Jonah Hex V2 #42 "Shooting the Sun"

 Jonah Hex V2 #42 May '09

"Shooting the Sun"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Jordi Bernet - art and cover

Colorado, We see three men standing in the street, sun to their backs. Hex is facing them, a chain on his wrist, and an old drunk looks onward from a nearby porch. The viewpoint whips around and we realize that Jonah Hex is chains to two large iron balls, each dragging his hands to his sides, unable to reach his pistols.

We flash back a few decades to Woodson Hex learning young Jonah how to be fast with a gun. (I just had a flashback myself to when my dad would ask if I wanted to be taught or learned. I asked what the difference was. He explained that being taught was a lot less painful.) The method Woodson is using is to have Jonah reach for a pistol on the table and Woodson tries to smash Jonah's hand with a wooden rod before he grabs the gun. Ginny starts to reprimand Woodson and he tells her to be quiet and she leaves. Then Woodson has Jonah try again with the other hand.

Later that night, Woodson is sitting on the porch with a bottle speaking to Jonah who is out in the yard. He tells of his own father being a real bastard, and the day Grandpa Hex died, Woodson went into town and tied one on. That was the day he met Virginia. We see that Jonah is standing in the dark, a large rock tied to each wrist and he is having to stand with his arms straight out from his sides. Virginia stares out the window and when Woodson falls alseep, she goes out in the dark, unties the rocks and holds Jonah close, her tears falling in his hair.

Cut back to present day. Hex stares at the three gunmen and the old man sits on the porch, lighting up a smoke. Flashback to the past and the next morning. Woodson awakes and asks Jonah how he is doing. Jonah is still holding the rocks aloft and Woodson goes out to him. He then notices the tracks in the dirt and realizes what Virginia had done. He goes into the house and commences to beat her. 

An unknown time later, Jonah and Woodson are riding into town. Woodson says that Virginia needs to learn her place and that he never wanted children. Now that he is saddled with Jonah, he is gonna be sure Jonah ain't no daisy. As the wagon rolls into town, a man is being assaulted in an alley and Woodson points out that the man is a daisy. Jonah says that the men are killing him. Woodson responds "So whut?"

They pull up in front of a saloon, Woodson tells Jonah to mind the wagon and then goes inside. Four local toughs show up and start hassling Jonah. He talks back and they pull him off the wagon, dragging him into an alley as a storm starts. They beat him with a large stick (possible an axe handle) and knock him out. Woodson shows up with a case of whiskey as Jonah comes to. Once again he tells Jonah to mind the wagon and he goes off to find the toughs.

He finds the four youths in a different alley and when they lip off, he smashes one in the teeth with the butt of a pistol and then proceeds to beat the ever-lovin' livin' hell out of all four of them. Leaving them lying in the mud he says "Never look for trouble with a Hex." Woodson returns to the wagon, coming up to a smiling Jonah and states "Now ya'll learn ta mind ME once we git on home."

Back at the farm, Jonah is forced to plow the field in the rain as his father lectures him about being weak, how he'll become string, and when Woodson thinks Jonah is ready, they'll go back to town and Jonah will sort those boys out, because a man should never have his father fight his battles.

Later that night, Virginia is asleep in bed and Woodson asleep at the dining table. Jonah is outside in the outhouse, urinating in his dad's whiskey bottle. He sneaks the bottle back to the table as Woodson asks what he is doing. Jonah says he was thirsty and got some water. Woodson says that whiskey will help him sleep better but Jonah turns him down. Woodson takes a long pull on the bottle, glares at Jonah, wiping his mouth. Jonah stares back and Woodson tells him to get to bed. Jonah obeys, with a happy smirk on his face.

Present day and the three men say they are gonna get on with it, to which Jonah starts laughing. They want to know what is so funny and Jonah points out that years ago, his father beat them senseless in that alley over there. They acknowledge that fact and that is exactly why they are doing this. They put out word about a fake bounty to lure Hex here so they could kill him and since his pa ain't there to save him....

The three men draw and fire and Jonah falls to his knees, the irons balls crashing into the dirt. The shots go over his head and with the chains slack, he draws and shoots all three men. 

He shoots the chain off his left hand and then gets up, holstering his pistols. He walks over to the men, bleeding in the street and as the ringleader raises his pistol, Jonah starts swinging the remaining ball and chain. "Never look fer trouble with a Hex." he says and then crushes the man's skull over and over again.

Jonah walks out of town, into the sun, ball and chain dripping blood into the sand. The old man on porch muses to himself "That boy is a mean son of a bitch."

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - Three
Running Total - 753 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 251 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - As a kid, beat up by some kids and a lot of hand whacking by his dad
Timeline - Present day, probably just a few minutes, in the past, probably several days.
Rape Percentage -  24% (10 of 42)

This was a real good one. I always enjoy getting to see more of what drove Jonah to be what he is and so much of it was his abusive father. Not that I like seeing the abuse, but I appreciate the creation of the motivations of Jonah. 

Now I had to do a little bit of research on this one, just because Palmiotti and Gray write the way they do. First off, "Shoot the Sun.", I never heard this phrase before and it means to try something impossible because, well, it is impossible to actually shoot the sun. So what was the impossible task here? Was it trying to outdraw three men while your arms are shackles to a ball and chain? Was it surviving the abusive father?

Next up, one of the kids asks Jonah, "What's yer name, puke?" to which Jonah replies "Ah ain't no Missourian. Name's Jonah Hex." Which is a weird reply because Jonah IS from Missouri. I dug around as much as I could and could find no correlation as 'puke' being a specific slur for Missourians.

Then, during a conversation one of the thugs asks if anyone has a 'lundstrom' to which another asks 'A what?' EXACTLY!!! Is it a candy? A cigarette? Only thing I could find was a bookcase manufacturer. Guess I'll need to ask Justin and Jimmy to explain these last two.

On to the Hex family... the compassion that Virginia shows for her son is horribly gut wrenching. She tries to stand up to Woodson and when she can't she circumnavigates him, helping Jonah the only way she can. Her tears flow over him in the dark but none of that can wash away their pain.

And Woodson...what can be said of such and evil man who would beat his son and wife ruthlessly? And to top it off, I'm sure that Woodson knew that Jonah pee'd in the whiskey and either appreciated the subterfuge enough OR was so addicted to the bottle, that he drank it anyway. I also wonder what kind of man was Grandpappy Hex that would end up siring a reprobate such as Woodson. I'm sure there are some stories to be had there of the OG Hex around the time of Revolution. One more thing, on rereading this story, it dawned on me that the old man on the porch is actually Woodson himself, just sitting there, watching three men try to murder his son. True to his word, he doesn't intervene, watching the handiwork of his years of abuse play out.

Bernet, as always, has some top-notch work with this story. I would put this one on the Must Buy list. Also, this issue has a sneak peek of the Power Girl book, written by Palmiotti and Gray.

Next Issue: Jonah has a method of acquiring real estate in tough times