Jonah Hex 61
Reviewed by JT Lindroos 11-Nov-10
Do not start reading Jonah Hex with this issue. It’s one of the best issues of the series.
‘Honeymoon Bullets’
Do not start reading Jonah Hex with this issue. It’s one of the best issues of the series.
This long running spaghetti western relies on the done-in-one format, with little overlap between the issues. Number 61 would not be as special an issue if it wasn’t for this format. Loyal readers get accustomed to certain types of situations and plots, which in this case are often torn from the pages of Italo-western and Eurocrime thriller scripts. Jonah Hex stories invariably deal with the burning issues of the day: revenge, gunfights, retribution, bounty hunting, retaliation, saloon brawls, and, more often than not, plain old vengeance. Jonah will get his bounty, and Jonah will deliver the wrath of hell upon those who justly deserve it.
It’s the early days of Jonah’s first marriage to Mei Ling, a character not seen in the book in some 25 years. Jonah, with his propensity for answering tough questions with a hailstorm of hot lead is struggling to keep his guns holstered in the presence of his young bride. Mei Ling doesn’t take kindly to his evil desires, especially when it involves plugging the local riff raff full of new holes. Mei Ling plans to set Jonah on a new path, but — as often happens in these stories — the plans get sidetracked.
So the curious thing that makes this issue special is that while the whole story is self-contained, it’s unlikely to appeal to a casual reader unaware of just how atypical the situation in this episode is. The story is spiced with gunslinger and kung fu showdowns, but all that is almost incidental and takes a definite backseat to the interaction between Jonah and Mei Ling. The writing by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray breaks free of the shackles they seem to have imposed on the series, and deliver an utterly charming episode that not only allows the lead character some well-deserved R&R, but also contrasts strongly against your average Hex-tale. It deftly plays with both the conventions of the genre and the reader’s expectations.
Managing such a vivid turnaround for a character as well-defined as Jonah Hex, while still keeping true to his persona, is a laudable achievement. The cherry on top is that this love letter for longtime readers is illustrated with casual mastery by Jordi Bernet, whose style matches and enhances the story. As much as I enjoy many of the other artists in the series, the scruffy off-the-cuff art by Bernet can nudge even an average story to a much higher plane. So obviously when Palmiotti and Gray deliver a superior performance, we are reminded of the possibilities that lie within the format. Just remember not to start reading Jonah Hex with this issue. It is, after all, one of the best issues of the series.
Tags: DC, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jonah Hex, Jordi Bernet, Justin Gray, Western
At last: a review of something I have actually read and I can agree wholeheartedly with it !
Since it’s revival about five years ago, Jonah Hex has consistently been the best comic DC have produced, IMO. I don’t buy many DC’s, and am seriously considering reducing that small number, as I become increasingly frustrated with the “epic” storyline of the year by Johns and DiDio (?) which re-writes the whole DC universe until the next year’s epic (see also Martin S’ comments elsewhere about bogged down continuity putting off new readers).
Thankfully one of Jonah’s strengths is that his storylines can avoid all of that. The main strength though is that it is bloody good writing. The humour, when there is any, is invariably dark, and some of the images can be gruesome, making me glad that the artists tend not to be too heavy on realism.
Now if only DC would bite the bullet and publish a Showcase volume 2 – and make it full of Hex this time, eh ?
I’ve been waiting for the second Showcase from the day I got the first one. And if they need to include other stories in it, I don’t care, long as they put it out. I’ll wait for the third one too.
As a kid growing up in Finland, with a dad who loves westerns, I remember vividly how he brought me a copy of Jonah Hex one day from the store. I’d say this was in the late 70s or early 80s, me being around 10 at the time. Besides that strip of flesh connecting his upper lip to his lower one, this grisly looking confederate fella with a bulging bugeye and a bad case of rash was holding up a six shooter as an airborne tomahawk was heading towards him. That cover hooked me for life.
Later, as a Joe Lansdale fan, Two-Gun Mojo got me right back into that moment. I never expected to get back there, being older, possibly smarter, across the Atlantic and far less impressionable. But somehow Palmiotti, Gray and Bernet still manage to do that. The Darwyn Cooke issue #50 was another jaw-dropping performance… and THAT is an issue to hand to new readers.