The Six

Though “The Sixth Gun” was originally conceived as a six-issue miniseries, it quickly grew into so much more, spanning fifty issues and multiple spinoffs. With “The Sixth Gun” #50, Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt and Bill Crabtree finish ushering in the looming apocalypse, and it’s a strong and sharply crafted finale. That said, there’s something absent in this conclusion, and that keeps it from the dizzying near-perfection of earlier issues. In many ways, “The Sixth Gun” #50’s ending was nearly impossible to avoid. After Grey Witch started the apocalypse a few issues ago, the title became less about averting the apocalypse and more about controlling it. Bunn has always had huge, expansive ideas about the history of the Six Guns and how they have always existed in different forms, and — here — all of the different universes being destroyed and reborn is a great example of that. “The Sixth Gun” is like the ultimate roleplaying game sourcebook, just bursting at the seams with possibilities, c

When it comes to “The Sixth Gun,” Brian Hurtt’s primarily known as the artist of the series, although he’s co-written some of the spinoff miniseries. With “The Sixth Gun: Valley of Death” #1, he’s stepped into the writing seat solo, joined with artist A.C. Zamudio for a story set far in the past, before the Six have risen back up. However, that doesn’t mean it’s any less dangerous of a setting, even without the cursed guns on the loose. Hurtt operates under the premise that, even without the Six, death and corruption will enter the world ahead of it, and it’s a good springboard for this miniseries involving the native people of the Four Tribes. He keeps the comic moving at a good pace, introducing the lurking danger that threatens to destroy everything, even while treating the basic setup and characters as brand new. While I’m not entirely sure new readers would be jumping onto the line of comics this late (with only one final storyline in the main title remaining), it’s nonetheless

As someone who’s been a fan of “The Sixth Gun” right from the start, I’ll admit that I’ve never been particularly interested in the backstory of supporting character Billjohn O’Henry. He was a character who got much more interesting after he died and turned into a creepy, mute, looming mud golem. Nonetheless, “The Sixth Gun: Dust to Dust” #1 kicks off a mini-series telling the history of O’Henry, courtesy Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook. With not much of a lure to learn about O’Henry, Bunn and Crook don’t quite have anything big enough to draw people into reading this book. The issue is, by no means, a bad comic — it’s curiously average — but, with O’Henry himself hardly being a character compelling enough to buy a spin-off miniseries based on his name alone, it’s a tiny bit perplexing why this comic is showing up. Bunn’s script for this first issue follows O’Henry as he plies his trade as a bounty hunter, tricking a gang and then slaughtering those who resist. It’s a clever bit of decep

“The Sixth Gun” is one of the most inventive and attention-grabbing series out there, with each issue eagerly awaited by its fans. While no series is perfect all the time, it’s almost a relief that when an issue of “The Sixth Gun” isn’t quite up to its normal great heights, Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt still deliver an above-average comic. “The Sixth Gun” #33 continues the “Ghost Dance” storyline, as Becky Montcrief journeys through the spirit world, dipping into different worlds and possible outcomes of the Six Guns remaking the universe. Strictly from a plotting sense, Bunn’s in good form; having plunged Becky in the previous issue into a possibility where General Hume and his Horsemen succeeded in rewriting the world, he runs with all the nastiness and evil that such a situation promises us. The original villains of “The Sixth Gun” are hard to equal, and while it’s General and Missy Hume who get most of the attention, the two of them are more than enough to carry the book forward.

The idea behind “The Sixth Gun: Sons of the Gun” seems like an easy win: chronicling the stories behind the previous holders of the First through Fourth Guns, the evil men that General Hume had alongside him in his reign of terror. But after the first four issues gave glimpses into the lives of each of these bad guys, the big conclusion in “The Sixth Gun: Sons of the Gun” #5 has Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt and Brian Churilla trying to tie everything together. Honestly, abandoning the overall plot might have been the better way to go. Bunn and Hurtt do their best to make all of the previous stories intersect, but it quickly becomes clear here that the strength of issues #1-4 was learning about the back history of each of the General’s Horsemen. Bunn and Hurtt have a quick round-up of the pieces laid out up until now, but none of them were the high or even medium points of those issues. The big threat lurking in the background ends up feeling like it’s coming out of the blue, and it’s not

