Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Artist: Luke Ross
Publisher: DC Comics
Plot: Finally, The return of Jonah Hex to the mainstream. No longer relegated to the backissue bin and frightenin'ly weird stories about thet thar Western icon travelling inta the future and going all cybernetic. I still cringe et the thought of thet. This is Jonah Hex as he is supposed to be written. A violent tale of heroism, destruction, and evil whar ev'n the good can be bad and the bad, well, they jus' happ'n to deserve what they git.
Comments: The book reads well. Actually thet thar is prob'ly muh only problem with it. The fact thet thar book is far too easy to read. This here is Jonah Hex. Not Richy Rich. It felt like I wus lookin' at a Jonah Hex story but read like a modern comic. If people in the 70s could understand what he whar sayin' I'm sure we'll be able tuh now. Jus' tuh give a small example, "Y'know my name. I'm here on business.......To see a Joshua Foster 'bout a missing boy. I got the telegram in my jacket if you need to see it." Thar be more to writtin' Jonah Hex than takin' out a letter every now an' then. Thet thar reads far too easily. If I whar tuh take out one of muh ol'
Weird Western issues an' read thet you whud see a line a'kin to this, "Well, now...Thet's mighty accommodating of them to come hyar instead of me having to go hunting them up" (All Star Western #10). The grammar used by Justin and Jimmy should be filled with horrid grammar and blatant misspellings. Thet thar be the key to writin' a good Jonah Hex story.
Now artistically this here book is fantastic. The look is not only
beautiful with Luke Ross' artwork it's suprisin'ly detailed with gret use of angles. Every page looks almost like a picture. Yet unlike a lot of artists the shots don't come from straight on. As I said, angles. Shots from slightly above, diagonal, below, to the side. It's all used, and it makes the book work better fer it. It's never boring. Right from the first scene you get Jonah and his opponent jus' standin' thar facin' off. You see the same shot from 6 angles with only slight differences in the arm positions as the man pleads with Hex fer his life. What could'a been dull is instead alive. If'n it was all done from the same angle I would have said they git lazy and were jes' tryin' ta fill some pages. Instead I git a feelin' of the scene bein' alive. Thar are so many examples of this here talent throughout the book. It gave it a truly cinematic feel.
Playin' offa thet aspect of the book is something I mus' do. It felt lik' a movie. It really did. It might be because Ross used Clint Eastwood as the base fer the look. Thar are pages whur ev'n I thought I was watchin' an eas'wood movie. In fact, after readin' this I would die fer a Jonah Hex movie starrin' Clint Eas'wood. Plus with the return of Jonah Hex and popular games a'kin tuh Gun I think thar is room fer the return of a good western flick. Stick Justin and Jimmy in as scriptwriters and bam, we git ourselves
a fantastic Jonah Hex flick.
How does the story stack up y'might be askin'? Well, while thar ain't no comparin' tuh the ol' Jonah Hex stories from Fleicher this is still one'uh the bes' stories tuh come out in years. Violence, Mayhem, Destruction, and sum downright nasty killin' makes me yourn for the days of ol'. Jonah is a viscous killer but ev'n with thet he's still got a heart. Plus the idea of a self-contained story is jus' appealin' to a man like me. No waitin' fer a conclusion. It's here and it's worth readin'.
Final Word: So muh final word is this. If'n yer a person thet likes a good Western, be shore to buy this here book. If'n yer a person that don't lik' a good western story, be shore to buy this book. Then again it don't matter what kind of person yeh are. Jus' be shore to buy this here book. In a week with so many fantastic books this here Jonah Hex is by far the bes'.
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