total of the beast?
CB: Another printing error! You were supposed to see the entire creature!
Actually, we discussed what this thing might look like, but in the end I thought it was more interesting to keep it hidden and let the reader’s imagination fill in the blanks. It’s sort of a Lovecraftian trick, which seems to fit considering the tentacular nature of this beast.
JM: *Gasp!*, there be a seal in that lake! (Or, if the legends are to be believed, the same seal we saw before after crawling out of the Maw. Either/or.) Why does this hatch have it’s own sea monster guarding it as opposed to the one in the Maw that was just strategically buried?
CB: The creature guarding the seal was probably put there by the Knights of Solomon. There’s nothing to say, though, that the magic of the seal didn’t cause that creature to get bigger and meaner.
JM: I think process of elimination tells us the guns themselves, or at least The Sixth Gun, is drawn to these seals. Given their immense power, how can Becky and Drake hope to keep them away?
CB: Who says they have any hope? In fact, it’s possible that they MUST go to the seals if they have any hope whatsoever.
As always, I want to thank Cullen for taking the time to chat and to Cory Casoni over at Oni for making sure the trains run on time! See you next month, chickedees!
