Jonah Hex #59 "Night of the White Lotus"

Jonah Hex #59 April 1982
"Night of the White Lotus"
Michael Fleisher, story - Dick Ayers & Tony DeZuniga, art - Tony DeZuniga, cover

Mei Ling, her dress torn, is tied to a burning stake, surrounded by chanting Indian warriors and Jonah Hex comes riding over the horizon, guns blazing. His horse rears up and he cuts loose with a hail of bullets. Indians are dropping like flies as Jonah leaps from his horse and cuts his wife free from her bonds. Jonah tells Mei Ling to get on the horse as he kills several more Indians. As Jonah helps Mei Ling into the saddle an arrow suddenly slams into her back and with Jonah shouting for Mei Ling to hang not and not leave him, Mei Ling dies a horrible violent death in his arms.

Aaaaaand, of course, that is when Jonah Hex wakes up. sitting bolt upright in bed, screaming his head off. Other folks in the hotel are banging on his door, telling him to shut the hell up (and it may be the ONLY time anyone has gotten away with that move). Jonah gets up, washes up and gets dressed, taking assessment of his current situation. He hasn't been eating well, sleeping right and he has been getting drunk much too often and it may lead to his death at the hands of a quick sober gunslinger. Jonah then heads out, looking for a hot steak and instead finds...

Jonah turns her down and then wakes up the desk clerk to find an all night eatery. The sleepy-headed clerk directs him to Clarkson's Cafe. Jonah heads out into the street and we see that there is someone watching him from the hotel.

Just then six men approach Jonah and call him out. Hex tells them that he has never met them and maybe they're making a mistake, after all there are a lot cowboys with sparkling blue eyes like his. The men go for their guns and Jonah, well, he does what Jonah Hex does best.

He kills them where they stand and then goes and gets a steak dinner.

Back in the hotel, Mr. McGrath is astonished that six of his best men have just been gunned down and is complaining to a Chinese man who is smelling a white lotus. The Chinese man says that McGrath has been well paid and that his services are no longer needed.

At the cafe, Jonah is still mulling over his situation with Mei Ling and tossing back one drink after another.

Several miles away, at the house of Mei Ling's brother, Mee Ling is standing outside looking at the stars. Her Sister-in-law, Mei Song, asks why she is out so late and Ling answers that maybe Jonah is looking at the same stars as she. When Song asks if Ling still loves Jonah, she answers..

Back at the cafe, the Chinese man stands before Jonah and introduces himself as Wu Gong Phat, a merchant from Nanking. He shows Jonah a white lotus and asks if Jonah has ever seen such loveliness. Jonah takes the flower and gives it a sniff. Suddenly the room is spinning and Jonah passes out. Then Wu Gong Phat and his wife attempt to rape Jonah since Phat is infertile....oh,wait, I got confused with Jonah Hex #35 vol 2. Silly me.

Wu calls in several of his men and they carry Jonah out to a waiting wagon while Wu pays off the owner of the cafe, saying that Hex has drunken himself into a stupor. Outside, they stuff Hex into a large basket, throw him on the wagon and take off.

The next afternoon, Mei Ling and Jason are in the garden when her brother brings her a letter. Ling opens it, reads it and a wilted lotus falls out. Mei Ling panics and asks her brother to take care of Jason until she gets back, but she cannot say why she is leaving.

The wagon carrying Jonah travels across Nevada and into California until two weeks later they arrive in San Francisco in front of a large sailing ship....

Statistics for this Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - 6 Running total -350
Jonah's Injuries- Drugged unconscious
Timeline - This story covers just over two weeks and is clearly part of the post-wedding arc. This will be mid-Spring 1876. Let's say the last two weeks of April.

A short 17 page story (El Diablo backup, yuch) that really got me excited. This looked to be the start of a long story arc and was actually moving the Mei Ling-Jonah Hex story forward at least a little bit. One complaint that was voiced later on in a letters column was that the Chinese used was just nonsense or not even actual Chinese. I would hope that something like that would not happen if this story were presented today (it would be nice to even have it corrected when the Showcase comes out with this issue.)

