Marvel Premiere Featuring: The Coming of Caleb Hammer

Just a slight diversion before we jump back into the Jonah Hex books. Marvel Premiere was Marvel's answer to DC's Showcase, a series of one-shots to see what would work and what. In 1980 they produced this western, written by Peter B. Gillis, penciled by Gene Day, and inked by Tony DeZuniga. Here the, is the story of Caleb Hammer.


The Devil's Starry Anvil

Our story starts in 1890, in Manacle, Wyoming. A young buck walks up to a man in a bar and calls him out. The young man draws and the man, Caleb Hammer, rushes him and knocks him clean out, tossing him into the street. The sheriff comes by, wanting to know what is going on. Hammer explains that he is with the Pinkertons and that he is looking for two men, Crawford McKie and Jake Lovelace.

They took part in the campaign to capture Geronimo but after that they took up bank robbery, murder, and other things. The sheriff explains that they did come through, but Manacle wasn't worth their time and they moved on, up in the valley. The sheriff offers Hammer a drink, but he declines and moving on.

In the morning, Hammer is riding into the valley when the youngster that he trounced the night before comes riding up, saying Hammer won't get away with treating him that way.

FLASHBACK: 1885. A Union soldier storms into a woman's bedroom, calling her Molly. The woman isn't Molly and the soldier shoots her dead, claiming that she cheated on him. A crowd gathers and Hammer is among them. He realizes that his wife has been killed and the soldier, drunk out of his mind, starts shouting that he had the wrong hotel room. Hammer had been training for the ministry and his faith has abandoned him.

Present day: The young gun demands his chance to have revenge. Hammer dismounts, picking up a fist-sized stone. The young gun jumps off his horse and draws on Hammer, who responds with throwing the stone into the young man's shoulder, breaking it. The man goes down and Hammer walks over, picks up his pistols and snaps the cylinders off and rides off.

Night falls and Hammer comes upon a ranch, having followed the outlaws trail. The cabin shows signs of a struggle and when he checks the barn, he snags his boot on a tripwire and the barn explodes, he manages to grab a colt and rescue it from the flames.

FLASHBACK: 1886, the McCormick Harvesting Machine factory in Chicago, Illinois. There is a union strike and as scabs try to cross the picket line a fight breaks out and six men are killed in the riot. One of them is Isaak Hammer, Caleb's younger brother. Caleb was visiting his brother to get over his wife's death, but once again his faith crushed him.

Present day: Hammer notices that there is a cabin on the cliff overlooking the ranch he just found. He spots a reflection from inside the cabin and realizes that his prey is up there, watching the burning barn.

Inside the cabin, Crawford and Jake are sure that 'the Pinkerton' is dead, but just in case, they still have the ranch family as hostages. Nora, the wife, has had enough and demands to be let go because Jimmy has 'got himself a sickness'. The crooks ignore her.

Outside the cabin, Hammer gets closer and realizes the cabin sits on The Devil's Anvil, a solid piece of rock outcropping that offers no cover whatsoever. Hammer realizes that the only weapon that he has is..... fear. He puts his hands near his mouth and start howling like a wolf.

In the cabin, Crawford gets a little spooked but the rancher explains that there are no wolves. It must be the Indian wolf-spirit whose lands they have defiled. Just then they look out the window and spot Hammer outlined against the full moon, his arms raised and draped in some cloth. Just as quickly he vanishes.

FLASHBACK: 1888, Montana. Hammer bursts into a cabin to bring in an outlaw and ends up shooting the man in the shoulder but a huge snowstorm moves in and they are snowed in for five months. Sadly, the shot man dies and when Hammer leaves the cabin he is a man completely devoid of any faith at all.

Present day: The rancher explains that the Devil's Anvil was an Indian holy place and the two crooks actually helped capture Geronimo. The Wolf-Spirit wants to punish them for that. Hammer pulls his ghost stunt once more and the crooks are getting more and more edgy, starting to believe the rancher.

Just then Jimmy falls to the floor in convulsions and one of the crooks takes that as evidence of the wolf-spirit trying to get into the cabin. He lets loose with a barrage of bullets, killing teh boy just as Hammer kicks in the door. He punches the crooks senseless as one of them starts screaming that it was the wolf-spirit that was trying to get them.

It is then that Caleb Hammer realizes that it was the fear that HE instilled in the crooks that led them to kill Jimmy. Hammer picks up the boy's body and takes him outside...to look at the stars.

Impressions:
Thirty four years ago I loved the heck outta this book. Re-reading it, Marvel was doing their spin on Jonah Hex with some slight twists (unscarred, not a bounty hunter). Caleb Hammer was a man whose life was full of tragedy but he didn't turn to booze and he didn't shoot to kill. He just turned his back on God and busted guns with his bare hands. Of course, Marvel got DeZuniga to do the inks so that it would even LOOK like a Jonah Hex book.

A lot of this artwork was muddy and in some places they had white letters on a black background, darn near unreadable on newsprint

I can understand why this never took off, the Western was pretty much dead at this point except for Jonah and he only had five years left as a Western himself. It would be fun for Justin and Jimmy to 'borrow' this character from Marvel and clash with Hex once he gets back to his own time.

Jonah Hex V2 #9 "Gettin' Unhaunted"

Jonah Hex V2 #9 Sept. 2009
"Gettin' Unhaunted"
Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, story - Tony DeZuniga, art and cover

Ambushed - We see several Indians riding along and then we find Jonah Hex crouched in an shelter of rocks, a dead Indians next to him, an arrow sticking through his right arm, another in his left leg, and blood pouring from his wound.  A small girl in a green dress walks up to Hex and he addresses her by name and asks her what is wrong. He mentions that things are worse than he thought and he reaches behind himself and breaks off the fletching from the arrow in his arm.

He then tells her not o watch and Hex pulls the rest of the arrow out through the front of his arm. Adele, the girl, holds the bloody arrow and then snaps it in two. She helps Hex dress his arm but the arrow in his leg has hit the bone. Hex loads Adele upon his horse, mounts up and they ride off across the desert. They keep riding until they come upon a hogan.

Spirit Walker - As they approach, an Indian woman steps out with a rifle stating that Death rides with Hex. Jonah collapses at the Indian's feet, saying that he can shoot Hex if he likes but just give the girl some water. Hex passes out and the woman drags him into the hogan. She starts performing a ceremony and Jonah slips into a delirium. We are then treated to a flashback:

Jonah rides into Fair Oaks, looking for Clete Abrahams. Adele walks up and asks Jonah about his face. Hex tells her to leave but she persists in her questioning. She asks if she can touch the scar and Hex lets her. Suddenly Adele's mom shows up and demands that Hex leave the girl alone. A crowd shows up and things get tense with folks demanding that Hex leave.

Just then Abrahams and two of his mob walk out of the saloon. Hex calls him out and the three men draw down on Hex. Jonah reaches to his horse and grabs his sabre, slicing two men open as their shots go wild. Abrahams fires again and this bullet glances off the blade. Jonah runs the blade through Abrahams and we hear Adele's mom scream.

Hex turns to find the little girl clutched in her mom's arms. Jonah yells for someone to get a doctor and then starts to dig out the bullet using his sword. He gets the bullet out as the doctor shows up. Adele asks why Jonah killed those men and then she dies.

Hex stands up and walks into the saloon, orders a bottle of whiskey and sits there drinking for two hours. Adele's mom storms in with Hex's sword. Hex looks up from the table and says that he'll give her one swing. She brings the sword crashing down, missing Hex. Hex pulls his pistol and draws a bead on her but the townsfolk have come in, guns drawn,  and Hex falls backward into a drunken stupor. The people start kicking Hex's fallen form and Adele's mom grabs up the sword but the people grab her and hold her back.

