Hex Teaser #2

This was the last page of Jonah Hex #92

But you won't have to wait until June, all the action starts right here on Monday with Hex #1!

Hex Teaser #1

This teaser on the lettercol of Jonah Hex #90 really had me wondering if that was actually Emmy Lou alongside Jonah.

Turns out to be yet another blonde with an attitude!

Jonah Hex #92 "A Blaze of Glory!"

Jonah Hex #92 Aug 1985

"A Blaze of Glory!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Gray Morrow, art - Conan and Klaus Janson, cover.

Jonah Hex finds himself atop a hill in the pouring rain, looking down on a farmhouse. He decides that he might be able to find shelter in the barn and heads on out.

In the barn are a couple of things. 1) A young girl asleep in the hay and 2) six men planning on dividing up half a million dollars in stolen loot (or $106.25 million today!). Well, when there is money and guns, guns usually come into play. Five of the men decide that they can kill the other one (the banker) and have more loot. So they do just that. The gunshots awaken the young girl (Cindy) and also alert Jonah that something is up. The girl tries to sneak out but the mean hear her and try to catch her. She hits one with a branding iron and bolts for the door. Outside she runs into a hay field and ends up finding Jonah Hex, hiding there himself.

The men walk into the hayfield and Jonah guts one of them before he and; the girl sneak off to his horse. As they ride off on Jonah's horse, the remaining four men shoot at them.

Emmy Lou is finding that the rainstorm is starting to flood the hole she is in and it has made the sides too slippery to climb out. She starts hollering for help and an old man in a nearby cabin hears her over the rain. He grabs his rifle and; dog and he sets out to find out what is going on.

Brett who is also nearby hears Emmy's cries as well and starts searching harder. The old man arrives at the hole first, tosses down a rope and hauls her out, taking her back to his cabin. However, Brett has seen all of this and now knows where Emmy is.

Meanwhile, Jonah and the young girl are still riding. She asks where they are going and Jonah says that she will stay with some ranchers he knows until he can catch the bank robbers and then get her back to her family. She states that she is an orphan. Despite the fact that she wants to help Jonah locate and identify the killers, Jonah drops her off at the ranch house. Jonah rides off into the night to locate the killers.

Up in her room a few minutes later, Cindy decides to climb out the window, steal a horse and take out after Jonah Hex. Of course, while she is out looking for Hex, the four killers, who are searching for her and Jonah, happen to see her ride past in the distance and take off after her.

Back at the old man's cabin, Emmy is drying out by the fire when there is a knock at the door. Emmy tries to stop the old man from answering it, but Brett busts in and cranks the old man upside the head. The man's dog leaps into the fray and takes a hunk out of Brett's arm, giving Emmy the chance to get out the door and into the darkness.

Jonah finally locates some tracks of the four killers just as Cindy shows up. Jonah is about to read her the riot act when he suddenly realizes they are in the crosshairs. Jonah knocks Cindy to the ground just in time to avoid getting shot and he hustles her behind some rocks for protection. Jonah runs out to his horse to grab his rifle, but he is unable to get a shot at the killers.

Jonah asks Cindy if she has ever fired a rifle and she says that her daddy taught her. Jonah interrupts her and she says that he taught her before he died. Jonah tells her to fire a shot every ten seconds and he heads out to get the drop on the killers.

Meanwhile the killers have their own ideas, sending one of their guys to be on the lookout in case Hex decides to ambush them. Eventually Jonah does sneak up behind the killers and as he lights a stick of dynamite, one of the gunmen steps out of the shadows and is about to shoot Hex. Suddenly the thug falls, dead from Cindy' rifle shot. Jonah then tosses the dynamite and finishes off the remaining three.

The next morning Jonah and Cindy are in town, turning the remains in to the sheriff and collecting the bounty. Cindy is excited that she'll be able to ride with Hex but just then a man and woman run up and start hugging Cindy, saying that she was a runaway. Cindy's dad starts to give Hex a reward for finding their daughter, but Jonah shrugs him off, still counting his reward from bringing in the killers.

