tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-305111122024-03-14T03:11:44.156-05:00Matching DragoonsA weekly review of every appearance of Jonah Hex. We cover Weird Western Tales, Jonah Hex, HEX, the Vertigo minis, the new series by Palmiotti, talk about the Jonah Hex movie with Josh Brolin, old comic book ads, and other junk from my personal collection.Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.comBlogger806125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-47627978180735609362022-07-19T17:58:00.003-05:002022-07-20T09:34:36.482-05:00Jonah Hex V2 #33 'The Hunting Trip'<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AIzYfht5QWE/X1YyhonbYwI/AAAAAAAAA_o/1s5jLfByYGUmwkRrhT2igTJKiBctKVDogCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/33%2Bcover.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1328" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AIzYfht5QWE/X1YyhonbYwI/AAAAAAAAA_o/1s5jLfByYGUmwkRrhT2igTJKiBctKVDogCLcBGAsYHQ/w260-h400/33%2Bcover.jpeg" width="260" /></a></div>Jonah Hex V2 #33 Sep '08<div><b>"The Hunting Trip"</b></div><div><i>Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray - story, Darwyn Cooke, art and cover</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>We are listening to the written rememberance of a man recalling when he was young and his father took him on a hunting trip in the snow covered northern mountains on a moon illuminated night. The father and son are making their way through thigh deep snow, the father giving instructions on how to choose the best horse for mountain living.</div><div><br /></div><div> They come upon their slain prey, a large elk and as the son commences with field dressing the animal, the father continues with the lesson. Finished with the chore, the son packs the meat and the father the rack as they head back to camp, instructions of horse choosing still poor forth. In camp, they bed down for the night, the father still speaking, telling stories of friends in the past and during all of this, we know that all of this talk, this chatter, is welcome. It is comforting for it is given in love and in friendship. This isn't the constant ramblings of a man who is nervous or trying to hide something. The father is sure of himself and wishes to pass this confidence on to his son.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next morning they are traversing a snow covered meadow when the father accidentally steps in an unseen bear trap. Clamping around his calf, the trap is one that won't be easily removed. The father tells his son to get the knife, they will have to remove the leg. They manage to saw off the leg and the son starts with the rescue by dragging his father through the snow. On into the night the father's condition worsens until he stops his son, telling him that it is over. He tells the boy to lay next to him, hold him close so the father can keep the boy warm through the night. As the snow swirls and covers the two, the father continues to give instruction even to his last breath.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pvthCC_4furyjmxfi5skDr7tDQMqKsIlzwK2bV2UcEG1gXvGYdIkljTbjCZGrefl3OoTa-M-l8bm5rto5H7650Gy9kFGc5InUcCC1MTW0LOSUocx4voLWd359zBgcK5epKJ_sy_Sdh7ENzy2iEx-wvg0Tt38tMBpSfGVt-_EOybfVcTqRA/s2271/Hex%2033%20snow.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2271" data-original-width="1809" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pvthCC_4furyjmxfi5skDr7tDQMqKsIlzwK2bV2UcEG1gXvGYdIkljTbjCZGrefl3OoTa-M-l8bm5rto5H7650Gy9kFGc5InUcCC1MTW0LOSUocx4voLWd359zBgcK5epKJ_sy_Sdh7ENzy2iEx-wvg0Tt38tMBpSfGVt-_EOybfVcTqRA/w319-h400/Hex%2033%20snow.jpeg" width="319" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The boy awakens to wolves chewing at the bloodied leg of his late father. He gently removes himself from the snowbank and the wolves turn at him, lunging in a hunger driven fury. Shots ring out and Jonah Hex stands there, outlined in the rising sun, casting aside his rifle as the wolf pack turns on him. With pistol and knife, Hex dispatches the pack in a fury of steel and blood that is over as quickly as it began. He stands over his fallen foes, drops to a knee and starts extracting meat for a meal, as the boy slowly and silently approaches.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hex looks up to see four mounted men, Northwest Mounted Police, approach. The first man informs Hex that he and his boy are illegally hunting on private land. Jonah relates the fate of the boy's father and the man asks the boy for confirmation but the boy is silent for whatever reason (I now suspect the young man is mute). The man inquires as to Hex's identity and Jonah tells him he is Fleisher, a trapper by trade.</div><div><br /></div><div>The man says he doesn't believe it. He has heard there is an American, a bounty hunter, who has crossed the border into Canada to find the man that they currently have hooded and bound to one of their horses. The man says he heard the bounty hunter's name was Jonah Hex. Hex says he has never heard the name. The Mountie doubts the truth of that statement because he knows Hex has a hideous scar. They strip Hex down to his scivvies, bind him, and walk him out to the middle of a frozen lake. The Mountie starts in with a history lesson of who they are and Hex tells him to shut up. They grab a pickaxe and knock a hole in the ice, Hex falling, hands bound, into the freezing water.</div><div><br /></div><div>Submerged and left for dead, Hex bites through the rope and swims down to grab a log. The Mounties ride off , leaving the boy to the elements and Hex bursts up through the hole, tossing the log across the opening so he can lay across it and make his way back to shore and his clothes. </div><div><br /></div><div>Hex raises up his head and shouts "Chingah" and a team of sled-dogs appear from almost nowhere and surround Hex, bringing him warmth. The boy brings Jonah his clothes and they are on their way.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some time later they approach a fort and Hex walks in through the open gates, shotgun at the ready. As a Mountie opens the door to the first cabin Hex kills him with the payload from the first barrel, and when another Mountie investigates, he is just as quickly dispatched with the second barrel.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTHAvmxQ7hIEfkJ6uwfQu-eNkC1UmG8rcRuK5gNzrWuYTe9OWTjra05BWTpj5rKOEMsH-8iO73-u-pJ_QtKodepNZ1tvKlLtkdRZLIGOzJSNuv9fL3I_hY-ZmXwAaZltEMsMwsJX-wVI_wF4jCtPoQAJbaJS4QU7GjX3Kqd7ovdk1VHnR7NA/s2910/Hex%2033%20boom.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2910" data-original-width="1869" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTHAvmxQ7hIEfkJ6uwfQu-eNkC1UmG8rcRuK5gNzrWuYTe9OWTjra05BWTpj5rKOEMsH-8iO73-u-pJ_QtKodepNZ1tvKlLtkdRZLIGOzJSNuv9fL3I_hY-ZmXwAaZltEMsMwsJX-wVI_wF4jCtPoQAJbaJS4QU7GjX3Kqd7ovdk1VHnR7NA/w258-h400/Hex%2033%20boom.jpeg" width="258" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Tossing aside the spent double-barrel, Hex draws his pistols and takes on the rest of the fort, going hand to hand if need be until all of the Mounties are dead.</div><div><div style="display: inline;"> <img border="0" data-original-height="1841" data-original-width="1839" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEm3bT8r2z6VtUjjkIK7XD6ZkWV_R2HxgIMzhp3qUORrE3m-8THYeC5nL4VSWKleGabEK2oWZBedV7t76vD50hZxWBoDGxw8mKZOzS-bZFalU3HsUw98hN7kRS4tlysChr_MHnEQDKyYxsvyWaEYZHgJfjOUUoyfZXuWUyvdp4y3V4J8_pcg/w400-h400/Hex%2033%20cool.jpeg" width="400" /></div></div><div><br /></div><div>His vendetta fulfilled, Hex collapses and the boy drags him into a cabin by a roaring fire. An unknown time later Hex awakens to see the boy kneeling beside him, joy on the boy's face and a love for a newfound 'father'. Hex sits up and shoves the boy away. He gets up, readies himself and leaves. The boy follows out into the snow, finally grabbing the tail of Hex's coat to stop him. Jonah turns and backhands the boy into the snow and rides off.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qRijyEI_XFCqleqsBD5D2lPjV8OGmCy1IMOXuHQNWspYqcAHtLypz9WLOEbZT4i2Ofvg1notN-x0l1HVy5m0I8okZLCUvKMUxbx6wCbnhCDmdf5xDj1wxoeErp8aJD8EXTRwkSZEx2y9YHc9DB6g77Hq6u6Gij9sKJUwTo6e7T9-0ngCoQ/s1938/Hex%2033%20crack.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1938" data-original-width="1851" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qRijyEI_XFCqleqsBD5D2lPjV8OGmCy1IMOXuHQNWspYqcAHtLypz9WLOEbZT4i2Ofvg1notN-x0l1HVy5m0I8okZLCUvKMUxbx6wCbnhCDmdf5xDj1wxoeErp8aJD8EXTRwkSZEx2y9YHc9DB6g77Hq6u6Gij9sKJUwTo6e7T9-0ngCoQ/w383-h400/Hex%2033%20crack.jpeg" width="383" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The boy sits there in the middle of the fort, a winter storm falling upon him. Night falls and the snow covers the boy and under the full moon, the wolves once again appear and we learn from the narrator that of all the lessons that have been imparted to the boy through the years, the one taught to him by Hex was the most important, how to deal with wolves.....</div><div><br /></div><div><strong style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for This Issue</span></strong><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> - </span>Twelve<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span></div><div><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Running Total - 707</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 205 V2)</i><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> - </span>Bound and thrown into freezing water<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">.</span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><b>Timeline</b> - </span>The boy A day and a night, then three weeks recovery so let's say 22 days.</div><div><br /></div><div>This one was one of my favorites due to the Cooke artwork, the snowy setting, and the period styled writing. Again, Palmiotti and Gray tell us a story ABOUT Hex, from the viewpoint of someone outside of Hex's normal circle of death. An innocent boy, having lost his father is saved by Jonah and is abandoned by the man who saved him, and relates this tale in the past tense (so we know he lives through the ordeal). I also enjoyed the nod to Michael Fleisher in the alias that Jonah tries to adopt, not unlike when he took the name Albano (and what happens next issue).</div><div><br /></div><div>The retribution handed out by Hex reminded me of <a href="https://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2007/12/jonah-hex-32-gunfight-at-murphysburg.html">Gunfight at Murphysburg</a>. While it didn't have the layout of the locale set out before us like a banquet feast, nor were we introduced to each of Jonah's victims, the pacing and the ruthlessness matched the prior storyline. In Murphysburg we get men burned alive, here Hex goes Die Hard 2 and stabs a Mountie with an icicle.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rereading this, I keep trying to reconcile Jonah's actions towards the kid who nursed him back to health. Hex realized the kid was without a father, miles from civilization, marooned in a frozen wasteland, searching for a family to connect with and yet, Jonah felt the kid was better off in THOSE circumstances than being at Jonah's side until they got to a town. It was as if Jonah saw in the kid's face that the connection, if allows to bond, would never be broken and the kid would eventually be killed.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Next Issue:</b> The one thing that Jonah can't kill continues to hunt him down....</div><div><br /></div>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-18250771026286344232022-06-21T06:15:00.005-05:002022-06-21T06:15:00.211-05:00Weird Western Tales #49 "The Belle"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimwwkg8WfegVucT_nmIKt8vOBMb1yl67ljEEo_yrY8skbeSZ36pmTsG3LstDFUsmVMCTdvpuKErrMZ0KyyZTyEQscg2U39EChhgbgSvhYC_WWyHZF7KtbAHfiOTvzK0ig7F7WPXWAwQALGj7suCgvOAGMQ95NnLkT2tRkfpwtKBqMnIUuLRw/s3096/WWT%2049%20cover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3096" data-original-width="1976" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimwwkg8WfegVucT_nmIKt8vOBMb1yl67ljEEo_yrY8skbeSZ36pmTsG3LstDFUsmVMCTdvpuKErrMZ0KyyZTyEQscg2U39EChhgbgSvhYC_WWyHZF7KtbAHfiOTvzK0ig7F7WPXWAwQALGj7suCgvOAGMQ95NnLkT2tRkfpwtKBqMnIUuLRw/w408-h640/WWT%2049%20cover.jpeg" width="408" /></a></div> <b>Weird Western Tales #49 Nov 1978 </b><p></p><p><b>"The Belle"</b></p><p><i>Gerry Conway, story - Dick Ayers & Luis Dominguez, art - Luis Dominguez, cover</i></p><br /><b>End of April, 1862. Fifty miles North of New Orleans, Louisiana.</b><div><b><br /></b></div><div>First off, WWT goes monthly with this issue! Next we find Scalphunter sitting in a roadhouse, minding his own business when some yahoos start talking about an Injun being uppity and needing to teach him some manners. Needless to say, but I'm gonna say it anyway, this doesn't play out as the yahoos expected. Sure, they dump Scalphunter's soup in his lap and douse him with water. Sure, they get in several HAW HAW HAWs. But then they get thrown across the room, a broken arm, a chair across the head and then thrown over a table. </div><div><br /></div><div>When the dust settles the owner of the roadhouse pulls a shotgun and tells Scalphunter to just hold still until the railroad guards get there. Aaaaand THAT doesn't end up as intended when Scalphunter snatches the shotgun out of his hands. An older man dining at a nearby tables stands up, and tells the roadhouse owner that HE will vouch for Scalphunter and there is no need to get the authorities involved.</div><div><br /></div><div>The man introduces himself as Judge Jeremiah Halleck and his wife Charity. The Judge invites Scalphunter to discuss some business on the train along with partaking of some tea. On the train, in the Judge's private car, the Judge explains that they are fleeing the Union soldiers that have overtaken New Orleans. He has converted all of his cash holdings into jewelry and placed it all in a lockbox. Their plan was to take the train to Montgomery but they have learned that several prisoners that the judge sentenced have escaped in the confusion of the occupation of New Orleans. The judge says the prisoners know of his wealth and he expects them to try to overtake the train and exact their revenge upon he and his wife. Of course, the judge can't seek military assistance and offers Scalphunter the job of bodyguard.</div><div><br /></div><div>Scalphunter asks why the judge doesn't think that he will just kill the judge and take the jewels. The judge states that Scalphunter is a man of honor and the both know it. Scalphunter agrees, but only as far as Montgomery for he has business in Atlanta. The judge signals the engineer to get started.</div><div><br /></div><div>That night, northeast of New Orleans, several escaped prisoners break into a plantation house and overpower the owner in his bed, knocking him out and taking his shotgun. Dutch, the leader, has the men search for other guns, food and horses while he takes care of 'other business' whilst he leers at the wife sitting in her bed.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next day, Scalphunter is standing on the back of the train, watching the track vanish in the distance as they cut their way across southern Alabama. Charity comes out on the platform and comments that he is the strongest man she has ever seen. She asks what his name is, his Christian name. Scalphunter states that his father named him Brian but his real name is Ke-Who-No-Tey. Charity says that Brian is a wonderful name and it makes her weak inside, like a little girl. She starts to swoon and Scalphunter boldly asks "What do you WANT, woman?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Charity cuts the act and explains that she is terribly unhappy, the judge is a beast and she feels so hopeless she could kill herself. Scalphunter asks if the judge mistreats her and she acknowledges that. He asks why she hasn't left and she explains that the judge gave her parents money to buy their plantation in exchange for her marrying the judge. She says that Brian is her only hope.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then the train is making its way around a blind curve and ends up running into an avalanche. As the train topples over, Scalphunter is able to leap from the back of the train, grabbing Charity and taking her with him. He breaks her fall with his own body and then runs back to the train. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnx_b-gAi7ITLpjB2wNCuMOtDJ5n7x2oZVKH31mz4Kqo-JR4ixQ9zcejm5Ew5tm68tjPwglf9SoOlGlGgu5a6kwSclXeZa3fAE36co2fZLNgE17WhlioL6_JZlWkKpp2pSG_hOSZmVRPhcICnYn0Fcn3gsLTrQqv7V_3ZhG3H4uaOV_UCpxw/s2737/WWT%2049%20screams%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2737" data-original-width="1920" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnx_b-gAi7ITLpjB2wNCuMOtDJ5n7x2oZVKH31mz4Kqo-JR4ixQ9zcejm5Ew5tm68tjPwglf9SoOlGlGgu5a6kwSclXeZa3fAE36co2fZLNgE17WhlioL6_JZlWkKpp2pSG_hOSZmVRPhcICnYn0Fcn3gsLTrQqv7V_3ZhG3H4uaOV_UCpxw/w280-h400/WWT%2049%20screams%201.jpeg" width="280" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>He finds the judge, crushed in the private car. The judge explains that the jewels are for Charity and gives Scalphunter the box and the key. Scalphunter swears the box won't fall into the wrong hands.</div><div><br /></div><div>As Scalphunter emerges from the wreckage, Charity calls out that she couldn't warn him but the prisoners have descended upon the wreckage. Dutch manages to knock Scalphunter out using his rifle butt and as he passes out, Scalphunter sees Dutch grab Charity and the box and ride off.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hours later Scalphunter comes to and starts tracking the riders. </div><div><br /></div><div>Later that night, by the campfire, Dutch explains that Charity's information regarding the train was so bad, they almost didn't find the right train. They were able to escape with her help of the knives she smuggled in and now Dutch is going to give her the share of the reward, as he grabs her and starts forcing a kiss on her. Just then the horses take off running and the men run off into the darkness to retrieve them, leaving Dutch and Charity to hear their horrific screams in the darkness.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kWgGVXnRjVTYG9oCX8RG_lz9P-CIF9USB2MvDPHjRJYLaOZSXNDk_Gqns0wQ-9d29DV8D96Au6yK39MfI8RCcUgyhh7qz5QCVU7LzjqEi7rvkxU_aWqxKfZqOx1OayLEeJjkbkjJKAxh8PjUuIVFQPd07mBA8NayxgeB51WF6mY9aE-pMQ/s1834/WWT%2049%20screams.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1834" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kWgGVXnRjVTYG9oCX8RG_lz9P-CIF9USB2MvDPHjRJYLaOZSXNDk_Gqns0wQ-9d29DV8D96Au6yK39MfI8RCcUgyhh7qz5QCVU7LzjqEi7rvkxU_aWqxKfZqOx1OayLEeJjkbkjJKAxh8PjUuIVFQPd07mBA8NayxgeB51WF6mY9aE-pMQ/w400-h193/WWT%2049%20screams.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Scalphunter steps out of the black and demands Dutch release Charity. Dutch pulls his rifle and Scalphunter charges with his knife. The two tumble into the campfire, battling it out and in the end, Scalphunter and Charity walk away.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next morning in Magnolia, Mississippi (more on that later), Scalphunter is explaining the entire story to the local sheriff. The Sheriff wants to know how the convicts knew the location of a private train. Scalphunter explains that Charity was working with the convicts. Charity denies it and says that Scalphunter betrayed her husband and killed the judge. The sheriff pulls his pistol and Scalphunter knocks him out and runs out the door, dropping the key to the lock box. Charity picks it up, grabs the lock box next to her and opens it up.... to find the jewels gone!</div><div><br /></div><div>On the road to Atlanta, Scalphunter stops by a stream and tosses the jewels into the water, fulfilling his promise to the judge that the jewels will not fall into the wrong hands.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Statistics for this issue</span></b></div><div><b>Men Killed by Scalphunter</b> - Four</div><div><i>Running Total </i>- 95</div><div>Compared to Jonah Hex - 11th appearance and Scalphunter has 95 vs Jonah's 65</div><div><b>Scalps Taken</b> - 0</div><div><i>Running Total </i>- 14</div><div><b>Injuries </b>- Knocked out</div><div><b>Timeline</b> - Three days. First day to meet the judge, second day to travel, and the third day to get to the sheriff. So we are very close to the end of April.</div><div><br /></div><div>This one was pretty good. The cover promises a lot and delivers on every bit of it, the train wreck, the jewels, the prisoners. I actually laughed when Scalphunter said "What do you WANT, woman?" seeing through her charade and not having any of it. The artwork was gritty and well done, showing the action very well. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now about geography, They start fifty miles north of New Orleans which would have put them just north of Lake Pontchatrain, probably near Hammond, Louisiana. The test tells us they are heading across southern Mississippi. This all makes sense as they would have to head east, cross Mississippi, then into Alabama to get to Montgomery. Now the detour to Magnolia, Mississippi, THAT's the problem. Magnolia is due north of Hammond, LA and it is barely within Mississippi (just 13 miles across the state line), not enough for them to have been traveling across 'Southern Mississippi'. I guess you could argue that the geography is correct, but it didn't strike me that they would be heading due north to get to Montgomery to the northeast. ANYway!!!</div><div><br /></div><div>The issue was rounded out with another eight page Cinnamon backup feature. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Next Issue: </b>The 50th issue, Scalphunter makes it to Atlanta, finds his sister, gets fitted for a suit, and gets sentenced to HANG!!!