Comic Review: Six Gun Gorilla #1

Drawing inspiration from the similarly titled stories of years ago, Six Gun Gorilla takes the titular gorilla but instead of putting him in the Old West, he’s on a planet embroiled in a deadly war as the inhabitants of Earth watch. Simon Spurrier and Jeff Stokely take the old tale from creators lost to history and put a decidedly new spin on it as Six Gun Gorilla emerges in a new century.

Blister is the scene of a terrible war, a war that the inhabitants of Earth view the battles through “psychic tumors” implanted in suicidal volunteers who have come to Blister for both money and a worthwhile death. One such volunteer is a former librarian who is fixated on a tale he once found with creators unknown. He’s jobless, divorced and generally without a will to live as he arrives on Blister, only to find something that shouldn’t exist using weapons that shouldn’t work.

Spurrier’ story was interesting in concept, but felt almost a bit rushed in this issue. While the nod to the original story was cool, it seems like he’s trying to put too much into these first pages. There’s a lot of room for something great to happen, but it almost feels as if Six Gun Gorilla would’ve been better left in the Old West rather than on a futuristic planet.

Stokely’s art was the high point of the issue. He captured both barren wastelands and vibrant cities in fantastic scope. His attention to detail in both tender moments and scenes of violence is something to be noticed. The characters, even the ape, show great emotion and have a lot of personality in their facial expressions.

All in all, the comic was sort of “middle of the road”. The art was great, but the writing left something to be desired. It’s great to see stories of the past rekindled and reimagined, but this one still needs to time to decide if it’s truly a good one.

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