Jonah Hex V2 #42 "Shooting the Sun"

 Jonah Hex V2 #42 May '09

"Shooting the Sun"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Jordi Bernet - art and cover

Colorado, We see three men standing in the street, sun to their backs. Hex is facing them, a chain on his wrist, and an old drunk looks onward from a nearby porch. The viewpoint whips around and we realize that Jonah Hex is chains to two large iron balls, each dragging his hands to his sides, unable to reach his pistols.

We flash back a few decades to Woodson Hex learning young Jonah how to be fast with a gun. (I just had a flashback myself to when my dad would ask if I wanted to be taught or learned. I asked what the difference was. He explained that being taught was a lot less painful.) The method Woodson is using is to have Jonah reach for a pistol on the table and Woodson tries to smash Jonah's hand with a wooden rod before he grabs the gun. Ginny starts to reprimand Woodson and he tells her to be quiet and she leaves. Then Woodson has Jonah try again with the other hand.

Later that night, Woodson is sitting on the porch with a bottle speaking to Jonah who is out in the yard. He tells of his own father being a real bastard, and the day Grandpa Hex died, Woodson went into town and tied one on. That was the day he met Virginia. We see that Jonah is standing in the dark, a large rock tied to each wrist and he is having to stand with his arms straight out from his sides. Virginia stares out the window and when Woodson falls alseep, she goes out in the dark, unties the rocks and holds Jonah close, her tears falling in his hair.

Cut back to present day. Hex stares at the three gunmen and the old man sits on the porch, lighting up a smoke. Flashback to the past and the next morning. Woodson awakes and asks Jonah how he is doing. Jonah is still holding the rocks aloft and Woodson goes out to him. He then notices the tracks in the dirt and realizes what Virginia had done. He goes into the house and commences to beat her. 

An unknown time later, Jonah and Woodson are riding into town. Woodson says that Virginia needs to learn her place and that he never wanted children. Now that he is saddled with Jonah, he is gonna be sure Jonah ain't no daisy. As the wagon rolls into town, a man is being assaulted in an alley and Woodson points out that the man is a daisy. Jonah says that the men are killing him. Woodson responds "So whut?"

They pull up in front of a saloon, Woodson tells Jonah to mind the wagon and then goes inside. Four local toughs show up and start hassling Jonah. He talks back and they pull him off the wagon, dragging him into an alley as a storm starts. They beat him with a large stick (possible an axe handle) and knock him out. Woodson shows up with a case of whiskey as Jonah comes to. Once again he tells Jonah to mind the wagon and he goes off to find the toughs.

He finds the four youths in a different alley and when they lip off, he smashes one in the teeth with the butt of a pistol and then proceeds to beat the ever-lovin' livin' hell out of all four of them. Leaving them lying in the mud he says "Never look for trouble with a Hex." Woodson returns to the wagon, coming up to a smiling Jonah and states "Now ya'll learn ta mind ME once we git on home."

Back at the farm, Jonah is forced to plow the field in the rain as his father lectures him about being weak, how he'll become string, and when Woodson thinks Jonah is ready, they'll go back to town and Jonah will sort those boys out, because a man should never have his father fight his battles.

Later that night, Virginia is asleep in bed and Woodson asleep at the dining table. Jonah is outside in the outhouse, urinating in his dad's whiskey bottle. He sneaks the bottle back to the table as Woodson asks what he is doing. Jonah says he was thirsty and got some water. Woodson says that whiskey will help him sleep better but Jonah turns him down. Woodson takes a long pull on the bottle, glares at Jonah, wiping his mouth. Jonah stares back and Woodson tells him to get to bed. Jonah obeys, with a happy smirk on his face.

Present day and the three men say they are gonna get on with it, to which Jonah starts laughing. They want to know what is so funny and Jonah points out that years ago, his father beat them senseless in that alley over there. They acknowledge that fact and that is exactly why they are doing this. They put out word about a fake bounty to lure Hex here so they could kill him and since his pa ain't there to save him....

The three men draw and fire and Jonah falls to his knees, the irons balls crashing into the dirt. The shots go over his head and with the chains slack, he draws and shoots all three men. 

He shoots the chain off his left hand and then gets up, holstering his pistols. He walks over to the men, bleeding in the street and as the ringleader raises his pistol, Jonah starts swinging the remaining ball and chain. "Never look fer trouble with a Hex." he says and then crushes the man's skull over and over again.

Jonah walks out of town, into the sun, ball and chain dripping blood into the sand. The old man on porch muses to himself "That boy is a mean son of a bitch."

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - Three
Running Total - 753 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 251 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - As a kid, beat up by some kids and a lot of hand whacking by his dad
Timeline - Present day, probably just a few minutes, in the past, probably several days.
Rape Percentage -  24% (10 of 42)

This was a real good one. I always enjoy getting to see more of what drove Jonah to be what he is and so much of it was his abusive father. Not that I like seeing the abuse, but I appreciate the creation of the motivations of Jonah. 

Now I had to do a little bit of research on this one, just because Palmiotti and Gray write the way they do. First off, "Shoot the Sun.", I never heard this phrase before and it means to try something impossible because, well, it is impossible to actually shoot the sun. So what was the impossible task here? Was it trying to outdraw three men while your arms are shackles to a ball and chain? Was it surviving the abusive father?

Next up, one of the kids asks Jonah, "What's yer name, puke?" to which Jonah replies "Ah ain't no Missourian. Name's Jonah Hex." Which is a weird reply because Jonah IS from Missouri. I dug around as much as I could and could find no correlation as 'puke' being a specific slur for Missourians.