Next Issue: Jonah ends up on a boat once again, and we all know how well that always works out.

UPCOMING THIS WEEK: Since it
A) Fits in the time frame of publications dates &
B) Chris Sims....I mean, Mike Sterling has been talking about Hex sooo much

I will also be covering Justice League of America #198 & 199, where Jonah Hex encounters the JLA on his terms. (good lord, I have a lot of scanning to do)

Pitchman-A-Go-Go #43

I had a G.I.Joe, but he was always in the Army, never the Navy or Air Force...

..except for the time I tied him to a kite, flew it over the highway and let him drop (via a secondary pull string). Poor Joe.

Weekly Wonderous Moment in Comics #36

THE FUTURE IS YESTERDAY!!!

I love going through old comics that feature a future story and the timeframe is actually years ago. From 1971, comes this tale from the 1990's (in which Superman is no longer needed and is a cripple in a wheelchair)

So what societal advances took place in the intervening 20 years that we have forgotten about in the following 17 years? (and if you're not confused by THAT, I want you explain to me the power of flan).

First up, mankind went to Saturn in 1981

We had the power of anti-gravity in a handheld device

Bank robberies were foiled by glass cages springing from the sidewalk

The Fire Department could put out fires with helicopters

Modern Climate Control melted the Arctic with no repercussions whatsoever
Al Gore= pwned

and the most fantastic thing you forgot about the 90's...

Mr. & Mrs. Jimmy "Action" Olsen, the king & queen of the Fashion Pantheon.

House Ads #12 Debbi & Mousketeers

Just a quick in house ad for a couple of quickly dead funny books

1971

We Interrupt This Blog .... #14

.. to let you know that AMtrak, built by the sweat of foreign labor, can be a dangerous ride, what with the Indian raids and all.

Pitchman-A-Go-Go #42

A Mr. Met wristwatch helps you tell what time it is, no matter what time it is.

Personally I always thought this looks kinda creepy because it made me think that every time I hit a baseball, I was smashing the skull of one of Mr. Met's relatives. Eeeewwww.

Endorsed by Steve Bartman

Weekly Wonderous Moment in Comics #35

I'm still enthralled with the Harvey books and let's take one last look at them. First, something that everyone has been dying to see...

Richie Rich getting what is due to him and every other rich bastard that doesn't pay his share of the tax burden.

And then something that NOBODY wants to see....

Cadbury, the butler, ZOINGing out of a car trunk while wearing nothing but a diaper.. with a naked infant gazing on.

Did I just mention that I just heavily invested in Clorox eye-bleach?
Yup, I did.

House Ads #11 Drama & Power

I don't think anyone could accuse DC of being shy when it came to writing a house ad.
1968

We Interrupt This Blog #13 .....

.... to help keep you outta the slammer! Ignorance of the Law is no excuse.


Just remember that you can be cruel to oysters in Kentucky all day long and I can personally attest that it is perfectly legal to open cans of tomatoes with a revolver in every county in Oklahoma

Jonah Hex #58 "The Treasure of Catfish Pond"

Jonah Hex #58 Mar 1982
"The Treasure of Catfish Pond"
Michael Fleisher, story - Dick Ayers & Tony DeZuniga, art - Tony DeZuniga, cover

Jonah is riding along, minding his own business, when he hears a a ruckus over the hill. Investigating, he discovers an old man tied to a tree and being tortured by several other men with a branding iron. Jonah comes riding down like the devil himself and starts sending several of the men to their just rewards.

Jonah cuts the man down from the tree and just as the man dies he says"....cat....fish....". Jonah then packs up all of the bodies and heads into a nearby town.

In town we meet Mr. Jinks, a simple man, and his trick dog, Blaze. When I say simple, I don't mean that he is uncomplicated, he is slow and he makes money by putting on shows with his dog tricks. Just then a man comes running up, telling Jinks that he heard that Duncan Bradley is dead. Bradley is the old man that Jonah tried to save and he and Jinks were best friends.

