The Sixth Gun, Book 1: Cold Dead Fingers, by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt - reviewed by Stephen Theaker

Collecting the first six issues of an ongoing series, this book takes us to the wild west, a generation or so after the American Civil War, during which vicious Confederate warlord General Oliander Bedford Hume acquired six unholy weapons. He kept one for himself, gave four to his best/worst men and one to his wife. Defeated, killed, chained and buried in a monastery, he didn't give up for all that, and all that can stop him from re-unleashing hell is a girl who only picked up her stepfather's gun to fight the men who shot him. It's the Sixth Gun, the one that gives its owner a glimpse of the future, and the general needs it back.

I've never read a book from Oni Press that wasn't well put together - they've been responsible for well-drawn, well-written titles like Whiteout, Queen & Country, Soulwind and Geisha - and this doesn't spoil the run. The wild west isn't my favourite setting for stories, but there are enough nifty ideas here, like a gun that can summon the souls of those it kills to fight as sandpeople, to keep it interesting. General Hume and his widow are as nasty as villains should be, while Becky is a brave and sensible heroine who would be doing the right thing even if she had a choice. Drake Sinclair, her guide through all the death, has the looks of Clark Gable and the ethics of Han Solo. They make a good pair, and it'll be interesting to see where they go next.

The Sixth Gun, Book 1: Cold Dead Fingers, by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt. Oni Press, tpb, 176pp.