Then, during a conversation one of the thugs asks if anyone has a 'lundstrom' to which another asks 'A what?' EXACTLY!!! Is it a candy? A cigarette? Only thing I could find was a bookcase manufacturer. Guess I'll need to ask Justin and Jimmy to explain these last two.

On to the Hex family... the compassion that Virginia shows for her son is horribly gut wrenching. She tries to stand up to Woodson and when she can't she circumnavigates him, helping Jonah the only way she can. Her tears flow over him in the dark but none of that can wash away their pain.

And Woodson...what can be said of such and evil man who would beat his son and wife ruthlessly? And to top it off, I'm sure that Woodson knew that Jonah pee'd in the whiskey and either appreciated the subterfuge enough OR was so addicted to the bottle, that he drank it anyway. I also wonder what kind of man was Grandpappy Hex that would end up siring a reprobate such as Woodson. I'm sure there are some stories to be had there of the OG Hex around the time of Revolution. One more thing, on rereading this story, it dawned on me that the old man on the porch is actually Woodson himself, just sitting there, watching three men try to murder his son. True to his word, he doesn't intervene, watching the handiwork of his years of abuse play out.

Bernet, as always, has some top-notch work with this story. I would put this one on the Must Buy list. Also, this issue has a sneak peek of the Power Girl book, written by Palmiotti and Gray.

Next Issue: Jonah has a method of acquiring real estate in tough times

Jonah Hex V2 #41 "Sawbones: The Second Half"

Jonah Hex V2 #41 May '09

"Sawbones: The Second Half"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, David Micheal Beck - art and cover  

Jonah is naked, tied to the post in the 'Operating' shack of Sawbones. Tallulah lies dead on the table, Saawbones waxing poetic about what he saw on battlefields and how it lead him to the denial of the human soul. He pulls out Tallulah's heart and her brain, both still warm and steaming. He then approaches Hex, bloody saw in hand.

Jonah wakes up screaming to see Tallulah sitting in a chair across the room. She lights up a cigarette for Hex and explains that his hollering is not sitting well with the patrons and owners of the hotel, however, she has been running up a tab on Hex's behalf to calm their complaints. She tells him it has been two weeks and he wakes up every time screaming yet he has yet to tell her why he was almost dead in the river. He calmly tells her to be on her way.

She says that she will not leave him but she realizes that whoever visited this damage upon Jonah is not to be dealt with lightly. She understands vengeance and she has no intent of having Jonah be without aide when he brings down his wrath upon the perpetrator. He grabs her, intending to force her to leave and she slaps a hand across his mouth and starts berating him for his stubbornness. He pulls her forward and kisses her. She pushes him back unto the bed and proceeds to remove her clothing while straddling him.

Some time later, Tallulah is in the bar, talking to Ernest, trying to ascertain the location of one mad doctor. Ernest states that he has been unable to unearth the information when two men sidle up on either side, demanding to know where Jonah Hex is. One lays a hand on her, she spins and places a bullet upwards through his jaw and nails the other dead center as Ernest sneaks out the front door.

Ernest makes his way between two buildings and encounters Sawbones himself. The aproned doctor asks if they are there, to which Ernest acknowledges. Sawbones holds a pistol out to Ernest and instructs him to go back into the saloon, telling her he knows where Sawbones is at, lead her out into the woods and then kill her. Ernest hesitates, stating she is as mean as Hex. Just then Tallulah appears at the end of the alley and opens fire, with Sawbones returning shots and striking Tallulah in the neck. 

As she lies in the dirt, Sawbones slowly approaches, places the pistol in her mouth and finishes the job with a single shot. He stands and walks out of the alley, stating "I'm waiting on you, Hex."

Jonah wakes up screaming to see Tallulah sitting in a chair across the room. Jonah starts getting dressed, asking how long he had been sleeping this time. She tells him it has been four days and he says he is leaving and she ain't following along. She agree with no fight, conceding that Hex has to banish these dreams himself. She indicates there is something on the table for him, she has been busy and has located Sawbones and his location is on that paper. Jonah thanks her and leaves.

For an unknown length of time Jonah rides to get to Sawbones location and finally arrives at a barn at sunset. Inside Sawbones has a woman tied to a table, several skeletons hang from the walls and ceiling, he is giving a class to six students. Sawbones is explaining about ghost pain from amputations and that is where the questioning process is most productive.

Jonah sneaks up outside the barn and as he approaches the door, he is kicked from behind and lands inside. A henchman of Sawbones is standing on Hex's neck and holds him on the ground. Sawbones states he had been expecting Hex but he is surprised at the stupidity of Jonah's return. He orders the removal of the slave woman from the table and to be replaced by Jonah. Sawbones says that he had been searching for Hex and wonders where he had been hiding. 

Tallulah appears in the doorway and says that he was with her. She opens up with a shotgun, killing two men. She guns down another as Jonah recovers, pulling his pistols and mows down another four students. Sawbones breaks for the door but Tallulah shoots him in the leg, dropping him to the floor and Jonah picks off the final two students. Jonah tells Tallulah go up to the house and fetch something to drink, they are gonna be mighty thirsty.

Jonah straps Sawbones to the table and pulls the blood bucket from under the table. Sawbones starts bargaining, trying to come to some agreement and Hex pours the fresh blood into Sawbones mouth. Hex then reach for a lantern and says he had been thinking about how Sawbones said they are alike, but that ain't really true. Sawbones relents and tells Hex to torture him as he sees fit. Jonah shouts that he doesn't need his permission and smashes the lantern across Sawbones face, setting his head afire.

