The Sixth Gun #1

Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Brian Hurtt

I have to say that it's pretty classy of Oni to use Free Comic Book Day as a way of starting off a new series.  As a small publisher, the cost of producing a colour comic for free must be immense, and I hope it pays off for them in terms of garnering sales for this new book.  I think it's smart that the second issue was only solicited in the most recent issue of Previews, making it more likely committed comics readers will pre-order it (I know I probably will).  On the other hand, new readers unfamiliar with the workings of the industry who liked this book today will probably not be around come June for the next issue, so it's a gamble.

This is a pretty decent comic book.  I wasn't all that fond of Bunn and Hurtt's Damned series, but the world they've created here is much more intriguing to me.  The comic is set in a Reconstruction-era United States where magic and hauntings are common.  The movie treatment for this could be Jonah Hex meets Madame Xanadu I suppose.

There is a rich widow who has hired a group of Pinkertons (man these guys are everywhere in comics these days) to track down a number of enchanted objects, chief among them being 'The General's' gun.  There is another guy looking for this same gun.  They find it (and almost each other) on a small farm where its owner is able to protect himself for a while, before the gun 'bonds' with his daughter, and she is abducted.

I am curious to see where this title is going, and appreciated the opportunity to sample it free of charge.