Jonah Hex #15 V2 "Retribution, Part 3 of 3"

Jonah Hex #15 V2 Mar '07
"Retribution, Part 3 of 3"
Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, story - Jordi Bernet, art and cover

Wilcox Apache Internment Camp, 1868 - We see several soldiers abusing the Indians that have been placed in their charge when suddenly a rifle cracks and men start falling. We find Jonah Hex up in the overlooking crags carefully drawing a bead time and again, dropping the soldiers with little to no effort.  Finally Jonah rides into the fort with a wagon and addresses a very large Indian, Widow Maker. They exchange mild threats/greetings and it is revealed that they are old friends.

Jonah is there to enlist Widow Maker's help in killing Col Ackerman because Ackerman has killed the Apache tribe that bought Jonah. Widow Maker asks if it is the same tribe that scarred Jonah's face.

The Mark of The Demon - Jonah slowly rides towards the pueblo that he used to call home. When he arrives White Fawn greets him and says that Noh-Tante had said that Jonah was dead...things have changed. Then we learn that Noh-Tante and White Fawn are married. Jonah tells the chief of the chief's son's betrayal and lies and then challenges Noh-Tante to a battle to determine who is telling the true.

A friend of Noh-Tante provides the tomahawks and points out which one is damaged. Noh-Tante instructs him to be sure that Hex gets the faulty tomahawk. The battle begins and during the fight Jonah's tomahawk breaks forcing him to pull a knife to defend himself after Noh-Tante gloats that he knew of the faulty handle.

Unfortunately, Jonah kills Noh-Tante before the rest of the tribe can hear the confession. The penalty for cheating in a battle is death, however, since Jonah is a son of the chief, he shall not die. He will be branded so that the world will always know that Jonah carries the Mark of The Demon.

On the Warpath - Jonah demands an answer from Widow Maker who pledges the power of himself and his men. They ride off with Widow Maker asking if more men will join them. Hex replies in the negative.

Blood-Splattered Moon - Hex and Widow Maker hide in the rocks outside another fort. Hex points out the Gatling guns on the wall and says that they must be turned inward if they are to win.

Inside, Ackerman is questioning his men on the lack of word on the shipment of guns he is expecting from Fulsome. Ackerman instructs his fellows to dispatch someone to find Fulsome in the morning and then asks how the recruiting is going. During the discussion we learn that Ackerman's plan is to raise up an army and venture forth into Mexico, destroying Mexicans and Apaches and eventually becoming a sovereign nation.

A soldier enters and tells Ackerman that someone is there to see him.... Jonah Hex. Ackerman asks if Hex is alone and to have him carefully disarmed and brought in. Hex explains that he came to inform them that Fulsome and his gang are dead and that the guns have been 'distributed accordingly'.  Ackerman demands that Jonah get to the point and Hex tells him that Ackerman slaughtered an Apache camp not too long ago. Jonah wants to know why.

Ackerman states that he needs no reason to slaughter savages, what were they to Hex. Jonah explains that they were his family and he is here to avenge them. Ackerman tells his men to prepare for an attack and one man leaves. As he opens the door he is shot dead and we find the Apache storming the fort.

Jonah breaks out his knuckles and takes on Ackerman and the other man in the room. The Apache have topped the walls and Widow Maker is having free reign in the fort. Hex stabs the second man and Ackerman pulls his pistol but misses. The fight becomes hand to hand with Ackerman gripping Hex by the throat, choking the life from him. Jonah digs his thumbs into Ackerman's eyes, blinding him and then breaks a chair over his head, finally grabbing a busted chair leg and stabbing Ackerman to death with it.

Widow Maker bursts in just in time to prevent a soldier from shooting Hex. Widow Maker offers Jonah a chance to head to Mexico with he and his men but Jonah says that he ain't a joiner...not anymore. Widow Maker asks what Jonah will do. Jonah says he will continue doing what he's doing.