Jonah the douses the flames with more blood from the bucket, grabs another lantern and sets him alit once more. Tallulah walks in with a bottle of whiskey, stating it smells like a barbecue. Jonah pours more blood onto Sawbones and tells Tallulah to make tracks as he will busy for awhile. She says she would rather stay since watching him work makes her blood hot. Jonah relents, telling her to roll a smoke and keep quiet. He pulls a knife and says he's gonna try some new things tonight.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - six and Sawbones (eventually), so seven
Running Total - 750 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 248 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Kicked in the back and a foot on the neck
Timeline - Just under three weeks.
Rape Percentage -  25% (10 of 41)

Man o man o man o man, was this one gruesome. It was good to see a continuation of a villain, reminding me of some of the Fleisher run. Sawbones, as an adversary, wasn't really all that tough. He relied on Jonah falling into his lap in the prior issue and then Jonah getting bushwacked this time. However the  physical and emotional scars that Sawbones visited upon Jonah were almost equal to those Woodson visited upon Hex in the past.   

Again, the dialogue is top notch with Sawbones waxing poetic, and the interchanges between Hex and Tallulah is quite telling of their relationship (probably one of the top two relationships in comics. I'll let others comment on who the other pairing might be). And again, not a fan of Beck (I know that a double barreled shotgun needs to be loaded prior to a third shot being fired, something that Tallulah didn't do). The art was too dark (I don't enjoy black gutters, too hard to determine panel layout at times). All in all, not a bad story, but pretty gruesome and definitely R-rated if made into a film.

Next Issue: Speak of the Devil!!! We get some more of Jonah's past and Woodson's training up of the boy.

Outsiders #8 "Hex"

 Outsiders #8 Aug '24

"Hex"

Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, story - Robert Carey, art - Roger Cruz and Adriano, cover

Ok, I'll be honest. Reviewing books with Jonah Hex guest starring roles are tough to do.  I normally don't know what the ongoing storyline is, I'm not emotionally invested in the current crop of characters and at times I can't really tell if Jonah is actually advancing the story or just a "Hey, let's throw a cowboy in here! What do we have available?"

Well, the only western character that DC seems to have is Jonah Hex. But this issue is a two-fer because it also contains Jinny Hex. I'll give a recap of the story, my views on that, how they used Jinny and how they used Jonah. Not sure any of it will be very pretty.

Our story opens with six shell casings hitting the ground, and mysterious silhouette approaches and Jinny Hex is pointing a six shooter saying that was a warning shot. She tells the approaching woman that this place ain't for her but Batwoman says that it will take a lot more than a gun to scare her.

Splash page exposes the two women standing in the main road of Zero, Texas. Jinny says that guns aren't for scaring, they are for firing. Batwoman states the town was evacuated 50 years ago (1974) when the mine closed down and that she is only in town to find someone that is in trouble. Jinny states that she doesn't need any help but Batwoman demands to know what is going on. Jinny tells her to turn around.

As Batwoman turns a ghostly cowboy tosses her aside. She responds with a quickly thrown batarang which goes through the ghost. Jinny then shoots the ghost, causing him to vaporize and a wonderful lightning display. More ghosts appear and Jinny shoots each one. She states they have been following her halfway across Texas, they don't stop coming and that gun is the only thing that works on them. Eventually there are too many of them and the two women hotfoot it out of there.

They make their way to a garage and Batwoman kicks open the door and as the ghosts pass through the walls, Batwoman attaches a small explosive to a bag of rock salt, tosses it in the air and the salt explosion neutralizes the ghosts.

Sitting down taking a breather, Batwoman asks if Jinny is Virginia Hex. Jinny replies that only narcs use her full name. Jinny asks how she knows her name and Batwoman recounts the following:

 

Two weeks earlier Kate gets a phone call from Jenny Crisis who tells her about Century Babies. She doesn't really explain who or what Century babies are but mentions a big guy under the waves singing prayers of his dead parents, a curious boy in every city and the girl with the gun in a town called Zero. We see Jenny Crisis walking through some rubble with people running away and she tells Kate she is doing fine as she explodes a few tanks, some humvees and several soldiers.

End of story.

Back in the garage Jinny and Batwoman both say they don't really understand what is going on and then there is a knock on the door and it slowly opens to reveal.....

The ghost of Jonah Hex!!!

Jinny asks what is going on and Jonah replies "Nothing you didn't start"

We then get a wonderful three page text story of Jonah explaining how he was four days out of Tucson and he had been shot in the shoulder. Things were not looking good, the buzzards were circling and Red Elliot and his gang were closing in. Hex was out of ammo and water. He curled up in a hole to die but instead found a crevasse, a damn deep one. And the further down he crawled, the deeper it seemed. He felt like he went downward for weeks and when he hit bottom he found a pistol. 

He picked it up and he didn't feel like he was dying, now he was dealing out death. He got out and found the Elliot Gang and started in to eliminating them but as he did, the whispers of the dead men were in his ear, leading him to the rest of the gang. Jonah finally kills the entire gang, including Red. 

He continued on, killing Tomahawk Jones, the Silverclaw Brothers, Colonel Jack. By the end of the month he had erased about 200 men without ever having to reload the gun. However, every man he killed haunted him. When Jonah tried to drop the pistol, the ghosts would close in and he had to pick it up again. It was like the pistol had a will of its own. He knew that if it got one more kill, the pistol would summon...something. 

