Trailer analysis - Jonah Hex

The Jonah Hex corral has the YouTube link to the Jonah Hex trailer, I watched it on my iTouch and when I tried to watch it online it had been taken down. I then tracked it down on MTV and grabbed the embed code. There may be Spoilers, but you should be able to watch it for yourself tonight. I'll run through the highlights.




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* Turnbull is the one to scar Jonah Hex? Why was the branding of Jonah's face changed from the original? You might ask what does it matter? I'll tell you why. Jonah being disfigured by the Chief that adopted him was one in a long string of rejections this man faced throughout his life. Having Turnbull do it changes a fundamental aspect of Jonah Hex. It allows Jonah to hate Turnbull for destroying Jonah's life when in fact Turnbull has constantly hounded Jonah for 'destroying' his.

I wonder if the change was made because there is too much back-story to the scar? They would have to show Jonah's abusive father, him being sold as a slave, the battle with his step-brother, and the 'mark of the demon'. Or was it changed because it cast the Indians in a negative light?

I feel the loss of the Indian "Mark of the Demon" allowed them to lose a supernatural aspect of Jonah that they clearly are wanting to portary.

Also, having QT branded into your face isn't as scary since a lot of folks in the south know that QT stands for QuikTrip.

* Jonah being tied to the large X is a nice nod to the current series.

* Jonah is married with a kid. But he's married to Cassie (Wainwright) who (on IMDB) appears to be either Indian of Hispanic. I don't think I even need to go into this one.

* I DO like the fact that all of the logos for the companies involved are scarred on the same side as Jonah. Nice touch.

* It appears that Jonah can talk to the dead? Hmmm, that's made out of whole cloth. The crow bit is freaky looking.

* I am liking the gatling gun bit the more I see it.

* Man in bar asking what happened to Jonah's face. Nice comic touch.

* Men kicking in cabin door, it's the military. Hex "Jeez, woman, how many men you see a day?"
Leila rolls her eyes. More stupid than funny.

* So Jonah has his own Morgan Freeman supplying him with weapons.

* Guns that shoot dynamite? Fairly cool, but I doubt the sticks of dynamite would fly without fletching (such as arrows have)

*Hmmm, some of the water has the same level of CG that the first X-men movie had. Not that great.

* Nice train explosion.

* Flamethrower, while not made back then was probably possible with technology of the time.

* Boat explosion, mine explosion, explosion in background of Washington Monument.

* Megan Fox humping. uhhhh, awkward.

* Jonah fighting Fassbender with knives, nice.

* Shot of weird freak possibly choking someone. This one bothered me. With this shot being so close to the similar shot of Megan Fox, it almost looks like the freak is also having sex. Was that the intent?

* Turnbull and Hex in a fistfight.

* Finally, Hex striking back at Fassbender.

* Semi-cute bit with Hex and Leila tied up as prisoners. First time I've seen Megan fox and I'm not impressed. Final explosion didn't look that great.

* Did I see Matt LeBlanc listed as an Executive Producer?!?!

With the possible exception of the changes to the origin and the supernatural powers, I kind of like the look of the film so far. I'm just hoping that they haven't showed us the climax of the film

Another Jonah Hex poster

Screenrant has this one:


Seems fairly typical, does a bad job of presenting the Gatling gun and the tagline is pretty lame. Hmmmm, what are YOUR thoughts?

Early reviews & Spoilers for Jonah Hex

I'm not posting the content, just the link to Ain't It Cool and some reviews from the sneak preview.
A few words of my own; Not sure how much stock to put into any of this since it sounds like the movie was not complete.

I'm still waiting to see it and somehow I think that Mr. Fleisher will be relieved that his name isn't tied to it.

But, we'll all see in due time.

Teaser for the Jonah Hex trailer

This popped up via Twitter and I tracked it down on Youtube. It appears to be originally posted on Megan-Fox.com. It's a commercial for SyFy where they are advertising they will debut the trailer on April 29. Only ten seconds long and some of that is the SyFy logo





So what do we actually SEE on this teaser?