</div>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-49092082202348546732022-06-18T18:09:00.002-05:002022-06-18T19:44:34.984-05:00Weird Western Tales #48 "Slaveboat" <b>Weird Western Tales #48 Sept/Oct 1978 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWwV_qTSK87cOv1eThwovurfzXgYrctJ9SKERwIxuhAaCxaAev7VmBE6tC5M79biH_B4oydXiElc_8wa3NKoNoH1y48YnoSYcEbEoiHkHOQT83Z9Wq5qDOCDNTaCJ50oof3EYsYsANB-Hi87iT8oFTRbBoQTzO9j5pRyrbZkp2-CyaWoEzA/s3030/WWT%2048%20caover.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3030" data-original-width="1980" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwWwV_qTSK87cOv1eThwovurfzXgYrctJ9SKERwIxuhAaCxaAev7VmBE6tC5M79biH_B4oydXiElc_8wa3NKoNoH1y48YnoSYcEbEoiHkHOQT83Z9Wq5qDOCDNTaCJ50oof3EYsYsANB-Hi87iT8oFTRbBoQTzO9j5pRyrbZkp2-CyaWoEzA/w418-h640/WWT%2048%20caover.jpeg" width="418" /></a></div><br /></b><div><b>"Slaveboat"</b></div><div><i>Gerry Conway, story - Dick Ayers & George Evans, art - James Sherman & Dick Giordano, cover</i><br /><br /><b>Wednesday, April 23rd, 1862. New Orleans, Louisiana.</b><div><br /></div><div>Scalphunter has been captured by Reginald Ashe and is bound in chains aboard the slaveboat (hence the title) Swanee Dawn. The slave master is whipping Scalphunter, berating him for being a white man in warpaint making him a savage. Scalphunter grabs the end of the whip and jerks the slave master down into the hold. Even in chains Scalphunter is a force of nature and he quickly cracks the man's neck. (notice how I didn't make any mention of the word 'Cracker'? Such restraint!)</div><div><br /></div><div> The slaves are worried what will become of them once this is discovered. Scalphunter says that together they can free themselves.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> We see that Mademoiselle Magarit is speaking with Reginald Ashe aboard ship. She warns him about keeping Scalphunter on board but Ashe is having none of it. He has paid for Magarit's girls to be on board and he expects them to be more 'friendly'. She reminds him that this was all her plan and he plants a big wet smacker on her. They are interrupted by General St. Samuels.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> The two men retire to Ashe's quarters where the General reveals that his spies downriver that Admiral Farragut has breached the the Confederate blockade of the Mississippi and that Farragut is planning on getting past the two Confederate forts guarding New Orleans and will land troops before dawn. He says they have to cast off immediately in order to get the slaves delivered else they shall have to kill them all. Ashe says he'll get the ship underway, but what could possibly go wrong. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> On shore we see a dark hooded figure slide from the wharf into the water and make their way on board the Swanee Dawn. The figure slips into the stateroom of Mademoiselle Magarit and reveals himself to be Wakwame!!! Wakwame explains that he knows places on the body where a knife can go that will cause no serious injury. He managed to position himself at the right time so that Scalphunter's thrust did not cause death and that his 'death' was merely an illusion of magic. Since Ashe's men thought him dead, they tossed him aside and ignored him.</div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span> Shortly thereafter, the Swanee Dawn casts off and makes its way north. Down in the hold we learn that the slaves have freed themselves from being chained to the ship, though they still have chains on their hands (it is unknown how they actually did it). They make their way through back passages in the hold, finding a concealed door. Scalphunter slowly opens the door and knocks out the guard that was napping on the other side. Scalphunter tells the slaves they now have a knife and a gun and fire but the slaves say that without the key to the shackles, they are unable to swim to shore. Scalphunter assures them he knows who holds the key...Reginald Ashe!</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span> A dozen miles downriver at Fort Jackson, lookouts realize that the U.S.S. Hartford, Brooklyn and Varuna are slipping past the fort. The alarm is sounded and the fort opens fire upon the ships. However, the ships are able make their way past the fort at 03:40, making their way to New Orleans.</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span> Back on the Swanee Dawn, the door to the bridge opens and Scalphunter grabs Ashe by the throat, dragging him out. Scalphunter demands the key to the shackles and Ashe tosses the key down to the slaves on deck. Scalphunter then demands to know what happened to Samantha Savage. She said she loved Ashe and was going to be his wife. Ashe says he sent her east to Atlanta. He says Samantha wanted to be married but not to him, so he had </span><span>Mademoiselle Magarit take Samantha to a business partner of the Madam. Scalphunter asked if Samantha worked for </span><span>Mademoiselle Magarit and Ashe starts to say she was the most promising...</span>BAM! Scalphunter knocks him out cold.</div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span> Scalphunter tells the slaves that he needs to find </span><span>Mademoiselle Magarit and the slaves proceed to take over the Swanee Dawn. Scalphunter battles Confederate guards, searching for the woman and the ship is now engulfed in flame. Scalphunter grabs Ashe once again, demanding to know where his quarry is. In a fit of rage, Scalphunter grabs Ashe and pushes both of them over the railing into the Mississippi. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>The General and others on board attempt to follow suit but find themselves entangled in chains that formerly bound their cargo. Enmeshed in the iron, everyone on board is dragged to the bottom of the river. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNh3nYjZdKWR_jKZgp8LxCDtmW7iSeULqz2DVZaizxcJ_cf9g1pcHmI98xVgmnIlCrUTcCjzeFzqjghOvMbGl1yeBWjPMFwhsIgqGBAcGchkAp8b2FgIOMY6FH6wxveY2lWRtiho6wgHFJ3das2XfNFmb4MC1TUksUCkRrjWBonrzi2gIZRA/s2765/WWT%2048%20Swanee%20Dawn.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2765" data-original-width="1874" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNh3nYjZdKWR_jKZgp8LxCDtmW7iSeULqz2DVZaizxcJ_cf9g1pcHmI98xVgmnIlCrUTcCjzeFzqjghOvMbGl1yeBWjPMFwhsIgqGBAcGchkAp8b2FgIOMY6FH6wxveY2lWRtiho6wgHFJ3das2XfNFmb4MC1TUksUCkRrjWBonrzi2gIZRA/w434-h640/WWT%2048%20Swanee%20Dawn.jpeg" width="434" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />On the shore, Reginald Ashe is horrified at the carnage and death but Scalphunter demands to know where his sister in located in Atlanta. Ashe says she is with a woman named Maxwell but he doesn't know the address. Scalphunter turns to leave into the dark as Ashe swears he will pay for what he has done to Ashe.</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span> That day, at an undisclosed location, </span><span>Mademoiselle Magarit is riding is a carriage driven by Wakwame. </span><span>Mademoiselle Magarit says they were very fortunate to have left the Swanee Dawn prior to its departure and Wakwame says he only wants to find his brothers in Atlanta. She says that will be no trouble because they are being hidden by a woman named Maxwell.</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for this Issue</span></b><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Scalphunter</b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - <span style="font-family: arial;">Wow, this one is tough. We see Scalphunter kill four guards but we can't really count the entire passenger list of the boat on him since the fire was started from 'spilled torches'. Were these caused by the slaves rioting? The shelling from the Union boats? I'm gonna keep it at four but it's probably a lot more</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 91</i><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Compared to Jonah Hex- </i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;">Ten</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> appearances in and Scalp has 91 vs Jonah's 56</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Scalps Taken</b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - 0</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total- 14</i><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Injuries</b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - <span style="font-family: arial;">Whipped. </span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Timeline</b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - <span style="font-family: arial;">One day, Wednesday, April 23rd, 1862.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14.4px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14.4px;">I enjoyed this one. More intrigue with Mademoiselle Magarit, Wakwame returns and an entire boatload of Confederates get an ironic death, and Scalphunter gets one step closer to finding his sister. This issue was part of the DC Explosion and had an 8 page backup introducing Cinnamon, a character that started off wonderfully but.... timelines and all that. I'll be giving her separate posts because I think there was a lot of potential there</span></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><b>Next Issue:</b> A rocky train ride and nobody judges another man's Charity.</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div></div>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-35459341686341444182021-04-28T19:09:00.002-05:002022-06-18T18:15:35.689-05:00Weird Western Tales #47 "City of Shame!"<b>Weird Western Tales #47 Jul/Aug 1978 </b><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PSZY8g7YOY4/WaycaI36V5I/AAAAAAAAAn0/yBcncqwhDSIAiL3nTZckB_W4ipFnu5DDgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-03%2Bat%2B7.20.32%2BPM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><b><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PSZY8g7YOY4/WaycaI36V5I/AAAAAAAAAn0/yBcncqwhDSIAiL3nTZckB_W4ipFnu5DDgCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-03%2Bat%2B7.20.32%2BPM.png" width="266" /></b></a></div>
<b>"City of Shame!"</b><br /><i>
Gerry Conway, story - Dick Ayers & George Evans, art - George Evans, cover</i><br />
<br /><b>
Tuesday, April 22nd, 1862. New Orleans, Louisiana.</b><br />
<br />
In the French Quarter, after a harsh rain, we find Scalphunter slipping in the muddy streets, almost falling under the thundering hooves of a horse drawn carriage. He goes flying face-first into the mud, much to the enjoyment of the onlookers. Scalphunter stands, snarling and one by one, the crowd quietly disperses, all except for one woman, herself an object of disrespect and scorn by many.<br />
<br />
She steps forward and introduces herself as Mademoiselle Magarit. She offers her 'house' to Scalphunter so that he may bathe and she will have his clothes cleaned.<br />
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After his bath, several of Magarit's 'girls' are admiring Brian's chiseled form. Magarit apologizes for not being able to remove the bear smell from Scalphunter's coat but he replies that the bear had much medicine and he is proud to carry the scent. Magarit asks his business and he replies, walking out the door, that he seeks Reginald Ashe. As he leaves, Magarit calls over Judith and gives her a secret task.<br />
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Not long after, Scalphunter finds himself at the docks in front of the Swanee Dawn where he witnesses a slave owner getting ready to whip a female slave. Without thinking, Scalphunter draws his knife and advances but is quickly stopped by <a href="https://jonahhex.blogspot.com/search?q=wakwame">Wakwame</a>. Wakwame warns Scalphunter that he can't help the woman by interfering, he must stay silent and come with him. As they leave, Wakwame explains that he is about to use his Shaman medicines to help free his African brothers. Scalphunter acknowledges that Wakwame once saved his life and is willing to help.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uiegKTbOGWE/YIn0YYKvHQI/AAAAAAAABEk/Bc4fTs3cRhgqKcFf6wL-byUFmB2rMClkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1775/WWT%2B47%2B1.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1546" data-original-width="1775" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uiegKTbOGWE/YIn0YYKvHQI/AAAAAAAABEk/Bc4fTs3cRhgqKcFf6wL-byUFmB2rMClkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/WWT%2B47%2B1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />
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Sadly, they are deep in conversation and do not see the two Confederate soldiers approach them and start taunting them. Something snaps inside Brian and he lunges, tackling one of the soldiers. Wakwame throws a knife into the neck of the other soldier as Scalphunter quietly snaps the neck of the man he holds down. Brian then scalps the man and the two leave to continue their plans elsewhere.<br />
<br />
Later than night, at Magarit's house, she is entertaining Reginald Ashe and Confederate General St. Samuels. She explains about Scalphunter looking for Ashe and she fears he may upset their plans. Ashe tells them there is nothing anyone can do, the Swanee Dawn will sail upriver tomorrow and that is that. The General rants that Ashe doesn't have a grasp of the situation. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut">Farragut</a> is about to capture New Orleans and even now is outside <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Jackson,_Louisiana">Fort Jackson</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_St._Philip">Fort St. Philip</a>. Ashe tries to ease St. Samuels fears and states that he has to leave for his mother's birthday party. He gives Magarit a deep kiss and leaves. Samuels puts forth "That man will doom us all."<div><br /></div><div> A mile northeast of the city, deep in the swamps, Scalphunter and Wakwame talk around a fire. Scalphunter tells of his search for his sister, Samantha, and how he learned she was in New Orleans. The trail has lead to Reginald Ashe. Wakwame also explains that his quest leads to Ashe due to a vision he received last month. Wakwame has learned where Ashe lives and they will go there tonight.</div><div><br /></div><div> Later, under cover of darkness, Scalphunter easily overcomes the wall surrounding Ashe's plantation. He dispatches a guard via quick use of a club and then enters the mansion, knife drawn. There is a large party taking place and Scalphunter makes his way to Ashe's office. Once there, he searches through Ashe's desk and finds a daguerrotype, more recent than the one he carries, but obviously it is Samantha. Just then a voice from the doorway reveals that Scalphunter has been discovered.</div><div><br /></div><div> Reginald Ashe stands there with two Confederate guards, gloating of how they captured Wakwame and how he will kill him and Scalphunter. The guards open fire as Scalphunter dives to the floor, rolling under a couch. He picks up the couch, using it as a shield, rushing the two guards. An unseen third guard comes from behind and knocks Scalphunter out.</div><div><br /></div><div> Some time later, Scalphunter regains consciousness and he finds himself in a ring surrounding by a roaring crowd. Lit by torches, the ring is one for battle. In the sand before him is a knife and across the ring is Wakwame, already armed. Ashe explains that the two captives are to battle to the death for the pleasure of his friends. Scalphunter refuses but Ashe explains that he will shoot all of the slaves unless the battle takes place. Wakwame whispers to Scalphunter that they have no choice and he rushes at Scalphunter. </div><div><br /></div><div> The fight ensues, during which Wakwame reminding Scalphunter that the African is a man of medicine, medicine of Africa, or Kiowa and even of voodoo. Even though Wakwame may be cut, may bleed, may even die, he cannot be defeated. The pitched battle continues for half an hour until Wakwame moves into position and Scalphunter drives his knife home. The African shaman slumps to the sand, thanking Scalphunter, exhorting him to free the slaves until Wakwame returns.</div><div><br /></div><div> Scalphunter watches his friend fall to the sand, he turns and rushes towards the nearest guard, but the butt of a rifle comes down upon his skull, once more thrusting him into darkness. When he awakens, he is bound in chains upon the Swanee Dawn along with a boatload of slaves, Reginald Ashe standing before him, gloating at the Kiowas fate.</div><div><br /></div><div><b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for this Issue</span></b><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Scalphunter</b><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - One wharf guard and Wakwame</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 87</i><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Compared to Jonah Hex- </i><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;">Nine</span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> appearances in and Scalp has 87 vs Jonah's 39</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Scalps Taken</b><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - 2</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total- 14</i><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Injuries</b><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Knocked out twice. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Timeline</b><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - One day, April 22nd, 1862.</span></div><div><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">A nice issue with a reappearance of Wakwame from issue 41 from the year prior. Just one major problem... dates. Surprised? Issue 41, written by Michael Fleisher, took place in Summer, 1862 and once Gerry Conway took the reins, two issues ago, he placed us firmly in March, 1862. So, I'm calling an audible and saying that since there is nothing in issue 41 tying it historically to 1862, I'm gonna say Scalphunter and Wakwame first met in 1861. I like Wakwame as a character and how he is his somewhat appalled at Scalphunter taking scalps.</span></span></div><div><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">I enjoy that they are putting Sclaphunter in actual history in a believable timeline. He was last seen in St. Louis in March and now we're in New Orleans in the end of April. A nice amount of time to cover that distance. </span></span></div><div><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UZW85NgqqWY/YIn05rWZOCI/AAAAAAAABEs/-UOV2JyCsAMjVkdE6W_8TfmJL0_vNzF3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1218/WWT%2B47%2B2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="1218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UZW85NgqqWY/YIn05rWZOCI/AAAAAAAABEs/-UOV2JyCsAMjVkdE6W_8TfmJL0_vNzF3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/WWT%2B47%2B2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><b>Next Issue</b>: Scalphunter finds himself up the river without a paddle, and Matching Dragoons takes the Cinnamon Challenge!</span></span></div><div><br /></div>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-62669058960423007922020-09-07T08:11:00.002-05:002022-07-20T09:35:10.446-05:00Jonah Hex V2 #32 'The Matador'<div>Jonah Hex V2 #32 Aug '08</div>
<strong>"The Matador"</strong><br />
<em>Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Jordi Bernet- art and cover<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ON0whNKDwfg/X1YwNROFSrI/AAAAAAAAA-8/q6g8jgd7788jioSgs6lKplHTJW79q0BHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/JH%2B32%2Bcover.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1313" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ON0whNKDwfg/X1YwNROFSrI/AAAAAAAAA-8/q6g8jgd7788jioSgs6lKplHTJW79q0BHwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h500/JH%2B32%2Bcover.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></em><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Spectacle of Blood and Sorrow</i> </b></div>
<b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;">Jonah is sitting at a bullfight in Mexico with Esteban and his wife, Rosa. Esteban states that he wants Hex to kill the man who "Stole my wife's heart and tasted her sweat". It is the matador, Carlos Rocca, the best in Mexico and who is about to face his adversary in the ring at that moment. Hex refuses and Esteban says he can't find anyone in Mexico that is willing to kill the most famous bullfighter in the country.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We watch the fight as Carlos spears the bull repeatedly and it finally expires. The crowd starts chanting for the bear to be released against a bull. Esteban explains the thrill of this conflict to Hex, and what the stakes are for the bear and how she is fighting to protect her cub from the bull. Hex wonders what all the fuss is about. Esteban got his woman back so why revenge?</div>
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Esteban's wife's veil falls revealing her face and that her lips have been cut off, leaving a gaping mouth of teeth. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mab4dxu1ZtM/X1YwhhkgJWI/AAAAAAAAA_E/D9jJqRrlXpABu91uHvpykKjEWl20u838QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1818/32%2B-%2B1.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1818" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mab4dxu1ZtM/X1YwhhkgJWI/AAAAAAAAA_E/D9jJqRrlXpABu91uHvpykKjEWl20u838QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/32%2B-%2B1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Hex asks if the Matador did that and Esteban says "No" and shows Hex a knife.<br />
<br />
In the ring, the bull charges the bear to the delight of the bloodthirsty crowd. The bear bites and slashes at the bull and they both die in the short contest. As the ring is cleaned up, Hex rises to leave. Esteban asks him to reconsider for if a gringo kills the matador, Esteban can rally his countrymen to fight back against the Americans that are invading his country. Hex refuses again and leaves.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Deaths Dancing Maidens</i></b><br />
<br />
