Behind every fake smile is a deeper story. Gunning for Hits #3 is where the deeper story begins as men in declining power plot to gain back what they have lost. Woe to those he uses as his tools to achieve his goal.
In Gunning for Hits, as much as the real world, everyone is plotting and manipulating to either gain new power or regain back what they have lost. You can get lost in a web of conceit and duplicity where the worm turns so many times you have no idea whom it is turning for.
Another lyric symbolism that could reflect the feel of this issue is from the Dead Boys!
(Jeff uses Guns and Roses excellent and excellently chosen “Out to Get Me”)
Dead Boys
High Tension Wire
“Been living too fast Got my head on full throttle As I scream and scour In the bottom of a bottle Can’t stand up honey Got my tongue on the floor Living out a dream About the third world war Time warp baby That’s where I live Time warp honey Something’s gotta give Feeling tonight like my Brain is on fire Don’t touch me tonight I’m a high tension wire”
One can’t predict the futures not taken. And in Gunning for Hits, I think it is the past that will take the present for a detour and shake things up.
Everyone is hiding secrets. In this third issue, we start finding out some. And each of the player’s secrets are buried in the past and surely will uproot future issues.
Jeff’s back matter is as always interesting. I know how some of what Jeff writes about is written. I managed bands during the ’90s. One band, in particular, I managed to get into a meeting with the owner of an umbrella of 5 mid-sized labels. The band failed to show up. Sad but true, with emphasis on sad and true.
The majority of the bands I managed were their own worst enemy. Whatever success could have come their way didn’t as a result. As a manager, I reached only a certain level in the hierarchy of Jeffs tell-tale of the industry. I can only personally relate to the first part of what he wrote about. I can, though, point to people I know who can relate to the rest.
Bands who make it through success intact, friends, and better for the worse are rare. It will be interesting to see where Stunted Growth end up in thier goal of Gunning for Hits! Jeff continues to hit on the truth of the industry. So much so, I’m left wondering how much of the fiction of a mirror of reality to which Jeff himself lived.
Gunning for Hits Music Thriller Issue THREE Written by Jeff Rougvie and features art from Moritat. Casey Silver on colors and lettering. Published by Image Comics. On Sale Mar 13, 2019
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