• Hex on a horse.
• Leila jerking open a door.
• Hex using a makeshift flamethrower.
• An explosion (that I figure is the Confederate ironclad seen here.)
• Hex on a horse equipped  with dual Gatling guns.
• Lot of folks getting mowed down by the guns.
• Leila pointing a pistol.
• Hex riding away from some sort of mining operation as it explodes.
• Quentin Turnbull.
• A crossbow/pistol hybrid?
• Hex & Leila jumping (?) from an explosion (more than likely the Confederate ironclad explosion.)

The Gatling guns supports some of what I read in the original script and what was on the storyboards. The explosions jive with some of what I had heard about the film blowing up a lot of the actual sets. The flamethrower and crossbow confirm another rumor about the range of weapons in the film (even if they weren't actually invented by the time the film is set in, they were possible with known technology.)

I'm looking forward to seeing a longer trailer.

A closer look at Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex

One more photo has been released of Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex. Of course, I have read tweets about the sneak peek this week-end as well, but sadly, I'm not in Los Angeles.

Nearing Completion

My collecting of the Vertigo Jonah Hex books just took one step closer to completion. I know that I can get the books I need on ebay, but I hate paying for a book and then paying the same amount for shipping, I was in Sugarhouse, Ut at Black Cat Comics and they had Jonah Hex: Shadows West #2! I bought it.

Then I made the mistake of reading it. Dear Lord in heaven, th ethings I go through for you people! Shadows West #1 was the only book I ever bought & returned to the store & allowed them to keep my money just to teach me a lesson. #2 was actually worse!!!

But, I have to get through HEX, then Two-Gun Mojo, then Riders of the Worm (urf!).

On the up side, we are supposed to be getting a Jonah Hex movie trailer on the 29th on Sci-Fi.

Is the movie actually 'Hex'ed?

Jonah Hex, a film that I have literally been waiting 30+ years for ( I waited for Spider-Man longer and was wonderfully fulfilled), is about to be released... or is it?

There is a rumor (yes, a rumor) that Jonah Hex MAY get it's release date pushed back. Ya know what? I'm getting damn tired of the sloppy reporting that is surrounding this film. Is it me or does everything released about this film just end up going totally primate feces after a day or two? Does this happen with every film & I just don't notice it because I'm not tracking them daily? Let's look at some of the crap being spread about this film:

• NY Mag reports that the film is going to be a disappointing blockbuster because of it's $150 mil budget. FACT: The original budget was $40 & got bumped up to $50.
• Report after report after report of zombies in the film. FACT: No zombies. This from the director and other good sources. Bloggers & reporters just cut & paste all kinds of crap.
• There were extensive reshoots (50+ plus pages cited in some instances). FACT: There is a difference between a reshoot and shooting additional footage. A reshoot is changing a storyline, additional footage is to expand the storyline. (Goldilocks going to the house of the three Orcs is a reshoot. Goldilocks going to the three bears house because she got lost chasing her puppy is additional footage.)
• An additional director was called in to take over. FACT: Francis Lawrence was called in as a consultant to Jimmy Hayward and didn't 'take over'.

  But still, there is the lingering question as to why no trailer? There was a teaser at San Diego Comic Con, but nothing at Wonder Con. Folks thought the trailer might be in front of Clash of the Titans, but now there is talk it will be in front of Nightmare on Elm Street. There are other films being released after Jonah Hex that already have trailers available (Knight and Day, Cats and Dogs; The Revenge of Kitty Galore). So what is the major malfunction here?

Every day fills me with dread, every OTHER day puts back in a little bit of hope that the film might be good. Either way, the 'reporting' that blogs, twitter, and even regular print publications is doing, is damn near criminal in their negligence. Can June 18th get here fast enough?

Instead of content...

... I send you to other blogs doing the work that I should be doing. I don't know if you know about these, but I just stumbled on to Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep. This guy loves Marvel & DC equally, something unusual these days, and he goes the extra mile to put comments INTO his scans. (That can be such a pain in the cursor) Park your mouse over the pics and get FREE EXTRA CHUCKLES!!