Visit with the Dead - Present day. It's night and Jonah finds himself among a cluster of boulders. A rattlesnake advances towards him and he shoots the snake's head off. He grabs it up, cuts off a chunk and wolf's it down and then rides until dawn, into the town where he encounters the town drunk. At gunpoint he steals the bottle from the drunk and then rides on to the town cemetery, to the grave of Adele Burns.

Just then a bullet strikes the bottle as Hex takes a draw on it. Adele's mom states that she has missed every time for the past four years. She says that there has to be a bullet with his name on it and then they have this exchange.
...

She leads Hex back to her cabin and in bed Jonah relates the story of being ambushed by the Indians. Just then three men enter the cabin, guns drawn, and Adele's mom states that some folks would pay handsomely for a chance to put a bullet into the famous Jonah Hex. The men pay her and they haul Hex off into the desert.

As they ride along....

Statistics for This Issue

Men Killed by Jonah - We see two dead Indians at the start and he kills three men during the flashback. 5 total
Running Total - 560 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 58 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Arrow in the right arm, arrow in the right leg, massive blood loss and probably dehydration.
Timeline - With the flashback, this one covers four years.
Rape Percentage - 33% ( 3 out of 9)

Wow, where do I start with this issue? How about the cover? Black and white with that beautiful slash of red blood, leading up to the DC logo and the title. All of that makes this stand out on the comic rack. The interior artwork by DeZuniga is much more stylized than his work from decades ago and it works great here. We're never really sure if we are seeing reality or suffering through Jonah's dreams and delusions. The panel of Adele holding the bloody arrow is especially haunting.

The story gives us such depth of Jonah Hex, showing us a slightly tender side with his exchange with Adele, the wild desperation as he performs surgery, his rampant alcoholism, and his absence of morality as he beds Adele's mom. The appearance of the vision of Adele makes me wonder if this is actually some form of self imposed penance that Hex's brain is foisting upon him around this time every year. The icing on the cake is the fantastic double cross at the end, bringing to mind the idea that Hex did this as a way to free Adele's mom from her prison of suffering while he will remain in his own hell.

My verdict? One of the best issues of the entire seventy issue run and a must read.

Next Issue - GATORS!!!! oh, and, um.......rape (but not gator rape. That's icky!)

Jonah Hex V2 #5 "Christmas With the Outlaws"

Jonah Hex V2 #5 May 2006
"Christmas with the Outlaws"
Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Tim Bradstreet, cover

Christmas With The Outlaws - A train cuts across a frozen landscape, snow whirling in its wake and the black smoke cutting a burnt scar across the sky. The train comes to a stop at a small depot on December 25th, 1870 and Jonah Hex and his handcuffed bounty, Mike Harley, walk into the depot. In the station, the old station master recognizes Harley and is aghast that Harley has been caught but isn't surprised that it was Jonah Hex that did it.

The station master calls for Lula to bring them all drinks, on the house. Hex states that a drink is fine, but he's waiting on the Rangers to pick up Harley and doesn't want this night to turn into a social gathering. The master says that it might be one anyway. Harley explains that his boys are coming to spring him free. The master reminds Harley that Frank Denson's gang has been hunting Harley since he killed Denson's little brother back in '67. Denson telegraphed the station that he was coming and that everyone should clear out.

Hex has a bad feeling about the encroaching gangs coming in and tells the old man to get him and the girl outta there. Lula then points out that they can't leave since they are already surrounded.

The Not So Wise Men - A yell from outside reveals that Sanchez and the rest of Harley's gang are there. Hex asks what weapons are on hand and Lula tells him they have two shotguns and a pistol. Hex tells Harley to have the gang leave or he'll blow his head off, to which Harley replies that the bounty is only if he is alive and he ain't worth dying for.

The old man pipes up that he's ready for a fight and that he'll help hold them off, but Lula argues that they didn't buy into this fight and aren't ready for it. Hex tells everyone to calm down but Harley reminds Hex that things are going to get really nasty once Denson and his boys ride up, best take the easy way out now. Lula picks up a shotgun, aims at Harley and says that she doesn't care what happens to him, she just ain't ready to die so Hex can get paid.

Sanchez yells in, asking if Harley is coming out. Tempers are starting to rise in the small depot as the old man pushes the shotgun down in Lula's hands, telling her to put it away. She shouts back for him to shut up and for Harley to walk out the door, followed by Hex. They can all kill each other all day, just someplace else.

The door swings open and Sanchez walks in, Lula instinctively whirls and blows Sanchez backwards into the snow. Hex jumps up and kicks the door shut and tells everyone to get down as the rest of Harley's gang open up on the depot. Harley, on the floor is screaming for his gang to stop before they kill him and the shooting subsides. Hex peeks out the window and sees that things have gone from bad to worse as Harley's gang has been completely wiped out by the Denson boys that just arrived amidst the storm.

The Ghosts of the Past - Hex takes aim and shoots the hat off of Denson's head and tells Denson that the Texas Rangers are on their way to collect Harley and that is EXACTLY how things are going to play out. Denson demands to know who he is talking to and the voice comes back "Jonah Woodson Hex." With those words, half of Denson's men mount up and take off. Denson starts to try to reason with Hex while signalling to his men to surround the depot.

Denson asks for Hex to let the station master and his granddaughter go, but Hex nixes that idea. Lula and the old man start for the  door but Hex warns that they'll be used as hostages to which Harley quickly agrees. One of Denson's men kicks in a portion of a side wall and Hex quickly shoots the man's toe off. Hex says that he will not barter and he will not negotiate and Harley says that Hex knows what will come next.

An Outbreak of Lead Poisoning - Of course, they will try to burn Hex out.

The station master has had enough and knows that Denson is a reasonable man and he opens the door to head out. Denson's men shout that the old guy has a rifle and mow him down, Hex responds with a quick killing of one of Denson's men. Denson demands that his boys hold their fire but three of them slam their way through a back door and Harley shoots one and Hex kills the rest before they can get a shot off. Hex then takes the shotgun away from Harley.

Hex tells Lula to tend to the old man before he bleeds to death. The old man, still alive throws in his two cents just as a flaming torch crashes through the window and Denson's men toss a few more up onto the roof. Harley tells Hex that it looks like the Rangers are gonna be too late, uncuff him and they both have better chance of getting through this. Hex thinks for a second and tosses the keys to Harley. Harley uncuffs himself and Hex lays everything out.

He tells everyone to be ready to run and get right behind him and warns Harley to not get shot. By now the depot is fully engulfed and Denson shouts in that it makes no sense why Hex is letting everyone die. Just then Hex crashes out through a window and Harley bursts out the door and six men are quickly killed, the snow soaking up their blood. Harley grabs a pistol from a dead man and attempts to shoot Hex from behind. He misses and quickly mounts up on a waiting horse. Hex takes aim and shoots the horse out from underneath Harley.

Lula and her grandfather emerge from the burning depot as Hex advances on Harley, now pinned under the horse he tried to escape on. Hex tosses the cuffs to Harley and tells him to put them on. Harley tries to reason with Hex since it's Christmas, why not let him go? Hex says that Harley is Jonah's present to himself. Harley says that there ain't a jail that can hold him, he has a lot of money and money can buy freedom. Hex tells him to shut up.

Lula is livid, the station is burnt to the ground and everything they owned was in there. Just then the Texas Rangers show up and Hex asks about his money. The Rangers then pull their pistols and free Harley. He smiles and says, "Sam, I'm surprised to see you riding with the law." Sam says that it don't pay as well as bank robbing but he heard Harley was caught and that HE would like to collect the reward. Harley mounts up and tells Hex that the next time when someone offers money bigger than the reward, go with the money and since it's Christmas and all, he won't kill Hex for all the trouble he's caused. Harley and the Rangers ride off.

Standing among the smoldering remains of the depot, the station master observes that Harley is a smart as a fox, but Hex thinks that someday he'll wander into the wrong henhouse.

