That's right, aside from DC: New Frontier, I have not bought 5 issues of a title off the rack since the days of Sandman Mystery Theatre and Image-era Astro City. Well, all it took was a scarfaced gunslinger and I am back to handing my loonies over to my LCD. It's no secret that I think western are almost the perfect genre for funnybook, and this series has won me over big time. Let's look at what we've seen so far:
Jonah Hex #2
I love a good western tale that takes place in a corrupt town south of the border. The themes in seem to come right out of a Peckinpah western, and yet still seem fresh. Luke Ross' art is really growing on me.
Jonah Hex #3
Ok, this one shared some similarities with an early episode of Deadwood, but that can be forgiven as we are blessed with a Bat Lash appearance. Maybe we'll be luck enough to see a spin-off? Ok, but I can still dream. The Phil Noto cover was freakin' gorgeous.
Jonah Hex #4
I spotted the Chaykin cover on the rack from about 15 paces. This story of false accusations is probably the weakest of the lot so far, but still quite good.
Jonah Hex #5
Tony DeZuniga alert! This was a stroke of genius - almost as though they were reward us older fans for sticking with the earlier issues. What this proves is that a western can be handled by any type of artist (from Ross to DeZuniga). Dezuniga's pencils are very appropriate for this claustrophobic story.
Hell, these stories have been so good that I'll keep buying them as long as they keep printing them. I love the single issue stories. It actually rewards the reader for picking it up off the racks. So many titles today seem to be loss leaders for the TPB market. My fingers are crossed that sales are strong enough to warrant a long run.
2 comments:
I agree with your enthusiasm on the Jonah Hex series. I went in with low expectations, and have been pleasantly surprised with the quality.
You might want to check out the Vertigo series, "Loveless", which is an on-going Western series, rather than the anthology approach that Hex is taking. "Loveless" is a little harder to follow, and is appropriately Vertigo language and violence level, but you might like it....or maybe not....
Ray
Last Friday, I picked up issues #1 and #5 of Loveless (that's all a LCS had in stock). It was indeed a bit hard to follow - did everyone have the same facial hair?
It was ok - some times I think Vertigo titles try a bit too hard to be 'edgy'. I am happy to see westerns out in the market, but I'd be just thrilled if today's writers just tried to blatantly rip off Doug Wildey's Rio (see below).
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