Next, is Every Day is Like Wednesday. Caleb covers a lot of ground in his posts, mostly on current books, but he is never boring. I have found a way to use up a full day playing catch-up on his past posts.

Anyway, I'm working on the next Hex book, really.... I am..... I really am. Believe me.

House Ads #30 'Mazing Man

This was one of my favorite books. It showed up at a time when comics were way too serious (unlike now, SNORT!) and I loved everything about it, even the crazy backup feature Zoot Sputnik.

HEX # 7 "Ravages of Time!"

HEX #7 Mar 1986
"Ravages of Time!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Mark Texeira and Carlos Garzon, art and cover

Brolin is holding a gun on Hex after Jonah has pretty much made a mess of the amusement pier. Just then the owner of the pier comes up and starts harping on Brolin for making a mess of things, the pier pays protection money to the Conglomerate, after all. Jonah takes advantage of the distraction, dives for his dropped pistol and pumps two slugs into Brolin.

That may have saved his life, but Hex is still taken captive by Borsten's goon squad. A Conglomerate spy at the pier reports back to the Conglomerate that every thing is going to plan.

Back at the Needle, Borsten's goons are not having any luck locating Stanley Harris, who is hiding in the air passageways overhead, but, sadly, so are a ton of giant rats. The rats catch up to Harris and while he right overhead of some goons, the rats swarm him and start taking large bites out of him.

Elsewhere in the Needle, Jonah finally arrives and is returned to Tube Town, the room full of statis chambers that Borsten uses to 'store' all of the people he has kidnapped from the past.  Jonah is loaded into a tube and gassed unconscious.

Life goes on in the Needle, where we see one of the cooks taking out a garbage hovo. Once outside while he is dumping the load, Stiletta ambushes him.

In Tube Town, the Conglomerate's Needle spy walks up to the guard and asks to see Hex. When the guard asks for the authorization, the spy (Percy) pulls out a pistol and kills the guard. He then evacuates the gas from Hex's statis chamber, but the guard is only mostly dead and he manages to push an alarm. Percy quickly explains to Hex how to use a timed grenade to blown up the Time Machine after he uses it. Just push the button and fifteen seconds later...

TOO LATE! More guards show up and shoot Percy. As Percy falls dead, the grenade, armed, bounces down the hallway towards the guards.

Of course, the garbage hovo returns, this time with Stiletta in disguise but the guards are getting suspicious only to be interrupted by the explosion from the grenade. They take off for Tube Town, leaving Stiletta. As she shucks her disguise a ceiling panel opens up and the rat gnawed body of Harris falls to the floor. Harris, barely conscious recognizes Stiletta and comments on how great the androids are in the future.

Stiletta replies that she isn't a droid and she never saw Harris before in her life.

Back in Tube Town, Jonah is making a quick retreat for the Time Machine.

Harris and Stiletta make their way to Tube Town and find Jonah already gone, so they head to the Time Machine to get Harris back to 1968. Harris stops for a moment and shoots open all of the statis chambers, releasing several Roman soldiers and Asian warriors. Of course, things start getting worse as we hear loud rumblings from the structure of the Needle and a chain reaction has been started that the maintenance crew can't get a handle on.

Jonah has made his way to the Chronal Chamber and starts working on resetting the Time Machine so he can go home. Reinhold Borsten shows up brandishing a pistol ready to drop Hex where he stands. But then Harris and Stiletta show up and gain the upper hand. Harris makes some adjustments on the time machine and fires it up while Stiletta holds her dad at gunpoint. The machine fires up and Harris and Hex jump onto the Chronal platform but some guards come crashing into the room and one of them shoots Stiletta. Hex leaps from the platform and kills both guards as Harris fades into the past and Borsten hotfoots it outta the room.

