Six of Us #2 — Tom King and Gabriel Hernández Walta Pull the Curtain Back on the '90s
The laugh tracks are loud, but the silence off-camera is deafening. Tom King and Gabriel Hernández Walta return to the set of a beloved '90s sitcom in Six of Us #2, exploring the moment the cast's chemistry shattered and the perfect image cracked forever.
There is a specific kind of grief that comes from watching a golden age of television from behind the velvet rope. It’s the feeling that you were there when the magic happened, even if you were just watching from the couch. Tom King and Gabriel Hernández Walta know that feeling intimately. They’ve built careers on peeling back the layers of iconic characters and institutions, and with Six of Us, they’re turning their gaze toward the bright, manufactured warmth of a 1990s hit sitcom. If The Vision was a masterclass in domestic noir, this feels like a sharper, sunnier blade disguised as a laugh track.
The setup is deceptively simple: Six young stars, a show that had America hooked, and a chemistry that felt effortless. But King isn’t interested in the polished final cut. He’s interested in the space between the lines, the moments when the cameras stopped rolling and the reality of the situation bled through. This second issue, titled "The Thing About Killing That Guy," suggests a narrative pivot that goes far beyond the bounds of typical sitcom drama. It hints at a collision between the bright glow of the studio lights and the dark, complicated truths lurking just off-camera.
What makes this issue a must-read is Walta’s art, which continues to be a character in itself. His style is warm, approachable, and deeply expressive, perfectly suited to capturing the nostalgic allure of '90s pop culture. But he’s not afraid to let the shadows lengthen. The contrast between the cheerful aesthetic of the show within the story and the darker undertones of the narrative creates a tension that is incredibly compelling. You can feel the weight of the characters’ secrets pressing against the frame of every panel.
If you’ve been following King’s work, you know he loves to explore the intersection of celebrity, trauma, and identity. Six of Us fits neatly into that conversation, using the lens of Hollywood to examine how we construct our public personas versus our private selves. The seven-issue arc promises to be a tight, focused exploration of a group bound by success and haunted by what they’ve done to keep it. It’s a story about the cost of fame, and the things we do to protect the dream.
I’ll leave you with this: the variant cover by Walta is stunning, but the real treat is the interior pacing. This issue moves with a confidence that suggests King knows exactly where the body is buried. Trust me on this one—it’s the kind of book that stays with you long after you’ve finished the last page. It’s a sharp, stylish dive into the heart of darkness disguised as a comedy.