Jonah wanders down the street, ignoring the cries of Cindy, and heads into a saloon. He orders a drink and is standing at the bar when Emmy Lou suddenly runs in. Emmy breathlessly tells Jonah that someone is after her and then Brett crashes into the saloon, telling Jonah to step aside. Jonah calmly tells Brett to put the gun away but it looks like there will be a shootout when that strange ray appears and Jonah Hex vanishes in front of everyone.

Statistics for this Issue

Men killed by Jonah - 5
Running Total - 428
Jonah's Injuries - none
Timeline - This one covers one night and into the next day. I'll go out on a limb and say that puts us at August 1st, 1878 as the Matching Dragoons official date of Jonah Hex's disappearance. Emmy Lou is left to face Brett alone (and doesn't end up in the future as I thought from some of the teaser ads for Hex)

All in all, a sad end to Volume one of Jonah Hex. Jonah acts out of character turning down the money, one minute he appears to be happy about having Cindy around and the next he ignores her. I always wished that this book could have made it to issue 100, but on a bimonthly schedule, 8 more issues would be over another year of very poor sales.

Next Issue - Well, there ain't no next issue, but we start off with issue number one of HEX (which is how it should be read, at the top of your lungs.)

Jonah Hex #91 "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"

Jonah Hex #91 June 1985
"Sweetheart of the Rodeo"
Michael Fleisher, story - Gray Morrow, art - Ed Hannigan & Mark Texeira, cover (Layout by Neal Adams)

Jonah is riding across the west searching for clues to the location of Emmy Lou. He comes across a lovely woman trick riding but her horse is suddenly spooked by a rattler and she is thrown, however her foot is caught in a stirrup. As she is being dragged, Jonah overtakes her horse, jumps upon it and brings it to a stop. He helps her to her feet and much later fixes her dinner around the campfire.

Jonah learns that the young woman's name is Carolee and she is 21 but Jonah thinks she is closer to 18 and that she has run away from home. Carolee says that she ran away from home because she wants to be a trick rider in Rory Starbuck's Wild West Show. Hex asks if that is show opening up in a couple days at a nearby farm. Carolee mentions that it is.

Jonah says that he has a friend that is working as a stock handler and maybe they can her an audition. Carolee is very grateful and starts showering Jonah with kisses. He tells her to hold off, he's old enough to be her father and she responds...

The next afternoon Jonah's friend gives Carolee an audition and the owner of the show hires her on the spot. As Jonah & Carolee are heading to the barn to get their horses & head into town, they discover that the barn is on fire. Jonah tells Carolee to run & get help. Jonah starts to toss sand onto the fire but he notices someone sneaking up on him. He turns in time to use the sand bucket to deflect a bullet and then hits his attacker with the bucket and then punches the man's lights out.

Before the rest of the Wild West show can arrive, someone hits Jonah in the back of the head and drags his attacker off. Jonah is rescued from the barn and the show folks save the barn.

That night, Jonah is recovering from his attack & is talking with Rory Starbuck. Starbuck says that the men responsible had worked for him, but were discovered stealing livestock. The men went to prison but are now out and aim to settle the score. Starbuck hires Jonah Hex to keep the men from succeeding.

Meanwhile, Emmy is leading her horse through the darkness, trying to escape from Brett. She stops at a stream to get a drink and when she starts to stand back up she sees Brett on the other side. She grabs a handful of gravel and slams it into Brett's eyes. Before Brett can recover, she grabs a rock and smashes it across the side of his face. Jumping on her horse, Emmy rides off as Brett fires a couple of shots after her.

Back in town with Jonah & Carolee in their hotel room, Jonah is regretting having gotten involved with Carolee. He mentions that she is just 17 and he is more than twice that. Carolee doesn't mind and she grabs Jonah in her arms, the scene fades to black.