Finally Jonah rides off, declining the large Indian's offer of some of the gold they found in the fort.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed By Jonah - 6 in the fort, Noh-Tante,  Ackerman and his toady for a total of 9
Running Total - 601 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 109 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Choked, kicked, punched
Timeline - 1868, flashback to 1866. The flashback covers a day. Current day, maybe a day or two.
Rape Percentage - 40% (6 out of 15, steadily going down)

All in all, a good Jonah adventure with a nice dose of origin and some healthy action at the end. There were several nice touches in the dialogue and Bennet's artwork fits in very very nicely. It was enjoyable to see the origin through the eyes of the J's and then did a fine job.

Next Issue - Things get really nasty and we get a double dose of ugly on top of it.

Jonah Hex #14 V2 "Retribution, Part 2 of 3"

Jonah Hex #14 V2 Feb '07
"Retribution, Part 2 of 3"
Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, story - Jordi Bernet, art and cover 

Fathers and Sons -  Jonah Hex walks into a bar and sits down with his back to the wall, facing the only door. The local deputy asks the sheriff "Was that?" and the sheriff replies that the deputy better tell the Reverend to dust off his Bible. Shortly a young boy enters the bar and walks up to a lone man leaning on the bar, drinking. The boy entreats his father to come home for supper. The man turns on the boy, but the boy persists and finally the man slaps his son to the floor as we get a very close look at Jonah Hex watching the entire drama.

Greeley, Colorado, 1851 - Jonah, as a young boy is watching his father, Woodson, load up the covered wagon. Jonah is wanting to know why they have to leave and Woodson crawls out of the wagon and kicks Jonah into the dirt. He yanks the boy up by the hair and tells him to never question him again. He continues to verbally abuse Jonah until Jonah spits in his old man's face.

Woodson knocks him to the ground an Jonah lunges for Woodson's pistol. The father breaks a bottle over Jonah's skull and then drags him to the outhouse, lifts the seat and throws his son down into the gut wrenching filth. Throughout the night Jonah tries to crawl out, falling back time after time. When he finally emerges from the outhouse, he is greeted by darkness and his father sitting there with a pistol trained on him. Woodson hands Jonah the pistol and the chance to rid himself of the abusive father forever, but Jonah only stares at him silently. Woodson gives forth some words to live by and then tells Jonah to clean up, they leave for California in the morning.

Black Hills Apache Territory, Arizona, 1851 - Jonah and Woodson pull up to a pueblo in the wagon. He begs the Apache for safe passage through their land and is told that the toll must be paid in either gold or blood. Woodson says that he aims to make his fortune in California and return to Colorado to reclaim his lost farm. Woodson glances at Jonah, the son he has never wanted and has always hated and then kicks Jonah from the wagon, stating that the Apache can have him and do with him as they see fit. Woodson will return in six months and buy Jonah back three-fold.

A medicine man stares at Jonah, whispers some incantation and the Apache tell Woodson that they have a deal.

The Black Hills, Two Years Later - Jonah is out chopping wood when he hears a scream. He finds the chief being mauled by a puma, which Jonah quickly dispatches with the axe. Jonah then helps the chief back to camp and help. Because he saved the life of the chief, Jonah is elevated from slave to son of the chief and is looked upon lovingly by White Fawn. As they walk in the moonlight, they are approached by Noh-Tante, the chief's real son. Noh-Tante has no good feelings towards Jonah and tells him that the chief wants the two of them to raid a traveling Kiowa camp of their ponies.

They both head off into the darkness and Jonah makes short work of the lone sentry. Noh-Tante grabs the ponies and then trows a knife into Jonah's left leg and then sounds an alarm. Several Kiowa come rushing out and Jonah single-handedly kills the entire tribe.

Present Day - The man in the bar pulls a knife on the boy and the bartender is trying to diffuse the situation. The man pulls his pistol on the bartender and Jonah lifts his own pistol and tells the man to drop the knife. The man turns and growls that it ain't Hex's business. Jonah replies "It is now." and places a single bullet right above the man's eyes. He falls to the floor dead and.....

