All-Star Western featuring Jonah Hex #34 review


He's had a fine run, pre and post-New 52, but this issue the curtain falls for Jonah Hex as All-Star Western is cancelled. Launched with Batman links in a bid to widen the audience, ASW has also seen Jonah spend time in the 21st century, but he's been back home in the 19th for a while - that's where he works best, and that's certainly where I want him as he leaves us for now. 


This issue sees Jonah and partner Tallulah Black head for a small town where someone is impersonating Jonah, classic scars and all, trading on his reputation to take over with his gang. It's safe to say Jonah and Tallulah deal with things the way they usually do, with lots of bullets and no bull. 

By the end of the book Jonah and Tallulah are off in an unexpected new direction, one I hope is followed up on soon. For now, we have a sharp, satisfying tale by writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Darwyn Cooke that cleverly leaves the future open. I won't say any more because despite the writers playing extremely fair, I never saw it coming, and you'll enjoy discovering it for yourself. 

I will say that the predictable last-issue re-scarring of Jonah - his face was restored during his trip to the future - doesn't come, and I couldn't be happier. I'm sure it'll happen eventually, but just this once, Jonah gets a happy ending.


Cooke's interiors are a delight. The first scene, with Jonah and Tallulah enjoying a morning dip, is open and optimistic, the town moments crowded and depressing. There's real personality in the faces of the players, short, effective bursts of action and a perfect final page. And I like the signage nods to previous artists, which are fun without being too distracting. Great colours, too, from Dave Stewart, a master of lighting a scene, and letters from the reliable Rob Leigh. And thanks, also, to editors Harvey Richards and Brian Cunningham, for steering the ship. Sorry, stagecoach. Then again ... 

I'd say this is a great issue to go out on, but Jonah Hex stories have maintained this quality for years now, with Gray and Palmiotti writing consistently excellent instalments and a battery of fine artists drawing up a storm. If you've never tried the Western bounty hunter's stories, grab a trade, or just this issue. You won't regret it. 

Comments

  1. I loved their work, but I didn't follow it monthly. I trade-waited this series, so I got a few more volumes left to go before I have the entire run. I'm also buying up the Palmotti & Gray's Jonah Hex run as well, but its hard when most of the volumes are out of print.

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    1. Good luck with the search, maybe eBay?

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    2. Nah. I'm always visiting my dad, who lives in a different state, and the comic shops there have all the Jonah Hex trades I'm looking for.

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  2. I've only read the first New 52 trade, but enjoyed it a great deal (without looking it up, I think it was a different team at first?). Jonah Hex is a bit like Wonder Woman to me: a great character that's really hard to do right. Your review has me itching to go back and see what I've been missing!

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  3. if you want your western itch scratch try that new comic by jay faerber copperhead it's nice sci-fi western beginning in september faerber's books are compressed stories and well told you should try his super hero soap opera noble causes or his other excellent super team dynamo 5

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    1. Thank you for the recommendations!

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    2. here is another recommendation from called black science by rick remender vol 1 of the first arc is out and it is stupendous if you like exiles or or other multiversal travel books you will love black science

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  4. Hello Diana, I hope you like what you find!

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  5. I shall miss Hex although I did feel the comic lost its way putting him in the present day DC universe as I much prefer his stories set in the west, I hold out hope that we will see him back soon hopefully in a vertigo book as those titles seem to get a good run even if the sales numbers are a bit low. The back up stories were very good in this book as well with Doctor Thirteen and Madame.44 both been intriguing characters, both of who I would like to see more of.

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    1. I can't believe Jonah will be without a series for long, Rob. If he does come back with Vertigo, I hope his Western tales aren't TOO weird.

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