Jonah buried the pistol in a box to stop it from getting the last kill. Jonah asked why Jinny picked up the pistol. Jinny explains that she had decided to leave everything in the trunk alone but one night a burglar broke into her place and kicked her door in. Awakened from sleep she just grabbed the pistol and killed the burglar.

Now Jinny is cursed just because she killed on guy. Now she can't even sleep for too long because the ghosts will get the gun and end the world? Jonah says that he doesn't know but whatever is calling to that gun can never get it. Batwoman tells Hex to take the gun but he says that he belongs to the gun as much as any of the other ghosts. He tells Jinny that he is sorry, she can never put it down and at the end of the day the last life it takes has to be hers.

Jinny looks at the pistol and says "A good guy with a gun". Batwoman steps up and states "No, not a guy. A bat." and grabs the pistol from her. Jinny tells her not to but Batwoman says she has been cursed since before she put on the cowl. Jonah laughs and says..

and Batwoman shoots him with the gun and makes him vanish.

Batwoman jumps on her motorcycle and takes off, the ghosts following her as she shoots them; she is running across the desert, being chased; sliding down bluffs being chased. Finally she is a flat desert, surrounds by thousands upon thousands of cowboy ghosts. She looks at the pistol, puts her finger to her ear and says "Batwoman to outsiders." and continues...

So lets look at all the pieces, starting with the art. I'm not sure I have ever seen work from Robert Carey but I don't really care for it. The style looks like everything was done in a computer and while some of the art looks really good, there is no motion, no dynamics. It is a bunch of still posed figures on a flat flat surface. I especially hated the rendering of the neon signs in the town. I may be getting into sign geek territory here (photographing neon is a hobby of mine) but Carey used a neon font to make the signs, therefore there is too much glass on the signs and the construction of the signs shows an ignorance of basic signage. If you have THE ZERO spelled out on one side of your sign, other other side should have it reversed so you can read it from both directions. Look at how this sign is drawn and you will see that from Jinny's side it would read OREZ EHT.

And the Welcome sign doesn't even have it on both sides (but why would it?) but it does have the double neon effect.

Another complaint is with the auto repair garage they break into. Look at this car. It looks like a photo that got ran through a filter to make it look drawn but the scale compared to Batwoman is all wrong. It's like a damn Power Wheel up on the lift.

Also, the story starts with six shell casings hitting the dirt and Jinny says "That warning shot was a courtesy". She references one shot but six casings? Artistic mistake or lousy writing? Either way, I blame Jessica Berbey (editor) Kames Reid (assistant editor) and Katie Kubert (group editor). 

I will say that I liked the graphics used during Hex's telling of his tale. They easily put it three pages what would have taken several more that they drawn everything. And Jonah himself had some pretty nasty scarring, pitching all the way into Harvey Dent territory. And the nonvariant cover was great. Moody, blending Jinny and Jonah together and we got Batwoman without that 90's trenchcoat. Sadly the cover uses Generation Hex which was used back in the Amalgam days (1997). 

On to the story. I can't get too much into how this fits in to the but any story should have some consistency  within itself and draw a new reader in. You stick Jonah Hex in a book to get my attention, you should be able to keep my attention and make me want to buy the next book. This fails big time.

I like the concept of the ghosts haunting the person with the gun but what danger is there to the wielder? We don't know. There is an unrealized danger but we don't know the gravity. The gun removes the ghosts and salt neutralizes them as well and keeps them at bay. We finally meet Jonah Hex in ghost form. In his story it seems like the gun has a will of its own, he is cursed and followed by the men he kills. The story doesn't indicate that the gun was killing men Hex didn't want to kill, it just seemed to make tracking them down easier. And Hex says that every kill felt like it was feeding the gun, and the next death would usher in .... something.

So he buries it... along with a butt load of other goodies that we have seen Jinny use from that trunk. 

But Jinny does kill one more person and that something never materializes?!?! Jinny says that if the ghosts get her the world will end. Honestly at this point of the story, the ghosts outside could have bum rushed her and won. Also, why is Jonah there? Was he killed by the gun? Because he says to Jinny that she can never put it down and the last life it takes has to be hers, alluding to suicide? Then how did Jonah put the gun down? And why, if Jinny is cursed can Batwoman just grab the gun from her? Why does she shoot Hex?

This book tried to make a compelling story about a cursed gun, never ending ghosts, and the end of world. Ya know what? The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt did it a whole lot better. I will say the final splash page with the giant city cannon was pretty compelling and reminded me of something from a Kirby book. But was it enough for me to plunk down another $4.99 and continue with this book? Nope.

I will admit the characterization of Jonah seemed pretty good, much better than most we have seen in guest starring roles. And Jinny seemed pretty well written with what I saw of her in Young Justice. Batwoman is a cipher to me, having never read anything with her in it, but I sure can't say that she holds any draw for me.

I end up looking at the book and asking "Why have Jinny join the Outsiders book and pair her up with Batwoman?" I saw the answer in an ad near the back of the book...

Pride Month.

Jonah Hex V2 #40 "Sawbones The First Half"

Jonah Hex V2 #40 Apr '09

"Sawbones The First Half"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, David Micheal Beck - art and cover 

Hang on, this one is brutal:

Texas, 1879. We see a woman pleading for her life and someone trying to calm her but we then see a chisel hammered into her head and the top of her skull removed

The Good Doctor

Another woman is standing outside and is witnessing these actions through a window. The woman chokes back her tears and then turns and runs through the woods and into the night. Back in the building, a man with a butcher's apron is holding a bloody saw and we see his victim with her head poking up through a specially made table. Various organs in jars line the table and the man looks out the window, knowing that he has been spied upon.

