Weird Western Tales #24 "The Point Pyrrhus Aftermath"

Weird Western Tales #24 Sept/Oct 1974
"The Point Pyrrhus Aftermath"
Michael Fleischer, story - Noly Panaligan, art

Taking place two months after the attempt on President Grant's life we find Russ Cranston riding into town, looking for Jonah Hex. Russ finds Jonah lounging in a porch swing at the local Doc's. He draws on Jonah, only to have Jonah get the drop on him while commenting on the entire Cranston clan. When Jonah rolls out of the swing we see that his eyes are bandaged!

Local townsfolk gather and start complaining about how many men Jonah has killed since he has been in town and they decide to run him out of town. The Doc tells them that Jonah is gonna be blind for a least another week, they can't turn a blind man out on his own. They decide to send along a traveling actor that has been panhandling in town & amongst the crowd. The Doc tells Jonah to keep the bandages on at least another week or he'll traumatize the optic nerve & may be permanently blind.

As they leave town, Jonah tells the actor that two of the Cranston boys will probably come after them so they decide to work out a method of having the actor be Jonah's eyes. They practice for days until they come upon a ferry crossing a river.

They put their horses on the ferry and start across. The Cranston boys are hiding up in the hills and shoot both ferrymen. With the actor's help, Jonah returns fire, killing one of the Cranstons, with the other running off. Jonah & the actor now attempt to ferry across the river, but the ferry has drifted in the current and is now heading for some rapids.

When the ferry hits some rocks, the actor is tossed overboard. Jonah leaves his guns on the ferry, ties a rope around his waist and jumps into the river to save the actor. Once he reaches the actor and starts pulling himself back, the rope snaps. The horses jump from the ferry and the ferry goes over a waterfall. Jonah manages to grab a horse as it swims by and they are pulled to safety. Now with all of their supplies and weapons gone, except what was in the saddle bags, Jonah & the actor set up camp.

The next morning, Jonah starts to remove his bandages and tries to determine what they are going to do about the remaining Cranston, who will obviously be on their trail. The actor mentions that he has a plan. While Jonah's eyes are adjusting to the light, the actor strikes him in the head with a rock. Meanwhile, the last Cranston is waiting for them to leave the valley they are in. Jonah comes riding out and Cranston guns him down. Cranston walks over to the body and finds that the dead man's face is covered with colored grease. Just then Jonah walks out and throws a knife into Cranston's chest.

Jonah kneels by the dying actor who impersonated him to distract Cranston. The actor starts quoting Shakespeare, and attempts to tell Jonah what play the quote is from. Jonah stops him and answers that it is from Hamlet. The actor dies and as Jonah rides off, he confesses that when he said Hamlet he was just guessing.
And before someone asks, the guy laying off to the left has a knife sticking out of his gut. Gutterminds!!!!
Statistics for the issue
Men killed by Jonah - Shot & killed 3 Cranston brothers

Running Total - 68
Jonah's injuries - Still suffering temporary blindness from the previous issue and gets hit on the head with a rock
Timeline - 1873, two months after issue #23

I have always enjoyed this issue. Noly's artwork is gritty in all the right places. There are a few panels that look rushed but the panel where the actor is dying, Noly uses silhouette wonderfully as a foreshadowing of the actor's death. I always thought that the cover was weird. If Jonah is blind, why bother having him step on a pit of spikes. Just shoot him. But this is Weird Western and the covers have to be really dramatic.

Next issue - tollroads, quicksand, and a hanging. Sounds like a normal day in Oklahoma.

Weird Western Tales #23 "The Point Pyrrhus Massacre"

Weird Western Tales #23 - July/Aug 1974

"The Point Pyrrhus Massacre"

Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Luis Dominguez, cover

The story opens with two outlaws getting ready to bushwhack Jonah Hex after being pursued by him for three weeks. They lie in wait on opposite sides of a canyon. Eventually, Jonah comes riding along and one of the outlaws guns him down. When the corpse is examined, it isn't Jonah, but the other outlaw wearing Jonah's coat & hat. Hex steps out from behind a rock and convinces the first outlaw to drop his gun. Jonah then takes both men into nearby Point Pyrrhus.

