Generation Gun’s opening page features the burning wreckage of a high school in the aftermath of a shooting (accusatorily located “Anywhere in the USA”) and given that the contemptuous ubiquity of such shootings forever maintains them as a contemporary issue, the comic is likely to spark the most controversy of any of writer John Farman’s current crop of titles. Given that this is a man currently part way through a series in which the extended royal family brutally slaughter each other, that’s no idle statement.
Despite the subject matter, this opening issue is light on violence and instead focuses on introducing a quintet of delinquents set to become our nominal heroes. We are given a brief window into their home lives, each single-page assortment of half a dozen panels deftly and efficiently establishing their personalities, as well as the implied financial status of their families that may well have contributed to their respective falls from grace. As a group, they are hauled before a smug and condescending assistant principal to have a litany of academic crimes read out, all but one cowed by shame and remorse at their actions.
The characters’ gender, racial and social mix will likely provoke some conflict and tension between them, in addition to at least one big secret being hidden from the rest that will doubtless come into play in a later issue. It’s pretty much a given that they won’t all make it through the massacre alive, and this early understanding of who they are will serve to heighten any empathy during the imminent danger to their lives. Meanwhile, a trio of domestic terrorists plan their merciless assault, their motivations and ultimate goal remaining a mystery for now, but their sadism, ruthlessness and overinflated sense of self-importance are already writ large across the few pages in which they feature.
Since we’ve been allowed a glimpse into what’s about to happen, the everyday monotony seems at odds with the momentous events about to unfold, but in reality, life-altering experiences are almost always preceded by the banalest of interactions. The mundanity instead becomes permeated by vibrating tension as you await the moment that the rampage of death and terror will begin. There are faint suggestions that something deeper is at work, but for now, we are left with a climactic moment that only hints at the volume of carnage to come.
GENERATION GUN #1 / AUTHOR: JOHN FARMAN / ARTIST: WILL PICKERING / PUBLISHER: VITAL PUBLISHING / RELEASE DATE: JULY 4TH
