Gunning For Hits No. 4 review: Musical predation and starry eyes

Gunning For Hits brings an insider’s look at the music industry.

Some comics are created by people with direct connections to the subject matter; Tom King’s Sheriff of Babylon was heavily influenced by his time as a CIA operative, and the comic shows it, in the best ways possible. Image Comics has a winner on its hands with Gunning For Hits, written by Jeff Rougvie, who spent nearly four decades in the music biz, even working with David Bowie, so you know this story is being told from a unique and privileged position. Moritat is banging out the art, flashy when needs be, subtle when required, in a perfect fit to Rougvie’s gritty and sympathetic tale. Casey Silver is responsible for the fabulous lettering and colors, as well as design, expertly capping off an intriguing view of the late-’80s music scene.

Image Comics

Martin Mills stays dedicated in Gunning For Hits

In the last issue, A&R guy Martin Mills agreed to sign aging rock legend and personal hero Brian Slade for a ridiculous sum of money, while also managing Stunted Growth, the “next big thing”. To avoid getting in trouble with his own boss, Martin flies to Japan to speak with his boss’s boss, who is also a fan of Slade. While Martin is out of the country, Slade tries to weasel his way into possession of Stunted Growth’s hundreds of unpublished home recordings, and it’s this look at these sleazy activities that really lets Gunning For Hits shine; the absolute truth of what’s being depicted, as someone who has participated on the outskirts of the music business, is spot-on, and it’s what makes this comic actually worth reading. Martin gets back and does some stoop-drinking with Melch, his accountant, and learns that maybe all the money being spent on studio time is making really bad music, which isn’t a comforting prospect to a guy spending millions of dollars on musicians.

Image Comics

Staged assassinations and flexing on radio stations

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Martin has been paying off Slade’s blackmailing bodyguard, Barbossa, who used to do black ops stuff with Martin in the early ’80s; we haven’t gotten to see much backstory about these times in Martin’s life, but it seems to be a crucial part that has been slowly teased (Martin regularly uses his pistols to get his point across, with stunning success). Tiring of the payments, Martin calls a certain number and leaves a certain envelope on top of a certain phone booth, which is retrieved by a certain person, who later fakes a hit on Slade, which Barbossa bungles, causing him to get fired. Finding out that the “cool radio station” won’t play Stunted Growth’s hit single, Martin heads down to L.A. and intimidates the disc jockeys into getting heavy playtime for the song. Gunning For Hits, while clearly with an inside line on how things worked back then, takes some liberties with the “gun-toting record exec” shtick, but it’s not unbelievable considering some of the things you hear about music, even today.

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Martin’s assistant ends up with the duffel bag of Stunted Growth’s recordings, Martin’s friends hold a Brian Slade-related intervention (he can’t see the predatory nature of Slade through his fanboy eyes), and Martin himself finds out, definitively, that the extra money being spent on late-night recording sessions between Slade and Billy (of Stunted Growth) has been to make terrible music nobody would like, which isn’t profitable in the least. The afterword discusses why people love music and the dangers of falling in love with a certain sound on a recording. Gunning For Hits continues to expertly show a certain slice of life;10/10, highly recommended. Let us know what you thought in the comments section below.

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