To Catch a Killer...You Need a Killer

A few men are digging up a mass grave outside the house where the previous action took place. The witness and the sheriff stand at the edge of the pit. There are numerous bodies and parts in the pit and the sheriff asks the woman if she can give a good enough description for them to print up a wanted poster. She says that she will never forget that face.

The posters are quickly printed up and Jonah Hex is talking to the sheriff. The sheriff is saying that the man claims to be a doctor who travels around so that's why they called in Hex. He explains that the doc cuts people up with precision and takes out all of their organs to which replies, that sounds somewhat familiar. He never actually met that man but heard tales that had been told by freed slaves.

Some Legends Are Bloody

Kentucky, December 17, 1862

Hex recounts the tale: Back during the States War there were few doctors for the battlefields and several men stepped in with no training, some to help their fellow men, others to avoid the front line. There was one man from Louisiana, who had studied hoodoo and was with the Confederacy. He would often take wounded Union soldiers and experiment on them to extract information, further his own knowledge, and to train other so-called doctors. Some soldiers used the expertise of this doctor to gather information and would tolerate his gruesome tactics as long as he produced results.

Some of the Confederacy leaders actually noticed there was a higher mortality rate for Union soldiers in battles where this doctor was present. Several of the soldiers steered clear of him our of fear, disgust, or morals. The slaves hated him not only because of what he did but also his co-opting of their magic. The man was called Sawbones and the end of Hex's tale we see Union soldiers discovering a camp that has a pentagram made out of human limbs.

Bloodbath at Ramrod Dancehall

Farmington, New Mexico, 1879. One month later.

Sheriff Henry McClude and his deputy Jim sit in the dancehall. Jim is concerned about some men that are gunning for them. Three men come in, guns drawn, to warn the sheriff that Andy is coming and he is looking for revenge over the sheriff killing his brother. Andy barges in, words are exchanged and Andy shoots Sheriff McClude in the neck. McClude falls to the floor and Andy puts a bullet in the back of McClude's head, just as the sheriff's grown son Rick comes in. 

Rick opens fire just as the deputy steps up to stop him. Rick ends up shooting and killing Jim but continues shooting anyone and everyone he lays eyes on. A kerosene lamp bursts and the dancehall bursts into flames and Rick heads for the front door. He waits outside as men, ablaze, come running out and he guns them down in the street.

Just then Jonah Hex rides up and Rick whirls and draws on him. Hex tells him to take it easy, he is looking to talk to the sheriff. Rick, thinking Hex is with the gang that killed his father, shoots Hex in the shoulder, knocking him off his mount. Hex draws and kills Rick before losing consciousness as a crowd gathers.

Belly of the Beast

The wanted poster for Sawbones sits on a table and we see a knife being honed on a strop. It is Sawbones himself and Hex is sitting on the floor, bound to a 4x4 post. His hands are tied behind his back, and he is bound at the ankles. Several skeletons hang on the walls. Sawbones introduces himself as William Zimmerman and says that based on Jonah clothing and his scar, he must be Jonah Hex. Zimmerman says that he is happy to meet Hex because they are both death dealers, long lost brothers, if you will. 

Zimmerman keeps with his dissertation as he slices the bottoms of Jonah's feet and then cauterizes the wounds. Zimmerman excuses himself, he has 'pupils' coming to town, he gags Hex and then leaves. Jonah then starts slamming backward into the 4x4 post he is bound to and eventually cracks it and manages to make his escape. He staggers across the countryside on his bleeding bare feet, arriving at a river. 

He crawls into the river and floats downstream, finally becoming entangled in a fallen tree.

Lady in Black

and, lo, who shall come upon him and rescue him? None other than Tallulah Black.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - one
Running Total - 743 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 241 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - shot in the shoulder, feet sliced and burned and other injuries from slamming into a post until it breaks.
Timeline - This covers a month.
Rape Percentage -  25% (10 of 40)

First off, this is Beck's third shot at the art for Jonah, and it as it was before....meh. On to the story: I'm not a big fan of vivisectionists as villains, they are much too cruel for my tastes. I did like the story of how cruel some of the doctors in the Civil War were. It is pretty well known the harsh conditions they had to work under and how often they had to perform surgeries and amputations without any pain killers. Not too far of a stretch to imagine someone steeped in arcane practices to revel in the pain and draw others in with them, in the name of 'science'.

It is a trope of the villain thinking he and the hero are two sides of the same coin (or the same side of two coins) is, well, a trope and it gets a little tired. It IS nice to see a bad guy last an extra issue and we get a Done in Two rather than a Done in One. And it is great to see Jonah just have a run of bad luck that almost ends in death for him. Guy can't be lucky all the time (except in the case of waterfalls or bears in caves).

Next Issue: The return of Dr. Sawbones and probably the most brutal end to a story that we have yet seen.

Jonah Hex V2 #39 "Cowardice"

Jonah Hex V2 #39 Mar '09
"Cowardice"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Rafa Garres - art and cover 

It is night in Blackburn, Kansas at Holly Mae's Saloon and Dancehall. Jonah is losing a few games of checkers with an old timer when Holly comes up and announces that everyone should drink up. In the morning Blackburn is going dry and she will be out of business due to the National Prohibition Party but she is heading to Texas to start a new establishment. Jonah has a few choice words regarding other people's morals and their propensity to force said unto others. 

After a few more drinks, Jonah considers have a talk with the local church group in the morning.

