A couple things.

First, the girl doesn’t have a name yet. They would have mentioned it this issue.

Second, Bunn’s pacing. He does the same thing this issue–dense first three-quarters, fast ending. It might just be accelerating to raise tension for a cliffhanger, but in this issue, I was surprised where they finished. It felt like it needed one more page of explanation.

Hurtt’s got some really lovely panels this issue, very little ones in some cases. He uses a lot of sound effects titles here, beautifully rendered. The book would be worth picking up regardless of story.

Speaking of story, Bunn’s plot improves here. Well, maybe it doesn’t improve so much as not do the obvious, bad things I was dreading. The series has a particular pace–Bunn is taking his time with revelations, so they all need to be worth it.

Lovely Monument Valley sequence too.

It’s excellent work.

The Sixth Gun is really unpleasantly creepy this issue. I’m not talking about the undead Old West guys, they’re creepy and all, but undead Old West guys aren’t new.

I’m talking about the villain, Mrs. Hume (her husband being the undead bad guys’ leader). She’s really cruel to the girl (whose name isn’t repeated this issue and I didn’t note it the first so she’s just the girl for now) and it’s a disquieting scene.

Luckily, the protagonist, Drake, shows up and rescues her….

I found that move interesting, since the first issue sets Drake up as less than a hero. Again, there are some pacing issues (the present action of the issue is mostly continuous), but Bunn does some really nice work here.

As usual, Hurtt’s just fantastic. It’s amazing how much detail he fits into the pages, since he’s got a lot of panels per page.

Strong stuff.

I’d heard the colors are amazing in The Sixth Gun and whoever does them deserves as much credit as Hurtt. Turns out Hurtt does the colors.

It’s an interesting setup. Bunn fills the first three-quarters of the issue with information, whether about the titular artifact (it seems to be a pistol giving its user flawless aim and some kind of telepathy) or just dialogue. He takes his time, using full scenes to introduce the guy and the girl protagonists… assuming they’re the eventual protagonists.

But then he rushes through the finish. It’s a big elaborate action sequence with a bunch of monks using artillery against the undead. It looks great thanks to Hurtt but Bunn is padding it out. There’s no reason for the storytelling to slow down so much, not after the previous, rather full action sequences.

It’s a good first issue, but needed a little more story.

Writer, Cullen Bunn; artist, colorist and letterer, Brian Hurtt; editors, Jill Beaton,

Charlie Chu and James Lucas Jones; publisher, Oni Press.