Cold Dead Fingers

Cold Dead Fingers is the first arc of The Sixth Gun ongoing series. It ran for six issues.

Publishing History
Cullen Bunn considers The Sixth Gun #1 one of the best first issues he's ever written. It was originally released on Free Comic Book Day (FCBD), May 1, 2010. This was highly unusual, as FCBD issues are usually several previews or short stories in a single issue, or a reprint of old material. Oni Press's marketing team thought this would be a good way to introduce readers to the comic. For those that missed the FCBD issue, the first issue was re-issued when issue #2 came out.

The character Billjohn O’Henry was created after issue #1's script was complete. He was added so that Drake could discuss plans for the benefit of the reader and as someone that could interact with Becky in a gentler way than Drake. Billjohn surprised Bunn by becoming his favorite character, which made it all the more painful when he had to kill him off in issue #6.

Issue #6 was ten pages longer than a standard issue and almost exclusively double-page spreads. This was the first of several experimental format issues. The issue was written so that it could function as a satisfying ending if The Sixth Gun wasn't successful, while also functioning as a teaser for the rest of the series.

The first five issues were colored by artist Brian Hurtt, but for the sixth issue Bill Crabtree joined The Sixth Gun team, and has since worked on almost everything Hurtt has worked on. Bunn and Hurtt always knew that if the series was picked up beyond the first arc that it would need a dedicated color artist. Hurtt was particularly worried about this as he wanted someone with a strong sense of storytelling through color. It was writer Greg Thompson that suggested Bill Crabtree for the job.

Since Crabtree's issue six was going be collected alongside the five issues colored by Hurtt, he sampled Hurtt's colors directly, something he'd never done before. Over time the series took on more of Crabtree's color sensibilities, but in retrospect he felt that the period when he was trying to match Hurtt's work broadened his palette so that he started using darker and deeper colors than he had in projects prior to The Sixth Gun

Cast

 * Drake Sinclair
 * Becky Montcrief
 * Billjohn O’Henry
 * Gord Cantrell
 * VonAllen
 * Missy Hume
 * General Oliander Bedford Hume
 * The Four Horsemen:
 * “Bloodthirsty” Bill Sumter
 * Will Arcene
 * “Filthy” Ben Kinney
 * Silas “Bitter Ridge” Hedgepeth
 * Pinkerton National Detective Agency:
 * Mr. Mercer
 * Mr. Faulkner
 * Father Arturo
 * Quint
 * Kirby Hale (epilogue)
 * Woodmael (epilogue)
 * Screaming Crow (mentioned)
 * Asher Cobb (mentioned)
 * Kid Bedlam (mentioned)

Chapter One
Missy Hume has hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to locate the Sixth Gun. Drake Sinclair consults with the lynched ghosts of the Gallows Tree and learns the Sixth Gun is at Crescent Junction in the possession of Montcrief. The Pinkertons arrive at the Montcrief farm first and kill him. Montcrief's stepdaughter, Becky, takes up the Sixth Gun, unknowingly binding herself to the Sixth Gun. The Pinkertons take Becky to Missy Hume in the Silver Palace in Brimstone. Meanwhile, the Four Horsemen recover General Hume's body from a monastery.

Chapter Two
Drake arrives at the Silver Palace to claim the Sixth Gun and ends up having to take Becky with him. Oliander and his Four Horsemen show up, but with the help of Billjohn O'Henry, Drake and Becky manage to escape.

Chapter Three
As the Sixth Gun's former owner, Oliander can sense the gun and uses this to track Drake and company. Becky demands why everyone is after her stepfather's gun, so Drake tells her what he knows of how General Hume came into possession of the guns, while omitting his role in it. The Sixth Gun keeps giving Becky visions. When she tells Drake about one, he recognizes what she saw as the Maw.

Drake heads to the Maw, but makes a detour through a Thunderbird's territory to lure Hume and his men into its clutches. While traveling through a desert, the Sixth Gun reveals to Becky that Drake was once one of General Hume's men. She flees into the night on her own. She's found by Will Arcene, but before he can take her back to Hume, a Thunderbird attacks.

Chapter Four
The Thunderbird kills Will Arcene, allowing Becky to escape. Drake finds Will's body and claims his gun as his own. The Thunderbird tears through Hume's company, decimating his forces. Drake rescues Becky and explains to her his true past, that he had once been one of Hume's men, but left his service when he was told to take up the Fifth Gun.

Chapter Five
The Sixth Gun shows Becky a vision of Billjohn dead at the Maw. Drake ambushes Silas while he is alone, kills him, and claims his gun. Drake uses the Fourth Gun to send the dead to fight and delay Hume and company. Drake, Becky, and Billjohn arrive at the Maw and meet Gord Cantrell and his men. They've been working on excavating Hume's rumored treasure from beneath the Maw. However, the vault they've found isn't at all what they think it is. Becky has a vision that reveals the Six are much older than they think and they weren't always guns, and she senses what's in the vault is evil. Before she can explain further, Hume and his company arrives at the Maw. Hume raises an army of the dead from the graves around the Maw.

Chapter Six
Drake summons his own army of the dead with the Fourth Gun. Since they had once been killed by Silas at Hume's order, the husk dead from the Fourth Gun fight more fiercely against Hume's forces. During the battle, Drake kills Ben and claims his gun. Billjohn finds a way to kill Bill, but gets himself mortally wounded in the process. Drake claims Bill's gun, then, at Billjohn's request, he kills him with the Fourth Gun. Missy has a confrontation with Becky, but manages to escape the Maw with the Pinkertons.

Hume manages to grab Becky, who drops her gun, but Drake takes it up, despite it burning him. Husk Billjohn grabs Hume and holds onto him long enough for Drake to hit him with a fatal shot. Hume's corpse is reclaimed by his chains and coffin. With Hume's power broken, his undead army returned to being simply dead and the pit in the center of the Maw collapsed in on itself.

In the epilogue, Drake sells the map to the Gallows Tree and he, Becky, and Gord set up in Crescent City. Becky sense through the Sixth Gun that Missy Hume is gathering her forces, and other unknown enemies are coming too.

Cover Gallery
Covers illustrated and colored by Brian Hurtt.