That night, Jonah stumbles into a graveyard, drinking. Suddenly he is surrounded by dozens of women in black shawls and they start dancing around him, finally pulling staffs from their cloaks and beating him. As he falls, a few pull pistols just as Jonah strikes his head against a tombstone and lapses from consciousness.<br />
<br />
<i><b>When You Mess with the Bull<br /></b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
Jonah awakens to find himself stripped and tied to a large target on the wall of the Bullring. Esteban is there, giving him one last chance to accept the offer. Hex tells him to get things over with because Hex is gonna get loose and kill him and all his bitches. Esteban laughs and tells Hex that he has prior commitments for Dia de Los Muetros, but Hex will be dead soon.<br />
<br />
Esteban and the women leave and a speared bull comes charging into the ring and crushes Jonah against the wall. The Bull backs up and hits him again. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPiYf1ryrGY/X1YwnXOLl0I/AAAAAAAAA_I/kWfgCJiB2uYmSmGW8UIjV-1iAZ0lp4y6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1979/32%2B-%2B2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1798" data-original-width="1979" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPiYf1ryrGY/X1YwnXOLl0I/AAAAAAAAA_I/kWfgCJiB2uYmSmGW8UIjV-1iAZ0lp4y6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/32%2B-%2B2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Just then, Carlos, the matador, appears and lures the bull away. Carlos is about to kill the bull when Jonah asks him to stop.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Chula Maria Espinoza</i></b><br />
<br />
Three weeks later...<br />
<br />
Jonah is taking some target practice, left handed, against a suargo cactus, shooting off spines one at a time. A woman stands in the doorway of an adobe house, telling Jonah how watching him excites her. Jonah tells her to get back inside out of the heat. She keeps taunting him and we learn that she is Chula Maria Espinoza, the sister of Carlos, the matador. She continues to taunt Jonah and he keeps telling her to keep her distance. Finally he has to shoot at her feet to get her to back away. Hex grabs her and she fake swoons so Hex slaps her and threatens to tie her to a chair.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPMZB_D1RT8/X1YwvjxVszI/AAAAAAAAA_M/zUytBRyvYdki7Yf-NBoc7XXSkA5GMyVmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/32%2B-%2B3.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1782" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPMZB_D1RT8/X1YwvjxVszI/AAAAAAAAA_M/zUytBRyvYdki7Yf-NBoc7XXSkA5GMyVmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/32%2B-%2B3.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><br />
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Carlos rides up with an extra horse. Jonah gets his gear assembled and mounts the horse. Carlos asks what Hex will do now and Jonah draws his gun and aims it at Carlos. Carlos stammers back that he saved Jonah's life, surely Hex can't turn on him now. Carlos said he didn't discard Rosa, Esteban has too many men for Carlos to kill himself. Hex tells Carlos that if someone cuts the face of the woman you love, you do something. Carlos offers to purchase Hex's services and Jonah refuses and rides off.<br />
<br />
<i><b>The Last Bullfight</b></i><br />
<br />
A pack of wild dogs battle against a speared, bloody bull as Hex walks up and sits down next to a startled Esteban. Hex tells him he should have stuck around to make sure the bull finished things and Jonah stabs Esteban with his own knife. Esteban dies and Rosa hands Hex a bag of money. Hex tells her to keep it, this one is on him. Hex asks if she wants the bloody knife as a keepsake and she refuses. Hex gets up, turns to walk away and says "For whut it's worth, the matador still loves ya."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7ldz0Okoh4/X1Yw3gmPdUI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/ZjaDDbaVhcc--EVyIXb6l0k_eSF-VggnQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2019/32%2B-%2B4.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2019" data-original-width="1817" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7ldz0Okoh4/X1Yw3gmPdUI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/ZjaDDbaVhcc--EVyIXb6l0k_eSF-VggnQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/32%2B-%2B4.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><strong><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for This Issue</span></strong><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span face="" style="background-color: white;"> - One, Esteban.</span><br /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Running Total - 695 </i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">(432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 193 V2)</i><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span face="" style="background-color: white;"> - Beaten over the head by the 'maidens' and his head strikes a tombstone. Then he is, well, not gored, but is crushed by a bull, twice.</span><br /><span face="" style="background-color: white;"><b>Timeline</b> - A day and a night, then three weeks recovery so let's say 22 days.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;">I liked this one a lot. Bernet's artwork added quite a bit to this one and one small thing was the gutters between the panels changed color, white for day, murky brown for the graveyard, blue for the night with the bull, and dark red for Esteban's death. It added the passage of time and an emphasis on what was happening. Nicely done.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;">I also enjoyed the characters, each one was unique and even Esteban's wife, though she said nothing, Bernet's portrayal of her spoke volumes. Even Chula, with her odd comedic interlude, was a joy to behold. All in all, an issue worth seeking out.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Next Issue:</b> A hunting trip gone wrong, evil Mounties (but I repeat myself) and Darwyn Cooke<br /></span>
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<br /></div></div>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-58571214911265476452020-03-29T06:00:00.001-05:002022-07-20T09:35:32.966-05:00Jonah Hex V2 #31 'Red Mask'<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYTSa0a7tDI/Xn6jQTUO-_I/AAAAAAAAA6A/1PPk12UbUHQDJV75j9HjI2UcBvTi82yOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/JH%2B31.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1056" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYTSa0a7tDI/Xn6jQTUO-_I/AAAAAAAAA6A/1PPk12UbUHQDJV75j9HjI2UcBvTi82yOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/JH%2B31.jpeg" width="263" /></a>Jonah Hex V2 #31 July '08<br />
<strong>"Red Mask"</strong><br />
<em>Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Paulo Siqueira and Amilton Santos - art, Richard Corben - cover</em><br />
<em><br /></em>
<em> </em>The whole town is in church and the Sheriff is addressing them, Jonah Hex at his side. A bandit by the name of the Red Mask, has been laying waste to the pocketbooks of the townspeople and the sheriff proposes that they hire Hex. His payment will be any loot that he finds on the bandit. Dozens of men have been searching the nearby canyons will no luck and Hex is their last hope.<br />
<br />
Just then, the town drunk, Cletus Hambone, crashes into the church, drunk to the level of skunk. Cletus raises such a ruckus that the Sheriff has Cletus posterior deposited in the local hoosegow. The Sheriff, returning to business, offers the help of any townsfolk that Jonah would like to have at his side. Hex, being Hex, declines the company of 'Idjits' and takes off on his own into the canyon lands.<br />
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Night, and Jonah is roasting a rabbit, when about a dozen Apache approach him from behind. As one attempts to stab him, Jonah stops him and shoots him through the head. An intense gunfight ensues leaving just Jonah and one Apache alive.<br />
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A week later, Cletus wakes up in jail, the Sheriff tossing him out. Cletus asks if Hex has had any luck. The Sheriff states that they haven't heard from him. Cletus warns the Sheriff that Hex is crafty and they better watch out so as not to be double-crossed. The Sheriff explains that he is smart, smarter than folks give him credit for. He has a plan. He knows that Hex will get the Red Mask and when Hex does, the Sheriff will make sure that Hex doesn't return with the stolen loot. The Sheriff has 'Grady and the boys' shadowing Hex and they'll kill him once the Red Mask is taken care of.<br />
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Cletus walks off into the blazing sun, with the Sheriff warning him to change his ways or he'll wind up in the ground next to Hex.<br />
<br />
Hex is still on the trail and comes up on a cave with a campfire burning inside. He sneaks up on the figure hunched over the fire and draws his pistol, getting the drop on the man. But sadly, Jonah has been suckered by one of his own tricks as it is a dummy sitting by the fire. Another man stands behind him, a stick in Hex's back (Jonah being told it's a gun), and the man tells Jonah to drop his pistol as he takes Jonah's other pistol. He then clubs Hex with it.<br />
<br />
We see Jonah laying on the ground, Cletus standing over him, clutching a red mask. Cletus tells Hex to stay down, they only have a few minutes to talk before they get there. Cletus puts the mask on Hex and explains about the Sheriff's men coming up here to kill him and the Red Mask but they'll 'discover' that Hex IS the Red Mask.<br />
<br />
Cletus is gloating over how much smarter he is than the local rubes and Hex asks where the loot is buried. Cletus reveals it is under some rocks 'over there'. Jonah asks what is taking the others so long to get there and he stands up. Cletus orders him back down and Jonah says he doesn't take orders. Cletus fires four times, click, click, click, click and Jonah grabs the pistol and punches Cletus and knocks him to the ground.<br />
<br />
Cletus on the ground, Jonah reloads his pistol and asks what the take was on all the robberies. Cletus confesses it was about $600 in gold. Jonah states that Cletus must be wondering about the Sheriff's boys and we have a short flashback of Jonah talking to the Apache warrior.<br />
<br />
The Apache bargains with Hex, telling him that three men are following Hex. The Apache attacked first in order to get any gold or guns they thought the men were wanting to take from Hex. The Apache takes Hex to the campsite of the men and Hex allows the Indian to go. He then ties the ankle of each man to a different horse and then stampedes the horses off into the night, dragging the men with them.<br />
<br />
We're Back, Cletus is digging up the gold, handing it over to Hex. Cletus tries to bargain with Hex, wanting to be partners, but Hex explains that they are going back to town and Hex wants to see the Sheriff's face when Hex shows up alive and with Cletus wearing the mask. Jonah binds Cletus's hands and has him walking behind the horse. Cletus chuckles...<br />
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<strong><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for This Issue</span></strong><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Wow, let's see, Cletus and 10 Indians (were they 'little'? Get it? Never mind.) So eleven.</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 694</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 192 V2)</i><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Pistol whipped</span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - Let's see, a week out on the trail and another day or two for Cletus to find him? Let's say twelve days.</span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> I really really liked this one. The story was great with the crooked Sheriff, Cletus as the town mastermind, the bargaining Indian, Jonah falling for his own trick (or DID he?!?!?). Top notch scripting all the way around on this one, good pacing, good twists and great action.</span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> Now the artwork.. where has </span>Siqueira and Santos been? Their style is fresh, clean and wonderfully cinematic and I would put it up there with Jose Luis Garcia Lopez (and ya'll KNOW how much I love that man's work). The fight sequence with the Apache is perfect and the angles on the panels in the rest of the story is like something out of Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul, spot on! I wish they had become regulars on the book.<br />
<br />
If you don't have this one, go grab it as soon as you can.<br />
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<b>Next Issue: </b>Jonah encounters a Bull and Bear Market south of the border.<br />
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<br />Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-12676088966905644822020-03-27T19:17:00.000-05:002020-03-27T19:17:20.286-05:00Jonah Hex V2 #30 "Luck Runs Out"Jonah Hex V2 #30 June '08<br />
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<strong>"Luck Runs Out"</strong><br />
<em>Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Jordi Bernet- art and cover</em><br />
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<br />
Jonah is passed out on the desert sand, whiskey bottles spelling out his name. We are given a two-page sepia flashback of Jonah's life, leading us to this moment. His birth, his mother leaving, the abuse by his father, being sold to the Apache, the Civil War, his scarring, bounty hunting, meeting Mei Ling, Jason being born, Mei Ling leaving in the night with Jason, and finally, Jonah drinking himself into a passed out stupor in the town of Desperation.<br />
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<strong><em>Last Stop for the Damned</em></strong><br />
<br />
Desperation, population <strike>10</strike> 6. The train pulls into the station and everyone in town perks up from their dreary lives. The people that get off the train are not the regular workers, they are Lucky Dave and his outfit. They kill the engineer as the train stops and Dave tells the station master to get everyone in town into a safe place where he can keep track of them.<br />
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Dave tells Samson, Whitey and Belle to secure the townsfolk. Chuck and Gary will help Dave open the safe on the train. Dave figures they have a few days to get out of town before the Texas Rangers show up. Dave demands of the station master information as to how many horses are in town. He tells Dave that there is an old mare and then the horse that belongs to the fella sleeping off a drunk in the hotel. Just two horses.<br />
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When Dave had scouted the town, there was a working stable. Now they are rethinking having killed the engineer.<br />
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<b><i>Let Sleeping Dogs Lie</i></b><br />
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Whitey, Belle, and Samson herd everyone over to the hotel so they can gather up the drunk. Samson heads upstairs and when he enters the room, he finds it empty. Jonah jumps out from behind the door and plunges a broken whiskey bottle into Samson's throat.<br />
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<b><i>All Things in Moderation</i></b><br />
<br />
Back at the train, Chuck and Gary are questioning the amount of dynamite that Dave has placed around the safe. Dave assures them that he learned safe cracking from Wilcox Monroe (whom Gary remembers as missing fingers on his right hand). They back off a safe distance and light the fuse and blow the entire train to hell and back. The engine is damaged and all the boxcars are on fire.<br />
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Dave hurls his hat to the ground in disgust, cursing a blue streak and Gary and Chuck start chuckling. Dave takes umbrage and guns them both down. Standing over their warm corpses, Dave states that there are two horses in town, one for him and one for Belle (which doesn't bode well for Whitey or Samson)<br />
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Speaking of Samson, upstairs in the hotel, blood is spurting from his throat through the neck of the bottle. He pulls out the bottle and throws Jonah on the bed, strangling him. Jonah reaches up, into Samson's throat, and pulls out as much tissue as he can. Samson falls dead to the floor. Jonah stands up, finds a bottle, drains it.<br />
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Downstairs, Whitey and Belle are getting nervous. Dave walks in and Whitey wants to know if the safe is open. Dave wants to know where Samson is. Whitey says Samson is still upstairs and Dave orders Whitey upstairs.<br />
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As Whitey leaves, Dave whispers to Belle that Chuck and Gary used too much dynamite and destroyed everything. They have to grab the two horses and get out of town. Just then they hear a scream and Whitey's mutilated body crashes to the ground outside. Dave grabs Belle and heads outside. The smoke from the burning train can be seen for miles, drawing the Rangers straight to this town.<br />
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They arrive at the stable and find the old mare....dead. Dave loses it and kicks the dead horse, only to have the side cave in and he gets his foot stuck in the rotting carcass. The townsfolk show up and grab Belle and Jonah enters the corral, gun drawn. Jonah wants to know who named Dave 'Lucky'. Dave states that it was his Mom, since he was the only kid to survive birth.<br />
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They trade barbs back and forth and finally Dave demands to know who is holding a gun on him.<br />
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Belle starts entreating Dave to shut up, but Dave continues to berate and insult Hex. Jonah tells the townsfolk to help Dave up and put a gun in his hand. The station master obliges and tells Dave just who Hex is but Dave is having none of it. He shoves the station master aside and stands his ground.<br />
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Dave pulls his pistol and gets off three pulls of the trigger....<br />
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<strong><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for This Issue</span></strong><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Three, Samson, Whitey, and Lucky Dave</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 673</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 181 V2)</i><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Strangled</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - Three days. The station master mentions that Hex showed up three days ago. Spring of 1876, right after <a href="https://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2008/08/jonah-hex-53-haunting.html">"The Haunting."</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> This is one of the funnier stories, what with all the 'luck' that Lucky Dave has. One thing about being lucky, you have to know if you have good luck or bad luck. I think that Dave was blessed with the latter. Bernet's artwork sets a nice tone here and the town itself reeks of bad luck itself. All in all, plusses all the way around for this tale.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Next Issue:</b> Jonah encounters the Red <strike>Hood</strike>... Mask</span><br />
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<br />Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-30957083336156969482019-07-25T17:11:00.001-05:002019-07-25T17:11:44.876-05:00Jonah Hex V2 #29 "Return to Devil's Paw"Jonah Hex V2 #29 May '08<br />
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<b>"Return to Devil's Paw"</b><br />
<i>Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Rafa Garres - art and cover</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Strange Days Have Found Us</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
We are treated to a wonderous page of scorpions, spiders and rattlesnakes as the narration expounds:<br />
<i>There comes a moment in most every man's life when he reflects upon some distant action or indiscretion that led him to a particular dilemma. </i><br />
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<i>For some, it's a woman that corrupted their soul and poisoned their heart.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>For others, it's a moment of weakness -- whether in crime, drink, gambling, murder or adultery -- that can condemn an otherwise decent man to a dark and perfidious end.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>You'll be well served in the knowledge that bounty hunter Jonah Hex had a very long list of such incidents, including a few best not mentioned in polite company.</i><br />
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<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Once More into the Grasp</i></b><br />
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Hex, his hands bound with rawhide, is leading Jones and his men into the Devil's Paw, <a href="https://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2016/02/jonah-hex-v2-21-devils-paw.html">a place of horror and mystery</a>, a place where Jonah encountered the outlaw Montana, and eventually gunned them down in 'nearby' Plimpton. Jones accuses Jonah of killing Montana but keeping the looted money for himself and Jones demands to be taken to the Devil's Paw so Hex can turn the cash over to them.<br />
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Hex and the men ride into the twisting pathways leading into the Paw when one man, Clancey, takes an arrow to the neck, and Jones gets one in the arm. Hex spurs his horse to escape as another man gets an arrow to the head. Jones and the rest of the men fall under the knives of an ambush of Indians. Hex realizes that he is also surrounded and he quickly dismounts and fights as best he can, but he finally succumbs to the tribesmen.<br />