While in town, Jonah drops the men off with the sheriff and says that he'll be staying in town for a few days until his reward money arrives from the state capital. The sheriff mentions that the end of the week, President Grant will be stopping in town during his tour of the West.

Meanwhile in Washington, D.C. at a meeting of the President's advisors we see the man with the eagle-topped cane. The man chairing the meeting explains that Grant will be touring the west to make a firsthand evaluation of the possibilities the west has to offer. The men at the table, captains of commerce they are called, will be on the trip as well to be able to advise Grant afterward.

Back in Point Pyrrhus, a man inquires at the hotel as to which room Jonah is in. He walks in & finds Jonah fast asleep. Jonah quickly pulls a pistol on the man, demanding to know his business. The man is Michael Fenton of the Secret Service. He has learned of a plot to murder Grant in retaliation of his gentle handling of the South after the war. Fenton wants Jonah's help. Hex will have no part of it until Fenton makes an offer of $500.

In Virginia, Solomon, the butler, brings a telegram to the man with the eagle-topped cane, informing him that their operative is in Point Pyrrhus & will murder Hex at the first opportunity.

Things are uneventful in town until the end of the week. Fenton has tracked some men to an abandoned warehouse. He will bust in the front while Jonah storms the back. Jonah smashes his way into the back and finds Fenton being held by four men. The men explain that they are going to kill Grant because of his "cozyin' up" to the South. They have two men hiding in a hay wagon by the station and another two in the water tower with a gatling gun.

Fenton quickly grabs one man while Jonah snatches a nearby axe, throws it, killing one of the men. During the fight, Fenton is killed and Jonah guns down the remaining three men. He grabs some dynamite in order to take out the others. As Jonah leaves the warehouse he encounters the sheriff. The sheriff pulls a shotgun & explains that he is going to kill Hex because he is being paid to.

Jonah tries to reason with the sheriff but just then the train whistle is heard. The sheriff glances away and Jonah leaps forward, busting the sheriff in the jaw & then takes off running. As Jonah heads for the hay wagon he grabs a lantern and lights it. The sheriff appears and tells Jonah to freeze. The men in the hay wagon think that the sheriff is onto their plan and gun him down. Jonah then sets the hay wagon on fire and shoots the two men as they try to escape. Jonah lights the dynamite and runs across the tracks to the water tower but he is cut down by the Gatling gun.

As Jonah crawls closer to the tower he manages to throw the dynamite into the tower so it explodes, killing the two men in it, just before the train arrives. Onboard the train, the President's advisor explains that they won't be stopping because the President is needed back in D.C. & the smaller towns are being dropped from the itinerary. As the train roars through town, the man with the eagle-topped cane sees the body of Hex and assumes he is dead.

The townspeople appear and realize that Hex is barely alive. The town doctor orders them to get Hex to his house where he probably will die anyway. The issue closes with folks seeing the dead sheriff, assuming he killed all the men and that Hex only got caught in the crossfire. A couple of kids try to get souvenirs.

Statistics for the issue

Men killed by Jonah - 9 shot

Running Total - 65

Injuries - shot with Gatling gun

Timeline - Obviously took place during the Grant presidency (1869-1877) . I can't find any record of Grant touring the West, so we can't pin this one down exactly. UPDATE - This took place in 1873 (Thanks, Brandon)

This issue was on of the best. I had assumed that Fenton would be the operative to kill Hex & was pleasantly fooled. Hex is seen as being motivated by money initially, but doesn’t back down once Fenton is dead. There are a few pieces of comedy with a waiter urging Hex to leave a table so "gentlemen" can use it. Jonah quickly finishes his dessert & leaves. I also enjoyed the townspeople misunderstanding what had transpired. Makes me wonder how much of history is misunderstood.

On a final note, in a letter David DeWitt asks when we will see a team up of Hex & El Diablo. 32 years later in an upcoming issue of the second Jonah Hex series, that's when. I hope David is still reading.

Next issue? ACTING!! THANK YOU!!!

Also, Saturday, I'll post WWT #19, the first Hex book I ever purchased.