A young rock icon on the rise. A rock fading rock legend struggling to make a comeback. A record company A&R guy and former hitman have them both under contract, but he’s also got problems as the first arc of Gunning For Hits draws to a close. The series written by Jeff Rougvie reaches the climax of its sixth issue drawn by artist Moritat with colors by Casey Silver. Everything comes crashing together quite well as the pacing speeds-up in a multi-track story. Rougvie and Moritat slice through a satisfying end for a refreshing indie story with a promising potential for future issues.

The issue opens on September 11th, 1987, with the lead singer from Stunted Growth being treated for severe drug addiction. The press has been told Billy’s suffering from exhaustion. Meanwhile, sales of rock legend Brian Slade’s album aren’t doing too well. His best hits are a decade or more behind him. Stylish record company sleaze-ball Martin Mills has an interest in keeping them both lucrative, which might involve killing Slade to drive record sales. As the issue opens, things could go either way. To make matters worse, Billy just breaks out of treatment. He’s angry, and he’s far from well.

Rougvie crams a hell of a lot of story into this issue. After a quick recap to help set the mode and establish the stakes, Rougvie rolls right into a very fast-paced sequence of events that serve as a satisfying climax to the story. What with the fast pacing of this issue, it’s kind of weird to look back and realize that the first issue spanned only a single contract negotiation. With everything firmly in place for a frenzied climax, Rougvie delivers with a sudden twist that puts Mills through a very volatile and potentially disastrous confrontation.

Moritat’s work might feel a bit rushed in places throughout this issue, but that’s likely more a function of shifting gears than anything. The speed of the story increases, causing things like detail and background to fade away in favor of speed and action. None of the visuals delivered to the page here feel very interesting, but the overall sweep of the story occasionally dazzles. An aggressive turn for the worst midway through the issue makes way for three consecutive 16-panel pages. In lesser hands, any page with that many panels are going to seem like an indecipherable narrative prison. Moritat somehow manages to make a 16-panel page feel frenzied, explosive and violent even with pages covered in dialogue. Silver’s use of panels primarily dominated by a single color keeps every page visually appealing in an issue that might otherwise feel hopelessly cluttered.

The first arc in the story of Martin Mills wraps-up with clever style. There’s a quick turnaround on the review of Slade’s album prompted by the events of the issue that serves as witty punctuation to the first six issues of the series. Rougvie definitely has something fresh here. It’ll be nice to see it develop with the next instalment, which Rougvie will get to once he’s finished work on a nonfiction book he’s working on about the history of Rykodisc.

Grade: A