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<b><i>Tribe of the Red Scorpion</i></b><br />
<br />
and that brings us back to the beginning, with Jonah bound and dangling over a pit of poisonous critters. A warrior shows up, cuts Jonah down and then leads him up into a pueblo to what appears to be the shaman. The old man produces a stone box with a hole in it and Jonah is forced to put his arm into the hole. Tense seconds pass and then Jonah feels a painful bite. A red scorpion falls out of the box and Jonah swirls into unconsciousness.<br />
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<i><b>Warnings Ignored Repeatedly</b></i><br />
<br />
The town of Plimpton, a three day ride from the Paw, four days later. Detective McCoy, supposedly of Pinkerton employ, is being briefed by the sheriff on recent events, including Jones (also a Pinkerton) and his men taking Hex up to the Paw. McCoy asked if the sheriff had told Jones of the horrible reputation held by the Devil's Paw. He replies in the negative but that Hex had warned them more than adequately. McCoy tells the sheriff to get his horse ready, they are going to the Paw.<br />
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Hex awakens to the amazement of the Indians. Jonah can't understand them and asks a boy standing nearby if he speaks English (he does). Jonah gets to his feet and stands before a warrior, Avenging Wind, who welcomes Jonah and offers him to live with the tribe, since he survived the bite of the red scorpion.<br />
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Jonah demands his clothes back and Avenging Wind wants to know why Hex brought white men to the Paw. Jonah explains about the money and how men will keep coming until the money is recovered. Avenging Wind states that they will kill all who come and that Jonah cannot leave as he is now part of the tribe. Jonah gets into a knockdown dragout fight with Avenging Wind and defeats him just as the sound of rifle fire echos into the pueblo.<br />
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An entire troop of U.S. Army show up and start slaughtering the tribe. Jonah locates his stolen boots, shirt and rifle, then starts making his way out of the pueblo. Avenging Wind awakens to see his entire people dead. He leaps from the highest point of the pueblo, knife drawn, ready to kill any soldiers he encounters. Needless to say, Avenging Wind is cut down in a hail of rifle fire and hits the ground, dead.<br />
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Hex then spies the young Indian on an overlook, rifle in hand and drawing a bead on the Sgt. The young one's shot is true and the Sgt's head is blown open. The rest of the soldiers return fire but Hex and the boy escape after driving off the soldier's horses. <br />
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They ride on into the emerging night and Jonah tells the boy that he should wait a night or two for the soldiers to leave the Paw. Hex even suggests the boy find a new home, but the boy explains that the Paw is home. Hex mounts up as the boy heads back to the Paw.<br />
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<strong><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for This Issue</span></strong><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - None, even though he beats the living tar out of several Indians.</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 670</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 178 V2)</i><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Bitten by a scorpion, knocked out</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - Ten days. The folks in Plimpton say Hex left a week ago and then they ride to the Paw, a three day ride.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> I am very conflicted about Garres's artwork. The characters are so incredibly fluid and dynamic, almost to rubbery comic proportions, but that also shows movement and intensity. Like a freeze frame of a super-slo-motion camera when some gets punched. But the inking is so heavy, so much black, that it can be difficult to figure out who is who in the book. A lot of his characters look the same or at times they same character isn't recognizable through the book.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> Parts of the story are confusing. The sheriff of Plimpton talks to a man called Detective McCoy (and I assume he is with the Pinkertons, like Jones) McCoy tells the sheriff they are all going out to the Paw, but instead, we see the Army show up. The Sgt has facial hair unlike that of McCoy or the Sheriff so I don't know if Garres messed up on the artwork or what happened. It's sad when a jarring glitch like that has you paging back through a book trying to figure out if you missed something.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> All in all, a fair book and a nice return to a prior story.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><strong>Next Issue:</strong> Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone...</span><br />
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<br />Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-43696459460470391362019-07-08T06:00:00.000-05:002019-07-08T06:00:05.015-05:00Jonah Hex V2 #28 "Townkiller"Jonah Hex V2 #28 Apr '08<br />
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<b>"Townkiller"</b><br />
<i>Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, John Higgins - art and cover</i><br />
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A man runs in desperation, across the desert, pursued by men on horseback. He is roped around the ankle and then drug toward a lone tree. A noose if fashioned and crowd consisting of men and women forcing the man into the noose. He pleads and begs but still they hoist him aloft and then start throwing rocks at him. Finally he is dead and then they light the dangling man on fire and watch until he is burned and the rope parts, dropping the flaming corpse to the sand. Then they leave, the tree afire, not unlike a burning cross.<br />
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Some time later, a man rides up and views the carnage. He kicks dirt on the flames and then kneels by the body, weeping.<br />
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<b><i>Everyone's Gotta Die Sometime</i></b><br />
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Hex and Halstead stand off, facing each other in the street. Needless to say, Hex kills Halstead and then the sheriff makes an appearance, thanking Hex. The sheriff pays Hex and adds a little extra so that Jonah will leave town that much quicker. Jonah throws the insult money in the sheriff's face and retires to the saloon.<br />
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Jonah is standing at the bar, tossing a few back when the man from earlier comes in with a business proposition. Jonah declines what he sees as a sexual advance and the man explains that he only wants Jonah to kill a town. Jonah's interest is piqued but he requests an explanation. The man explains that an innocent man was lynched and he would like everyone killed, men and women alike. Jonah asks if he is supposed to be an orphan maker or should he kill the kids as well. The man stutters that he hadn't thought of that and Jonah states that the man's best option is to leave.<br />
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The man restates his position that this heinous crime was visited upon his friend for reasons he isn't comfortable sharing. Jonah states that he doesn't care "how ya sit in the saddle." and he only finds amusement in those that condemn such "ridin' habits". Jonah declines the job because he doesn't want to spend his days looking over his shoulder waiting for someone seeking to exact revenge. The man persists once again and Hex tells him to leave now as a saloon girl walks up and starts stroking Jonah's shoulder.<br />
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Later, Jonah is getting a bath provided by the saloon girl. She inquires why Jonah wouldn't help the man and Jonah grabs a handful of her hair, stating he isn't interested in question from a ten-dollar whore (which ain't exactly cheap, $230 today, but I'm not sure of going rates and values of such things.) Jonah ends up kicking her out when she continues to talk.<br />
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Two days later, a small church is getting ready for service and we see a line of gunpowder, alight and burning towards a barrel of gunpowder and cask of dynamite. The resulting explosion burns everyone inside alive. This brings a smile to the face of the man seeking revenge.<br />
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He mounts up and rides off, through the night, back to the town where he left Hex.<br />
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Rain falls as he walks into the saloon, asking the saloon girl if she knows where Hex is at. She states that she does and it will cost him. He pays her and asks again where Hex is. Turns out Jonah is standing right behind him. The man smiles because he no longer needs Jon...POW! Hex pounds him right in the kisser.<br />
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Jonah asks him if he's feeling good about his revenge. The man says no judge would care, but Jonah counteracts with judges care about murdered babies and children and pregnant women and old men. Jonah grabs the man's tongue and....<br />
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The saloon girl smashes a bottle upside Jonah's head and then pulls a shotgun on him and starts shooting. She condemns Hex...<br />
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The sheriff finally shows up and assess the carnage. The sheriff tells Jonah to leave town NOW and hex complies. The saloon girl gets in one last jab and Hex tells her to be careful. As Jonah rides off, the Sheriff tells her to calm down because Hell's waiting on Hex, no doubt.<br />
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<b style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 255); color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Statistics for This Issue</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - None</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 670</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 178 V2)</i><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Bottle smashed upside the head</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - Three days, one day at the start, and then two days later.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">I wasn't a big fan of this one, because we once again see the Crazy Church People as a main force in the story, chasing down a homosexual man and killing him in cold blood. More lazy writing, either depending on tropes to tell a narrative or trying to push an agenda.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">I did think Jonah's reaction to the man (who was never named) was interesting. I felt he jumped to a rather quick assumption thinking the man was soliciting him (there was nothing in the manner he was drawn or the language he used that made me think that until Jonah brought it up). Jonah's disinterest was pretty much spot on for Hex. He really doesn't care what people do, as long as innocent people are not bothered. And, of course, Jonah has little to no use for religion or it's followers.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4wyyW8Sq3P8/XSIRMVidJ7I/AAAAAAAAA08/j5BdUxVPPdI_lg0U3_24m9C6q06qbl-GQCLcBGAs/s1600/Jonah%2BHex%2B28%2Briding.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4wyyW8Sq3P8/XSIRMVidJ7I/AAAAAAAAA08/j5BdUxVPPdI_lg0U3_24m9C6q06qbl-GQCLcBGAs/s400/Jonah%2BHex%2B28%2Briding.jpeg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">The art wasn't very interesting but I did enjoy the cover in that the knife obscured Jonah's scars but the blood running down the knife mimicked his injuries. And the reflection of the man's mouth in the knife lines up fairly well with Jonah's own scarred eye.</span>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-32457128738750004142019-07-06T19:34:00.002-05:002019-07-06T19:34:30.950-05:00Jonah Hex V2 #27 "Star Man"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah Hex V2 #27 Mar '08</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-75jj5wMgGho/XSE6giaoCpI/AAAAAAAAAy0/zy0nP8t70LQgxqv3JyS-VUM_dvuAwARogCLcBGAs/s1600/Jonah%2BHex%2B27%2Bcover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1051" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-75jj5wMgGho/XSE6giaoCpI/AAAAAAAAAy0/zy0nP8t70LQgxqv3JyS-VUM_dvuAwARogCLcBGAs/s400/Jonah%2BHex%2B27%2Bcover.jpeg" width="262" /></a><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">"Star Man"</b><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray - story, Jordi Bernet - art and cover</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">A man walks towards us, light blasting all around him, streaming from him, blurring all details. Hex is tied to a tree and the man offers Hex some water from a canteen. He bends forward and explains why he didn't kill Hex when he had the opportunity even though he <i>KNOWS</i> what Hex did all those years ago....</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><i><b>New York Harbor</b></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">A young man named Victor and his father, who has a wooden leg, disembark from a ship into the teeming mass that is New York City. They locate lodging and inquire as to possible employment. The hotel clerk gives them directions and then adds "You'll find slim pickings since after the war ended this week,"....... We'll come back to that later.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">The two go to the room and the father instructs Victor to stay put and hide the rest of the money and he'll be back soon. The father locates an employment line that is for hiring policemen. When he gets to the head of the line he tells the men at the head table that he was a peace officer in his old country. They insult him and say he will be needing both feet to work. The father explains that he also taught literature until he went into the military and that he also will not stand for being insulted. One of the men, a New York Sheriff, shoots the father's wooden leg in two. Laying on the floor, surrounded by lawmen with their pistols pulled, the father eyes a priest sitting at the head table and asks if <i>he </i>condones this treatment of an unarmed man.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">The priest replies that they don't have time for this, kill the cripple and take him outside as a warning to others. As they ready to shoot him, they ask if he has any last words. The father explains that he has a boy. The Sheriff states that he now has an orphan.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">We see Victor waiting the rest of the day, all night, and then at daybreak he inquires of the hotel clerk. The clerk states he has been at the desk all night and not seen him. He does tell Victor where he sent the father for work and Victor takes off through New York to find his dad.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Victor finds the corpse of his father hanging from a statue of a saint outside a church.people casually pass by as if it is an everyday sight. A drunk in the gutter spins the tale of what transpired and points Victor in the direction of the employment line. Victor spies a pistol on the hip of a man, pulls it, walks past the line and exacts his vengeance upon the priest, a sheriff, and another man at the head table. He is about to kill another sheriff when he is pistol whipped on the back of the head.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Cut to.... Jonah Hex is speaking to two men in an office and they are instructing him to sign the proper papers in order for the funds to be transferred to him. Hex signs and leaves the office and walks through the streets of New York. He stops to ask directions to the train and then heads out to follows the directions. Suddenly we see Victor steal Hex's sidearm and run into the employment office. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Hex gets into the office and we realize that it was Hex that knocked Victor out. He tells the Sheriffs that the boy is no relation and he only wants his pistol back. The head man doesn't believe him and they have a stare down with Hex winning. Hex picks up his gun and the Sheriff says the boy is staying with them. Hex doesn't care and the Sheriff states they'll beat the boy within an inch of his life, 'have some fun with him', and then hang him. Hex walks out holstering his pistol.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> Walking down the street Jonah remembers his own childhood at the hands of his father Woodson. He stops, pulls his firearm and next we see him killing every last man standing in the employment office.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Jonah takes the limp form of Victor to a Catholic orphanage and leaves him in the care of the nuns.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Back to present day, the man of light stand over Hex and we realize he is Victor. Victor postulates he has been tracked by Hex for three days and Victor is now worth four hundred, maybe six hundred dollars? Jonah states the amount is now one thousand dollars and asks if Victor is gonna kill him or just blind him with that coat? We then see that the light coming from Victor are Sheriff badges from lawmen he has killed over the years. He has been gunning down crooked lawmen as he roots them out after learning of the corruption back in New York.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> Victor tells Hex that Hex's horse is tied up a few hours north along with all of Hex's supplies. Victor is going to head South and finish what he has started. Hex will be able to get out of his bonds and the next time the two meet Victor will not just sneak up and knock him out, he WILL kill Hex. Victor explains that he does 'private' bounty hunting for folks seeking justice and are unable to obtain it through conventional means. He has eight hundred dollars he has saved. He gives the money to Hex, thus appeasing Jonah's sole motivation in this encounter.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> Jonah snarls that he isn't the only one hunting Victor, and Victor is two hundred short.Victor rides off, the money scattered around Hex.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> An unknown time later, Hex comes upon a campfire in the night. Victor is stripped, gagged and died to a tree. Three Indians sit nearby when a lawman, Sheriff Pete, comes riding up. He ask why the Indians have ripped off his clothes seeing as he only told them to capture him and tie him up. They explain that Victor killed one of their men. Pete replies that they get to split the hundred dollars three ways instead of four, then.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Pete explains that a man Victor recently killed, Christopher Casey, was Pete's brother. Pete pulls a knife. Pete asks if Victor has anything to say and pulls away the gag. Victor shouts for Hex to save him and take him into custody. Hex steps from the shadows and guns down the three Indians as Pete hotfoots it out of there. Hex unties Victor who grabs a knife and runs off into the dark, we hear a scream and Victor returns covered in blood and tells Hex to take him in.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Next day Hex wonders why they have to go all the way to Yuma when they were closer to Sterling. Victor explains that he killed the Mayor's Brother-in-law in Sterling. In Yuma, Hex turns Victor over to Sheriff Dokes. Victor asks Dokes if he remembers a family named Michaels that lived on the land Dokes now owns. Dokes tells Victor to shut up or he won't get a fair trial. Victor taunts Dokes, asking if it would be like the fair trial Mrs. Michael's husband and children got when Dokes killed them all?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Victor snatched Dokes' gun and holds it on both Hex and Dokes. Dokes says he won't get away with it, but Victor states that he will, he was paid handsomely to kill Dokes. He instructs Hex to drop his gunbelt and lock himself in the cell.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Later we see Hex killing time in the cell, reading the paper and smoking. A woman walks in to the office and frees Hex. She says that she was sent by Victor to let Hex out and to give him an envelope. Hex opens the envelope and pulls out two hundred dollars. He asks the woman's name. She is Mary Michaels. Jonah smiles and....</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 255); color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Statistics for This Issue</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Three men in New York and three Indians in Arizona.</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 670</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 178 V2)</i><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - None.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">This one has a wide time range, we don't know how long it took Jonah to hunt down Victor but it took about four days to ride to Yuma once Hex apprehended Victor. This is based on what information I could uncover regarding <a href="http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/azyavapai.html">Sterling, Arizona</a> (founded in 1865 in present-day Prescott) places it about 220 miles from Yuma. That makes it about a <a href="https://www.reference.com/pets-animals/long-would-travel-50-miles-horse-carriage-51c8d531c13454ca">three-four day ride</a>.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Rape Percentage</b> - 33% (9 out of 27) I'm counting this one in the 'Rape Story' column because of comments made by the Sheriffs in New York.