The Wrong Henhouse - 1880, Christmas Day. A train, plowing through a heavy snow, struggles up a steep grade. Suddenly an explosion rips the tracks and the engine to piece. Harley, Sam and the others descend onto the train and head for the bank car to finish off their last job in style. As they whip open the boxcar door they are greeted by Jonah Hex and a Gatling gun and ........

Statistics for This Issue

Men Killed by Jonah Hex - 16
Running Total - 530 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 28 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - none
Timeline - 1870 and 1880
Rape Percentage - 40%


This story has several unique features. One is the given dates for the tale, something unusual in the new Hex; another is the artwork from Tony DeZuniga (more on that later); a third is the environment, snow (darn few Westerns take place in the snow, sadly).

The story is a great one (better on a re-read than what I originally remember. The claustrophobia caused by the storm, the small depot, the bickering inside, and the changing face of the danger outside really drive home that Jonah is not in charge of this situation but is still trying to hold everything together. I also enjoyed that the station Manager and his granddaughter weren't on the same page with regards to Hex and the situation. One more thing about the story, actually about the style of Palmiotti and Gray. The chapter titles. I love them. It gives the book an overall feel of a serial, either as a dime novel, a Saturday morning movie serial, a tale told around the campfire, whatever it is. The chapters give you a little breather from the action, a small hint of what is to come and because of how much I like them, I'm going to start listing them in the recap as well.

Tony DeZuniga is back, and at first I had mixed feelings. Many years have passed since we last saw his work (1984 to be exact. 22 years?) and his style is now a lot looser, more sketchy and a LOT more stylized with less detail in places, added lens-flare effects (seen below) but there are a few hints of the early DeZuniga with the action crossing panel borders, characters bursting through panels and even blood dripping across the page backgrounds. At first I didn't care for the final page (seen above), but again, on re-reading it, I'm enjoying it more.

The cover by Tim Bradstreet is near photographic in quality and was in the running for one of the ten best covers of Jonah Hex V2.

All in all, one of the better stories of the new Hex.

Next Issue - Geoffrey Lewis, Linda Hunt, Indians, the Plague and NUNS WITH GUNS!!!

Top Ten Jonah Hex V2 Covers

Now that Jonah Hex V2 is in the can, I thought it would be fun to visit the covers and pick the ten best. Here are your panel of judges:

Me: Collecting comics since around 1966 and in all honesty I pick up a book because Jonah Hex is IN it, not what is on the cover. My tastes are going to lean more to what is extraordinary for a Western comic or just a comic in general.

Eldest Son: Shoots and edits video for a living so has a sense of composition and balance. Is a comic book reader so has a feel for what makes a good comic book cover.

Carl: Graphic designer. Looks at the books through a critical eye picking out what makes a good design. Also reads comics but hasn't read any Jonah Hex.

Lovely Wife: Is aware of what a comic book IS. What she brings to the table is how a cover will impact someone just strolling through a comic book shop. Does this cover grab a non-reader into making a purchase? Also, Wife & Carl can't be swayed by a good story inside that might make me think a cover is better than it is.

I took everyone's top ten, assigning 1 point to the lowest rank and ten points to the highest rank. I then compiled  the totals and we ended up with a few ties. To break the ties I looked at which cover placed higher on Lovely Wife's ranking (because getting a new reader in is the best thing) and then I took into account Carl's ranking (because he's a professional graphic designer and should know good design).

Here then are the top ten covers along with relevant comments:

Tenth Place 9 points: #11 "The Hanging Tree" 
Art Thibert
Carl: Dark and Powerful

Ninth Place 10 points: #70 "Weird Western"
Ryan Sook
Me: Very powerful, the sun 'burning' past the girl and the subtle hole in Hex's chest. This book screams that it wants to be opened and read.

Eighth Place 11 Points: #39 "Cowardice"
Rafael Garres
Eldest: The coloring and layout on this one make it stand out. It's far more cinematic than any other cover (with even the credits being "above the line").
Me: The black bar titles that make the interior of this book so unique is brought to the cover. The poses are dynamic and it has a great use of black space.

Seventh Place 11 Points: #62 "The Package" 
Eduardo Risso
Tie broken by Lovely Wife: It's just damn weird
Me: The black and white and evoking the tintype style pose is fantastic. On top of that, Hex seems so at peace amongst the circus freaks and that says so much about the character and makes me want to read the book.

Sixth Place 13 points: #53 "You'll Never Dance Again"
Billy Tucci
Lovely Wife: What kind of trouble are these two going to get into? It makes me want to read the book.
Eldest: As Megan Fox-tastic as this cover is, I love the art. Also, it feels like someone just chased this girl downstairs only to promptly realize that he's about get get effed up buy a guy with a look on his face that says, "I dare you."

Fifth Place 13 points: #6 "Goin' Back to Texas in a Box"
Brian Bollard
Tie Broken by Lovely Wife: Somewhat comical
Me: NUNS WITH GUNS!! Actually, this cover has great lines, the razor and Jonah's eye draws you across the page to see the white of the nun's hat. But much more than that, NUNS WITH GUNS!!!

Fourth Place 14 points: #33 "The Hunting Trip"
Darwyn Cooke
Eldest: I love this one because it feels like a baddie glanced over and saw this view, then promptly crapped his pants. Also, if you don't like Darwyn Cooke I'm 87% you're a communist. BETTER DEAD THAN RED!
Me: There are a dearth of winter westerns and this one fills the bill nicely. How deep is that snow? How long has Hex been there?

Third Place 15 points: #25 "My Name is Nobody"
Rafael Garres
Eldest: This one just says "I am a badass and will destroy you" Also, that guy clearly wasn't dead a second before this cover was drawn.
Carl: It has the perspective where the viewer is looking up at Jonah from beneath, very strong.
Me: The curvature of the buildings, the sun behind Hex, all of this makes me think of this entire cover is looking out the barrel of a gun. Plus, the details of the spades on the buttons and looking at the number of notches on the gun of the dead man shows just how good Jonah Hex is at his job (as well as ruthless since he's shooting a man that is already down)

Second Place 18 points: #50 "The Great Silence"
Darwyn Cooke
Lovely Wife: There is such an empty feeling presented through the muted tones. I want to know who is buried and why is there such emotion evident in Hex's body language.
Me: A very very quiet cover for a very violent book. Knowing the character, this cover demanded that I buy it and read it first.

First Place 25 points: #9 "Gettin' Un-Haunted"
Tony DeZuniga
Lovely Wife: The contrast between the black and white and the red is great. The movement draws your eye across the cover. This cover is full of 'whys', why is the little girl with him, why is he using a sword, why is he killing those men.
Carl: I like issue 9 the best because for starters is 2 color and stands out, the illustration tells allot and shows movement, action and emotion.
Eldest: Black and white covers with color splash can be done extremely well or just look silly. This is the former. The near perfect blood trail line draws your eye through the picture and even serves to direct you back to the DC logo and title.

Other covers that were chosen? From highest to lowest: 35, 18, 13, 36, 26,  5, 28, 66, 8, 42, 41, 20, 16, 10, and 2

Thanks to Grand Comic Book Database for the cover links and thanks to me for figuring out that hot-linking is a bad thing. DUR!!!

Jonah Hex: No Way Back - Things I noticed.

Well, there are gonna be some spoilers ahead.

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* I enjoyed the page layouts by DeZuniga. He is getting more abstract and creative as time goes by. However, sometimes I had trouble recognizing characters from page to page (unless I looked at their clothes). Tony's stuff is getting grittier as he gets older, probably because he is inking his own pencils.

In the fight scene with Papagayo I actually had trouble following what was going on. The prior two pages were set up to read top row left page/ bottom row left page/ top row right page/ bottom row right page. These pages appeared to be set up to be read top row left page /top row right page/ bottom row left page/ bottom row right page.  There was one panel in Jonah's fight with Papagayo that I actually couldn't figure out exactly what Jonah's arm was doing. Also, the knife in Jonah's arm vaniched in one panel.

