The One Where Tom King Writes About ‘Friends’ — Reviewing ‘Six Of Us’ #1

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A group of six young people star in an overwhelmingly successful sitcom about twentysomethings living in the big city in the 1990s and early 2000s. Fast forward several years and the funny wisecracking one whom everyone loves ends up dead, leaving his … ahem … Friends to mourn.

If that sounds like art imitating life, it’s pretty close. And it’s the plot for the premiere issue of Six of Us.

Writer Tom King doesn’t try to hide the comparison; he embraces it. (Remember that good artists borrow and great artists steal.) The characters on the fictional TV show Six of Us (Friends was originally titled Six of One) are rip-offs of Monica, Chandler, Ross, and the rest. The episode titles (The Thing About…) match the style of Friends’ shows (The One Where…) He even recreates the show’s opening song. It may be obvious, but it’s also clever in its boldness.

King, though, isn’t writing journalism here. Yes, the Matthew Perry character is dead at the start (talking to us from beyond the grave), but there’s no drug overdose. Instead, he’s found at the bottom of his empty swimming pool, having apparently taken one dive too many. Different circumstances, but it still hits close to home for those fans of the show and Perry.

Interestingly enough, King has reunited here with his Vision team, including artist Gabriel Hernandez Walta and colorist Jordie Bellaire. It’s curious because like that fantastic miniseries, this limited run (why does a series that’s called Six of Us have seven issues?) also drops early hints of more diabolical goings-on.

Walta brings his trademark straightforward approach to these characters. They don’t necessarily look like the Friends actors, but there’s enough of a resemblance — combined with dialogue that King provides — to fill us in on who everyone is supposed to be. One nit: The story jumps from the ’90s to today, but there is no visual indication of the skipping. It adds some needless confusion while reading the book.

Despite its many flaws, Friends was a cultural touchstone for a generation coming of age in the ’90s. Taking a hard look — albeit it a fictional one — at what happened after the cameras stopped filming is an interesting choice for this creative team. But, at least for now, it’s a welcome one.

Six of Us #1 — written by Tom King, illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez Walta, colored by Jordie Bellaire, and lettered by Clayton Cowles — is now available from Dark Horse.