We cut to three men in prison attire running as hard as they can across the countryside. They come upon a family eating dinner by the campfire outside their tent home. The prisoners gun down all three, dad and the grown son and daughter. After eating the family's meal they strip the bodies and one of the prisoners is complaining that the other two are wearing all the mens clothes, so what is he to do? Another of the prisoners shoots him in the head and the remaining two ride off.

Morning in Blackburn and the church is shutting down Holly Mae's. Suddenly a wagon comes down the street. A young man looks in the back of the wagon and is frightened off. Jonah looks inside and sees the bodies of the murdered family. He asks who that is and someone states it is sheriff Steadman and his son and daughter. There is also the murdered prisoner as well. 

Deputy Gardner arrives and asks the wagon driver what is going on. The driver replies that he found them killed when he was driving past this morning and shows discarded prison clothes. Gardner says a telegram came in last night about a prison break up in Durango but the deputy just left it on the sheriff's desk. The wagon driver asks if they are gonna get up a posse and the deputy says that it doesn't concern them, he'll see to it that the men are captured. Hex tosses a query of "By yerself?"

Gardner is having nothing of having a drunkard assist him and he and Jonah exchange barbs. Holly Mae intervenes as well as the old checker player, telling Gardner that he best listen. Gardner tells the old man to shut up and he shoots back with "This here's Jonah Hex". At that point, the wagon driver tells Gardner that Hex is the real deal.

Finally Gardner relents, saying that Hex will get any bounty that is offered. Jonah says they will settle up once the prisoners are in custody or their graves. Gardner says they will be brought in for a proper trial to which Jonah replies "Ya say that now". Jonah also tells Holly Mae to not leave town just yet.

We find the two prisoners riding up to the farm of Simon Millwood. The prisoners ask if the two horses in the pen are all that Millwood has. He affirms their suspicion and one of the prisoners says that his horse is lame. Millwood examines a hoof and sees that the horse has thrown a shoe and has stone bruises. This horse can't be ridden even with a new shoe. A prisoner sees someone coming and they force Millwood into his cabin. They ask if Millwood has any weapons, just a shotgun and a Winchester.

The prisoners tell Millwood to get rid of the oncoming riders and not say a word about the two of them.

As Jonah rides up he points to hoof tracks by the trough and tells Gardner that the prisoners are here. Jonah says that they stopped here because one of the horses threw a shoe and that this ain't gonna end without bullets. Millwood recognizes Gardner but not Hex and says that he can get rid of them. The prisoners tell him to stay put. Gardner calls out for Millwood to come out for a minute.

Jonah says that ain't gonna work and if Millwood ain't dead, Gardner is gonna get him killed. Just then the door starts to open and Gardner says that Millwood is coming out now. A shot rings out and Gardner is hit in the shoulder. A prisoner has Millwood around the neck, using him as a shield and tells Hex to drop his guns. Jonah replies with "No" and a gunshot that catches the prisoner in the neck. 

The second con rushes out the door, guns blazing and is mowed down by Hex. In the ensuing silence, Millwood lays on the porch, shaking and crying and Gardner drawing his weapon on Hex. Jonah ignores him and assists Millwood to his feet, telling Gardner to holster the gun before Hex takes it from him. Gardner dismounts and tells Hex that he is being brought up on charges. Jonah turns on him and slaps the pistol out of his hands.

Jonah grabs him and says that those men had been tried and locked up, escaped and killed three people and maybe more. 

and then throws him to the ground. Gardner lies in the dirt, saying he never wanted to be a deputy, Steadman pinned the star on him last year and he hasn't been able to take it off, but now is the time. Jonah tells him to leave it there, they are gonna get a drink.

As evening falls, Gardner, Hex and a wagon of corpses come rolling into Blackburn. The town is emptying Holly Mae's and they ask if Deputy Gardner got the killers. Hex tells them it is Sheriff Gardner and he has a proclamation to overturn. Gardner stares at Hex and Hex replies that a sheriff has to make tough decisions.

Gardner takes a deep breath and tells the crowd to put the sign back up on the saloon. They start to disagree, saying that Steadman backed them and Gardner says that Steadman is dead, HE is now the sheriff and he says the saloon stays open.

Later there is much celebrating in the saloon and the old timer is congratulating the new sheriff on his decision. Holly Mae whispers a thank you into Jonah's ear and he says she can thank him later upstairs. Just then several armed men barge in with evil intent in their eyes. Hex tells the sheriff it is time to step up. Gardner approaches the men and we see him point over to Hex and the men turn and run. Hex looks over at the old man and says..

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - Two prisoners.
Running Total - 742 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 240 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - None.
Timeline - Takes place within one day.
Rape Percentage -  25% (10 of 39)

Kansas didn't have statewide prohibition until 1881 but this seemed to be a local restriction only enacted in Blackburn (a fictional town) but the temperance movement had a very strong hold throughout the state, so we really can't put a date on here other than between Hex's scarring and 1881.

This story wasn't a bad one but it had two things that I am tired of: art by Rafa Garres and Palmiotti and Gray's obsession with unlikable Christians. Garres art is muddy, blurred, hyper kinetic and very hard to understand at times. The anti-Christian trope is understandable from Jonah's viewpoint but they are always depicted as hypocrites and busybodies (something that Fleisher didn't make an absolute). 

I would rank this one as a "read it if you want to read everything with Jonah in it"

Next issue: Jonah learns that it really sucks to be on the wrong side of an HMO.

Jonah Hex V2 #38 "Hell or High Water"

 Jonah Hex V2 #38 Feb '09

"Hell or High Water"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Jordi Bernet - art and cover 

We see a bloodied Jonah taunting an unknown man. The man kicks Jonah in the teeth and punches him once again. We go to the splash page with the man standing over the prone Jonah, out in the desert. He takes a big drink from one of his two canteens and starts waxing poetic about democracy and the frontier. 

