FCBD 2010: Exclusive Interview with The Sixth Gun's Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt

This year for Free Comic Book Day, Silver Sponsor Oni Press is presenting a tale of gunfighters, cutthroats, otherwordly pistols, ghosts, wizards and much more with The Sixth Gun #1, the start of a six-part series from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Brian Hurtt.

The creators talk about this unique comic, their collaboration, FCBD itself, and much more in this exclusive interview with Freecomicbookday.com.

Freecomicbookday.com: Set up The Sixth Gun for us. What’s the premise?

Cullen Bunn: The basic idea is that during the Civil War, General Oliander Bedford Hume and five of his most bloodthirsty lieutenants came into possession of six magical pistols. Each of the guns exhibited a uniquely horrible power, and the General’s gun was the most powerful of the lot. At the close of the war, the General’s gun vanished. Years later, the gun resurfaces in the hands of an innocent young woman, Becky Montcrief. The forces of evil converge on the girl, hoping to claim the gun, and a mysterious gunfighter named Drake Sinclair is the only person standing in their way. 

In a lot of my favorite westerns, there’s a theme that the legends are much bigger than the truth. In The Sixth Gun, even the wildest legend only begins to scratch the surface of the truth. This is an Old West crawling with ghosts and monsters, wizards and hideous henchmen, mysterious oracles and – of course – magical six-shooters.
 

Freecomicbookday.com: Sixth Gun seems to offer elements from both the fantasy genre and the Western genre. What’s appealing to you about being able to blend those two together?

Brian Hurtt:  There's an interesting alchemy that happens when you take two genres, each with their own language and rules, and then smash them together. It's great fuel for the imagination – it keeps us, as creators, from falling too easily into genre conventions, and it keeps the reader from knowing exactly what to expect. With Westerns, there are many tropes and iconic imagery that are so embedded in our cultural consciousness that it's fun to take those things and play off them or against the reader's expectations. And the same can be said of the imagery and ideas of fantasy. This isn't a fantasy dressed as a Western, or vice versa, but instead an amalgamation of the two.
 

Freecomicbookday.com: What is the process when it comes to collaborating with one another? With this being a new series, have you already found your “comfort zone,” or are you still trying some things out creatively to see what works?

Hurtt: This is our second collaboration to see print, after The Damned, but Cullen and I have been bouncing ideas and stories off of one another for a long time now. We each have our own stories and interests that exist on the fringe and may not appeal to the other, but then there is this giant spectrum of story ideas and interests where we crossover. I'm constantly amazed at how in synch we can be when it comes to creating comics and yet at the same time offer some very different ideas or approaches. There have been several occasions where I think that I have a brilliant idea about an upcoming scene or a twist on a character and I'll call Cullen only to have him finish my sentence because he has had the same thought. I think a “comfort zone” can be a debilitating thing to creativity – I think the only comfort zone that we have is that we are both open to exploring different approaches to this creative process together.

Bunn: That’s a great point. I hope we never fall into too comfortable of a routine when it comes to working with each other, because I believe we challenge each other to improve upon the concepts and approaches we’re batting about. Brian’s a great collaborator and, as he mentioned, we’re often on the same page when it comes to our ideas. But here’s how I know we haven’t entered a “comfort zone:” every time I start developing some new idea, one of the first things I think is, “Will Brian rip this apart?” He doesn’t pull his punches when he hates something. That encourages me to work extra hard to come up with something special every time out of the gate.

Freecomicbookday.com: Where are you with The Sixth Gun series now? What are you both working on?

Bunn: Right now, I’m wrapping up the script for the sixth issue of the series, which I’m pretty sure will make Brian’s head explode when he reads it. 

Hurtt: I'm in the process of inking issue five and as soon as I've finished this I will be going back and coloring issue two. After that I'll start drawing issue six. I'm feeling a little trepidation about that – I've been told my head will explode. Actually, I have a pretty good idea of what Cullen has in mind for issue six and it'll be grueling from the art standpoint but totally worth it when that issue hits the stands! 

Bunn: Maybe that can be a premium offering. “This issue with real skull fragments and brain tissue!”
 

Freecomicbookday.com: What’s your favorite part about being able to work in comics?

Bunn: I love the collaborative nature of comics. I love kicking ideas back and forth, and it’s very cool to see my words brought to life through sequential art. 

Hurtt:  I love it all but my favorite part is that moment at the drawing board where you see all the months of daydreaming and brainstorming and world-building actually come to life on the page. It's that moment where the script and the art merge. For me, that's the most exciting part and the part where it really starts to feel real.
 

Freecomicbookday.com: Why do you think FCBD is so vital to the industry?

Bunn: The comics market is doubly insular. It’s really tough to attract new readers, and it’s equally tough to attract current readers to a new title. FCBD helps to bring new readers (or readers who have been out of the game for a while) into the stores. For those readers who may be hesitant to try something new, this is an opportunity to be introduced to a book you might have overlooked otherwise. 