The next morning, Jonah is trying to pick up some sort of trail on the guys that burnt the barn. As he is riding along, one of the jaspars takes a shot at him & Jonah topples from his horse. Then said jaspar walks up, Jonah sits up unharmed and shoots jaspar dead. However, the dead jaspar has some friends up in teh rocks and they open fire on Hex.Jonah moves to some rocks and returns fire as a strange ray falls from the sky, hits the dead jaspar, causing him to vanish.

Jonah is able to chase off the other two men but when he turns around, the dead man is gone!

Several hours later at the Wild West Show, Carolee is working on her act. Jonah realizes that the men terrorizing the show won't show up again as long as he is around. A couple of rodeo clowns walk by and Jonah hatches a plan. Starbuck is talking to Carolee about how she is going to be a big star and that she will soon be their #1 attraction!

Meanwhile, Emmy realizes that she is going to need a fresh horse and as she dismounts to walk the horse for awhile, she suddenly falls into a covered pit.

That evening we find Jonah Hex in clown makeup watching the crowd, looking for the thugs threatening the show. He also notices Carolee and Starbuck doing some heavy duty lip locks behind the scenes. Jonah starts to put an end to it but another rodeo clown grabs Jonah and pushes him into the arena in order to distract the bulls from the bullriders. Jonah ends up diving into a barrel and having a bull knock him around the arena for awhile.

The two leftover thugs show up and draw on Starbuck & Carolee. They herd both of them towards the payroll wagon but Jonah jumps out of the barrel, scales the fence around the arena, grabs a rope and swings to the rescue. Thus the two thugs are beat to a pulp by the most bad-ass clown that ever lived!

Jonah then demands to know why Carolee was spit-swapping with Starbuck. Carolee says that it was Jonah's idea. Jonah had said it wouldn't work between them & she should find a younger man. Jonah stomps off to remove his clown makeup and ends up busting the mirror in the makeup tent in frustration.

Meanwhile, Emmy Lou can find no way out of the pit she has fallen into.

Statistics for the Issue

Men killed by Jonah - 1
Running Total - 424
Jonah's Injuries - none
Timeline - This issue seems to pick up where the last one ended. It covers two days. Let's say it is the very end of July 1878.

Again, I don't care for Morrow's work on this one. Everything seems so murky and wooden. The story is not a great one either. Jonah falls for Carolee way too quickly and gets burnt by her just as fast (of course, she is only 17!) Not much develops with Emmy Lou and we get nothing of Mei Ling and we will never see Adrian Sterling again. I also disliked the Laurel & Hardy clown joke. Kinda cute, but outta place in a western book. For me the best part was the cover.

Next Issue: Emmy Lou & Brett's final confrontation, Jonah gets involved with an even younger woman, and that mysterious ray appears once again.

Jonah Hex #90 "Starlight, Star Bright,... First Star I See Tonight!"

Jonah Hex #90 Apr 1985
"Starlight, Star Bright... First Star I See Tonight!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Gray Morrow, art - Mark Texeira, cover

Jonah Hex has had enough of Mrs. Crowley's boarding house and is saddling up his horse when Mrs. Crowley tries to stop him. Hex states that no matter what the doc has said, he needs to help a friend and he rides off.

Meanwhile, many miles away, J.D. Hart is hanging out with some kids. The kids toss coins in the air and the Marshall shoots all of them before they hit the ground. Just then a silver haired young woman rides up and introduces herself as Silver Ames. She states that last month in Abilene she gunned down Kingfish Belden, the third fastest gun in the west. She tells Hart that folks say he's the second fastest and she's going to kill him. Hart waves her off and turns to leave, but Silver draws anyway and pumps three slugs into Hat's back, right in front of the kids. As Hart lays there dying, Silver jumps on her horse & rides off.

Several hours later Jonah is riding in the mountains trying to decide how to pick up Emmy Lou's trail when there is a sudden avalanche. As he & his horse start sliding among the falling rock, Jonah unleashes a lasso and misses snagging an outcropped rock. He and his horse fall to the bottom of the cliff and are knocked out.