Hex croaks a question about what the hell the man is talking about and the man explains that Hex, and his kind, are an infection to civilization and the world will soon be better once Hex departs from this realm. Jonah states that he has no idea as to who this man is or what turned him against Jonah.

The man calmly segues into his explanation, rolling back three years prior, to his days as a sheriff in the Dakotas in a town named Holsten but given a moniker of High Water, painting an idyllic picture with the purplest of prose. Jonah requests that the man just shoot him as opposed to talking him to death. The man explains that Hex WILL listen to the entire story before he is dispatched.

Back to the explanation, the sheriff recounts how Drew, the deputy, drops by and says that Pablo is at the saloon, waving his gun around. The sheriff tells of how he and his wife came to the gold town, were abducted by plains Indians for six months, how they escaped and how she subsequently never recovered from the ordeal, dying in shortly after bearing him a son that was not his own... Pablo. The sheriff walked into the saloon and tells Pablo to put away the gun that he is holding on a saloon girl. Pablo chuckles and continues pressing himself onto the woman and the sheriff backhands his son.

Pablo levels his pistol at his father and they have a staredown that ends with Pablo holstering his weapon. They leave together and the sheriff tells Pablo to change his ways otherwise he will run into someone who isn't afraid of him or his mouth. Pablo starts to tell his father something as five women ride up. The women, Rose, Daisy, Iris, Violet, and Magnolia, are bounty hunters and they produce a wanted poster for Pablo. The poster is for murder but they acknowledge he is also wanted for bank robbery and horse theft. 

The sheriff asks if this is true and Pablo he was driving cattle up from New Mexico. The sheriff takes his sons word for it and Rose indicates that he had better hand Pablo over to them. The sheriff refuses and after a furtive glance, both he and Pablo open fire, killing the five women. The sheriff quickly turns and shoots Pablo in the shoulder so as to lend credence to their alibi that the women shot first.

As townsfolk come running, the sheriff recounts the tale of how the women tried to rob them and has his son taken to the doctor. 

Hex interrupts the sheriff and gets a boot to the mouth for his trouble. The sheriff knew it was wrong but he couldn't let his son die, it would be like losing his wife all over again. Jonah still doesn't know how he fits into this puzzle, unless HE killed Pablo and doesn't remember. The sheriff confesses it wasn't Hex that felled his son, Pablo caused his own demise. Hex, lying in the sand, notices a snake under a nearby rock, and asks why, then, has the sheriff stalked him across the desert. The sheriff asks that Hex really doesn't remember him?!?!?

Back to the tale and we learn that Pablo is sent to his uncle Mort's but Pablo stopped in Red Mesa, got a drink and tried to rob the bank and was gunned down trying to escape. The day Pablo left High Water was the same day that Jonah came riding into town with three maimed men thrown over the back of a horse. These men were victims of the Klarkson sisters and Hex humiliated the sheriff in front of the town. The town leaders called for a vote and the sheriff was voted out with swift speed and driven from town just as quickly. 

Back to the present, the sheriff, taking another large drink tells how he heard more about Hex, going where he likes, doing whatever he wants with no repercussions at all and Jonah starts chuckling. The sheriff asks what is so funny? Hex will die of thirst and the sheriff will watch. He has tried to uphold civilization, lost his wife and child, his star and his town, while Hex went on his way. Jonah replies it is a good thing that the sheriff doesn't own a dog.

Jonah continues to laugh and that enrages the sheriff even more, grabbing Hex up and knocking him down again and again. With Jonah in the dirt, the sheriff decides to draw his pistol and finish the job, but Jonah reaches under the rock, grabs the rattlesnake and throws it at the sheriff.

The snake, doing what snakes do, bites the sheriff directly in the groin. The sheriff is able to extract the snake but the reptile slithers loose and strikes the sheriff in the face. Jonah struggles to his feet and takes a drink from a canteen. Jonah explains that he and the sheriff are directly entangled because Jonah encountered Pablo in Red Mesa after Pablo fell from his horse fleeing the bank. 

The sheriff of Red Mesa had told Jonah that Rose and the others were gunned down in self defense but Jonah was well acquainted with Rose and the "Wild Flower Bunch" and there was no way they would have lost a fair fight. Jonah knew they were after Pablo and Hex started questioning Pablo and Pablo ratted out his father in a flurry of confession. Jonah had tried to track down the sheriff to avenge Rose and the others, but he was long gone by the time Jonah got to High Water.

Jonah sits next to the dying sheriff as the vultures descend and comments that he normally hates scavengers but a bird has to eat like everyone else.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - Two, the sheriff and obviously Pablo.
Running Total - 740 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 238 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Beaten to a pulp.
Timeline - With the flashback, three years all told.
Rape Percentage -  26% (10 of 38)

This was a very good tale, harkening back to the fallout of issue #26, addressing what happens to a town in the aftermath of Jonah. Once more, the dialogue is wonderful and evocative and drawing a good contrast between the sheriff, a man who sees everything as a tapestry, and Jonah of few words that cuts to the chase and uses action instead to make his point. Jordi gives us great art with the cover giving us an actual scene from the book (including the snake). The only downer is that I would have loved to see more of the Wild Flower Bunch (thus named because all the women are named for flowers), they were taken from us much too soon. But that testifies to the power of Palmiotti & Gray's writing that we want so much more from secondary characters.

Next Issue: A prison break, a temperance movement and there is a new sheriff in town.