Freecomicbookday.com: Since FCBD has now been a yearly event since 2002, do you have any annual FCBD “traditions?” What do you like to do on FCBD? 

Bunn: This year’s going to be a little different, of course, since we’ll have a book that is part of the event. Brian and I have done a couple of signings on FCBD, but this will be quite a different experience, I imagine. In the past, I’d make a day of it, hitting a few different shops, picking up some free books, and checking out the specials the stores run to coincide with FCBD.

Hurtt:  I love being in a store on FCBD; I make sure to be at a store every year for this day!  I get to meet and talk to so many people who would not necessarily pick up my books, or even be exposed to them, if it wasn't for this event. It's especially rewarding when we can put my comic in someone's hand and say, “We made this.” Followed by “And today, it's free.”

Freecomicbookday.com: Cullen, what’s the biggest challenge when creating a FCBD book as opposed to a standard comic? Do you have to approach it differently knowing you might have a broader audience?

Bunn: Well, I wrote the script for The Sixth Gun #1 long before I knew the book was going to be part of FCBD. I don’t think I would have approached it differently if I had known it was going to be a FCBD book. Free or not, I want it to be the best book it can be, the best representation of the series to follow.
 

Freecomicbookday.com: Brian, what was your favorite character, setting, or sequence to illustrate in this first issue?

Hurtt: Impossible to answer!  I started mentally running down all the pages and I can say that I had few favorite characters and sequences. I'll narrow it down to two things, though. The very first thing I remember from Cullen's original concept of the series was this idea of this spectral Gallow's Tree just littered with the ghosts of hanged men. As soon as he told me about it I could see it in my head and I couldn't wait to draw it. Then there's this sequence that happens at the end of the book that was just a blast to draw from start to finish. I really don't want to spoil it but some things go “kaboom” and there's a Gatling gun.

Freecomicbookday.com: In the spirit of potential newcomers picking up comics, what was the first comic you remember reading or that inspired you to get involved in the industry? 

Bunn: The comics I read as a kid came from yard sales, flea markets, and (sometimes) 7-11. I didn’t really have any sequential runs of books, so when I read a book, it stood alone. I very clearly remember sitting on my bedroom floor in Newton Grove, NC, reading The Avengers #154. In that issue, the Avengers got trashed by this guy called Tyrak the Terrible. He poisoned the Scarlet Witch, blasted the Wasp with bug spray, crushed Yellowjacket in his fist, and ripped Iron Man’s chest open. Five-year-old Cullen really thought he’d just witnessed the death of the Avengers, and it warped him from that point forward. 

Hurtt: In my case I remember that I was sitting on the roof of a shed attached to my house (don't tell my folks), and while I can't remember the issue number I do remember that it was the issue of G.I. JOE that immediately followed an assassination attempt on Cobra Commander by his son. I was hooked. Very soon after that I was at a flea market and I picked up an issue of Thor by Walt Simonson that had Beta Ray Bill fighting a guy in a green robot suit. Those two titles became the first books that I collected and it just snowballed from there.
 

Freecomicbookday.com: Launching this series on Free Comic Book Day, when so many readers are sure to pick it up, does that put more pressure on you, or is that something that gets you more excited about what you’re working on?

Bunn: It’s both thrilling and frightening. Whenever one of my books comes out, I feel like there’s a rock sitting in the pit of my stomach. This time around, with such a huge potential readership, it’s gonna be more like a boulder. At the same time, though, I’m really proud of this book, and I think readers are really gonna like it a lot. With that in mind, I’m very pleased to be reaching a wider audience. 

Hurtt:  There's always pressure when putting out a new book, but I'm actually much more excited than nervous. I think that we've got a really good book here and I'm just so thrilled that it's going to have the opportunity to reach such a large audience – I can't wait for everyone to get a chance to read it!
 

Freecomicbookday.com: What do you think will make The Sixth Gun stand out as a series, and when can readers that enjoy the first issue expect the next installment? 

Hurtt: I think that from the very first issue this series presents a complete and believable world that is a blend of intrigue, the supernatural and what you might call swashbuckling adventure. You can't help but look at and begin to imagine all the possibilities. It's also a comic that is entertaining without making “entertaining” a bad word. And what I mean by that is that it's a book that can be a thrilling ride while also having a good story and fascinating characters. We don't sacrifice one for the other. 

Bunn: I think we’ve come up with a cast of heroes and villains the readers will really love (or hate, as appropriate). While this is an action-packed story, I think the reader will care what happens to these characters. We also take great care to make the world believable. It can be easy to cram supernatural and fantastic elements into the Old West, but to do so in a way that doesn’t seem contrived takes a bit of finesse. The second issue of the series will come out in June. I believe it will be solicited in PREVIEWS the week of FCBD. It will come out monthly after that.

Be sure to visit Freecomicbookday.com often to check out previews of this year’s books and to learn more about our FCBD Sponsors, what merchandise and downloads are available this year, where favorite creators will be showing up for signings, and much more. You can also follow all the latest FCBD news on Facebook and Twitter.