Gun Theory is another Epic book that doesn't really seem to fit the stated ethos of Epic, which is to find new talent, given that it's a project that started out as creator-owned by two creators, one of whom has been freelancing for Marvel on several projects already. I'm not sure what the creator-owned status is at this point, but given the copyright notice in the indicia, it does seem that Marvel sort of snookered the ownership of Gun Theory out from underneath Way and Proctor during the development process. Regardless of the various industry politics surrounding the book, however, the question is, is it any good? And the answer is, yeah, it's not bad. Sort of a cross between 100 Bullets and a Quentin Tarantino flick, Way and Proctor's look at the life of a hitman is low-key and gritty, and though it's difficult to see where the story is going from here, it's not difficult to see that the atmosphere necessary for a good crime story is here.
Though I mention Tarantino, in fact Way's character is sort of an anti-Tarantino type. Tarantino began Reservoir Dogs by making crooks more human, talking about minutia and everyday stuff like the rest of us. Way's hitman is the exact opposite, living a sort of ghost-like existence, not talking to people or having any kind of memorable personality, being deliberately bland. That idea is fascinating, and Way manages the difficult task of bringing that idea across without making his lead deadly dull.
Way also has a dark sense of humor which is perfect for this material. Having his killer pursue his quarry with deadly single-mindedness, all the while thinking about where he's going and what he's going to have for breakfast, brings a bit of an absurdist quality to the opening scene, but it also makes the cold and threatening nature of the protagonist clear. Here's a guy so inured to killing that he's basically running a list of routine in his head while he takes two lives... one of which is an accident anyway, in another example of ghoulish humor.
Jon Proctor and Lee Loughridge are the art team on this one. Loughridge provides the same sort of muted, unusual colors that he's working with lately, and though I'm not always sure about them, I think they work here. The heavy use of colors like orange, green, brown and yellow mean that we're viewing the world through a filter of unreality, and it helps to maintain the slightly surreal tone that Way has established. Proctor's art is also unusual, reminiscent of Michael Gaydos's work on Alias, at the same time photorealistic and very impressionistic, and his work on background details and clothes gives the story a real sense of place. He also exaggerates the features and anatomy of the characters at time, reminding me of the stretched torsos and strange anatomy of MTV's Aeon Flux, and this also helps to reinforce the sort of strange reality we're looking in on.
Another sort of slow-burn project from Marvel, Gun Theory doesn't give up many of its secrets in the first issue. However, the first issue is given over largely to developing the protagonist and what he does, and it's a gripping, darkly humorous and somewhat chilling story to read. Certainly there's enough here to make me curious about where the story goes from here, and Way and Proctor earn major points for the style at play in the book.
