"The Six Gun War Part 6"
Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Cristiano Cucina - art and cover
We open on Quentin Turnbull, behind his desk, smoking a cigar and none too happy. The female assassin sisters have reported back and Turnbull is not one for taking their excuses. But Turnbull is satisfied that he and his men will be more than prepared for Hex's arrival.
Dusk at Turnbull's mine and up in the mountains surrounding Turnbull's camp are our intrepid four, Hex, Lane, Black, and Lash. Bat notes that they are outnumbered 30 to 1 but Hex does not care. Lazarus tells Hex that Bat has a point and Tallulah asks if they are scared. Hex states that his observation has discovered that Turnbull has a weakness in that his men are outnumbered by the miners they exploit. Hex plans on empowering the miners to turn on Turnbull.
Bat hopes that Jonah does not suggest that one of them infiltrate the camp and deliver a rousing speech. Hex says that Bat has his numbers wrong....
Down at the mine, Turnbull's men mercilessly beat and whip the natives being used as mining labor. One of them sees a miner put a gold nugget in his mouth and Turnbull's man shoots the native instantly and then orders another worker to rip out the nugget using a pickaxe. Up on the mountain Bat asks once again, what the plan is. Jonah sneaks up behind Lazarus and puts him in a sleeper hold, causing him to pass out. Bat gets very angry and tries to stop Hex and Tallulah draws on Lash. Just then there is a bright light an El Diablo appears, Bat Lash seeing him for the first time. El Diablo says that the time for vengeance is nigh and they must wait for his signal and he vanishes.
Bat doesn't understand why Hex had to choke out Lazarus and Hex explains that the demon only comes when Lane is asleep. He instructs Lash to drag Lane off into the bushes where he will be safe and the three of them head down to Turnbull's encampment.
Down in the mines a small boy dies from lack of water and El Diablo appears in the mine, setting Turnbull's taskmaster ablaze. El Diablo tells the workers to grab whatever they can fashion into a weapon and rise up at his signal.
Outside Hex, Lash and Tallulah ride into the camp and start shooting. The miners start to rebel and attack Turnbull's men but start getting mowed down. One of the miners tosses dynamite and then all hell breaks loose.
Turnbull hears the commotion and arms himself along with his guards. Miners break through the doors and Turnbull kills several of them as he makes his way out the back. Hex and the others continue to thread their way through the mayhem when they finally see Turnbull making tracks. They give chase, encountering a gatling gun, catching some dynamite dropped by a shot miner and then tossing it into the Gatling nest. Chasing Turnbull into the dark jungle, Hex fires a shot and brings down Turnbull's horse. Tallulah and Lash dispatch the two guards alongside Turnbull and Hex dismounts to have it out hand to hand.
Fists are exchanged and Turnbull draws the sword from his cane and slices Hex across the chest and then stabs him in the thigh. Hex punches the cane, breaking the blade and the rises up, grabbing Turnbull, extracting the broken blade from his leg and readies to run it through Turnbull's face.
Just then Santos Nunez appears with several other men. He tells Hex that he has been sent by General Ricardo Paolo to escort Turnbull to the border without incident. Hex tells Santos to leave them alone, it is a private matter. But Santos says that his orders will not allow him to let Hex kill Turnbull. They can resume their conflict once they are in Texas. Tallulah urges Hex to go ahead and end Turnbull. Turnbull taunts him to do it and Hex tells Santos that he can turn his back and pretend Turnbull was dead when he got there.
Santos says that he cannot do that and the entire Mexican Army will hunt Hex down. Hex drops the blade and tells Turnbull that this isn't over. Turnbull mounts up on a spare horse and as he rides off, he tells Jonah that Jeb will be avenged.
Left alone in the Dark, Lash observes that was an unexpected resolution and Tallulah says she wasn't afraid of the Mexican Army, they could have taken them. Hex tells them to shut up, Turnbull will get his and he has lost his gold mine and Hex needs a drink. Lash says that Hex needs a doctor and shouldn't they go retrieve Lazarus. Jonah says "What the hell for. I don't even want you around me right now."
Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - Wow, there is no way to know exactly but we'll go with 5 we see him shoot and two running the Gatling gun for a total of seven.
Running Total - 800 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 298 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Fistfight, chest sliced open and stabbed in the thigh.
Timeline - Just one night so the whole saga sits at five weeks..
Rape Percentage - 22% (11 of 49)
Lots and lots of shooting, several explosions and it was all pretty unsatisfying. Was it because of such little use of El Diablo, the old west version of The Spectre? Maybe. All he really did was burn up one bad guy, tell the miners to rise up and then he is gone. He really could have turned the tide, but he isn't the main star of this book.
Was it because of the final fight between Hex and Turnbull? Possibly. Jonah didn't show any signs of the stabbings he got last issue, riding hard, jumping around, fists swinging without a grunt or slowing down.
It possibly was because of Santos showing up out of nowhere to intervene at the very moment Hex was going to kill Turnbull. Santos was mentioned by Turnbull earlier in the issue but it really didn't register when I was reading this originally. And I think the artwork didn't help this story at all, dark, murky, muddy. Just not my cup of tea.
Ya know what is? Next issue....art....story...life changing as we hit issue 50 in Volume 2 (Only one downside in the entire book, but that is for next week.
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