* By my calculations, I would have placed Ginny closer to 56 than 46 (as stated by Jonah).  Let's review what we know:
Jonah was born in 1838 and his mom left when he was ten in 1848. We have no idea how old Ginny was when Jonah was born, but this story gives us some clues in that Jonah seems fairly put out when he learns that Joshua married a girl when she was 14. Could this be a clue to how old Ginny was when she married Woodson? If so, then Ginny is 14 or 15 years older than Jonah (being born in 1823).

If Jonah last saw his mom in 1875, she would have been around 52 at that point. ( I would chalk up her not recognizing Jonah in this story to the pain and the drunken state she was in.)

The last time Jonah fought El Papagayo was 1878. This story obviously takes place after that. Let's toss in a year or two for their meeting in the current series and for some time to lapse and let's place this story in 1880.

1880, Jonah would be about 42 and Ginny would be about 56/57

But I cut Jonah some slack, I can't remember how old my mom is without doing the math in my head.

* Were those some subtle references to Jonah's marriage? "Not now, Not ever again." Nice touch.

* Nice surprise attack. I liked it.

* I did like Jonah's relationship with his mother at the very end.

* So Joshua got married to a 14 year old girl? Was that so unusual back then? (Not sure, just asking) However, I took Jonah's disgust of the situation to be one of dredging up memories of what happened to his ma, making me think Ginny was 14 when SHE got married and Jonah viewed it as a form of abuse.

* I hated the name Dazzleby way back when. It sounded so hokey. I'm glad Justin and Jimmy remembered, but I could have also believed the story that Ginny left Dazzleby and married a third man, just in order to have a better last name for the story.

* A full chest tattoo of the crucifixion? Really? You really want me to buy that one? I'm surprised that you didn't make Joshua look like Robert Mitchum from Night of the Hunter (like in The Sin Killer ). The crazy killer Christian or fake Christian angle is an old one and I'm fairly tired of it now. What else ya got? In over 100 stories we have only gotten one story of a confessed Christian actually doing compassionate things. I guess I could have bought the concept of Joshua being led by the conceptof salvation through works instead of grace (it's any easy trap to fall into), but the full chest tattoo? Sheesh.

* Mike Brown from Oklahoma, we hardly knew ya. Mike, wish ya coulda stuck around some more. Nice nod to the saloon scene in the movie. So who is Mike Brown, in real life? (If you guys ever want to toss me into a Hex story, the last name is Hendrickson. Just sayin' is all)

* "How'd ya get that scar?" Again, another nice nod to Albano and the upcoming film.

* I enjoyed Papagayo recounting every one of their prior meetings. Nice.

* An actual origin of Papagayo? Wow, I just have to say that I liked it, it carried water for me, and I enjoyed it. Good job on that part guys.

* I don't know where you guys planned on this one falling in the Hex timeline, but I place it around 1879 - 1880. See my reasoning above;.

* Kicking a man's arm clean off FTW!

* The name of the town, Heaven's Gate, took on a whole new meaning once the population changed gender.

* Was Eli, Joshua's youngest, retarded or have Turouttes or something? That bit never went anywhere and I can't decide if I'm happy that it didn't. Would have been cheesy for it to mean something.

* Dag. Best dog name ever. Takes 1st place from the previous leader, "Doug"

FINAL RECAP -

Worth it? Yes. Nice format, nice story, some history, some new stuff, some things get changed, beginnings, endings, old wounds opened up and exposed. All in all, a good story.

Thanks guys. Can we have Jose Luis Garcia Lopez do the next one?

Of course, in the future, I'll be doing a complete review/recap of this, not sure when, but eventually.

Jonah Hex #89 "Blood Legacy!"

Jonah Hex #89 Feb 1985
"Blood Legacy!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Mark Texiera & Dennis Jenke, art - Ed Hannigan & Tony DeZuniga, cover

Jonah Hex is in bed at Mrs. Crowley's Boarding House with the local doctor telling him to take it easy. The doc has dug the bullets out of Jonah that Emmy put there and is demanding that Hex stay in bed, have only a bland diet and no cigars. Hex continues to protest, but the doc hears none of it & Mrs. Crowley is determined to carry out the doc's orders.

Back at Brett's hideout, Emmy is in tears but Brett keeps telling her it was either Hex or her that would have been dead. The girls finally tell Emmy that they are the only family she has left now.

Dinnertime at the Crowley house consists of chicken broth & rice and a very irritable Jonah Hex. Mrs. Crowley literally throws her arms across the door, barring Hex escape to the local saloon.

That night, Jeremy Ashford, the son of the Gray Ghost, is camped outside of town & is starting to realize the size of the oath he swore on his father's deathbed. He doubts that he will be able to carry on the life of the Gray Ghost but he does acknowledge that he will kill Jonah Hex.

At the same time, Jonah, locked in his room, decides to tie bedsheets together and shimmy out the window and walk into town. He finally makes it to the saloon, orders dinner and starts working on a bottle of whiskey. At the bar, a thug named Quaid, takes an instant dislike to Hex and starts making trouble. He throws down on Hex only to be staring at the muzzle of Hex's pistol long before his own leaves the holster. Just then Mrs. Crowley storms into the saloon and demands that Hex holster his weapon, drop the whiskey and get back into bed this instant! Hex falters for a moment, hangs his head and complies.



Several miles away in another saloon, Adrian Sterling is fending off the advances of a very drunken cowpoke who is getting very irate that the waitresses aren't bestowing enough affection to compensate for the water:whiskey ratio in the drinks. Finally he starts to get rough and Adrian busts him across the chops with her cane. Several of the cowpokes buddies decide to get even but then a local card shark steps up and soundly trounces both men.

The next afternoon, the Jeremy Ashford, son of the Gray Ghost (sans costume) arrives at Mrs. Crowley's boarding house, since the local sheriff told him that is where Hex is staying. Crowley & Hex are playing gin rummy on the porch as Ashford walks up the steps. Suddenly Hex notices a rifle barrel pointing from an alley across the street and he jumps up, knocking Ashford down out of line of gunfire.

Jonah hotfoots it across the street and rushes into the alley, shooting and killing the gunman, the thug from the saloon the previous night. Ashford arrives shortly, helps Jonah to his feet and walks him back over to the boarding house. Ashford introduces himself and learns that the man who just saved his life is Jonah Hex.

That night in his room, Ashford is putting on the costume of the Gray Ghost. He is bedeviled by the fact that the man he has to kill is the man who saved his life. His whole new life has been thrust upon him, he never asked for this but what kind of son would not carry out an oath sworn to his dying father. Ashford walks down the hall to Hex's room and decides that once he kills Jonah Hex, the Gray Ghost will disappear for good.

In the room, Jonah Hex is asleep and racked by a nightmare. He is being pursued by three horsemen and he can't escape. Suddenly one of them appears in front of him and when Hex reigns in his horse he is suddenly ensnared by a lasso. Yanked from his saddle, Hex fights the ropes but the other two horsemen surround him and lasso him as well. The horsemen dismount, drawing their pistols, ready to kill Hex. They remove their hats and...



Ashford walks into Hex's room and stands over Hex. Standing over the helpless Hex, Ashford realizes that shooting a sleeping man is a an act of a coward and so is hiding behind a mask. He decides that he will kill Hex tomorrow, face to face and man to man.

In that saloon many miles away, the card shark, Mr. Erdnase, is escorting Adrian home after another night of work. She thanks him and he makes a lunch date with her for tomorrow. Adrian is still bothered by her amnesia and quietly walks up to her room for the night.