Jonah is speaking with the sheriff and they are discussing why Bradley was being tortured. Mr. Barrett, the banker says that it must have been the $50,000 ($933,767 today) that Bradley stole from the bank. The Sheriff claims that there is no proof yet who stole that money and since an argument has started, Jonah heads for the saloon and some grub. Bartlett shouts that there is a $5,000 reward for the return of the money.

Jonah is stopped by Jinks who asks if Bradley is really dead. When Jonah tells him that it is true, Jinks starts crying that he has lost his best friend. Jonah starts to ask Jinks about the word "catfish" but there is a sudden cry from down the street. A wheel has started falling off of a loaded buckboard.

Jinks runs down the street and grabs the corner of the buckboard, and despite it being loaded with mining supplies, Jinks holds the wagon up while the wheel is reattached. But, crisis is a byword in DC comics. There is suddenly a runaway horse and wagon coming down the street and old slow Blaze is standing in the middle of the road. Jinks can't save him without dropping the wagon on the man repairing the wheel. Therefore, it's up to Jonah to risk his skin for a canine.

Jonah dives into the road and narrowly avoids being trampled by the horse and wagon. Jinks is thankful and takes Jonah back home to the boarding house where he lives. Jonah asks Jinks about "catfish" and Jinks says that Catfish Pond is where he and Bradley went fishing and there was even an old mine where they would wait out thunderstorms. Jonah decides to head up there and look around.

Meanwhile two of Barrett's thugs tell him that Jonah is riding out of town. Barrett figures that Jinks gave Jonah a clue as to where the money was hidden. Barrett hatches an evil plan...

Back at the boarding house, Jinks is looking for Blaze. The two thugs show up and tell Jinks that they saw Hex grab the dog and ride outta town, who wouldn't want a trick dog as valuable as Blaze. With some more cajoling, the thugs have Jinks seeing red and swearing that he's gonna tear Jonah Hex in two. Jinks heads out to the mine by Catfish Pond and the thugs are following not far behind.

At the mine, Jonah has located the stolen $50k when Jinks suddenly bursts into the mine, demanding to know where Blaze is.

Their fight is interrupted by Barrett and his two thugs who are going to kill Hex & Jinks and take the money. Barrett explains than Duncan was a bookkeeper and that they were supposed to split the money Duncan was embezzling but Duncan got greedy and took it all. Jinks suddenly realizes that Barrett has killed his best friend and stolen his dog. Jinks lunges at Barrett and knocks over several timbers, bringing the entire mine down on all of them.

When the smoke clears, Jonah & Jinks are trapped inside the mine. Jonah locates an air shaft and Jinks gives him a boost to crawl out. Meanwhile, Barrett has manages to crawl out of the mine and has gotten on his horse and started his escape. Jonah jumps on his horse and ends up roping Barrett and bringing him to justice.

Later, Jinks is reunited with Blaze and he and Jonah split the $5,000 reward. Not only was Barrett in jail, he is out the $5,000 that he put up as reward. Fleisher, your middle name must be Irony.

Statistics for the Issue
Men killed by Jonah - 4 that he shot saving Bradley
Running Total - 349
Jonah's Injuries - None
Timeline - Another story that had nothing indicating when it took place. I'm starting to think that Fleisher had a bunch of pre-wedding stories left around and DC used those whil he was plotting all the twists and turns that would show up over the next several years. A fair story, not a great one.

Next Issue - Jonah encounters the White Lotus and... the Death of Mei Ling!!!

Pitchman-A-Go-Go #41

Why not buy it? It's from the US government so it has to be good.

I'm gonna get a cannon and a pith helmet and a flashlight that sees around corners. Then I'm gonna go kick Richie Rich's tiny heiny.

Where do I get this stuff?

The question has been asked and so I will answer.

