A book where the characters owe each other broken noses.
Two boys trade Jonah Hex stories with each other, and eventually they find themselves meeting Jonah himself, along with a few of his "friends."
The Good
It's been done a few times, but this is one of my favorite set-ups for any type of media: Two boys sharing hero stories about someone they don't know. The issue is a lot of fun, and I loved seeing Batlash and Scalphunter back in the book. Two characters that just don't get the love in the DC universe that they should. There's no hiding it that I'm a big western fan, so I go pretty fanboy crazy when I get to read a book based in the wild west. However, even if you're not a western fan, it's a great book to check out. Why? When's the last time you saw someone kick a man in the face while saying "shut yer fancy yapper!" Answer: You're never seen it, unless you've read that book.
The Bad
I was not a fan of the art for this issue at all. I felt like I was watching an episode of Looney Tunes. It was incredibly cartoony, and I'm not a huge fan of seeing that style mixed into a Jonah Hex book. (This doesn't apply to when Darwyn Cooke did issue 50, that was tops) This art style seems too silly for a more violent book, although I was a huge fan of the cover, which was also done by the interior artist: Jordi Bernet. This issue really left me wanting more Jonah Hex. He was absent through about half of the issue. I'm really hoping that this leads to more run-ins with Batlash and Scalphunter though.
The Verdict 4/5
As I've said before, you can jump in on this book at any time. Each issue is its own story, so don't feel too worried that it's 57 issues into the volume, and you've haven't read any of them yet. You can pretty much just jump right in, and you'll be fine. This is one of DC's hidden gems. I say hidden because it feels like a lot of people overlook this book. In my opinion, next to Green Lantern, this is the only book at DC that has been consistently good for 50 issues, and I wonder how many people actually realize that. I may be getting a little preachy, but with games like Red Dead Redemption in homes across the nation, and people slowly becoming more intrigued by the western genre, why aren't more people reading this book? Or maybe it's because I'm in Chicago, and most people here aren't big western fans. Regardless, I highly recommend this issue.
The only JH story I've read is Two-Gun Mojo. That was pretty cool. I know that for me, Jonah Hex gets overlooked because it doesn't tie into anything else. So when I'm following something like oh, say, Blackest Night, and I'm trying to figure out how I'm buying all 18 of the books for that story this month, ignoring that stand-alone Western comic over there is an easy thing to do. Is that a shame? Probably. It's easy to miss out on a gem, while following the trend. Currently, I'm out of comics due to finances, but when I pick it back up, maybe I'll start reading these out-of-the-loop gems, instead of following this year's event.
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