Jonah Hex V2 #37 "Trouble Comes in Threes"

 Jonah Hex V2 #37 Jan '09

"Trouble Comes in Threes"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Jordi Bernet - art and cover

Night, and Jonah is sitting in a mine with an old miner who keeps talking long after Jonah is done listening. The miner describes his family and all the dozen kids he has and that is why he is working so hard in the mine. Jonah quickly tells the man to lay down and be quiet as Jonah kills two men coming forward with guns drawn. Jonah hollers into the mine that the men behind him need to get back into the mine to continue working and for the rest of the bandits to come out. 

The men inside are discussing their problem and that all the gold they have ain't gonna do a lick of good if they are dead. Cully, the ringleader, gets an idea and hollers back to Hex that the brains behind the heist ( and who killed a Pinkerton earlier) is already dead and that they are surrendering. Hex tells them to throw down their arms and step out and they obey.

Three women; Daisy, Annie, and Kimiko, are trying to get their back pay from Clayton, the man who owns the circus (?) they work for. They try sweet talking and reason but Clayton grabs Daisy by the hair and slams her face into the desk. Annie draws her pistols and puts one bullet through Clayton's hat and the other through his sleeve. Daisy throws an uppercut to his jaw and Kimiko has her eagle attack just as Clayton draws his sidearm. His shot goes awry, shattering an oil lamp and setting the tent on fire.The ladies raid the cashbox before hightailing it out into the night.

Hex has delivered the three men from earlier to the local sheriff, but the sheriff explains that he hasn't got the bounty, it should be in on tomorrow's stage. Hex states he ain't patient and that he better have the money by morning and heads down the street. We see Betsy crossing the street to the jail and she is delivering food for the prisoners. The sheriff inspects the tray of food and gets a little flirty with her. As she hands the tray to the prisoners, Cully grabs the knife that was taped underneath the tray, grabs Betsy and holds her as a hostage.

The three men and Betsy then grab horses and take off out of town. As they are riding away, they come across the three female performers from the circus. They take note of each other when one of the men makes a snide comment. The women arrive at the jail and find the sheriff gagged and tied to a chair. They untie him and he explains what happened and how Hex brought them in once already. He is gonna get a posse together to retrieve the escapees. Daisy asks if he has a picture of the crooks and the sheriff produces a wanted poster. Daisy said they just saw them headed east. The sheriff says he is gonna grab Hex and head out but Daisy offers to get Hex while the sheriff gathers the posse.

Kimiko wonders why Daisy lied to the sheriff about the direction the men were headed. Daisy explains that the bounty on these men would put them in tall cotton but Annie knows about Hex and he wouldn't fall for an easy deception. She has a better plan to keep Hex occupied.

Annie strolls into the saloon with a very revealing top and starts flirting with Hex. Shortly thereafter, we see them in Hex's room upstairs having, ahem, finished round one. Just then there is a knock on the door and a man tells Hex that the prisoners have escaped and the sheriff took a few hours ago. Annie keeps clinging to Hex, trying to drag him back to bed, but he is having none of it. Annie finally has to resort to cracking him on the skull with an oil lamp.

Some time later Hex comes to, gagged and tied to a chair. He smashes the chair and confronts the man from earlier in the hallway. The man tells Hex he saw the woman heading south and Jonah heads out of town. 

Cully and his two men are robbing a stagecoach. His partners aren't wanting to add murder to their list of offenses and the family on the stage say they'll keep quiet if Cully leaves them with the stagecoach and some cash. A lawman on board explains that he will testify that they were robbed by Indians and they took the family and the coach (explaining why they are no longer around) and he'll do it for half the money the lawman has on him. Cully ain't keen on the plan, but his partners are trying to sway him with some money is better than all the money weighed down with murder. 

High above on a cliff is Daisy and Kimiko, watching on with binoculars.They are trying to figure out a plan of action to save the folks down there when Hex shows up with Annie bound and gagged and tossed over his shoulder. Kimiko tells Hex to put her down or her bird will kill him. Just then the eagle attacks Jonah from behind causing Jonah to discharge his shotgun. Everyone in the valley below hears the blast and Cully and his men decide to take off.

Kimiko calls off her eagle and Daisy unties Annie. Annie, enraged, rushes Jonah, he sidesteps and she tumbles over the edge. She ends up catching a tree sticking out of the cliff face but they can't reach her with rope or a whip. Finally the two women and Hex team up to form a human chain and along with the whip, pull Annie to safety.That's when Jonah looks into the valley and sees the bandits riding off.

Jonah and the women arrive in the valley and the family explains...

Jonah and the women part company.

Some time later we see the miner holding a lantern aloft when he encounters Jonah in the mine. Jonah explains that what happens in the mine doesn't leave the mine and he lifts a blanket to display several pouches of gold? Money? and asks if that would help the mans family. The miner states that it certainly would and Jonah walks off, reminding him that he can't say a word to anyone, EVER.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - 2 

Running Total - 738 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 236 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Knocked out with an oil lamp.

Timeline - Two, maybe three days.

Rape Percentage - 24% (9 of 37)

I'm torn on this one. I really enjoyed Annie, Daisy, and Kimiko (would have liked to have seen more of Kimiko) and Jordi's artwork was a joy but the surrounding storyline with Cully, his men, and the miner was confusing and not very understandable. I have no idea what Jonah gave the miner, the money from Cully's stagecoach heist? Not sure. A better idea bookending the tale of the women would have put this one a notch higher on the enjoyment list.

Next Issue: A sheriff decides that Hex has to pay the final price.