Everything that I post here, comic-wise, belongs to me. The first comic I can remember was a Walt Disney compilation and that would have been around 1965 (when I was 4). I lived in a very small town and no comics were sold there, but my grandma lived in a less small town where drugstores and grocery stores sold comics out the wazoo.

There was one 5 & 10 where the owner would tear the top half off the cover of the books (redeeming them for the cost) and then sell those books for half price. And the comics in this town stayed on the rack until they sold (except for the 5 & 10, where he tossed the old ones in a box). We went to grandma's at least twice a year and since everything was within walking distance for a small kid, I usually came back home with over 50 books a trip.

I always bought DC, because it didn't matter if you missed an issue. I really liked the horror books but my sister made me buy Archie. I could tell when I was really desperate when I started buying Marvel.

On day in the 70's my dad came home from work and dropped three books in my lap. I was staring at three Carl Barks duck books from the 50s. HOLY CRAP!!! These books were twenty years old! Dad didn't say where he got them but that was my first introduction to Carl Barks (I think the first book had the seven cities of Cibola in it). After that, once a week, dad would walk in and drop three more books in my lap. Jimmy Olsen? Detective? Joe Palooka? Dick freakin' Tracy? Woody Woodpecker? This went on for months.

Finally dad told me where he was getting the books. From our basement. WHAT?!?!?! Dad worked with a guy that collected comics and he had just gotten married. His wife thought it was silly so either the books went or she did. He thought about it for a few weeks and ended up giving the books to dad. 600 comics, dated between 1954 and 1964 dropped into my lap.

Granted, a lot of it was crap, but a lot of it was gold. Add that to what I already owned, I ended up buying my 1,000 comic in 1977 (Sgt Rock).

I've kept most of them. After I got married, we hit some hard times & I ended up selling some very good issues for grocery money (Cockrum X-Men for $10 a pop, my old Superman's & Adventures for $200) and I got rid of some books that I didn't want my little kids reading.

I kept collecting for a while, but eventually quit. Then Gladstone started publishing the Don Rosa duck stories and I started up again. These were books my kids could read!

Now the boys are grown and I'm back to buying books.

So everything I scan here is from my own collection, I don't own any softcover/HC compilations (that whey you don't see any b&w) and sometimes what I scan is from a reprint (DC did that a lot for backup stories).

Weekly Wonderous Moment in Comics #34

In 1969 Harvey published a female Archie knockoff called Bunny. It was wild, it was kicky, it was mod, it was fab.

Who were the stars of this book?

Well, there was Arnold Van Greenpockets, the rich British kid


Bunny, the star


Esmerelda, the evil dark haired rival of Bunny's


Honey, Bunny's litttle sister


Some guy/girl who is never seen again


Marcy, a stylish black woman


and Gideon, the...... uh, the .....
what the hell is this guy supposed to be?
An African-American Emmit Kelly dropping acid?
I'm so glad that the African American male doesn't dress foolishly anymore.

House Ads #10 Top Gun

Johnny Thunder and the Trigger Twins both in one book with a cover by Russ Heath (yup, the same one that did the Death of Jonah Hex story.)
1968

Jonah Hex #57 "The Debt"

Jonah Hex #57 Feb 1982
"The Debt"
Michael Fleisher, story - Ross Andru & Tony DeZuniga, art & cover

First off, welcome Ross! It's good to see ya. I always enjoyed your work.

It's night and Jonah is hitching his horse outside a saloon and we hear from inside a ruckus starting up that sounds like a woman is getting smacked around. Jonah walks in and orders a whiskey. There is a silver-haired woman on the floor with four thugs standing around her calling her a tramp.

Jonah tells the bartender to leave the bottle, politely lifts the hat off the head of thug #1 and smashes the whiskey bottle on his skull. Thug #2 starts to pull a pistol, but Jonah gives him a blow to the gut and then the jaw. Thug #3 jumps Jonah from behind, but Hex, using leverage, lifts the man and tosses him over the bar into the mirror. Thug #4 pulls a knife and tries to stab Jonah. Hex side-steps, grabs the man's arm and breaks it for him. Then, as a reminder not to mess with a Hex, Jonah busts an oak chair over his skull.