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Overall, this was a good story and Victor was a good character but there were flaws that takes this one down a few notches in my eyes.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">First off, the timeline. The hotel clerk states "after the war ended this week" so that puts the tale in early April, 1965. But I did some digging and Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9th, 1865, BUT President Johnson didn't officially declare the war over until August 20th, 1866 (there was a LOT of other stuff going on.) We do know that <a href="https://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2006/12/jonah-hex-8-vol-1.html">Hex was scarred in 1866</a>, but not exactly when. So, while I initially bristled at this timeline 'error', I guess the clerk was being factually accurate in his statement. Therefore, this story takes place in August 1866. (guess this doesn't count as a negative then)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Next up, Crazy Church People make their appearance. Yup, we have a Catholic priest that is just fine with killing a crippled man for no good reason (granted, we do get to see nuns, <a href="https://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2012/01/jonah-hex-v2-6-goin-back-to-texas-in.html">albeit without guns</a>, practicing mercy and compassion). There are corrupt 'Church People' just like there are corrupt people in every facet of society (in fact, I once had a pastor that said "you haven't been screwed over until you've been screwed over by a Christian.") but the 'evil church person' is becoming a reoccurring theme in Hex V2, almost as much so as the 'rape story' trope. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Which brings us to the comment made by the Sheriff about 'have some fun' with Victor and 'when he is spent', leads me to lean toward rape being discussed. Sigh, such lazy writing at times. By the way, for folks wondering why I DO keep a Rape Percentage Counter going, It's because <a href="http://www.the-isb.com/?p=73">Chris Sim's actually dropped this book</a> from his reading list because of using that plot device as a crutch too many times.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">The positives? Well, Bernet's artwork is a big plus on this one. At times all of his women look the same, but he usually is able to make the men in the book distinctive enough that he reminds me of Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, although a very <i>scratchy</i> version of Mr. Lopez.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">I also enjoyed Jonah's motivation for saving Victor, remembering what a hell-hole his own upbringing was AND, despite Woodson quoting the Scripture at time while beating Jonah, Hex still took Victor to a religious organization for safe-keeping.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Next Issue:</b> I may need to start more Percentage counters as we encounter more Crazy Church People and have another tongue cut out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-81791468890793501372019-04-21T22:56:00.000-05:002019-04-21T22:56:37.385-05:00Batman 100-page Giant #8-10 "Batman Universe"<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yMl9vrHeIuE/XL0rkCgjsxI/AAAAAAAAAwg/eXnaygLJR1QpFz1I3xI3sLSxwZF9-1OggCLcBGAs/s1600/Batman%2BGiant%2B8.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1021" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yMl9vrHeIuE/XL0rkCgjsxI/AAAAAAAAAwg/eXnaygLJR1QpFz1I3xI3sLSxwZF9-1OggCLcBGAs/s400/Batman%2BGiant%2B8.jpeg" width="255" /></a>Batman 100-Page Giant #8 2019<br />
<b>"Batman Universe"</b><br />
Brian Michael Bendis - story, Nick Derington - art & covers<br />
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These are the Wal-Mart exclusive 100-page Giants series. These books really bring up some good memories for me. I lived in a small town in NE Illinois and I didn't have access to comic books unless we made a trip to my Grandma's down in the Ozarks. On those thips I would walk all over town buying every single book I could afford. Well, when the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_Comics">DC Dollar comics</a> hit the shelves, my local drugstore started carrying them. I was in heaven. I got a brand new story along with several reprints of hard to find older stories.<br />
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The format today doesn't thrill me as much since these cost $4.99 and while you do get some reprints, they are reprints of ongoing stories, so if you miss an issue, you are clueless as to what is going on in the next one. Ah, the good old days of Done-in-One stories. Anyway, Jonah Hex has made an appearance in the current run in Batman. For a quick recap, the Riddler has stolen a Fabrege egg that Batman has determined used to belong to Jonah Hex. Batman tracks down Jinny Hex (in #6) and questions her about it and she says she wants nothing to do with it.<br />
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Batman tangles with Vandal Savage and then teams up with Green Lantern. They both head for Dinosaur Island where they spy on Savage deep within a mountain, contemplating how to activate the egg. Savage leaves the room and when Batman and GL get closer to the egg, they find themselves thrown back in time to the old west where they encounter Jonah Hex.<br />
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Batman 100-Page Giant #9 2019<br />
<b>"Batman Universe"</b><br />
Brian Michael Bendis - story, Nick Derington - art & covers<br />
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Jonah draws down on Batman & GL and they remove their masks to prove they aren't crooks. Batman asks Jonah if he has ever heard of Vandal Savage. Jonah admits that one doesn't forget a name like that but admits to nothing else. Batman explains they are from another time and they are tracking down an article that Jonah has either owns or will own in the future.<br />
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Batman goes on to explains that the egg sent the two of them here and they found out about the egg from Jonah's Great-granddaughter. Jonah dismisses the other cowboys riding with him and then mutters "Not from this time..."<br />
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A short talk about their attire and GL uses his ring to hide his uniform. However, his 21st century clothes aren't much better. They head to a nearby town and Jonah pays for some appropriate duds for his two visitors. They decide to head after Savage but Hal reminds Batman that he has only 39 minutes left of charge in his ring and since he doesn't have the battery with him....well, things aren't looking good for them getting back home.<br />
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Jonah tells them to mount up, what he knows of Savage lies a six days ride to the north. Hal decides to speed things up by handling the travel arrangements.<br />
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Needless to say, Jonah has never traveled like this before.<br />
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The trio end up in the town where Jonah last saw Savage. He relates that their encounter was an accident and Savage thought Jonah was after a treasure or something. Suddenly, Hal's ring starts acting weird and Hal vanishes from sight.<br />
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As Batman and Jonah try to figure out what just happened, Vandal Savage shows up with several friends in tow.<br />
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Batman 100-Page Giant #10 2019<br />
<b>"Batman Universe"</b><br />
Brian Michael Bendis - story, Nick Derington - art & covers<br />
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Savage addresses Batman and Jonah, stating that as he understands it, Batman is from the 21st Century, there to steal the egg from Savage's hand. Jonah, on the other hand, brings up some unfinished business between he and Savage. Savage tells Jonah to settle down, since he barely remembers Hex.<br />
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Batman and Savage discuss the egg, how it brought Batman here and how it creates wormholes. Savage states his first inclination is to just leave Batman stuck in the 1800's since he would probably be happier here. Batman somewhat agrees. Savage then says that he will have his accompanying members of the Black Order kill them both, to which Jonah responds...<br />
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Savage takes one right through the heart but is only staggered, not killed. Jonah is annoyed and then the fight breaks out between Hex and Bats and several members of the Black Order.<br />
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There is a rollicking two page fight and then Batman sees the egg starting to glow in Savages hand. He shouts for Savage to drop the egg but the egg quickly flies from Savage's hand into Batman's grip. Then, not unlike what happened to GL, Batman floats up into the air and vanishes.<br />
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Batman finds himself in Crime Alley in the present day just as the Batmobile pulls up and out steps Vandal Savage holding a blaster. Savage states he's been looking for Batman for over 150 years and then opens fire, taking the egg from the fallen Batman.<br />
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<b style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 255); color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Statistics for These Issues</b><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Undetermined, since the battle is a free for all</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 664</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 172 V2)</i><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - None within this storyline.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">All within the span of a day.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;" /><br />
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">As a guest appearance, this one was pretty good. Jonah was written true to character with not much phasing him, other than some ring-assisted air travel. I enjoyed the reference to Jonah having encountered Vandal Savage before. While it is possible that the refers back to when they were last in that town, it COULD be a call back to <a href="https://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2011/01/return-of-bruce-wayne-3-bones-of.html">The Return of Bruce Wayne #4</a> or even All-Star Western V3 #18. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">A few things were off. In issue #9, the horses weren't very well drawn. The legs were so large the horses would have been 7-8 feet tall at the shoulder. Also, in one panel, GL and Bats word balloons were swapped, giving Bats a smart-ass reply when it had been GL mouthing off all issue.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Now, about Jinny Hex being Jonah's Great-granddaughter, let's do some math. Jason Hex, was born in 1876 and in 1899 we see he has a child (when Jason would be 23 or so). We also know that Woodson Hex was a private detective in the 30' and 40's. The time frame is about right for Woodson Hex P.I. to be the son of Jason, that we see in JH V2 #25. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Now working backwards from Jinny Hex, who appears to be about 20-25 in 2019. That puts her birth around 1994-1999. Going with 1994 as the earliest she could be born let's estimate her father's age. According to Social Security statistics, the average age of the father at the birth of his first child in 1994 was 28. In 1994, most families had almost two kids. If Jinny was the second child, her dad was probably 30 when she was born. This would put HIS birth year at 1964.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">So for Jinny to be a Great-granddaughter, Woodson would had to have fathered Jinny when he was 95? Possible, but improbable. So we currently have:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Jonah Hex</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Jason Hex - son, 1876->1899</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Woodson Hex - grandson, 1899 - ?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Jinny Hex - Great grand daughter, 1994</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">So I am postulating that Jason had another son, possibly as late as when he was 55 (1929) and this son (let's name him, I dunno, Dwayne Hex?), brother to Woodson, fathers Jinny when he is 65 in 1994. This is putting things really out on the fringes of what normally happens, but it is possible. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">It would have been a whole lot easier for Jinny to be a Great-great-granddaughter.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-21982369088573778732019-03-31T12:28:00.000-05:002019-03-31T12:33:58.698-05:00Jonah Hex Via Pony Express Podcast is now live!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7VE6EHBSQzM/XKD4ff9z8wI/AAAAAAAAAvY/l8_HodRazRoGqGWAw-IJX2kJHTThNvzdQCLcBGAs/s1600/HexOnTheAirBlank.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7VE6EHBSQzM/XKD4ff9z8wI/AAAAAAAAAvY/l8_HodRazRoGqGWAw-IJX2kJHTThNvzdQCLcBGAs/s640/HexOnTheAirBlank.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Four fans have gotten together via the wonder of international 21st century technology and produced a podcast devoted to the Scar-Faced Bounty Hunter, Jonah Hex. We are working on getting it on iTunes and other platforms, but for now you can find us here<br />
<a href="https://feed.podbean.com/jonahhexviaponyexpress/feed.xml">Jonah Hex Via Pony Express</a><br />
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In the first episode, I join Hex historian <a href="https://susanhillwig.blogspot.com/">Susan Hillwig</a>, corraler of Hex information <a href="http://www.lonely.geek.nz/fording_the_mainstream/jonah_hex_corral/">Darren Schroeder</a>, and Hex newcomer and fan artist Arreah Bihary (who provided the artwork above) as they provide a quick publication history of Jonah Hex throughout the years. We also recount how each of us first encountered Jonah so we cover a timespan of some 40+ years.<br />
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<br />Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-40101764034565870352019-02-12T06:00:00.000-06:002019-02-17T23:28:44.066-06:00Jonah Hex V2 #26 "Four Little Pigs: A Grindhouse Western"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah Hex V2 #26 Feb '08</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">"Four Little Pigs: A Grindhouse Western"</b><br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5RgcnAf6XFU/XGJKOLNFGZI/AAAAAAAAAuE/SrC2ougSCE8OpwZCKsotdpIF-QWfU_65gCLcBGAs/s1600/JH%2B26%2Bcover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1029" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5RgcnAf6XFU/XGJKOLNFGZI/AAAAAAAAAuE/SrC2ougSCE8OpwZCKsotdpIF-QWfU_65gCLcBGAs/s400/JH%2B26%2Bcover.jpeg" width="256" /></a><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray - story, Guiseppe Camuncoli - layouts, Stefano Landini- finishes, Camuncoli and Schwager - cover</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b><i>Once Upon a Time, There Were Four Little Pigs</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">A woman stands outside her side barn, wearing a blood-covered butcher's apron, leaning against an axe, shading her eyes against the sun. Jonah rides up and asks if she has seen the man on the wanted poster Hex is holding up. He mentions that the man is riding with Lewis Himelhoch, Mike Hewison, and Loy Turns. She says that she hasn't seen anyone in two months. Hex starts to leave and she offers him dinner, seeing as the ride into Holsten is a far piece and she hasn't had anyone to talk to that ain't crawling and squealing.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> Jonah inquires after her husband. She states her name is Holly and her husband ran off last spring. She asks if Jonah is a lawman and that is when Jonah notices three saddled horses in her corral.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> During dinner she quizzes Hex about his bounty hunting and speaks about the service Hex is doing, ridding the world of worthless men. Jonah is short on words and long on silence. Holly asks what Hex's god-given name is and he replies "Jonah is what my father named me."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> The liquor continues to flow long after dinner and Holly starts quoting Jonah 4:10-11. Jonah points out that she is drunk and if she leaves the Bible out of the discussion they'll get along fine. Jonah eventually passes out but Holly is still awake and...</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SCqwoK7KzJo/XGJKNmxenJI/AAAAAAAAAuA/VrOq46qJvgcoL3a0ueOjw22NBOl6NFpjgCLcBGAs/s1600/JH%2B26%2Bgood%2Bpiggy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="1200" height="276" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SCqwoK7KzJo/XGJKNmxenJI/AAAAAAAAAuA/VrOq46qJvgcoL3a0ueOjw22NBOl6NFpjgCLcBGAs/s640/JH%2B26%2Bgood%2Bpiggy.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> <i><b>The Big Bad Wolf Dearly Loved to Eat Fat Little Piggies.</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Later, under a full moon, Holly goes out to the barn to slop the 'pigs' and that is when we see four human tongues nailed to the inside wall of the barn and the 'pigs' she is slopping are four men, their tongues cut out, their arms cut off at the elbows and their legs cut off at the knees. They runt and squirm for the food as Holly grabs a whip and starts flailing the men. Suddenly Hex is in the doorway, telling Holly to drop the whip. She replies that it is not yet his turn when suddenly a shovel cracks the back of Jonah's skull.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BOGBsw3vIrs/XGJKOGm27OI/AAAAAAAAAuI/UpySqWVmVTsohfEKe2ZhTA5bUEgXNqV8gCLcBGAs/s1600/JH%2B26%2Bgrindgouse.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BOGBsw3vIrs/XGJKOGm27OI/AAAAAAAAAuI/UpySqWVmVTsohfEKe2ZhTA5bUEgXNqV8gCLcBGAs/s400/JH%2B26%2Bgrindgouse.jpeg" width="255" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> <i><b>To Market, to Market, to Buy a Fat Pig. Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig.</b></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Jonah awakens to find himself trussed up in the dark barn and in the darkness he hears the other men stirring. He calls out the names of the men he has been hunting and they grunt their acknowledgment. Hex comments that they look terrible. The men wiggle over and start chewing their way through Hex's bonds. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> In the house, Holly is speaking to Hannah about what to do with Hex. They head towards the barn, axes in hand. They find Hex gone and they take out their anger by whipping and kicking the four men.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><b><i> Birds of a Feather Flock Together, and So Will Pigs and Swine.</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> Back in the house Holly and Hannah debate if Hex is still around. They decide since his horse is gone, Hex has gone to Holsten in order to bring the law back. They decide to 'clean out' the barn so there is no proof and they argue about Hex. Holly thinks he's a dumb man that deserves the fate they mete out because he has probably wronged many women. Hannah says that Holly shouldn't flaunt herself but they can't afford to get sloppy. Holly quotes Proverbs 23:7 "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." and she knows he'll be back for vengeance. Hannah heads out to get some firewood.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> After a bit Hannah doesn't come back and Holly goes out to check on her. She finds blood by the woodshed and as she examines it, Hex knocks her out with a pistol.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><b><i>What to do with Her? Says That Pig. Kiss Her to Death, Says This Pig.</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Dawn, and Holly and Hannah find themselves trussed up in the barn. Jonah sits in a rocking chair, axe in hand and lighting a smoke. Jonah notes all the tongues nailed to the wall and he starts to wonder as to why...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> Hannah starts in with...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vCc7oMjohpk/XGJKOoFlNtI/AAAAAAAAAuM/ctBVFY7cVU8BMNEP5g4rdUxr87Hi2W7BACLcBGAs/s1600/JH%2B26%2Bwhy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1319" height="580" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vCc7oMjohpk/XGJKOoFlNtI/AAAAAAAAAuM/ctBVFY7cVU8BMNEP5g4rdUxr87Hi2W7BACLcBGAs/s640/JH%2B26%2Bwhy.jpeg" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Jonah speculates that the four men in the barn aren't the first ones to meet their fate at the hands of Holly and Hannah just as the four wiggle their way into the barn. Jonah notes that the men prefer that Jonah not use the axe on the two women. Jonah sits down as the four men wiggle towards the women and proceed to savage them with their teeth, chewing the women to pieces to the point of decapitating them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> The men start begging for Jonah to shoot them but he refuses as he still has a job to do.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><i><b>Give to a Pig When it Grunts and a Child When it Cries, and You'll Have a Fine Pig and a Bad Child.</b></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Much later we see Jonah riding into Holsten leading two horses with the four men strapped atop them. The sheriff comes out and wonders at what Hex has done. Jonah explains that it wasn't him but the women outside of town. Jonah would have dispatched the men, but the warrant specifies them alive, not dead. The sheriff draws down on Hex and tells him to leave town. Jonah states that he will comply as soon as he is paid. