Comic Book Challenge Showcase: Hero By Night / Gunplay

Another leftover. I picked this up as a freebie at Free Comic Book Day this year, but it's actually one of the 2008 FCBD books.

Title: Comic Book Challenge Showcase: Hero By Night / Gunplay
Date: 2008
Publisher: Platinum Studios
Writer: Jorge Vega, DJ Coffman, James Patrick
Artist: Dominic Vivona, DJ Coffman
Letterer: Shawn DePasquale
Colorist: Jason Embury

Flip book. First up is Jorge Vega's Gunplay. It's an interesting story, although not really the kind of thing I find all that appealing. The main character, a former buffalo soldier in the Old West, has a cursed gun that must be used to kill one person per day. He's teamed up with an adolescent preacher. This introductory piece doesn't get very far in introducing either the characters or the action. Much of the dialogue is background conversation between two minor characters, and the dialogue comes off a bit stilted. A two-page wordless dream sequence doesn't help matters, nor does a sudden time jump. As I said up front, Vega has an interesting idea here, it's just not being executed effectively in this promo.

I liked the plot in DJ Coffman's "Hero By Night" a lot better, but the entire story was a narrative summary. The characters and world seemed good, and I like the very natural thinking that the hero displays. The story itself is a fairly familiar take on the superhero genre which seems to work well thanks to some well thought out characters and a solid backstory. Still, 12 pages of nothing but prose exposition is a bit much.

Rating: 6/10