Jonah then walks over to the woman, helps her off the floor and says "Them hardcases didn't hurt yuh none, did they, ma?"

The woman is Ginny Hex! She comments that she hardly recognized Jonah under all that... but Jonah cuts her off, saying he came as soon as he got her letter. The barkeep demands payment for the mirror and Jonah forks over $500 (little over $9000 today).

Jonah lets his mom ride his horse and he walks alongside through the town. She says that she knows she has no right contacting Jonah after over 25 years, but she is in trouble and owes $2,000 ($36,000) because she borrowed some money from Dirk Jagsted, a local gambler.

Jonah asks what happened to the money and Ginny stammers that she spent it on a man who ran out on her. They head for the stable and bed the horse for the night and Ginny leads Jonah to her room in the back of the stable. Ginny offers Jonah the bed (a mattress on the floor) but he declines, saying that in the morning he'll decide how to handle Jagsted.

However, he lies awake, thinking back 27 years, to the June 1848. He had just turned 10 and had gotten into a fight with several boys who had been calling his mom a tramp. Young Jonah gave it his best shot, but the four boys took turns holding him and beating him senseless. As they leave Jonah bleeding in the grass, they remind him one more time that his mom is a tramp. Much later, Jonah hobbles home where his mom is surprised to find him bloodied.

Woodson, however, makes no bones about not coddling Jonah. He says that he has a moonshine run to make and that he'll be back home around noon tomorrow. Much later, there is a knock at the door and Jonah answers it. At the door is a traveling salesman name Preston W. Dazzleby. The salesman is a dry goods merchant that is wanting to show some of his wares. He pulls out a dress and shows it to Ginny.

Ginny, never taking her eyes off Preston, tells Jonah that it is time for bed, while she samples what Preston has in his case (if'n ya know what I mean. wink wink nudge nudge). Jonah heads off to bed, laying there, reliving the terrible things that the other kids said, thinking about terrible ways to get his revenge... eventually he hears some laughter and gets out of bed to investigate. Walking down a short hallway, Jonah finds the door ajar and peeks through.


Jonah sees Dazzleby getting dressed and his mother packing a suitcase. Jonah steps into the room with a simple "Ma?". Ginny kneels down and explains that she is leaving because Woodson beats her when he gets drunk. She and Preston are heading for St. Louis and when they get settled, they'll send back for him. Ginny & Preston load up the wagon and ride off into the night, leaving a ten year old Jonah standing in the dark, abandoned in his house.

27 years later, Jonah is roused from his remembrances by shouting outside the stable. Turns out it's Jagsted wanting his money. Jonah gets dressed and walks out of the room into the stable, facing Jagsted and his three men. Jagsted states that he has no idea who Hex is but he wants his money from that 'broken-down tramp' and on the count of three, he'll blow Jonah's head off. How far does he get? Guess.

The other three men draw down on Jonah, only to end up bleeding their life out on the straw floor. Ginny comes out and Jonah says that the debt has been paid in full. He pulls out a roll of bills, handing them to his mom. Then they part...


and we don't see Ginny ever again.

Statistics for this issue
Men killed by Jonah - 4
Running Total - 345
Jonah's Injuries - none
Timeline - 1875. Scientists have determined that 1875 was a celestial anomaly and actually had 3279 days instead of the standard 365. Scientists refer to this as a Running-Broad-Jump Year. This story covers just one evening in 1875 and one day in 1848.

This takes place a year prior Jonah's first run-in with the law and just a few months prior to his first fight. We have more than one reference to Jonah 'just' turning 10 in early '48 so I'm resigned that Jonah's birthday is NOT in November.

We have only seen Jonah's mom once before and that was not the best family experience.