The boy grabs his father's pistol and aims at Jonah's back as Hex leaves the bar. The boy pauses and then drops the gun into the pool of his father's blood.

Hex is now on the street and six armed men approach, demanding that Jonah take them to where he has hidden Col. Ackerman's weapons. Things escalate and one man tells Hex that he will kill hex and he is dead serious. Hex replies "Got that partly right". (Yeah, I actually laughed at that line) A huge gunfight results and Jonah shoots five of the six men. The last one is about to shoot Jonah in the back when a bullet suddenly rips through the man's leg. He falls into the street as the boy from the bar walks out with a smoking pistol.

The boy says to Hex "You're welcome." Hex then finishes off the wounded man and walks down the street to his horse.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed By Jonah - 6 in the street, 1 in the bar, 10 Kiowa, and a Puma (I'm not counting the puma) for a total of 17
Running Total - 592 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 100 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Knife in the leg, slapped, punched, bottle to the head, kick to the ribs, thrown into an outhouse.
Timeline - Well, 1868, flashback to 1851 and 1853. The flashback covers a few months and then a day. Current day; about 15-30 minutes.
Rape Percentage - 42% (6 out of 14)

Man o man o man. This one stays very very true to the original origin and does tie back into the Ackerman revenge storyline, but over all the absolute best panels are the two where Jonah kills the drunken father in the bar and considers it a favor to the boy.

In the boy, Hex saw everything that he was and knew what would become of the lad if he didn't intervene. I can only imagine Hex was wishing that someone seventeen years earlier would have done the same and rescued him from the hell that lived/lives.

Again, Justin and Jimmy produce a book that demands to be read out loud, with the framing captions ringing in the ear so very much like actual texts from that era.

Next Issue - Jonah returns to the Apache, in more ways than one.

Jonah Hex #13 V2 "Retribution Part 1 of 3"

Jonah Hex #13 V2 Jan '07
"Retribution, Part 1 of 3"
Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, story - Jordi Bernet, art and cover

The Wyoming Badlands, 1868 - Two wagons sit under a full moon and four men huddle around a fire that is battling back the Wyoming darkness. Bix, Rufus, Pete, and Captain Fulsome are discussing their business, running stolen rifles down into Mexico.

Bix heads out into the black to relieve himself and during the continuing talk we learn that Fulsome served with Colonel Ackerman in the Confederacy. Rufus staggers back towards the fire and falls down, face first, a tomahawk embedded in his back, stuck clean through a wanted poster of the now dead Rufus (wanted for Murder, Train Robbery, and Rape(?!?)). Bix starts to panic and states "It's HIM".

Fulsome gives orders to kill the fire and cover the wagons. A rope leaps through the air and Pete finds himself yanked off his feet and drug into the dark. Bix makes it to the wagons and suddenly finds a knife in his chest, piercing the wanted poster with his likeness. Fulsome makes it to a wagon, yanks back the canvas and drags out one of two women and holds a pistol to her neck. (the woman says words to the effect "not again", so I am taking that as impending rape)

Fulsome shouts that he will kill the girl if he isn't allowed to leave. He should have killed 'him' at Fort Donelson and the camera slowly pulls back into the night.

Fort Donelson, Tennessee, 1862 - A Union wagon train is slogging through a downpour and a few Confederate soldiers rise out of the underbrush as the wagons roll by. They climb on to the back of the wagons in order to gain access to the Fort in the distance. Once inside, the Rebs attack and open the gates to the Fort, allowing the rest of their men access to the Fort. One Reb in particular seems awfully fond of using a tomahawk.

The Union forces finally get a Gatling gun set up and mow down the Confederates as they enter the Fort. Colonel Ackerman and Captain Fulsome stand over the bodies littering the ground. Ackerman looms above our downed Jonah Hex, noting that rumor has it he was raised by Apaches and that Jonah seems to have an affinity for being on the losing side. Ackerman orders all the bodies bayoneted except for Hex, of whom an example shall be made.