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">The sheriff replies that he would rather shoot Hex than pay him and Hex punches him straight in the nose. Jonah explains that he will be paid or there will be one less lawman in town. Jonah gets his money and bids farewell to the four men.</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - None, but he did help facilitate the deaths of Holly and Hannah</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Brained with a shovel.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Given a day to ride to Holsten, I'll say two days..</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Rape Percentage</b> - 30% (8 out of 26)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">Obviously influenced by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindhouse_(film)"><i>Grindhouse</i></a>, this is one of the more gruesome tales of Jonah Hex. It was a far far cry from the Hex penned by Michael Fleisher but oddly enough, it reminded me of Fleisher's work on <a href="http://the spectre">The Spectre</a>. The fate of Holly and Hannah was fitting and had a wonderful EC comics vibe to it. I loved the grittiness of the artwork and the colors, it really sold the book. I do believe that three of the butchered men were named after actual Jonah Hex fans, can't remember where I read that. (possibly on the Paperfilms forums)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">My main gripe with the story had to do with a 'teaser' that Justin and Jimmy posted on their now-defunct Paperfilms Forum where they described the story as their 'sickest one yet' (if I remember correctly). Stating something is 'sick' strikes me as... I don't have a word for it. It reminds me of folks being proud in 'keeping Austin weird' or 'keeping Portland weird.' Weirdness (as well as sickest) isn't bestowed upon a person/place by the person/place itself, but by others. Self-proclaimed Weird isn't Weird at all, just sensationalistic advertising.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">A secondary gripe is with Holly and Hannah, two devout Scripture quoting murderous women. That doesn't smack of lazy bigoted writing now, does it? But it does prod me once again to actually pen that Hex and Christianity piece that has been rolling around in the back of my head for a decade now.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><b>Next Issue:</b> Back East, an error in the timeline?, and Starman appears.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-53491222571245710442019-02-05T06:00:00.000-06:002019-02-05T06:00:02.845-06:00Jonah Hex V2 #25 "My Name is Nobody"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah Hex V2 #25 Jan. '08</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">"My Name is Nobody"</b><br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D-9A30e9D5A/XFkAGgsK0JI/AAAAAAAAAs8/6MPI04JHz4oGHe5Dwjuuec-M-4NBI-XvwCLcBGAs/s1600/Hex%2B25%2Bcover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1039" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D-9A30e9D5A/XFkAGgsK0JI/AAAAAAAAAs8/6MPI04JHz4oGHe5Dwjuuec-M-4NBI-XvwCLcBGAs/s400/Hex%2B25%2Bcover.jpeg" width="257" /></a><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray - story, Russ Heath - art, Garres - cover</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><b><i>Mexico, 1899</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">We are treated to excerpts from <i>An Oral History on the Old West</i>, co-written by Woodson Hex, private detective in the 1930's and 40's. During the recap of Jonah's life we see the aged bounty hunter setting up camp overlooking a desert valley. Off in the distance, dust clouds rise, driven skyward by several men on horses being chased by other mounted riders. Jonah figures it's bandits running from the local law so he takes cover so that he has a chance against the fifteen desperadoes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> As the bandits get closer, Jonah picks off one and the rest scatter. The bandits regroup, trying to decide how best to flank the unknown gunman up the rocks. Meanwhile, Jonah bides his time, hoping he can hold them off long enough for the </span><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;">rurales to show up. Jonah unloads his pack mule and lets it wander off into the mountains. He pulls out a photo of Mei Ling and a young boy, about the age of ten. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> Jonah takes up a vantage point with his rifle. Soon enough, one fo the bandits tries to make a move and Jonah kills him. Drawing a bead with his rifle, he spots the backside of another bandit and Jonah manages to shoot the pistol in the man's holder. The bandit jumps from cover and.... thirteen left.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> The bandit leader shouts to Jonah to stop shooting his men. Jonah replies that it might be safer for them to turn themselves in. The Bandit asks Jonah's name to which Jonah replies with rifle fire. Five bandits suddenly rush Jonah and ..... nine left. That's when Jonah notices that they shot and killed his horse.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> The bandit leader tells Hex that they need his location to ambush the rurales. He asks Jonah's name again, announcing that HE is Jesus Escobar Ramirez. Jonah replies that he is Jonah Hex. The bandit's stare at each other and then decide Hex is lying. Everyone knows that Jonah Hex is dead. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bKRydeRH1MA/XFkBA4MEmLI/AAAAAAAAAtI/jG1SEHuswPozYoIgj96o8QnXoOxcljbBQCLcBGAs/s1600/Hex%2B25%2Bheard%2Bof%2Bme.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1256" data-original-width="1238" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bKRydeRH1MA/XFkBA4MEmLI/AAAAAAAAAtI/jG1SEHuswPozYoIgj96o8QnXoOxcljbBQCLcBGAs/s320/Hex%2B25%2Bheard%2Bof%2Bme.jpeg" width="315" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> They rush him once more, managing to hit him in the left shoulder but Jonah takes down three more of them....six left. Another quick attack and Jonah takes out two more, the rest coming at him with knives. Jonah smashes one in the head with a pistol and starts punching the crap out of him to boot. The others come up, about to shoot Jonah in the back of the head when a hail of bullets cut them down. Jonah kicks his combatant over the edge of a cliff.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> The rurales have arrived in time. A man leading them doesn't appear to be Mexican. The man says that Hex looks familiar, maybe they know each other? Jonah says that the man doesn't know him.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> Later that evening in a cantina the man offers to buy Hex a drink, asking his name. Jonah replies with "Mister Albano". Jonah says that he would like to drink alone. The man introduces himself as Jason Hex. He's a tracker, helping the locals. Jason says that the Mexicans ain't against folks of mixed blood as much as the folks up north. He is half Celestial on his mother's side and his father was a bounty hunter... and that's when Jonah attacks him. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PmSfVWoQRCk/XFkBmorhMYI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/RcvLhM6NqPw3_2-2a-39yWho27_y-sA_wCLcBGAs/s1600/Hex%2B25%2Bheard%2Bof%2Bme%2B1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1049" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PmSfVWoQRCk/XFkBmorhMYI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/RcvLhM6NqPw3_2-2a-39yWho27_y-sA_wCLcBGAs/s400/Hex%2B25%2Bheard%2Bof%2Bme%2B1.jpeg" width="261" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> They get into a knock-down drag out fight which ends with Hex on the floor and Jason holding a iron on him. Jason says he has no intention of killing Jonah, he only wants to talk. Jonah says they have nothing to talk about. Jason asks if Jonah wants to know about Mei Ling. Hex states he ain't the one that left and folks have a right to do as they like. Jason states that Mei Ling is dead and that not everyone dies from a bullet. Jason still wants to talk but Jonah has none of it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> He says that what you see is what you get and that's the reason Mei Ling took Jason away. She didn't want Jason to know him and that's that. Jonah exits the cantina and meets a Mexican woman in the street, holding a baby. She tells Jonah, who is still drinking from a bottle, that the stuff will kill him. Jonah replies that he hopes it does.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"> Jonah mounts up as the woman approaches Jason as he, too, exits the cantina. She asks who that ugly old man was. Jason takes the child from her arms and answers "That was nobody".</span></span><br />
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<b>Statistics for This Issue</b></div>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Eleven. The Banditos didn't fare well against Elder Hex.</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 664</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 172 V2)</i><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> -Shot in the left shoulder.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">At most, one day and a night.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Rape Percentage</b> - 32% (8 out of 25).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">One the greater Hex tales because of so many things. Russ Heath is back and illustrating another tale of 'old' Hex, we meet Jason as an adult trying to reconcile a meeting with his absent father, Jason's quick appearance of Jason's wife and his son, a quick nod to Mr. Albano, the black borders, and a slight reference to Johnny Cash (Boy Named Sue lyric "and ya got the right" vs. Jonah's "Ya earned the right.").</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">We see so many people encounter Hex and die a quick death, friends that pass through and are forgotten. Any time we are treated to something that builds upon the Hex family tree or revisits a known character, I feel that we are getting a deeper glimpse into the agony, tragedy, and the tortured mind of our favorite bounty hunter. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Next Issue:</b> A heavy Tarantino influence and ya never wanna watch the sausage getting made.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-18741367861812953702018-04-19T23:08:00.000-05:002018-04-19T23:10:30.657-05:00Next DC film announced.... Hot on the heals of the Spielberg directed <i><b>Blackhawks</b></i> movie, Warner Brothers announced today that the next hero to hit the big screen will be none other than <b><i>Ambush Bug</i></b>. Kevin Tsujihara was quoted at the press conference today "Warner Brothers loves and values all of the DC properties and it is our intention to expand the DCMU in new unexpected ways, exploring the vast possibilities offered by our wealth of characters. In no way do we plan on following the tired overworked formula that Marvel has set down of constantly doing multiple origin films with the hero battling a villain with the same powers as the hero."<br />
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When asked how Warner Brothers would be handling the odd-ball character of Ambush Bug, Tsujihara replied, "Ambush Bug is unique in the DC universe in that he is a whimsical comical character that realizes he is in a comic book. Therefore, I'm proud to announce that Quentin Tarantino has signed on to direct the film and we are shooting for an NC-17 rating. It's about time that Warner Brothers broke through that barrier of only making 'kiddie comic book' movies." Tsujihara outlined the plot as Irwin Schwab learns how to teleport after being bitten by a radioactive space spider and faces off against Rad-Space-Spider Guy or something along those lines.<br />
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Tarantino was all smiles fielding questions about casting saying that we was really looking forward to working with DeNiro (Argh! Yle!), T.J. Miller (Cheeks), Carrot Top (Go Go Chex), Margo Robbie (Jonni DC) and Sacha Baron Cohen (Julius Schwartz). When quizzed about Johnny Depp possibly signing on to play Darkseid, Tarantino just smiled and said "We'll have to see what surprises I can cook up with Neveldine and Taylor. They knocked it out of the park on their last graphic novel screenplay and I'm sure we can expect more of the same again."<br />
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When asked about his familiarity with the character, Tarantino responded, "I've been reading Ambush Bug comics ever since I was a little kid back in the 70's when he first appears in <i><b>Challengers of the Doomed</b></i>. I think I really have a handle on the dark sinister brooding that the character brought to the turbulent 70's and I'm really looking forward to updating that for today's audience. I mean, really, what is missing from movies today is a doped up, foul mouthed, gender confused vigilante and Ambush Bug is just the character to fill that void. The kid gloves are off once we get that NC-17 rating and I'm sure I can pepper the script with enough f---'s, n----'s, q-------'s and m-------------------------'s to get what we want."<br />
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In a nod to the creator of Ambush Bug, Keith Giffen will be designing the movie poster which will feature an extreme closeup of the title character with huge blocks of black so nobody can tell what it is. <i>Matching Dragoons</i> managed to get an early peek at the poster.<br />
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<b><i>Ambush Bug</i></b> is slated for a February 2019 release.<br />
Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-33992945705969447672017-09-03T16:33:00.002-05:002017-09-03T19:20:04.746-05:00Weird Western Tales #46 "The Savage Streets"<b>Weird Western Tales #46 May/June 1978</b><br />
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<b><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ-I9WTf_RQ/Waxp5b-D31I/AAAAAAAAAnI/YttnRbtCxuEHMXa5AZnHBCm3QYJHSMCEgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-03%2Bat%2B3.44.59%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1058" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GQ-I9WTf_RQ/Waxp5b-D31I/AAAAAAAAAnI/YttnRbtCxuEHMXa5AZnHBCm3QYJHSMCEgCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-03%2Bat%2B3.44.59%2BPM.png" width="263" /></a></b></div>
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<b>"The Savage Streets"</b><br />
<i>Gerry Conway, story - Dick Ayers & George Evans, art - Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, cover</i><br />
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<b>March, 1862. St. Louis, Mo.</b><br />
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We see Scalphunter climbing up the outside of a building, knife wielded between his teeth. Two days have passed since <a href="http://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2014/05/weird-western-tales-45-night-of-gun.html">last issu</a>e and he has finally made his way back here searching for Bat Lash. Scalphunter makes his way, via rooftop, to the warehouse of Cyrus Calhoun. He overtakes the guards, killing both of them and then breaks into Calhoun's study, demanding to know the location of Bat Lash.<br />
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At knifepoint, Calhoun spills the info that Lash was taking the Gatling Gun and was going to auction it off to the highest bidder. Scalphunter demands Lash's location but Calhoun says that he doesn't know, the army doesn't know, everyone is looking for Bat Lash. He says that lash had stayed at the Grand Hotel earlier and Scalphunter tosses him aside, crashing Calhoun's skull against a nearby safe.<br />
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Scalphunter moves off into the night, making his way through the shadows of the city in search of Bat Lash.<br />
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We find Mr. Lash a lot easier for he is in the Hotel St Louis, in the company of two 'lovely' French ladies. As they are about to kiss, two men kick in the door, shouting and Lash dispatches them quickly with the help of Mr. Colt. Bat goes through the dead men's pockets, finding Confederate money. He steals one last kiss and departs just as the sheriff arrives.<br />
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Under cover of dark, he makes his way down to the riverfront, sneaks into a warehouse and checks on his precious Gatling Gun. He wanted to be sure that General Beauregard Smith, a bidder in the upcoming auction, hadn't made off with the prize weapon while bat was combating the General's hired goons. Lash decides to spend the night with his prize to insure its safety.<br />
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Just down the street at the Hotel Grand, Scalphunter inquires at the front desk of Bat Lash. The clerk insults Scalphunter and tells him to leave, but when Scalphunter grabs him by the collar and pulls him across the counter, the clerk realizes that the Indian is a white man and apologizes. A couple of other men comes up, asking if Scalphunter is a friend of Lash's and attack him. Scalphunter engages in the fight, picking one man up and hurling across the clerks' desk just as the other man gets off a shot that's creases Scalphunter's...well, scalp, knocking him out. The men gather up his limp form and take him to Gen. Beauregard.<br />
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Dawn, and Scalpunter finds himself tied to a post in the company of the General. Smith puts forth a plan wherein Scalphunter will help him obtain the Gatling Gun for the Confederacy. Smith explains that since the Confederacy's cash reserves are frozen in northern banks, he plans to steal the weapon. Smith wants Scalphunter to tell him where the gun and Lash are located.<br />
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Scalphunter says that he doesn't know, Lash is his enemy and if Smith unties him, he will help Smith on one condition...Scalphunter gets to kill Lash afterward. Smith smiles the smile of a man who has instantly struck a bargain.<br />
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About an hour later (less, actually), Smith and some other men meet with Lash in the warehouse. Bat is perched high atop some crates, shotgun in hand, overseeing the auction. The bidding starts with Mr. Samson, representing the USA, ponying up $5,000 (about $122k today). The second man, Cyrus Calhoun, puts forth $7,000 and Gen. Smith raises it to $10,000. Bat inquires as to if that is Federal or Confederate dollars. Smith states that it would be Confederate, of course, and Lash declares his bid invalid.<br />
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Just then Scalphunter jumps down from a skylight, smashing Bat Lash to the floor. Smith pulls a pistol, mounts up onto the wagon containing the Gatling Gun, and bolts out of the warehouse. Scalphunter is left with the unconscious Lash, Calhoun and Samson. He pulls his knife, weighs his options and then runs into the street, stealing a nearby horse.<br />
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Later, twenty miles from St. Louis (probably near present day Maryville, Mo.) Gen. Smith is setting up an ambush for a US patrol. Scalphunter is on a rocky outcropping, overlooking the General, and he pulls his knife, ready to pounce. Suddenly Bat Lash grabs him by the ankle and pulls a pistol. Scalphunter kicks it out of Lash's hand and dives onto Lash. They battle hand to hand and Lash suddenly flips Scalphunter and explains that the General can't kill anyone with that gun because he removed the......<br />
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Scalphunter knocks Lash out and heads to stop Smith. Just then the US patrol shows up and Smith shouts out to them that he is General Smith pf the Confederacy and that they are cowards. The patrol rushes him. Smith starts to crank the handle but it won't move. He is cut down in a hail of Union gunfire as Scalphunter watches.<br />
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Heading back to St. Louis, Lash explains that he did it for the money but he couldn't let anyone get killed by that gun so he pulled the cotter pins from the crank handle so it wouldn't turn. Lash asks Scalphunter what is plans are. Brian states that his sister lives with the whites. He'll find word of her in St. Louis and he will look for her and find her. The two men part ways.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for this Issue</span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Scalphunter</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Two warehouse guards.</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 85</i><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Compared to Jonah Hex- </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Eight appearances in and Scalp has 85 vs Jonah's 39</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Scalps Taken</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - 0</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total- 12</i><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Gut punched, bullet across the scalp. </span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Timeline</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Two days prior, one night and the next day. So we have spent four days in March, 1862.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Not a bad book overall. Some twists and turns. I especially enjoy the interaction between Scalphunter and Bat Lash, the savage of morals against the gentlemen of scoundrels. Conway's writing can be a little heavy handed, but that is to be expected when your main character doesn't spend half the book spouting forth exposition.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> Of course, a Lopez cover for me to drool over, never hurts.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Next Issue:</b> The Search for his sister, Pit Fighters, and a Surprise from the Past!</span><br />