Next morning finds Mrs. Crowley tucking blankets around Jonah Hex while he rests in a glider swing in the front lawn. Hex is sitting there when Ashford walks up and sits in the swing. Ashford starts to tell Hex about what brought Ashford to town and that he is the Gray Ghost. Hex explains that he already knows. When Hex knocked Ashford down yesterday, he saw inside Ashford's bag and recognized the mask. Hex knows that Ashford isn't old enough to be the Ghost, therefore..

Ashford suddenly pulls a pistol on Hex and announces that he has to kill Hex. Jonah calmly tells Ashford that there ain't no life in what is about to happen. Hex has spent his entire life in blood and guts and killing and that is all he has known & all he will ever know. He tells Ashford to throw away the Gray Ghost and live his own life. Ashford says that Hex is only saying these things because he is scared to die.

Hex, gun barrel to the eye, states that is isn't afraid of death. Ashford cocks the hammer and then jumps up, storming away. Cursing Hex for saving his life, Ashford runs into the boarding house shouting that he has failed his father. Hex slowly pulls out a pistol from beneath the blanket and quietly drops the hammer.

Up in his room, Ashford is convinced he is an unworthy son and places the pistol to his own head and then ends his torment.

Statistics for this Issue
Men killed by Jonah - 1
Running Total - 422
Jonah's Injuries - Recovering from bullet last issue.
Timeline - This one covers three days. I would say that we are nearing the middle of July 1878.

A pretty good story, one about honor and the turmoil that it can cause when two types of honor conflict within an individual (Ashford) when he tries to keep his word to his father, honor Hex for saving his life, yet retain any of his own identity. The end where Ashford ends it all is particularly effective.

The Texiera art is a lot cleaner that what we were used to with DeZuniga and gives us a preview of what we'll see in Hex. Some of the characterization of Jonah was rather lacking. Having him buckle so quickly to Mrs. Crowely was uncharacteristic. The nightmare scene was one of the best parts of the book.

Next Issue: The return of JD Hart, the return of Mei Ling, more of Emmy Lou and Gray Morrow taking over the art chores.

Jonah Hex #88 "The Saloon Girl ... and the Outlaw Queen."

Jonah Hex #88 Dec 1984
"The Saloon Girl and the Outlaw Queen."
Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Ed Hannigan & Tony DeZuniga cover

What was lost is now found!! I located issue #88!
The story starts off with Jonah Hex holding a wanted poster of Emmy Lou. The sheriff asks if Jonah knows the girl and Jonah declares that he has never seen her before. Leaving the sheriff's office Jonah is called out by four tough looking dudes who immediately open fire (they should have kept their mouths shut & just killed him.)

Jonah dives behind some crates and then shoot one of them in the throat. The others get a bright idea, lighting a newspaper on fire, tossing it across the street & setting the crates on fire. Jonah realizes that his cover will soon be gone, so he tosses a few bullets into the fire and ducks into the hotel right behind him. The bullets go off, leading the crooks to believe that Hex is still behind the crates.

Inside the hotel, Jonah Hex runs up the stairs, barges into a naked woman's room stating that he is with the hotel and he is gonna exterminate some muskrats on the roof. He climbs out the window, onto the roof, jumps onto another roof and manages to work his way across the street (?!?!) until he is on a roof on the same said of the street as the crooks. When they cross the street to check behind the crates, Jonah gets the drop on them & takes them in.

Meanwhile, Brett and the girls are having some target practice. Brett figures now that Emmy has her face on a wanted poster, she had better learn how to protect herself.

Elsewhere, at another gang's hideout, the leader of the gang (Lew) has gotten a brilliant idea. He has purchased a blonde wig and the smallest guy in the gang will wear it during their next robbery so that folks will be looking for Brett's gang instead of his.

Of course, the following day everything gets real complicated. Adrian Sterling is on a train heading west and she is talking to Temple Starr (this will be important later, trust me.) They discuss how men are the reason they are that train. Adrian is looking for her man and Adrian is leaving her man. She shows Adrian her locket that has a picture of herself & her man in it. Adrian admires it & asks if she can try it on. RABBIT TRAIL: Why do women do this? Men never say "That's a neat hat. Can I try it on?" They just ask "Where'd ya buy it?" END OF RABBIT TRAIL!

While this is happening, we see Lew & his gang jump on top of the train from an overhanging ledge. Inside, Temple is explaining that she is leaving the bar in Philly where she worked and has a job out in Willow Springs and produces the letter of the job offer she received.

Lew & his gang burst into the passenger car demanding money. One of the gang is wearing a the wig. One thug grabs Temple's handbag, she resists and they shoot her right in the face. Adrian starts screaming and they pistol whip her unconscious.



Back in town the telegraph operator gets word of the holdup, writes out the message and sends a runner after the sheriff. Jonah, sitting on the porch of the telegraph office, overhears the robbers consist of a bandit with yellow pigtails and he hightails it out to the scene in order to save Emmy from the oncoming posse.

Miles away in a doctor's office, Adrian Sterling awakens only to learn that she doesn't remember who she is or where she was going. The doc explains what happened on the train and informs her that her name is Temple, Temple Starr. He knows of this by the engraved locket around Adrian's neck and the letter offering her a job. Adrian thanks him for his time and wanders, dazed, out into the street.

That evening, back at Lew's hideout, the guys are congratulating themselves on a great haul when Jonah Hex walks in and shoots the wig wearing thug in the arm. Jonah mentions that he can't believe it "Pushin' forty like ah am, ah must be goin' soft tuh shoot him in the arm like thet."

The next morning finds the local sheriff taking the four men into custody from Jonah Hex. Jonah mentions that there never was a woman bandit and they can tear up Emmy's wanted poster. However, some men burst into the office announcing that the gang with the blonde pigtails just robbed the stage between "here & Pine Butte."

That evening, Adrian is sitting in her hotel room, trying to gather her past and determine what she will do since she doesn't even have any money to pay for her hotel room.

The next morning Brett and the girls are on the run and planning their next job. They are heading for Red Dog to rob the assayer's office & folks won't expect another robbery so soon. However, Jonah is on their tail, watching through some binoculars. Jonah acknowledges that Brett is smart for laying down a false trail that confused the posse, but that is for the best since it will allow him a chance to rescue Emmy.

Back in town, Adrian walks into a saloon to look for a job. The barkeep mentions that she is walking with a cane but Adrian begs for a job. The barkeep gives her a costume and tells her to try it on.

Right then, in Red Dog, Brett & the girls bust into the assayer's office and commence with the robbing. Jonah is right outside the window and is waiting for Emmy to be far enough away from everyone else before he makes his move.

Back at the bar Adrian walks out in her new costume and the barkeep almost passes out. Adrian gets the job at fifty cents a night plus tips and she can make extra money on her own time anyway she sees fit.

In Red Dog the robbery is going well. Brett and the girls head out the back to load up, leaving Emmy to cover them. Jonah kicks in the front door shouting "EMMY!" Emmy spins around startled and shoots Jonah square in the chest. As Jonah drops to the floor, Emmy panics and leaves out the back door.

Statistics for this issue
Men killed by Jonah: 1
Running Total: 421
Jonah's Injuries: Shot square in the chest (& possibly dead. Yeah, right!)
Timeline: This issue covers three full days. I would place it still in July 1878. Jonah mentions that he is "Pushin forty." This would jive with Jonah's birthdate of Nov 1, 1838.

This story jumped back & forth a lot, trying to set up a storyline for Adrian, that would allow us some closure without just leaving her dumped in New Orleans. We get Emmy & Jonah back together, with terrible results and thankfully, we don't have Mei Ling tossed in to really muck things up. I liked that Jonah has guys just gunning after him and he doesn't ask who or why, he just shoots them & takes them in.

Next Issue: More Emmy, More Adrian, and the Return of the Gray Ghost!

Jonah Hex #87 "Resurrections"

Jonah Hex #87
"Resurrections"
Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Ed Hannigan & Dick Giordano, cover

We have cheesecake, yes we do. We have cheesecake, HOW 'BOUT YOU?!?!?

