Written by Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by Brian HurttAs Becky learns more about the Sword of Abraham’s secret war, she unlocks a new power of The Sixth Gun. Meanwhile, Drake is offered membership into a clandestine group with sinister intentions–and refusal may mean death! And Gord encounters ghosts of his past and enters a game of wits with an evil man thought long dead.
If the solicit for this book included the classic promo copy line “mysteries revealed!” then it would be immensely appropriate. As has been the case with this whole arc, which has so far included a more than hefty amount of heretofore unseen backstory, this issue features Bunn and Hurtt pulling back the curtain on the life of one of the book’s so far most mysterious characters, Gord Cantrell.
Click on down for more hullabaloo!
Over the course of the long and storied history of the western genre, one primary character motivation has been consistent throughout: revenge. It is with this thought in mind that I had a smirk plastered all over my face as I read this issue, despite it’s sometimes heartbreaking moments. And why, might you ask? No, the answer is not my innate sadism and contempt for humanity, but rather one of the best descriptions I have ever heard for this book was when Kieron Gillen called the book “complete, pure pop” and I found that description so perfect that I can’t help but smile when it proves itself true.
Now, obviously there are a range of definitions for the term “pop” but the way in which I am choosing to define it within the context of The Sixth Gun is “impeccable, unique use of established form”. The book (and most of Bunn’s writing) has never been shy to wear its conceptual ancestors on its sleeve and this issue is no exception. Some writers in the industry today seem dead set on trying to “innovate” and conceive the newest and biggest way to tell a story and, in reality, unless their name is Grant Morrison, just end up writing uber-violence and calling it innovation.
Bunn has taken a subtler approach, studying the stories he’s loved throughout his life so thoroughly and boiling them down to their rawest, most passionate components and then smashes those elements into one sprawling epic. In this issue alone we see elements of classical horror, mystical time travel and a whole heaping dose of Western tradition throughout. Oh, and we also find out Gord’s connection to General Hume and learn a lot more about Becky’s Pa than I personally ever expected us to know and both major revelations are designed to leave you hungry for more. From a storytelling perspective, you can’t ask for much more than that.
However, in this instance you actually DO get more than that in the art of Brian Hurtt. The man’s middle name might as well be “consistent”, as his hyper clean, angular pencils have never once faltered from their immensely high quality for the last year and a half of the book’s publishing existence, but that does not mean improvement can’t tracked. He’s gotten a lot better at having his characters blend into and exist within their back grounds, creating an almost ethereal feeling for most of the scenes featuring Gord and his tragic past, which fits the nature of the scenes perfectly. The best way to make a reader feel uneasy when reading a scene of horror is to make it unclear where the darkness ends and the characters begin and while this is still very apparent, it is much less so than it has been before.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is one of the absolute best books on the market right now. Not because it tries to redefine the genre and the genre’s it’s based on, but by taking the time to very thoroughly and precisely construct the sprawling and compelling epic that is has been so far and with any luck will continue to be for some time yet.
Final Verdict: 9.5 – Buy