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<br />Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-82259627862366758232017-03-02T12:32:00.000-06:002017-03-02T12:32:02.174-06:00Jonah Hex V2 #24 "All Hallows Eve"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah Hex V2 #24 Dec. '07</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">"All Hallows Eve"</b><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray - story, David Michael Beck - art and cover</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Two men are in full blown knock-down drag-out fight in a bar. One man is knocked out and a local official checks him out and announces the fallen man is dead. In the crowd observing is Jonah Hex and Bat Lash, discussing pugilism, with Bat explaining that only a trained fighter can withstand a beating from another fighter. Hex replies with, "Wanna bet?" and then sheds his shirt, but not his hat nor sidearms, to take on the winner, Bluett Boyd. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> The fight proceeds and ends up being a two-swing affair, with Boyd missing and Hex connecting resulting in Boyd kissing the floor. A young man runs into the saloon with a telegram for Jonah and he heads out, with Lash tailing behind, uninvited.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b><i>Halloween in Hell Town</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Three weeks later: Hex and Lash are riding into Coffin Creek under cover of darkness. They ride up to the local brothel and Hex encounters the madam, Crystal Ray Adercrombie. Hex asks why she hasn't asked other gunmen to help her out and Crystal explains that Bill Bradley outta Kansas came and tried to oust this man from Crystal's establishment, with no effect. Hex, Lash, & Crystal head up to room 9 and right before Jonah heads inside to evict this unwelcome guest, Crystal tells him that Bradley, right before leaving town, said that the man in room specifically asked for Jonah Hex.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b><i>Hell's Vengeful Assassin</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">In the room is none other than El Diablo and Jonah demands to know where Lazarus Lane is located. El Diablo unleashes his whip, wrapping it around Jonah's neck, bringing Jonah to his knees. Diablo states that the town is marked for death this All Hallow's Eve. Diablo has been imprisoned in the room so as not to interfere in the town's fate. A prairie witch by the name of Esmeralda Moorland lured Lazarus Lane away from Diablo and unless Lazarus and Diablo are reunited within three hours, Diablo will return to Hell and the entire town will die. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Beams of unholy fire burst forth from Diablo's eyes, bathing Hex in fire.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b><i>Hunting the Supernatural</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Hex steps from the room, his eyes glowing with fire and his voice twisted into that of Diablo. Hex tells Lash to follow him and they walk out into the street. We get to see the town through the eyes of Lash, everything looks normal, as well as through Hex's eyes, wherein everyone is a twisted misshapen demon. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Walking up to the saloon, Hex demands two men produce Lazarus Lane and then he shoots both of them, rendering them both into flaming skeletons. Once inside the saloon, Lash sees Lane bound and gagged, hanging from lantern fixture in the ceiling. Everyone in the saloon, possessed by Esmeralda, is eating the raw remains of a freshly slaughtered bovine that is spread out across the bar. They all mutter the name of Hex. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">The witch commands that they all kill both Hex and Lash and the gunfight ensues. Hex's shots render the townsfolk into flaming skeletons while Lash's bullets produce only normal effects. Lash takes note of the fact and Jonah tosses a sidearm to Bat. The gun, while smoking hot from the fires of hell, only shoots regular bullets while being wielded by someone other than one possessed by Diablo. Jonah unleashes the whip and cuts Lane down, ordering Lash to take him back to the hotel. Bat is quick to comply.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah and Esmeralda fight it out in the bar while Bat Lash tries to make it back across the street, but all hell has broken out with townsfolk slaughtering each other in the street. Lash finds his way to the brothel barred by two men. He takes them out with a flourish of playing cards and a well placed boot tip and then dives through a window.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Back in the saloon, Hex and the witch continue to battle when suddenly, with a burst of flame, El Diablo appears. Using his fire whip, he entraps the witch and liberates her head from her body. Bat lash enters the saloon saying that the town is returning to normal.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Dawn the next morning finds Jonah and Bat in the company of Crystal and one of her ladies. Bat is recounting the time <a href="http://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2011/09/jonah-hex-v2-3-eye-for-eye.html">he saved Jonah</a>. Finally, Jonah announces that he is hitting the hay and the lady goes upstairs with him. At the top of the stairs, Hex and his companion encounter Lazarus Lane, who thanks Jonah for his help. Grabbing Lane by the neck and driving a finger into his chest, Jonah replies with "Yer welcome."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Bat Lash invites Lane to a hand or two of cards, but Lazarus states that he has overstayed his welcome in Coffin Creek and will be leaving soon.</span><br />
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<b>Statistics for This Issue</b></div>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - We see 7 killed by Jonah, but there were probably more in the saloon. I'll stick with 7.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;" /><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 653</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 161 V2)</i><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Possessed by the devil himself.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Timeline</b> - </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Three weeks of travel and a night or two? Let's settle on 22 days and this one takes place after "An Eye for an Eye".</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Rape Percentage</b> - 34% (8 out of 23)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> I wasn't a big fan of this one. I really enjoy Bat Lash, especially with Hex, but I have always have (and always WILL) enjoy Jonah outside of the regular DC Universe with all of its supernatural and superheroic trappings. Lazarus Lane is an interesting character when handled by J and J, but Diablo doesn't fit into my vision of Hex's world. And Beck's artwork just doesn't do it for me, something is always slightly 'off', it tries too hard to be photographic. It looks traced, maybe?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Oh well, make of it what you will.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Next Issue</b>: We teeter on the brink of the turn of the century and get a surprise visit from the past.</span>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-68950824188879303202017-02-17T06:00:00.000-06:002017-02-17T06:00:30.903-06:00Jonah Hex V2 #23 "Who Lives and Who Dies"<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OoGrwq0UPyc/WKZzj4mv7FI/AAAAAAAAAkU/lI4rcxRee-YFhbbxW0I5fkKVVRxLw9w4wCLcB/s1600/Jonah%2BHex%2B23%2Bcover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OoGrwq0UPyc/WKZzj4mv7FI/AAAAAAAAAkU/lI4rcxRee-YFhbbxW0I5fkKVVRxLw9w4wCLcB/s400/Jonah%2BHex%2B23%2Bcover.jpeg" width="262" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah Hex V2 #23 Nov. '07</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">"Who Lives and Who Dies"</b><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray - story, Jordi Bernet - art and cover</i><br />
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<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Another Fine Mess</b></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Our story starts with the sun beating down on Jonah Hex who finds himself chained by the ankle to a large iron eyebolt next to a massive stone in the middle of the desert. The voiceover (aka caption) is a wondrous thing and does not belong to Hex. We quickly learn that it is that of a man, school teacher by trade, sporting only one arm by way of terrible misfortune. He is explaining the value of common sense to his class and launches into the tale that comprises the bulk of our book.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> He explains how he and three companions had been charged, by a Chicago newspaper, with photographing the Apache. They had hired Jonah Hex as their guide, at times fearing him more than the Indians they sought to chronicle. After several weeks, they locate the Apache in a canyon and with Jonah along, the time spent is calm and fruitful.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">The chief explains to Jonah that they fear the Kiowa since the Great White Father has moved many tribes into closer proximity to each other. Shortly thereafter, the Kiowa, in fact, do attack and the school teacher scrambles for the safety of higher ground as Hex and the Apache do battle with the Kiowa. Unfortunately, during his escape, the school teacher knocks loose a large rock and both he and the stone tumble to the canyon floor with the massive rock crushing the school teacher's left arm and pinning him to the ground. After the fighting has abated, Jonah comes over to the man, and using his saber, cuts off the teacher's arm.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b><i>Avenging Yellow Bear</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">The teacher awakens several hours later to darkness, a campfire and Apache standing watch.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Two nights later, Hex and the teacher are talking about phantom pains and the fact that the Kiowa, although beaten back are still fixing to attack again. Hex explains that the Apache chief, Yellow Bear, is dead and that he plans on killing the Kiowa chief himself.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><b><i>Complications Ensue</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">With that, Jonah melts away into the darkness, and the teacher relates to us what he eventually learned much later....</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">The Kiowa themselves are pinned in a canyon with a large group of US soldiers on the ridge above them. They order an Indian with them to inform the Kiowa below that food parcels will be tossed into the canyon and that the Kiowa should surrender peacefully. The parcels are delivered but when they are opened the Kiowa discover bundles of rattlesnakes. While the Kiowa are disoriented, the soldiers open fire on the tribe below. Just then Hex appears and is ordered to halt by one of the soldiers. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah requests to see the commanding officer and is take to Col. Davidson. Davidson, taking ill note of Jonah's jacket, demands to know why Hex is there. Jonah explains that there is an Indian in the canyon that he has personal business with. Davidson and Hex exchange multi worded insults that result in Davidson pushing Hex backwards into the canyon.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">On the canyon floor, Jonah pulls his knife as several Kiowa advance on him. He calls out Chief Iron Heart, stating that he is there to avenge Yellow Bear. Jonah and several Kiowa battle it out as Davidson's men gleefully watch from above. Eventually, one of the soldiers ventures too close to the edge and tumbles in. Jonah accidentally stabs the man in the thigh but does defeat the remaining Kiowa.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Davidson tosses down a rope, retrieving his man and Jonah both. Davidson decides to take revenge on Hex for stabbing one of his soldiers and calls for a leg iron and a spike.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">That morning we find Jonah shackled and the spike being driven into the base of a very large stone (taking us back to our opening scene). The Col. states that he has no food to spare but he is not an unfair man, he allows Jonah to keep his knife and a canteen of water. The soldiers then ride off.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Once alone, Jonah breaks off some sagebrush and piles it around the spike. He waits several hours for the sage to dry and then pulls a few matches from his boot. He lights the sage of fire, heating up the spike and then douses the flames in an attempt to crack the iron of the spike. He hacks at the spike with the knife but is unable to free himself. Finally the teacher locates Hex and asks how he can help. Jonah instructs the teacher to urinate on the spike in a further attempt to crack the hot metal.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">We flash back to the classroom, with the students begging to know if their instructor rescued the bounty hunter. He assures them that Jonah was indeed freed and he dismisses the school for the day. When his personal reflections resume, we find Davidson is now shackled to the spike and the teacher has his camera tripod at the ready. Jonah has demanded that the teacher take one photo every hour until Davidson either frees himself or expires. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">The teacher refuses and pulls a rifle on Hex, demanding that Davidson be released. Jonah ponders the situation for a moment and then hands the shackle key to the teacher. The teacher unlocks the cuff and Davidson immediately grabs the rifle and kicks the teacher to the ground. Davidson takes aim, but Hex has already cleared leather and has unleashed the bullet that pierces Davidson right between the eyes. Hex then rides off, leaving the teacher with the Col's corpse.</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for the issue</span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Men Killed by Jonah</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - We see at least six Kiowa and then Col Davidson, so seven this issue (certainly more, but we go with what we know)</span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Running Total - 646 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 154 V2)</i><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Jonah's Injuries</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - Probable dehydration, bruises from the fall</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Timeline</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - A week of travel to the Apache camp, three nights prior to locating the Kiowa and then possibly another day or two to find and shackle Davidson. 12 days. The history of the Apache and the Kiowa relocations took place over several years but this probably falls into place around 1874-76 time frame.</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;">Rape Percentage</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> - 35% (8 out of 23)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> This one makes up for last issue. Bernet's art is gritty, yet full of action. There are small little things like the Apache kids putting a lizard in Jonah's boot that bring a smile to your face. The people have great expressions and each character looks different. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"> I have said before that I enjoy the Hex books that are narrated. Around this time in DC comics, they decided to have the captions all be stream of consciousness but from a character's point of view. They would have a small logo in the corner, as an icon to let you know who was speaking (bat symbol, red S, and so on) Sadly, they used a convention of colored text on differently colored background so at times it was unreadable.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;">DC could have made a huge mistake with continuing this format in the Hex books, But Palmiotti and Gray wisely took this concept and removed it one step away from the main character. In their books, we never hear Hex's inner thoughts, any exposition is done by an outsider, someone other than Hex himself, and we are treated to dialogue befitting any letters written during the Civil War or any words plucked from a Cohen Brothers movie. Once again, I find myself reading these books aloud, relishing the flow and lilt like the delicate smoke ring on good pulled pork.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"><b>Next Issue:</b> Bat Lash, El Diablo, The Wicked Witch and... what else do you need?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.4px;"><br /></span></span>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-59254523913985752992017-02-06T06:00:00.000-06:002017-02-06T06:00:01.139-06:00Jonah Hex V2 #22 "The Current War"Jonah Hex V2 #22 Oct. '07<br />
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<b>"The Current War"</b><br />
<i>Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray - story, Phil Noto - art and cover</i><br />
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Well, it's been almost a full year since my last, but we ARE back in the saddle again my friends, and I will do my best to be weekly. We have a lot of ground to cover, so let's jump right into...<br />
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<b><i>The Man of Tomorrow</i></b><br />
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A bolt of lightning break through the night sky and Jonah is caught in a downpour, followed by a man navigating what looks like a medicine show wagon. They arrive at a large house and Hex is ushered into the presence of a man seated in front of a roaring fire. The man, Mr. Booth, by name, has called for Hex and in an effort to explain WHY he needs a man of Jonah's skills, starts speaking of dime novels.<br />
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He covers the brief history of this form of literature, starting with Beadle's Dime Novels and highlighting one published in 1862, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Steam_Man_of_the_Prairies">The Steam Man of the Prairies</a></i> and how it impacted his life. Booth then queries Hex if he has heard of Edison and Tesla. Jonah acknowledges having heard of Edison. Booth leads Hex to a large barn on the property and starts speaking, both at length and to the consternation of Jonah, about the upcoming twentieth century and wonders that it will surely hold.<br />
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In the barn, a laboratory and workshop, Booth uncovers and large sheet covered Automata, a robot of sorts. He describes how Nikola Tesla is currently working on devices such as the one standing before them. Booth explains how, a week ago, a worker of his, Albert Fennimore, has stolen the newest model of Booth's robots as well as the blueprints and has undoubtedly whisked them away to Edison. Jonah doesn't seem very interested in tracking a a tin man, but Booth is persistent, explaining that two men, along with a vary large crate, were seen leaving two days on a train bound northward.<br />
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Jonah postulates that men willing to steal such a machine might be willing to kill in order to keep it and Booth is asking Jonah to murder them in an illegal and unprovoked manner, and as such, Jonah cannot...<br />
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Booth offers $10,000 and states that he is not asking that Edison or his men be harmed, but if such happens, then why should either of them care? Booth states that the train was headed to Denver and Edison is know to have a fortress there.<br />
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<b><i>Fortress of the Future</i></b><br />
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Under cover of darkness, Jonah comes riding through a mountain pass and eventually arrives in front of a huge stockade fort. Two armed guards inform Jonah that he is to leave but Jonah tells them to announce his arrival and that he was sent by Aubrey Booth. The guards are not swayed and when they tell Jonah to leave, he knocks one down with his horse and leaps upon the other one, holding him a gunpoint when reinforcements arrive. Jonah demands that he be let in so he can determine the accuracy of Booth's claim that his invention was stolen.<br />
<br />
The guards take him inside.<br />
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Inside, there is a giant Tesla coil (?!?) in the center of the courtyard, lights strung all about, and several large robots being worked on by assistants. Eventually, Hex is escorted into the lab and the presence of Thomas Edison himself. Edison asks of Jonah's business and Jonah lays his cards on the table. Edison, draping his arm around Jonah's shoulder, states that they shall have supper together and sort this entire matter out. Jonah replies that Edison shouldn't be touching him.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Good Old-Fashioned Bullets</i></b><br />
<br />
At dinner, Edison asks if Jonah has ever seen electric lights before and Hex confesses that he has, in Gotham City. Edison waxes about how, soon, the country will be covered with his electric bulbs, banishing the darkness. Hex asks about Booth's machine.<br />
<br />
Edison explains that the Steam-Powered Man was actually and invention of Edison's and Booth, a former employee, is the one that stole it. Edison produces papers indicating that Booth was an employee and worked on the Steam-Powered Man project. Jonah asks how hard it would be to falsify such papers. Edison states that he COULD have done so, but sending Jonah away would have been much easier.<br />