Well, if you have a copy of Jonah Hex #87, you have enough cheesecake to open a factory and name it thusly. Our timely tale opens with Jonah Hex packing his bags while Adrian is lounging in an 'easy on the eyes' nighty in an obvious attempt to have Megan Fox portray her in the upcoming film.

Adrian wants to know why Jonah is suddenly leaving and Jonah finally fesses up that he doesn't want to be a lap dog to some high society debutante. Jonah does offer to take her along with him, back to the wild west, but Adrian is hesitant to leave her family and Jonah walks out with a slam of the door.

Meanwhile (and there will be a lot of that word being used this issue), Brett is reading in the Orleans Daily (even though they are 100's of miles to the west) about the bank robbery that was almost ruined by Emmy Lou. They get into an argument with Brett reminding Emmy that he alone is responsible for her safety and then grabs her and starts with the smoochy-smoochy. And of course, that is the moment the other two women in Brett's gang return with supplies. AWKWARD!!!

Several days later Jonah has hitched a ride in the locomotive of a westbound train. The engineer is slowing down to let Jonah off but then he sees something on the tracks ahead. Of course, it is several sticks of dynamite that blows the train to Hell & halfway back. Four hardcases swoop down on the wreckage and start looting the train.

Jonah, battered & bruised, manages to pull himself out of the twisted steel but manages to get spotted by the looters. He ducks and runs off into a nearby swamp.

Meanwhile, in the town robbed last issue, the sheriff returns with his posse, having not found hide nor hair of Brett and the girls. However, the banker's daughter has drawn up a fantastic likeness of Emmy Lou for the wanted posters.

Back at the swamp, the four corpses-to-be's are still tracking down Jonah. Sadly, slogging through the swamp has jammed Jonah's pistols with mud, so he has to rely on his wits to get out of this mess. He grabs his knife, some scrawny trees and gets to work.

Meanwhile, back at the cheesecake factory, uh, I mean, Adrian's, she is still prancing around in her nighty-nights and realizes that if she wants Jonah Hex, she will have to go get Jonah Hex and after a stiff drink, that is just what she does (after she gets dressed, of course.)

Meanwhile, back in the swamp, one fool steps into a loop of vines, causing a branch to swing loose and slam him into a tree with a knife tied to it at heart level. His death spooks two of the survivors but the boss isn't deterred. It is obvious that Hex's guns aren't working and his knife is gone.

Just then one of the goons spots Hex, takes a couple of potshots and then gives chase. Sadly, he steps onto a covered pit and quickly lands on the bottom of the spike-filled pit.

Back at Brett's hideout, the two girls want to have a word with old Brett. He tells Emmy to hold tight and Brett and the girls take it outside. They think that Brett is showing too much attention to Emmy and he starts laughung that they are jealous. Of course, he starts handing out hugs and kisses and everything looks like it's gonna be alright for Brett and the girls.

Night has fallen on the swamp and the two survivors have built a fire, planning their next move. Just then Jonah leaps down from a tree above them, kicking the loving crap outta both of them. The boss grabs his rifle and Jonah grabs the other goon as shield. The boss fires anyway and Jonah jumps the boss and pummels him senseless.

Just outside New Orleans in a doctor's office, The Gray Ghost lays on his deathbed. His son, Jeremy, comes in and the Ghost hands over the uniform of the Ghost and has Jeremy swear a solemn oath to continue the work of the Gray Ghost. Jeremy does this and the Ghost, dare I say it, actually gives up the ghost. Jeremy, swears that he will avenge his father's death by killing Jonah Hex!

Next morning, Jonah turns the three corpses and the surviving gang boss to the local sheriff. The sheriff pays out the bounty and tells Jonah that he would be very thankful if there are any other hardcases up on the board that Jonah would want to apprehend. That is when Jonah spies a wanted poster for...

EMMY LOU HARTLEY!!!

Statistics for this issue
Men Killed by Jonah Hex - 3
Running Total - 420
Jonah's Injuries - none
Timeline - This one covers two days from last issue. No telling how much time elapsed between issues. I would say we are still in July 1878.

Not a bad issue. Jonah's killing of bad guys isn't advancing the plot here, just adding action. The plot now is mostly Jonah coping with Adrian and Emmy coping with Brett. We have seen no sign of Turnbull, Mei Ling, or JD Hart for some time now, but they will be returning. It's hard to review these issues as standalones, because they are chapters in a sweeping saga that will pretty much continue until issue 92 when things take a dramatic change.

I'll be posting more scans of this issue later, just wanted to get some color/flavor in there for now.


Next Issue: Copycat crimes, a bloody train robbery and the death of Jonah Hex!!!

Jonah Hex #86 "The Slaughterhouse!"

Jonah Hex #86 Aug 1984
"The Slaughterhouse!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Ed Hannigan & Tony DeZuniga, cover

Jonah is all duded up while he and Adrian Sterling step out into the New Orleans nightlife. Adrian is walking with a cane, much like the doctor predicted last issue and as she and Jonah are seated in the fine French restaurant, Jonah overhears the folks in the booth next to them.

Of course, this being a French restaurant and it being in New Orleans, the patrons are bad-mouthing other customers within earshot. Jonah calmly dons his hat, walks over to the table and assists the patrons with their meal...








The staff of the restaurant don't take kindly to this ruckus so Jonah grabs a nearby cart and serves up a side helping of whoop-ass casserole.

Meanwhile, several hundred miles away, The Gray Ghost finally makes it back to his cabin & his son. The horse ride has reopened his wounds and he makes his son swear that the Gray Ghost will never die.

A week later, back in lovely New Orleans, papa Sterling is having a row with his hard headed offspring regarding her choice of man-friends. Mr. Sterling brings up that Jonah is still married to a Chinese woman but Adrian counters that Jonah hasn't seen her in quite some time. Finally papa Sterling asks if Adrian loves Jonah and she honestly says that she doesn't know and despite everything Jonah, uncomfortable and confused in New Orleans and tracked by the Gray Ghost, is still better for her than the cowardly Clifford Mapely who engineered her kidnapping.

During all of this, Jonah is riding back to Adrian's grandmother's house (where he & Adrian are shacking up) and as he crosses a rope bridge he suddenly spies the Gray Ghost atop a hill on the far side. The Ghost opens fire, forcing Jonah off his horse and returning fire. The Ghost manages to shoot one of the ropes holding the bridge and as Jonah stands there shocked, the Ghost pierces the other rope, sending the bridge swinging, Jonah's horse swimming, and Jonah hanging on for dear life.

As Jonah tries to climb up the bridge, the Ghost nails Jonah Hex in the left wrist, sending Hex right into the drink. Jonah stays underwater for as long as he can and manages to elude the Ghost.

And, of course, at that same moment, several hundred miles away, Brett is planning his next bank robbery with Camille, Sandy, and Emmy Lou. As they head out for the robbery, Brett hands Emmy an unloaded rifle and before they leave Brett reminds Emmy of the possibility of her getting locked back up in the closet and then seals the deal with a lingering lip-lock.

Also at that time, Adrian finally comes home from her talk with papa and she finds the front door ajar. She walks in calling out Jonah's name but the Gray Ghost grabs her from behind and drags her away.

Shortly thereafter, Jonah returns to the mansion and finds...


We suddenly switch to a bank holdup, already in progress. Brett is forcing the teller to hand over the cash when an overly brave customer suddenly grabs Emmy's unloaded rifle. Emmy cries out and her bandanna falls, revealing that she is a woman. Brett quickly solves the problem by killing the customer and the entire gang rides out of town as hard as they can.

That night, back in Louisiana, Jonah is approaching the only slaughterhouse in the area. He decides to not use the front door and scales to an upper window. As Jonah sneaks inside, the Ghost appears out of the darkness and pumps two slugs into him. The Ghost closes in on Hex but Jonah suddenly grabs the Ghost & they topple through a railing into the packing crates below.

