An epic saga of horror in the Old West. Maybe that was not what writer Cullen Bunn intended to create when he started the comic book series The Sixth Gun in 2010, along with his usual collaborator, artist Brian Hurtt. But over more than 2,000 pages, an epic is exactly what it turned out to be.
The first of three large volumes (580 pages!) released by Oni Press starting in 2024 tells the beginning of the story. In the American West, some years after the Civil War, several antagonistic factions are trying to obtain six pistols imbued with supernatural powers. One of them spits fire; the bullets from another turn people into mud slaves (or shit slaves?); a third causes instant decay in whoever is struck by its bullets; yet another grants immortality to its owner… and so on.
During the war, the guns (legendary weapons that have existed in different forms for centuries) were in the hands of the mad Confederate General Oliander Hume and five of his most trusted soldiers. But since then, the General has been killed and the guns have been scattered across the land.
Now, agents working for secretive forces have tracked one of the guns to the Monticrief family—namely, the young Becky and her old, very ill father. When they are attacked, Becky takes possession of the gun, which binds itself to her until the day she dies. The villains are very intent to kill the girl, by the way, but she is rescued by our antihero, Drake Sinclair, a shady gunslinger who knows a great deal about the true nature of the six guns.
From there, the heroes are pursued by a group of relentless enemies, gain important allies along the way, and reach a fortress the villains seek to destroy—all while Becky must cope with the strange visions her gun sends into her mind. To make matters worse, the enemy everyone believed to be long gone, General Hume, is brought back and orchestrates the many dangers that Drake, Becky, and others must face to survive.
Yes, Bunn uses a plot structure that seems somewhat inspired by The Lord of the Rings, but that is perfectly fine, as he handles it with skill and confidence, keeping readers engaged with constant developments and twists. There are zombies, giant monsters, ghosts, demonic spirits, mummies, and witches, all vying for the guns, which ultimately have the power to reshape the world in their own image.
The action scenes are intense, the characterization is spot-on, and some moments are genuinely frightening. Even considering Bunn’s well-received work for Marvel and DC, this is by far his best work to date—a true epic, written with heart and masterfully illustrated by Hurtt.
This first omnibus volume ends on a cliffhanger, and I, for one, hope the story doesn’t let readers down and that the quality holds up until the very end.
The Sixth Gunn – Omnibus Volume One (2024, Oni Press)
By Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt
592 pages
Rating: 9 nerds (de 10) 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
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