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<br />
Edison then steers the conversation to the business in which Hex finds himself employed, bounty hunting, and talk of the future and all that it holds. During their conversation there is a huge noise outside and when Edison and Hex investigate they discover the walls have been breached and several masked men are riding inside with torches and causing mayhem.<br />
<br />
One of Edison's guards say they could be locals, afraid of the mystery surrounding the labs and the fortress. Hex sees that one of the men has dynamite and shoots the explosive, killing the man. Jonah grabs the man's horse, mounts up, and starts shooting several of the remaining invaders. Edison notices a symbol on the jacket of one of the dead invaders. Jonah explains that Booth had the same symbol on his jacket.<br />
<br />
Edison is convinced that Booth sent Hex to find Edison so that Booth's men could come and kill him. He also speaks of Tesla, another of his enemies that want to see him destroyed. Edison tells Jonah that maybe men will eventually stop killing each other with bullets but may utilize guns that shoot electricity and offers Jonah the job of personal body guard and perhaps even to eliminate Tesla. Jonah turns him down, but does demand money for helping save Edison's precious labs.<br />
<br />
Surveying the damage that has been done, Edison tells Jonah that the machine age IS coming and soon the skies and streets will be full of machines. Jonah replies that by then they both will be dead, and better off for it.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for the issue</span></b><br />
<b>Men Killed by Jonah</b> - We see three men killed<br />
<i>Running Total - 639 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 147 V2)</i><br />
<b>Jonah's Injuries</b> - None<br />
<b>Timeline</b> - Not sure WHERE Jonah started or how long it took him to get to the Rocky Mountain near Denver. Let's just call it a week and be done with it. Edison's reference to Tesla and their broken contract of $50,000, puts this one after 1884. Booth's mention of alternating current, pushes this closer to 1890.<br />
<b>Rape Percentage</b> - 36% (8 out of 22)<br />
<br />
Wow, what a stinker to return to blogging with. I'm not a fan of Noto's work and his coloring looks like cheap Heroclix figures dipped in walnut varnish. Everything is dark, murky, stiff, muddy. I would be inclined to call it 'meh' but that would entail more work than what Noto put into the colors. If this was someone's introduction to Jonah Hex, I can see them never picking up another book of Jonah's. Yeah, it IS that bad.<br />
<br />
<b>Next Issue:</b> Indians, The Army, and someone gets 'schooled'!!<br />
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<br />Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-75372817426580555592016-02-15T14:31:00.001-06:002016-02-15T14:31:45.803-06:00Jonah Hex V2 #21 "Devil's Paw"<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LfnwMIwWu_U/VsI02BdxoNI/AAAAAAAAAVU/I8o3L7Yacyw/s1600/JH%2B21.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LfnwMIwWu_U/VsI02BdxoNI/AAAAAAAAAVU/I8o3L7Yacyw/s400/JH%2B21.jpeg" width="261" /></a>Jonah Hex V2 #21 Sept. '07<br />
<b>"Devil's Paw"</b><br />
<i>Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray - story, Jordi Bernet - art and cover.</i><br />
<br />
<b><i>No Woman's Land</i></b><br />
<br />
Red Mesa, territory/state unknown. A stagecoach rolls into town and three women on their way to Plimpton, disembark from the stage and inquire at the saloon as to where they could find dinner. This being a book written by J & J, the women and repeatedly raped in a two page montage.<br />
<br />
Next we find ourselves in Plimpton (three days ride from Devil's Paw). Fella by the name of Montana and his gang are in the process of robbing the bank when about ten Pinkerton's get the drop on them and the shootout finds Montana's gang stuck in the bank. Montana jumps out a window, runs towards his horse and grabs up some saddlebags full of dynamite and dashes back into the bank. He then crawls out through an exit on the roof and leads a couple of Pinkerton's to the General Store where he blows them up with dynamite. Finally Montana and his men make a break for it as the bulk of the town catches fire and burns.<br />
<br />
<b><i>The Bounty Hunter Arrives</i></b><br />
<br />
Jonah Hex is being hired to bring in Montana and his gang. They have robbed fifteen banks in the past few months and Mr. Jones is wanting payback for the death of his men. Jonah assures Jones that he will do his best.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Trail Through Devil's Paw</i></b><br />
<br />
Montana and his men are crossing the desert, tailed relentlessly by a man who gives them no rest for the past three days (it is, of course, Hex). Montana decides to hole up in a nearby rock formation and set an ambush. The rock formation, the Devil's Paw, looks like a massive hand reaching up out of the earth. As Hex rides closer, we can see several types of writings and pictoglyphs on the walls, placed there by generations of Indians.<br />
<br />
Night falls and Montana and his men have built a fire. A couple of the men are getting jumpy but Montana says they shouldn't worry about Indians, they have been moved off to the reservations. As they get ready to bed down, a shadow darts past them and appears by their horses, a lone Indian with a knife and a crazed look in his eye. The men panic and open fire, killing all of their own horses.<br />
<br />
Jonah hears the shooting and more commotion. As he closes in on the camp, he comes across one robber, dead and scalped. Jonah moves in closer to where another robber is being scalped alive as Montana tries to take a shot at the Indian. Montana misses and flees, running straight into Hex. Hex and Montana stand there, guns pointed at one another, the Indian silhouetted against the rising moon, bloody scalps in his hand. Montana tells Jonah that Hex has bigger worries and Jonah shoots him dead.<br />
<br />
Then, as the Indian looks on, Jonah pulls out his knife and scalps Montana himself and tosses the scalp on the ground. He drags Montana's body out of the rock formation, hoists it across his saddle and heads out.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Smoke Signals to God</i></b><br />
<br />
Jonah rides into the town of Red Mesa and walks into the saloon. He sees the dead women and stage drivers on the floor. He pours whiskey on one of the men sleeping amongst the carnage, asks if they had fun with the women and then kicks the man's teeth in.<br />
<br />
Shortly, the saloon is ablaze with Jonah standing in the street. As the men inside awaken, they run out and Hex guns the first one down. Others, without their guns, have the choice to burn or run. Each of them run for it and each one dies as Jonah picks them off.<br />
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The saloon engulfed in fire, Jonah stands in the street and observes....<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Statistics for this issue</span></b><br />
<b>Men Killed by Jonah</b> - Well, Montana and a bunch of guys at the saloon. Uh.... 10?<br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Running Total </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">- </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">636 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 144 V2)</i><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Jonah's Injuries</b> - None this time</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Timeline </b>- No way to put a date on this one, no reference to anything else. It does cover quite a few days in travel.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Rape Percentage</b> - 38%, up from 35% (8 out of 21)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This one was pretty lame no matter how you cut it. The useless rapes in Red Mesa were nothing but a device for Jonah to gun down a bunch of guys, the Indian living in Devil's Paw served no purpose, and how Montana and his gang got out of Plimpton wasn't really very clear either. This was probably the worst issue of the series so far, but there are worse ones coming, believe me.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Next Issue:</b> Tesla! Edison! Electricity! and the darkest murkiest artwork you ever did see!</span><br />
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<br />Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-9756607369210819722015-02-11T06:00:00.000-06:002016-02-10T19:36:48.163-06:00The Many Phases of Jonah Hex - The Displaced HexThe sales on Jonah Hex was dropping and in an attempt to save the character, Michael Fleisher ventured into a realm that he himself has confessed that he was uncomfortable with, science fiction.<br />
<br />
Jonah was thrown into the world on 2052, years after a worldwide nuclear holocaust, and even though he passed out from information overload in the first issue, Jonah did what he did best. He adapted.<br />
<br />
Though the world was new, the carnage and destruction were still pretty much the same. Guns still had triggers, people would still bleed and things would still explode. Some (I, for one) will say that he adapted waaaay to fast, even managing to ride a futuristic motorcycle in the first issue. Jonah showed an incredibly quick knowledge of mechanics that included driving cars, melting robots, taking on an automated shooting gallery, and even using rocket exhaust to destroy a few aliens. But, this is a comic book, we only have about 20 pages to deliver the danger as well as the escape for the hero, and Hex was forced to be a quick learner.<br />
<br />
Overall, the book was still pretty much a Western at heart. The evil railroad men became the evil corporations, gold became Soames, the roving Indians and bandits became roving biker gangs and... bandits, the stagecoach became a hovercraft, the pistol was still a pistol (something that tickled me whenever Hex would resort to an old fashioned bullet), and Batman became, sort of a Batman. It goes to show that the basis of a story is, and always will be, about a hero and a villain and what ultimately happened between the two.<br />
<br />
As a series, I was hot and cold on the book. It was Jonah Hex and I would be buying it, pretty much no matter what. The beginning art by Texeria was smooth, clean and very cinematic. Very much like the work of Ross on Jonah Hex V2 or the Lopez work on the original run. The stories had a proper amount of melodrama that kept the same pacing as the end of the Jonah Hex run and Fleisher did a good job at introducing new concepts even though the Earth of the future didn't hold together very well when examined with any sort of close eye (New York is still standing while Seattle is a nuclear wasteland?).<br />
<br />
I think the whole series started slipping around issue 11, with the future Batman and then we got the Dogs of War and finally the 'artwork' of Keith Giffen but it was able to redeem itself with the very last page of the very last book in one of the all-time moments in comics (and I'm including all of DC, Marvel, as well as everything that Don Rosa ever produced).<br />
<br />
It would be a long time before we got another taste of the scar-faced bounty hunter that we could all sit back and savor. Hex, uneven as it was, was still Jonah Hex and for some folks a mediocre Hex series is better than no Hex series at all. <br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------<br />
<br />
All of the above was penned way back in 2011, since then we have seen Jonah once again thrown into the future in All-Star Western 21 via Booster Gold. Jonah encountered a slew of super-folks in addition to Booster. He tangled with a version of Nightwing, Swamp Thing, Constantine, Superman, Bruce Wayne (in non-Batman garb). He ended up in Arkham Asylum in the care of Jeremiah Arkham and eventually kidnaps Arkham, guns down several of the Gotham Mutants from The Dark Knight Returns and hooks up with a curvy young woman named Gina Green.<br />
<br />
He stops a rampaging serial killer, digs up a ton of his old hidden gold, attends a Burning Man type festival, encounters soul sucking demons, gets attacked by the Black Mercy (most recently seen on CBS Supergirl episode).<br />
<br />
Finally, in a poor turn of judgement, Gina take Jonah to a museum exhibition of Jonah Hex paraphernalia where they both encounter the stuffed remains of old Jonah himself. Jonah storms out of the museum, goes on a drunken binge and ends up wrapping his motorcycle around a semi. Modern medicine being what it is, the doctors think Jonah's facial scarring was a result of the wreck and they completely repair Jonah's face.<br />
<br />
Once discharged from the hospital, Jonah encounters Booster Golds again who sends Jonah and Gina back into the old west, where things go from very bad to very worse. All in all, only 8 issues and Jonah's reaction to his corpse does not take into account the end of Hex, leading me to believe that we are dealing with a Jonah from an alternate history, somewhere along here.<br />
<br />
There have been a few other incidences of Jonah making reference to his time travel, once in The Once and Future Thing in a Justice League Unlimited episode where several members of the JLA go back to the old west. Jonah comments that he thinks they are time travelers and when quizzed as to why he thinks that, Jonah responds "I've had an interesting life."<br />
<br />
This episode is pretty much rehashed in <a href="http://www.jonahhex.blogspot.com/2012/08/justice-league-unlimited-19-justice.html">Justice League Unlimited #19 </a>where Jonah once again talks about time travel and mentions that "it's complicated".<br />
<br />
So, probably due to the lack of story-telling time, Jonah has shown to be quite adaptable no matter where he is thrown and I am wondering if, in the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow episode, we will get a Jonah that has experienced time-travel or not.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-27413286724149314592015-02-03T23:39:00.000-06:002015-02-03T23:41:51.395-06:00That which we all must fight... Yes, I know I've been silent for a long time on this blog.<br />
<br />
This is a situation that is not related to comic books but it is a situation regarding something I feel is much broader than what I would normally post on my personal Facebook page.<br />
<br />
I recently commented on a friend's Facebook post regarding anti-vaccination people and the outbreak of measles. My friend, X, was lamenting parents that don't vaccinate their kids and while I agree with him I also, quite honestly, thought I would poke at him a little bit, and pointed out that the current Administration in the White House was recently accused of 'importing' children from south of the border and shipping them all over the country. I pointed out that there are a lot of illegal immigrants in this country and some of them probably don't have vaccinations.<br />
<br />
Here is where things went, um, into an area that I want to bring to folks attention. A friend of X, let's call him Y, has never met me personally and I don't know him except through his comments on X's posts. Anyway, Y called me a racist.<br />
<br />
Yup, he went there. I will try to objectively recreate some of what transpired. Sadly, X deleted the thread because what it snowballed into was (in the words of X) hurtful to myself and another commenter that was making other silly comments against X.<br />
<br />
So, Y said that I was a racist because I brought Latinos into a discussion on a topic that had nothing to do with Latinos. I made mention that I never mentioned a particular race but I was discussing unvaccinated illegal immigrants.<br />
<br />
Well, Y said, since I had used the word 'Imported' everyone knew that I was talking about Latinos.<br />
<br />
Let that sink in for a moment. I had used a code word, a special code word that Y was aware of and this code word is used by racists, such as myself, so that we can talk our racist talk and when someone brave and insightful (again, such as Y) calls us out in our racism, then we can throw up our racist hands and state "I never said 'Latinos'!"<br />
<br />
But, again, Y said that I was racist because I brought race into a discussion that had nothing to do with race. I thought we were talking about unvaccinated people and I pointed out that illegal immigrants, be they from Norway or wherever, also posed a risk. Y informed me that I had no right bringing Latinos into the discussion and that racists will hide behind their racist code words and try to obfuscate a topic in order to secretly display their racism yet not appear racist. He also stated that anyone that "vilified people of color" was obviously a racist.<br />
<br />
X steps in and states that he knows me well, and while I may have an unfounded fear of government I am not a racist. Y told X that he should not try to give me the benefit of the doubt because racists don't deserve it and they need to be exposed for what they are.<br />
<br />
By now I understand that there is no winning with this guy but I thought I would at least TRY to use some logic. I asked if there were any way that I could have asked if other folks, people that aren't vaccinated but are not the middle and upper-middle class crazies that refuse to vaccinate their kids, might contribute to the spread of diseases like measles. Well, Y explained a few things, first of all, no scientists have pointed out that there is any possible connection between Latinos and the spread of measles and it is obvious that I am blinded by the rhetoric that I hear and he is not going to provide any research to me explaining why I am such an obvious racist.<br />
<br />
I will admit, that my head was spinning by this time. I remembered a quote about not rassling with a pig, you get dirty and the pig enjoys it too much. However, I also realized that this kind of circle logic where someone can accuse you of something and no matter what you do or say is nothing more than further proof of their accusation is a dangerous thing and that it needs to be resisted and exposed for what it is.<br />
<br />
It is a blatant attempt to silence people with which Y, and people of his ilk, disagree. By constantly refusing to answer simple questions and turning everything I said into more evidence of racism, including imaginary 'code-words', Y became the judge, jury, censor, and executioner of my speech and my opinions and even my every thought and intention.<br />
<br />
The thread was now to the point were X and others were pointing out how bull-headed and foolish Y had become, but he cut them down as well, for siding with a racist.<br />
<br />
Eventually I offered an olive branch to Y, but he responded as he had before. I did not see his response, X deleted the thread and informed me of the tone of Y's response.<br />
<br />
Personally, this is nothing more than a bunch of false allegations by a person that I don't know and doesn't know me. But I did want it brought to light because I feel that everyone has the unfortunate chance of being attacked by people such as this. People will call you a tree-hugger, Nazi, baby-killer, racist, bigot, dirty hippy, stupid liberal, greedy capitalist, 1%-er, child molester, rapist, femi-nazi, socialist, progressive, neo-con, war-monger, jihadist, jew-hater, or anything else they want to with no evidence that would hold up in a court (outside those based on public opinion or kangaroo tactics) but through their constant barrage they will silence others.<br />
<br />
We must all stand up to this behavior. I'm hesitant to use the word bully, I think coward is much more accurate. We must stand up to these cowards, that talk circles, belittle, accuse, and smear us with words that are meant to mark us, their opponents, forever. Every time we are silent, they win. They will mock us but I feel that the best way to respond is the same way that you would play a fish, give them all the line they need and eventually others, even some on their side, will recognize their ignorance and evil, and turn away from them.<br />
<br />
I've been fairly nice, and referred to this man as Y this whole time. I fear that by allowing him to stay behind this alias, I am aiding him, allowing him to hide. But by referring to him as Y I hope that others might recognize people they know that could be our Mr. Y. In fact, we might even recognize some of Mr. Y in ourselves, and that is where we must first fight this cowardice.Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-43517806347209203502014-10-10T06:00:00.000-05:002014-10-10T06:00:16.023-05:00Lois Looming Large #2 Old Nag EditionOle Supes is pretty tactful talking about old age serums around his girlfriend. Also, it looks like Superman is jumping out of her compact. Weird!<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> From Lois Lane #1 1958, "The Witch of Metropolis</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">"</span>Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-20043216064975891862014-10-08T06:00:00.000-05:002014-10-08T06:00:03.406-05:00Pitchman-A-Go-Go #90<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
When I was a kid we had a 1/32 scale slot car race set that my dad bought from Sears. It was massive and we ran the wheels off of those cars. Nowadays kids have to deal with those crappy HO scale crap. 1/32 is where the REAL MEN race!!!</div>
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<br />Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30511112.post-32050792083604770082014-10-07T06:00:00.000-05:002014-10-07T06:00:09.861-05:00House Ads #40<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Man, how many Super teenagers were running around in the 50's? If you didn't have a super kid in your neighborhood you were a LOSER!!!!Dwayne "the canoe guy"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09767840164111932154noreply@blogger.com0