The Ghost grabs a meat hook and as he raises it over his head, Jonah whips out his pistol and pops the Ghost a good one. As the Ghost tries to flee, he throws a crate at Hex and Jonah administers another lead pill, knocking the Ghost backwards amongst the crates. Jonah finally finds Adrian and unties her. When they go to drag the Ghost's dead carcass back to town they find......

Statistics for this Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - 0
Running Total - 417
Jonah's Injuries - Shot in the wrist and shot once in the gut.
Timeline - This one covers a week plus some. I'm not sure where it falls regarding last issue since the doc said it would be some time before Adrian was up & about and I'm not sure how long it takes an injured man to ride several hundred miles. Let's say that amounts to another week, so this issue covers 15 days. That would place into July, 1878.

There was a lot of hopping around in this issue, Fleisher has a lot of subplots to keep going. I'm glad he didn't throw in Mei Ling, that would have been way too much. The ending seemed quite rushed with the sudden vanishing act pulled by the Gray Ghost, but we all know that we will be seeing more of him (father & son).

I've been slowing down on my reviews and I think it's because there are only six more issues of Jonah Hex left before the switch to Hex. We'll still have a lot of stories to go through with Hex, the Vertigo titles and then into the new ongoing series, but it's just bittersweet as we wind up the run on this book. I know my mood will change as we move on. I'll try to keep the tears to a minimum.

Next Issue: More Emmy Lou! More Adrian! and just for fun a train gets blown to Hell!

Jonah Hex #85 "Behold the Gray Ghost"

Jonah Hex #85 June 1984
"Behold the Gray Ghost"
Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Ed Hannigan & Tony DeZuniga, cover

Well, this story has no exclamation point in the title, so you know something is wrong! What's wrong is that Jonah Hex has gone bi-monthly with this issue and it is also the 100th Jonah Hex story penned by Michael Fleisher. So what happens in this bitter-sweet issue?

For starters a bunch of guys in Confederate outfits are burning Jonah Hex in effigy, shouting death to the traitor, Jonah Hex. But then they come to their senses & realize that they'll probably never have revenge on Hex. Just then Quentin Turnbull emerges from the shadows, chastising them for being so spineless. He has actually done something about Hex. Turnbull has hired the Gray Ghost!!!!

Several days later we get our first glimpse of the Ghost as we are witness to a wedding that is rudely interrupted by a hooded Confederate officer. The Ghost claims that the groom betrayed Confederate troop movements and that the Ghost will carry out the death sentence. The Ghost draws his pistol and shoots the groom right in the middle of the service. The Ghost backs out of the doors and hightails it but the men inside are unable to give chase because the doors were blocked.

When they finally bust out of the church they spy an older gentleman and ask if he saw the Ghost ride off. The old man points them out of town and the posse mounts up and heads out as the old gentleman gets on his horse and rides the opposite direction literally whistling Dixie.

Needless to say, the posse doesn't find the Ghost (because he was the old gentleman) and the posse start asking the sheriff if he knows who the Gray Ghost is. The sheriff replies that all he knows is that Ghost was a Confederate officer whose family was butchered during Sherman's March to the Sea (late 1864). When Gen. Lee surrendered, the Ghost didn't, he continued slaughtering Union soldiers and kill former Confederates on a list that he made of traitors to the South.

A week later, on the outskirts of New Orleans, Adrian and Jonah Hex are getting ready for a dinner party. Jonah is looking pretty dapper in formal dinner attire, but he ain't none too happy about it. It's only been two weeks since he met Adrian and they have been living in her Grandma's former house. Adrian puts a liplock on Jonah and as they get ready to leave they encounter Clifford, Adrian's former fiance.

Clifford, berated throughout all of New Orleans, is there to win his honor back and he pulls a pistol on Jonah. In one swift move, Jonah disarms Clifford, breaks his arm and then throws him out the door like last weeks trash.


Elsewhere, Brett and his two female cohorts have decided to let Emmy Lou out of the closet where they have imprisoned her. She can stay out on one condition, she help rob their next bank. She refuses but quickly changes her tune when they start to shove her back into the closet.

Several hours later, Jonah Hex and Adrian are returning home from the dinner party, via a fancy buggy. They happen upon an old gentleman carrying a small bag & a saddle. The man explains that his horse stumbled and broke a leg and he asks for a ride. Jonah & Adrian oblige. During the ride, Adrian learns that the man's name is Gray but suddenly a shot rings out and a bullet grazes Gray's scalp, knocking him unconscious.

There are three men on a hilltop taking potshots at the buggy. Jonah hands the reins to Adrian, grabs his rifle and quickly sends one of the men to his final reward. Jonah manages to wing another in the leg before they hightail it off into the darkness.

Adrian checks on Mr. Gray and finds that he is alive and offers to take Gray to her house to help him recover from his wound. Back at the house, Adrian does a fine job of doctoring Gray and she tells him to spend the night in an upstairs bedroom.

Back in town, Clifford is disgusted to learn that the three men he hired to kill Jonah Hex not only failed, but killed an innocent man in the bargain (Mr. Gray). The two thugs tell Clifford to shut up and get ready with the ten thousand dollars they were promised because they are going to finish the job tonight.

The next morning at Adrian's house, Jonah is in bed and Adrian is already up when she decides to check in on Mr. Gray to see if he needs anything. What she doesn't know is that Mr. Gray has donned the garb of the Gray Ghost and is getting ready to carry out Turnbull's orders to kill Jonah Hex. Adrian walks into Gray's room and sees the Gray Ghost. He tells her to be quiet because he has never harmed an innocent but she scream out for Jonah.

Jonah hears the gunshot and leaps out of bed and heads for the stairs. The Ghost is standing over the body of Adrian and vows to make Jonah Hex pay for Adrian's life (he has some serious issues with responsibility!). Jonah shouts from the bottom of the stairs that he has found the death warrant that the Ghost had for Jonah and Jonah & the Ghost end up in a Mexican standoff at the top and bottom of the stairs.

The Ghost realizes that he can't kill Jonah, at least not tonight, and decides to cut and run by bailing out a second story window. Just as he is getting ready to vault off the balcony, who should show up but Clifford's goons. They spot a Confederate figure on the balcony and open fire, knocking the Ghost to his death.



Jonah heads up the stairs and finds that Adrian is only wounded. The next day, the local doctor tends to Adrian's wounds and states that in a month or two she will be fine. When Jonah questions the doc about the Ghost, the doc stammers that the Ghost died while the doc was attempting to dig out the bullets.

As the doc heads away from the mansion, he is stopped on the road by the Gray Ghost. The Ghost thanks the doc for patching him up and telling Hex that he is dead, then hands over a fat wad of bills. The Ghost and the doc go their separate ways.

Statistics for the Issue
Men killed by Jonah - 1
Running Total - 417
Jonah's Injuries - none
Timeline - This one must start right after last issue. It takes 'several days' from the start of the story before we are introduced to the Gray Ghost and then it is the 'following week' that Clifford gets his arm broken. I will place this finishing up around the middle to end of June, 1878.

Adrian is one heck of a woman. Last issue she kills a guy, this issue she smirks as her former fiance gets his arm broken, she takes a bullet and is still going. She's fairly bossy, dragging Jonah all around New Orleans; fairly spoiled, partying non-stop; and completely into the scar-faced bounty hunter.

I laughed at the start when the Fort Charlotte brigade realized they are a bunch of losers! The ending seems fairly rushed with Jonah finding the death warrant that the Ghost dropped and Adrian surviving her gunshot wound. But we now have another lunatic hunting down Jonah Hex. And I'm sure that we'll be seeing more of him.

One last thing, do you like Jonah Hex all fancied up?



Or ready for......?


Next Issue: Emmy Lou in a bank robbery gone bad, the Gray Ghost returns, and Jonah Hex visits a pastry bar!!!