This is a pretty painful story to read, even though I have not experienced any abandonment issues in my family. Ginny is constantly referred to as a 'tramp' and I'm not sure if Fleisher meant that she was just kinda 'loose' or if she was an actual prostitute. Either way, she is a very sad woman with a very sad life. Not having seeing her son for 27 years and when he shows up, he's horribly disfigured and ends up walking out of your life, must have been very painful, but it DID seem that all she was concerned about was the money.

No mention of Mei Ling, so this one could have been in the chute, waiting for a scheduling delay. Like all of the stories recently, this was shortened due a backup El Diablo feature.

Next Issue - A lost Treasure and a trick dog.

We Interrupt This Blog..... #12

..to inform you about the dangers of traveling by stagecoach. Black Bart can be a danger to both you and your valuables.

I'm digging the monocle, though.

Pitchman-A-Go-Go #40

I must say, chicks must dig the accordion. Of course, I'm talking about chicks that live in the northern Midwest. If you were to break out one of these monstrosities at a bar or even a square dance, I think you would be the guest of honor at a necktie party.


See, you have to order it from Chicago. Now if you had to order it from Altus, Oklahoma, I might buy one, cuz, heck, it comes with a reverb box and if there is anything sexier than a Chicagoland accordion, it's a Chicagoland accordion with a reverb box.

Weekly Wonderous Moment in Comics #33

Okay, a touch of quick explanation. Harvey comics published this comic called Bunny that had a horrible backup feature called Fruitman (he can turn into fruit). They decided to take all of the Fruitman stories, gather them into a Giant and sell it. But they also tossed in another story of Sooper Hippie which is one of the most sexualized things I've ever seen in a Harvey book.

Here, Sooper Hippie (in his secret identity with the red hair) gives his friend some advice about playing the zither and the friend responds...

Uh...Kama Sutra? A book about Eastern sexual positions... in a HARVEY book???? Especially one called Fruitman Giant????!??! Okay, so how do I get that horrible taste outta my mouth?

Later on, Sooper Hippie goes to Mars to battle Mary Boppers and makes this comment about his x-ray vision.

This is just all tooo creepy for a Harvey book. These are the folks that put out Little Lotta and Casper for crying out loud.

House Ads #9 Hellcats & Robby Reed

Let's say that you're an American Indian and you're on your flying horse, just flying over your hometown, what is the LAST thing that you expect to attack you, waaaay up there in the clouds?

A Ginormous Orange Octopus!!!!

I kinda hope that the Dial H for Hero Indian on a flying horse shows up in either Final Crisis or Ambush Bug. Ands how much fighting can the Hellcats cram onto one cover?
1968

We Interrupt This Blog..... #11

... to show you how to get that extra pep into your Prius..

Just remember, big oil is just a bunch of evil bastards.
This message brought to you by T. Boone "Cap" Pickens.

Jerry Reed tells me to shut up!

I saw Jerry Reed at the Rialto theater in Joliet, IL over 25 years ago. I thought it would be funny to shout out "Do Amos Moses!" to which Reed replied "Shut up! These people paid good money to hear me, not you. I'll play what I want to play when I want to play it.......think I'll play Amos Moses."

Today we lost an excellent picker, a great showman, and a solver of scary mysteries.

Jonah Hex #56 "The Asylum"

Jonah Hex #56 Jan 1982
"The Asylum"
Michael Fleisher, story - Dick Ayers & Tony DeZuniga, art - Tony DeZuniga, cover

Jonah is sitting near the camp fire, having a cuppa' joe, when a young woman comes running up, begging for help. She throws herself into Jonah's arms and says that THEY are trying to take her back. Just then three men in uniforms come up and start dragging her away. Jonah protests and one of them busts Jonah in the jaw and another one follows up right behind. Jonah starts busting some heads himself when there is a loud shout, demanding to know what is going on.

The man demanding an answer is Dr. Philip Rondine, director of the Desert Haven Asylum for the Insane. The three men are employees of the asylum and were trying to return the woman to the hospital. Rondine explains that the woman is Susan Crenshaw is crazy and had been committed but had recently escaped. Rondine and his thugs take the woman away with them.