In other lesser hands, I can’t help but think that “The Sixth Gun” #31 could have felt like filler. Last month’s issue kicked off the storyline “Ghost Dance,” and by the end of it Becky was lost in the Spirit World with her guide dead and skinwalkers attacking her. It would have been easy, after all, to just have an issue with her running for her life. But of course that’s not what Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt serve up here. Instead “The Sixth Gun” #31 feels like another important, critical part of the series. It would have been easy for Bunn to leave the idea that the Six can reshape the world (and that it’s happened before) dangling for years after we first learned of their awesome power. Instead, “The Sixth Gun” #31 directly follows up on that revelation, showing not only an earlier form from before they were guns, as well as just what those other, since-rewritten worlds looked like. What’s fun is that Bunn teases out that information throughout this comic; it’s never an info dump,

Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s “The Sixth Gun” #28 is the penultimate chapter of “Winter Wolves,” a story that’s plunged main characters Becky and Drake into the Wendigo’s endless winter even as Gord, Kirby and Asher search for the duo while being pursued by the Sword of Abraham. In many ways this issue is a great example of why “The Sixth Gun” as a whole works so well, with tense plotting and clever ideas abounding. Bunn and Hurtt have created a startlingly vivid atmosphere for the endless winter that Becky and Drake’s half of the issue takes place within. The visuals alone are impressive; Hurtt and colorist Bill Crabtree use a palette consisting of icy blues, whites and purples, so that you can almost feel the cold leeching off of the page as Becky runs through fallen icicles and large snow drifts. A chase set in the snow is great, in part because Bunn uses the obstacles that would naturally exist, and in part because that stark wilderness gives Becky nowhere to hide. And with Drake

“The Sixth Gun” has, over the course of two years, become one of the best ongoing comic series on the market. With “The Sixth Gun” #24, Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt kick off the new storyline “Winter Wolves” and it’s as creepy as ever. The first ten pages of “The Sixth Gun” #24 don’t feature Becky and Drake, and it’s much to Bunn’s credit that these pages are just as compelling at the rest of the series. Instead we visit with both the Sword of Abraham and Gord Cantrell, as each try to adjust to the growing doom that surrounds the Six. The scene with the Sword of Abraham manages to not only set up a future story but also feels dangerous and gripping; the tension builds perfectly, shifting from exposition to menace in the blink of an eye. And while Gord’s segment is smaller, it’s nice to see what he’s up to as well and it feels like it’s very much part of the greater whole. It’s when we finally see Becky and Drake again, though, that “The Sixth Gun” #24 kicks into high gear. The sudden

“G.I. Joe” #21 is probably the most famous “silent issue” of comics, in which Larry Hama told a story involving the non-speaking character Snake Eyes entirely without dialogue. There have been silent issues before and since then (Marvel once had an entire month devoted to nothing but silent issues), but in modern comics it’s hard to stray away from that issue. It’s rather apt, as a result, that Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt have chosen to make “The Sixth Gun” #21 their own silent issue as “A Town Called Penance” continues. Bunn set up the issue last month with our heroine Becky temporarily deafened by an explosion as she breaks into the underground fortress of the Knights of Solomon to try and rescue the captive Drake. From there, it’s a combination of infiltration, attacks and new mysteries. Bunn quickly reminds readers of Becky’s current deafness (having Hurtt open the issue by focusing on the trickle of blood coming out of her ears), but then immediately reminds us why she’s managed

Ever since “The Sixth Gun” made its debut in 2010, it’s been an impressive and entertaining series mixing action, suspense, westerns and horror into one cohesive whole. But if you aren’t reading “The Sixth Gun,” the new issue is kicking off a brand-new storyline, and it’s a great place to jump on board. “The Sixth Gun” #18 answers the question of what happened to one missing character, Drake Sinclair, even as main character Becky Montcrief starts to get closer to his location. But while that sounds like a simple enough plot. writer Cullen Bunn keeps “The Sixth Gun” from ever getting too predictable. Seeing how Drake survived certain death, hid the mystical guns in his possession, and got captured is entertaining enough. But Bunn’s scripts always hit the ground running, and “The Sixth Gun” #18 is no exception. The underground lair of the Knights of Solomon is rife with possibilities, and getting a glimpse into the secret society’s inner workings is something that “The Sixth Gun” has q