The Cumberland River, Sept 18th, 1862 - Day breaks and Jonah is tied to a large wooden X mounted on a raft. He has been stripped naked and covered with a Confederate flag. Ackerman and Fulsome are there and Ackerman gives Fulsome the order to proceed. Fulsome produces a large whip commences to whip Hex. Hex whispers that he will kill Fulsom but the promise rings false on the Captain's ears. He orders Hex set adrift and the raft is pushed out into the current.

For two full days and two full nights, Jonah hangs from the cross, mosquitoes and other bugs feasting in his bloody open wounds. On the third day, Jonah is sighted by a family on the river bank performing a baby's baptism.  The raft is caught and drug ashore. It is determined that Hex is alive, just barely.

Back at the house, we find Jonah on a table, with the father performing surgery on him, removing bullets, shrapnel, and maggots. The son (not the baby) asks if Hex will die. The father responds that the Good Lord saw fit to bring Hex to them so they will do what they can to save him. The boy continues to talk of the evil of Yankees. The father says that Yankees are men, differing only in their beliefs and measure of their brutality.

The boy mentions that he is scared and the father reassures him that the North will never reach this far south.

Some undisclosed time later, the father is reading in the paper that Lincoln is expected to issue an Emancipation Proclamation. Jonah staggers into the room. The father explains Jonah's situation and that with the damage to his throat, his voice will probably never be more that a coarse whisper. Jonah can stay until he heals, but once he is able to ride, he will be outfitted with a horse, clothes and a rifle.

January 17th, 1863 - During a thunderstorm, three Confederate soldiers come to the door of the house. The father opens the door.

Jonah and the boy are in the barn, saddling a horse when they hear a gunshot. Jonah grabs an axe and heads for the house. He finds the father in a pool of blood and the three soldiers grabbing the mother. She shouts that Confederates don't act tin this manner and they explain that they are not soldiers but they stole the uniforms in order to gain entry to homes.

Jonah bursts in and buries the blade of the axe into the head of one man, grabs his pistol and shoots the second. The last man reaches for his weapon and his head is deftly removed from his torso, courtesy of Jonah's axe.

Several hours later we see Jonah burying the father as the son looks on. The family mourns the loss of their husband and father. That night Jonah pays his respects and rides off.

The Wyoming Badlands, 1868 - Fulsome is still shouting to the dark the conditions of his letting the woman go. A pistol barrel gently eases against the back of his neck and we hear "Drop the gun." Fulsome states that it was Ackerman that slaughtered the Apache, Fulsome had nothing to do with it. The darkness replies "His time is coming."

Fulsome is grasping at straws now. He says that Ackerman can't be taken down, he has too many men, he'll be too angry to find his rifles stolen, he won't stop until Hex his dead. Hex orders Fulsome on his knees, places the wanted poster against Fulsome's chest and says...

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed By Jonah - 10 (Fulsome and his men, three 'Confederates', two in the fort and I'm not counting all the others dead in the fort) 
Running Total - 585 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 83 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Dehydration, exposure, shot, whipped.
Timeline - Well, 1868, flashback to 1862 and into 1863. The flashback covers four months, current day; about 15-30 minutes.
Rape Percentage - 46% (6 out of 13)

This story caused a lot of speculation when it was announced. How close would J and J stick to the Fleisher origin?  The details regarding the Fort Charlotte massacre were changed, pretty much removing Quentin Turnbull from the picture (for now) and the entire scene with the whipping brought up concerns that maybe THAT is how Jonah got his scars. So far (I'm trying to not give things away), I'm liking the story and I especially loved the explanation of Jonah's voice, something that we will never hear in a comic but allows us to cast his voice as that of Clint Eastwood.

Bernet's art, first time here, was slightly cartoony but gritty enough and fluid enough to really really work for me. In fact, I like more photo-realistic art myself, but Bernet won me over eventually. In some cases his work, cinematically, works as well as that of Ross, especially here...

All in all, a great issue and a fantastic place for folks to jump on board and learn more about the scarred bounty hunter.

Next Issue - Woodson Hex, The Apache and two panels that sum up the entirety of Jonah Hex's life.