Night, a downpour in a swamp, possibly on the Gulf coast. Jonah Hex is bleeding and eventually comes upon a cabin with light issuing forth. As he approaches, he hears the cry of an infant and spying through the window he sees the mother put the child to her breast. He gently knocks on the door, stating he is alone and wishes nobody any harm, looking only for shelter and food. After some silence, he says he is leaving.
The door opens, a rifle barrel extends and the woman states she is well skilled in the use of the rifle. She lets Hex in and puts the baby to bed. Jonah shows her his empty pistol and hands it to her. He asks where her husband is and she states he is dead, she guesses. He left to look for gold after the war. She starts examining Hex's wound, asking who shot him. Jonah says it wasn't anyone special. She doesn't have any liquor to dull the pain and is not much of a surgeon so Jonah tries to guide her through it. He offers a knife and stitching supplies in his saddlebag that he brought.
They exchange names, she is Maisy Rae and she eventually extracts the bullet and sews Jonah up. She offers Jonah some beans on the stove and then picks the child back up. She notes that Jonah fought for the Confederacy and mentions she lost her two brothers in that war. She also lost her parents, her mother to 'the cough' and her father to consumption. Folks don't seem to live long around her. Jonah says that the same predicament surrounds him as well.
Maisy asks about Jonah's family and he says he doesn't think about them much, his wife left with their boy not long ago. Maisy says that since she saved, or extended, his life he could relate a tale of his life since he appears to have many in store. Jonah says that since she asked who shot him, he will go with that one....
Jonah is riding through the swamp when he spies a crow or a bird of prey tangled in a string on a stick. The bird is trying to free itself. Jonah dismounts and approaches the bird when he is ambushed and falls to the ground. A young man, possibly a teenager, emerges from the brush, unties the bird, who hops onto his arm, and then approaches Hex. As the boy rolls Hex over he finds himself staring down a pistol barrel. The kind punches Jonah in the wound. Jonah gets off a shot that goes wild and the two wrestle on the ground, with five more shots being fired, none finding their mark. The kid starts gouging out Jonah's eyes and Jonah grapples for a rock and swings it against the boy's temple, killing him.
Hex, groggy and bleeding, pulls himself out from under the dead boy and hears shouts of "JAMES! JAMES!" from off in the swamp. Jonah grabs his saddlebag and shoos his horse away and takes off into the swamp. Three brothers, Elliot, another wearing a bowler, and a third with an overbite, arrive upon James' corpse. They realize that they must avenge James death and they see through Jonah's attempt to distract them with the horse running off. They know they are tracking a man on foot through the swamp.
Jonah continues through the swamp, shedding his jacket, crawling through the roots of ageless cypress trees. Bowler and Overbite follow the trail as far as they can, noting that the blood in the water will draw gators. They ponder where Hex might be holed up, observing there are two spots, the Whillacker's place and the widow. They decide to take James home, get the dogs and return to dish out their wrath.
Hex surfaces from the swamp, covered in leeches. As he stops to pull them off a gator makes his move. Jonah dodges the initial attack, rassles it down and then takes off.
Maisy is aghast and orders Hex from the cabin instantly. Hex says he isn't going to hurt her but she says that he has put her and the baby in danger. Those three are crazy and if they think she helped him... The baby starts crying and Maisy opens the door for Jonah to leave but the brothers are standing on the porch holding a coil of rope. Maisy said she had no idea what had happened but the order her to grab her baby and come outside. They start escorting Jonah through the door and when he protests Maisy's innocence he gets a punch in the gut from Bowler. Bowler takes Overbite's rifle and orders him to drag Maisy and the brat outside. Bowler gives Hex a kick to the gut and we hear a rifle shot from the cabin. Overbite screams and Bowler and Elliot head into the cabin, stupidly ignoring Hex.
Maisy tells them to stay outside, Overbite is alive, but won't be if they enter. Hex rises up behind Elliot, sneaks his pistol from the holster and shoots him in the back of the head. Bowler turns and catches a slug in the eye. Jonah drops the pistol and enters the doorway, holding his side. Overbite is holding the child by the neck and Maisy has the rifle trained on him. Overbite tells Hex to leave or the child's neck will be snapped. Jonah doubts the threat, asking if Overbite is a robber and a baby killer? If the baby dies, it won't be Maisy what finishes Overbite.
Overbite responds that if he lets the baby go Hex will shoot him anyway. Jonah says it doesn't matter how it goes down, it isn't his kid. Maisy is astonished, after how she helped Hex. Jonah says he ain't dead and that is all that matters. Jonah reaches out for the rifle, saying he is fed up with her yapping. Meanwhile Overbite is trying to get their attention, saying he will kill the kid. Jonah and Maisy wrestle over the rifle when it suddenly goes off, killing Overbite with quick efficiency.
Overbite lies dead, the baby sitting alive on his chest. Maisy stutters ".... you.... we shot my...." Jonah takes the rifle and says that when a man like that comes in the house, you don't wound him, you kill him. Maisy says the choice wasn't as simple as that. Hex observes that deep in the swamp there ain't that many people to rob, those men just liked the killing and things are making sense. A beautiful woman like Maisy left alone in the swamp is an easy target, but here she is, unharmed.
Maisy tells him to leave, Jonah only cares about killing. She can see why his wife left him. Jonah tells her to cast judgement if she must. He exits, and standing in the rain he turns and tells her to bury her kin.
Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - Four
Running Total - 864 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 362 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Shot and beaten.
Timeline - One day. After Mei Ling has left, so probably 1877
Rape Percentage - 21% (11 of 52)
Jonah has had a few run-ins in swamps and all of them were full of murderous families. At least this one didn't have a huge waterfall. This story, overall was pretty good. I enjoy Jordi's artwork and he has a knack of making people have a unique look so they are easy to identify from page to page. The interaction between Jonah and Maisy was a delight, both were wary of each other, not wanting to let their guard down and the reveal at the end where Maisy is married to Overbite was really icing on the cake. The whole issue flowed very nicely and had a good atmosphere. One small point I noticed is that Jonah showed compassion to the 'trapped' bird, leading to his ambush. Jonah has feelings for animals because they are innocent (except for bears and gators and sharks and wolves and anything else that attacks him) and has had ever since he was a kid.
Next Issue: A saloon girl, a train, and a double cross.
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