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 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.

A scope!! Man alive, if only Ralphie had owned a rifle with a scope, that horrible accident never would have occured.

Viral marketing? Yup, they had it back in the 50's, but you had to cut it out, fill in the blanks, and leave it where your folks could find it.