Jonah Hex #84 "Carnival of Doom!"

Jonah Hex #84 May 1984
"Carnival of Doom!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Ed Hannigan & Tony DeZuniga, cover

Jonah Hex is in the gunsmith shop of one R. Hayes, shopping for new firearms. Mr. Hayes is completely baffled that Jonah would throw away his matching dragoons. Jonah explains that they 'fell' into the lake and ends up deciding to purchase a Colt Peacemaker and a Smith & Wesson Schofield .45. The gunsmith admits that they were previously owned by a man who was gunned down when one of them hung in his holster.

Jonah concedes that he can understand why that happened, since the sights are so huge. He grabs a hammer and knocks the sights off both of the pistols (how he does it without damaging the pistols is a mystery to me). The store owner is writing up Jonah's purchase when two thugs burst into the store and grab the strongbox the owner has. The thugs start backing out the door and state that they can't leave no witnesses. Jonah draws on them, killing both.

The owner is aghast. He states that one thug has a bullet right between the eyes and the other has a hole over his right eye. Jonah agrees that the Smith & Wesson does pull to the left and takes the robber's money as payment for his saving the shop owner's life.

Out on the street Jonah is hailed by a telegram boy who delivers a telegram from New Orleans. Jonah makes mention that he has been invited to Mardi Gras.

Okay, let's stop here for just a second. Mardi Gras normally ends on Ash Wednesday which occurs 46 days prior to Easter. Looking at the dates for Easter in the 19th century, (new style, Catholic) for 1875-1878, they all land in April. Now, in the books we have established that we are in 1878 and by counting days that have passed we are at the end of April or possibly the beginning of May. Suddenly we are to believe that Jonah is going to make it to Mardi Gras? The book states that two weeks pass before he gets to New Orleans. So, if Easter of 1878 falls on April 21, 58 days prior (46 plus two weeks) puts us at Feb 22nd. And that is just so Jonah can make the last day of Mardi Gras! (on a side note, the 1879 Mardi Gras was canceled due to Yellow Fever.)

Meanwhile, JD Hart is talking with Mei Ling and he starts to tell her about his feelings for her. Suddenly Jason runs in with a wooden sixgun and 'shoots' Hart. Mei Ling scolds Jason, demanding where he got the toy pistol. Hart confesses that he made it for Jason along with a small holster. Mei Ling demands the gun from Jason and he shouts NO!

Hart tries to calm Mei Ling down, but she turns on him, saying she doesn't want her son to be a gunfighter and Jason runs from the room crying. In this scene, Jason not only shouts 'no' but also says "bang bang Marshal Hart! You're dead!" Jason has just turned two since he was born in the Spring of 1876 (?)

But enough about that, two weeks pass and we are now in New Orleans and Jonah is being addressed by a wealthy man in a large mansion. The man is Mr. Sterling and he wants to hire Jonah to protect his daughter Adrian from a kidnapping scheme. Jonah is stunned to meet Adrian, a beautiful young lady. Upon meeting Jonah Hex, Adrian states "I'm delighted to meet you, Mr. Hex. And may I say I feel safer already."

Jonah stammers back "Ah only wish Ah could say the same thing Ma'am"

Just then Clifford Mapely, Adrian's fiancee, enters. Sterling states that Hex will be their bodyguard for the next 5 or 6 days. Clifford doesn't think that it is needed but relents to Sterling's wishes.

A thousand miles away (putting us in New Mexico or far western Texas) Emmy Lou is screaming and pounding on the door of the room that Brett has locked her in. Brett opens the door and Emmy starts crying about how poorly she has been treated (tied up and locked up). Brett says that she can be freed if she promises not to escape and to also join his gang. She screams that she never will and Brett slams her back into the room, muttering that she'll come around very soon.

Back in New Orleans a cloaked woman knocks on a door and is allowed entrance to the home of Mr. St. Pierre. It is Elsa, the maid of the Sterling household! She reveals that Adrian will be at a private party at 10 PM in the Latin Quarter at 33 Rue Madeleine (don't bother looking, it ain't there!). Elsa explains that Adrian's fiance, Clifford will be escorting her and they will both be accompanied by Jonah Hex.

Later that night Jonah & Adrian are at the aforementioned party and a very snobby party goer is having a good laugh at Jonah's expense. He makes snide remarks about the war and how Jonah Hex belongs with the drunken revelers in the costume out in the street. Adrian tries to reprimand him but Jonah calmly grabs a drink, tosses it into the man's face, punches him in the gonads, lifts the man over his head and throws him the length of the buffet table. Several men decide they can take Jonah Hex on and Jonah pulls his pistols and drops a huge chandelier into the middle of the room.

Needless to say, Adrian, Clifford and Jonah shortly end up leaving the party. As Adrian & Clifford walk the streets of New Orleans (with Jonah closely behind), three men in skeleton outfits are stalking them from a nearby rooftop. Suddenly the three men jump down into the street and shoot Jonah Hex and start to grab Adrian. Clifford runs like a deer (getting help, he says!) and as one of the skeletons draws a bead on the unconscious noggin of Jonah Hex, Adrian shouts that he is her fiance. Rather than try to untangle the mess, the skeletons abduct Jonah along with Adrian.

Quite some time later, Jonah regains consciousness to find that he and Adrian are tied up in a wine cellar somewhere in the city. Adrian explains what has happened, including her tells the thugs that Jonah was her fiance. Jonah asks why she did that & she confesses that from the first time she saw Jonah, she knew that he WOULD be her fiance.

Upstairs, Mr. St. Pierre and his thugs suddenly hear a scream from the wine cellar. They run downstairs and open the cellar to find Adrian standing in front of them. She is untied and they demand to know how she got her ropes loose. She calmly replies "My friend over there has a bowie knife." Jonah then quickly tosses said knife into the throat of one of the thugs and then dives behind the wine casks.

As thug number two searches for him, Jonah sneaks up behind him and then knocks him out with a wine bottle. Just then St. Pierre emerges behind Jonah with a pistol aimed at Jonah's back. Adrian steps forth brandishing a pistol and demands in a stuttering voice that St. Pierre drop his weapon. St. Pierre says he won't because Adrian doesn't have what it takes to shoot hi... BLAM!!!!!!!

Adrian has killed St. Pierre and she drops the pistol and runs to Jonah where they get into a a post-pistol-packing lip lock.

Much later (5 AM by the clock on the mantle) Adrian and Jonah get back to the Sterling mansion. Adrian explains to her dad how great Jonah was and Hex explains that the maid was in cahoots with the kidnappers. Mr. Sterling says that he is happy that Adrian is safe, even though Clifford 'fought like a tiger' to save Adrian. She suddenly interrupts her dad and tells Clifford to leave & never comes back.

The p-whipped Clifford sulks out of the house and Mr. Sterling asks "what about the engagement?" Adrian grabs Jonah arm and as they leave the house she says that there may still be a wedding but Clifford won't even be invited to it.

BLAM!!!

Statistics for this Issue
Men killed by Jonah Hex - 3
Running Total - 416
Jonah's Injuries - Shot (hard to tell where. The shoulder? A grazing of the scalp?)
Timeline - Whew! It's Mardi Gras but it's May (or possibly even June by now with the extra two weeks to travel to New Orleans). The only thing I can say is that Easter takes place at an entirely differently time in the DC Universe.

A pretty good story advancing the emotional complications of Jonah Hex and his women. Adrian looks to be a pure firecracker, knowing what she wants and knowing how to get it. Jonah had better watch his step around this one.

The storyline with Emmy is getting a little hairier with the psychological abuse that Brett is throwing at her.

I find it strange that Jonah Hex is now in New Orleans and that is where the bulk of the Jonah Hex movie was filmed. Was Michael Fleisher psychic?

Next Issue: Turnbull decides to make good on his promise... to kill Jonah Hex!!!