Jonah contemplates how terrible that a pretty woman would be so sick and have to locked away in a snake pit such as the asylum. As he readies his horse, he plans on heading to Desert Forks to find a hotel, and he's not accustomed to being alone after being married for over a year to Mei Ling.

Several hours later, Jonah is killing roaches in his hotel room and trying to shave when he hears a noise at the door. He jerks the door open, grabs the man standing there and throws him into a chair, offering to do some major damage with a straight razor unless the man starts talking.

The man stammers out that he is Herbert Crenshaw. His wife, Susan, was the daughter of Arnold Middleton, a rich mine owner who recently died. Susan inherited controlling interest in the mining empire. However, before she can claim her inheritance, her uncle (Virgil Middleton) has had her committed until she agrees to sign over everything to him.


Crenshaw wants Jonah to break her out of the asylum and Jonah says that they can discuss details over dinner. As they walk out of the hotel, gunfire breaks out and Crenshaw is hit in the arm. Jonah knocks Crenshaw down behind a water trough for cover. He hands Crenshaw a pistol and tells him to fire a shot at the roof across the street and Jonah will sneak up on them.

Jonah heads out across the street but a gunman on the ground ambushes him and hits Jonah in the right thigh. Jonah goes down but manages to kill his shooter. He hobbles across the street and finds a ladder to climb up the side of a building. Jonah then jumps out of a window onto the nearby roof, planting both boots into one owlhoot's face. He then gut-punches the other one and lifts the screaming man over his head, then throws him into the street, knocking the third gunman off his horse.

Back down in the street, Jonah asks Crenshaw if he knows who these three are. Crenshaw identifies them as Virgil Middleton's henchmen. Jonah agrees to take the job, right after he bandages his leg and gets some grub in his gut.

Later that night at the asylum, Susan is undergoing a torturous water dousing as Virgil attempts to get her to sign over her rights. Jonah is hanging from a rope outside the second-story window. Using his knife, he manages to pry the screen off of a window and swinging in, smashes a guard in the jaw. Two other guards come running along a balcony and attack Jonah.

During the tussle, Jonah and a guard crash into the railing and fall to the ground in front of Virgil Dr. Rondine and another guard. Dr. Rondine is there and pulls a gun on Jonah. Jonah spots some buckets of sand (for dousing fires, sez so on the sign) and grabs one, tossing sand into Rondine's eyes and knocking out the other guard with the bucket. Jonah then locks Virgil and Rondine into a cell, grabs Susan and they both head outside, making for horses that Jonah has brought.

When they get to the horses they are surprised to find Susan's husband, Herbert holding a pistol. Herbert explains that he never loved Susan, he just married to get his hands on her father's money. But his plans hit a snag when Virgil had her committed and was going to have their marriage annulled. So Herbert had to hire Jonah to save her and now he plans on shooting her with one of Hex's pistols and then killing Jonah 'in self-defense'.

Jonah tells him that he'll never get away with it, but Herbert orders Jonah to hand over his gun. Jonah does as he's told, holding his other hand over his head (in order to reach his knife that he keeps in the back of his jacket). As Jonah hands over his pistol, he suddenly throws the knife into Herbert's chest, killing him.

Susan cradles her dead husband in her arms and tells Jonah that he killed him. Jonah replies that he did and has mixed feeling about the whole thing, because with Herbert Crenshaw dead....

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - I'm calling it three. The one shot in the street, the one thrown off the building, and Crenshaw.
Running Total - 341
Jonah's Injuries - Shot in the leg and falls off a balcony
Timeline - This one happens right after issue #53 covering one day.

I enjoyed the idea that two family members were out to get Susan's money and their plans ended up colliding. Jonah was taken for a fool, but honestly, there was no way for him to determine that Crenshaw was a slimeball. The rest of the story was just wall to wall fist fights, and that is never really a bad thing.

This also had an El Diablo backup story.

Next Week - Jonah encounters one woman that he can never forget...Ginny Hex!