Don’t know why I even hesitated about picking up JONAH HEX: FACE FULL OF VIOLENCE, the first trade collection of DC Comics’ latest revival of the Western anti-hero. Because I found it cover-to-cover awesome.
A heavily facial-scarred ex-Confederate soldier turned bounty hunter, Hex has been resurrected before since his initial run beginning with WEIRD WESTERN TALES, most notably in a post-apocalyptic revival in the ’80s, and a more horrific miniseries in the ’90s scripted by Joe R. Lansdale. But this latest run by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti really gives us the flawed, nail-tough Hex that we’d expect, freshly weaned from the gray areas of DEADWOOD.
In these killer half-dozen standalone stories, Hex is asked to rescue a boy kidnapped to fight rabid dogs for show, retrieve a gold cross stolen from a church, even the score for a wagon train ambush wrongly pinned on the Apaches, avenge a young woman’s rape, protect an outlaw from vigilantes on Christmas Day and face off with a town hopping mad with crazed nuns. Given storylines like that, it should come as no surprise that the pages are rife with typical Hex touches, like shot-off ears, axes to the forehead and death by doggie.
Thar’s gore in them hills, but it’s not gratuitous. Action is the real name of the game here, and it’s so cinematic and dynamic, it leaps off the page. Luke Ross’ art at times achieves a painted look, befitting of HEX’s dusty 19th-century setting. He tackles all but the fifth issue, which is handled instead by the character’s co-creator, Tony Dezuñiga; ironically, this is the only element with which I find fault, because his work is awfully messy.
But the rest of HEX is genuine adventure with a serrated edge. Though the character remains the same – a bit of an ass, sure, but an ass you solidly root for – I admire Ross’ move to show more of Hex’s disgusting, half-melted face. For whatever reason, the old DC hid the man’s head in shadows, rarely affording you a good glimpse. Here, there’s no escaping it – his grisly visage is the stark cover for the premiere issue, and Ross even manages to wring some black humor from it, sticking a cigarette through the hole where Hex’s right cheek used to be.
At one point, a baddie snarls at Jonah, “Now, give me a reason to make you uglier.” Conflict like that makes me deliriously in love with this one. –Rod Lott
Buy it at Amazon.
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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS JONAH HEX: VOLUME ONE
Related posts:
- Showcase Presents Jonah Hex: Volume 1
- Western Tales of Terror
- The Face of Fear
- BOOK WHORE >> 2.7.06
- Ghost Town
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