Stiletta only got a flesh wound. She staggers to her feet and tells Hex to get on the platform, the way the Needle is shaking, it's probably going to collapse and the chain reaction that is happening is going to kill the power at any moment. She rests the machine and Jonah tries to pause long enough to tell her something but she shouts that he has to go now. Jonah runs for the platform and as he gets there the machine sputters and then explodes.

The Needle is indeed collapsing, Jonah grabs up Stiletta and starts making tracks out of there. Borsten, we find, is in an elevator, heading to a hidden escape vehicle, but there is a sudden explosion of flame into the elevator shaft and we see Borsten engulfed in flame, screaming his head off.

Hex and Stiletta find the hovo deck, she shoots the lone guard and as they power up the craft, the ceiling starts to collapse, leaving a huge hole for them to fly out of. They manage to barely escape the Needle before the whole thing explodes all to hell and back. As they fly off we see several dozen people dragging themselves out of the wreckage, among them Roman centurions, American Indians, Chinese Monks, and a few Samurai.

Statistics for this issue

Men Killed by Jonah - 5
Running Total - 460 (428 past, 32 future)
Jonah's Injuries -none
Timeline - Same day as last issue. We are still on day three in the future.

Wow, this was one hell of an issue packed with tons of action and everyone we have met so far jammed into a single issue. The destruction of the Needle, the death of Borsten, Harris's return and the end of the time machine, coupled with several explosions and a good body count, places this as one of the better issues of HEX. It appears that we have wrapped up the Reinhold Borsten story and there appears to be no chance of Jonah making it back to the past. The only thing left is to thrust him out into that big wide 2050 world and see who loses.

The last panel with all of the warriors from across the ages made me want to know what happens to all of those folks. I guess Seattle ended up looking like a round of Heroscape.

Next Issue: Jonah looks for some badly needed soames and ends up in the Shooting Gallery.

I can at last reveal the truth...

..I've been having to sit on this story for some time, since last year in fact, but I just got the go ahead to post this.

Last year I was contacted by Warner Brothers regarding the Jonah Hex film. They were having a press junket and after doing some research on the internet, found that I was the highest rated Jonah Hex fan blog out there. Well, cut to the chase, they flew me out to New Orleans and I got to not only visit the set, but I got to meet Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, and Jimmy Hayward, along with other cast and the producers.

During the evening Jimmy was talking about a few of his favorite Jonah Hex stories and sadly, he got a few stories mixed up and a couple of facts wrong. I gently and politely corrected his mistakes (Jonah's mother wasn't killed by the Apaches, Jonah DID kill Stonewall Jackson, Jonah was engaged prior to marrying Mei Ling.) and he asks how I know all this. I explained that I ran a blog about Jonah and he exclaimed, "Holy Crap! (he didn't say crap) You're the blogger!?!? We've been reading your stuff for weeks!"

Jimmy then leans over to one of his producers, whispers something, the producer nods, flags down a few folks, they nod and then Jimmy smiles at me and asks, "How would you like to be in the film?"

I couldn't believe it. Of course, I said yes and I was wisked away to wardrobe & makeup and about 45 minutes later I was ready. I figured that I would just be in a crowd scene but then Jimmy walks up and explains the scene.

"Okay, Turnbull is hiding in the barn and Jonah figures he's got the son of a bitch cornered and slowly goes in for the kill. What he doesn't know is that you've been waiting in the bushes outside as a lookout. You follow Josh in the barn and sneak up behind him with a knife. Suddenly Josh spins around and kills you. Sound good?"

Sounded great to me! Filming at night is tricky and without my glasses I stumbled over a bush trying to be sneaky, but we finally got to the part where Josh was going to kill me. I figured I'd get shot or something. Hell no! Just as I sneak up on Josh, he spins around, raises a tomahawk over his head and almost buries it in my skull!

We went through it a few more times to get everything right and then they took me over to a photography trailer where they took several photos of me and did a computer scan on my face. This was so they could construct a model of my head to use to show the tomahawk in my skull.

So on June 18th, just remember, the guy that Jonah Hex murders with the tomahawk while in the barn is yours truly.






 april fool