Much later that night, Mei Ling is called into the office of the local undertaker to identify the body of J.D. Hart. She starts crying that men & their guns have destroyed her life but the sheriff tells her that is a woman that killed Hart.

Speaking of that murderous female, we find Silver Ames camped out, having a handy flashback. She remembers her father, a sheep herder, telling her that a man needs to learn to use a gun. Just then a bunch of cattle ranchers ride up and gun down her father. Silver makes a vow that she would become the deadliest gun in the west and starts practicing with her father's pistols. When she is grown she tracks down her father's killers and avenges her father, but she doesn't stop there, slowly working her way across the west.

Back at Jonah, he finally wakes up to a pouring storm. He pulls himself to his feet and walks off in search of shelter. He finally finds a cave, thinking that he will more than likely stumble upon a sleeping grizzly, but, surprisingly, Jonah isn't attacked by a bear...

Meanwhile, at the hideout of Brett and his gang, Brett finds that Emmy is sulking about having shot Jonah. Brett goes into her room to 'cheer' her up but Emmy jams a chair under the doorknob, locking the other two women out of the room. Emmy pulls a knife on Brett and slashes him across the face. A fight ensues and Emmy throws an oil lamp to the floor catching the cabin on fire. She throws a chair through the window and manages to escape on horseback.

Meanwhile, Jonah has managed to drag his busted clawed up self to a cabin. He is bloody and drenched to the bone and asks for a horse. The old man in the cabin lets him take a horse and stands in the barn door waving goodbye when there is a sudden flash of light from the sky. A bolt of light flashes past Jonah and strikes the barn, causing the old man to disappear. Jonah figures that he went back in the barn & rides off.

The next morning, Jonah is back in down in the doc's office. The doc patches him up and asks if Jonah has considered hiring a doc to follow him around full time. The doc then hands over a telegram that came to the sheriff's office yesterday. Jonah takes the telegram and leaves the office. Standing on the sidewalk, Jonah reads that J.D. Hart has been gunned down and just them Silver Ames shows up.

She tells Hex that she killed Hart and she will kill Hex as well. Jonah says that she may be the fastest girl, but she won't outgun him. Her gun is slung too low, she hasn't filed off the front gun sight, her stance is way too broad. Silver tells Hex to shut up and draw on three..

ONE...

TWO...

THRE.. and Hex shoots her dead on the spot and walks off.

Statistics for this Issue
Men killed by Jonah - 1 (technically a woman, but it counts)
Running Total - 423
Jonah's Injuries - still recovering from Emmy shooting him , Hex survives an avalanche and being mauled by a cougar
Timeline - I don't know how long has passed from last issue and this one, Let's toss out a few days and this issue covers two days. I would say that we are at the end of July 1878.

I'm somewhat conflicted about this one. Let's take both sides:
PRO:

• The mauling by the cougar was pretty funny. Almost like Fleisher was having some fun with Jonah's "prophecies of doom" that always come true.
• Silver Ames was an interesting character and it was a hoot how she met her end, with Hex just walking off. When I first read this book I thought that Jonah had just killed her before she could draw, but rereading it, it appears that her pistol has left the holster and Jonah did wait until she drew before gunning her down. That is even better! Jonah was way too fast for the likes of Silver.
• Emmy giving Brett some of what was due him.

CON:

• The death of J.D. Hart. A terrible way for the man to go. I never cared for him as a character (too goody goody for the book) but he didn't deserve this.
• The light from the sky. Sheesh. You can tell the end is near here with a plot device like this.
• The artwork by Gray Morrow was a downer for me. The coloring (also by Morrow) made everything look murky and smeared. Morrow used a lot of ziptone which doesn't translate well to newsprint. It will be interesting to see how these look in a black and white Showcase format. I'm thinking not so great because in some frames Morrow used only coloring to convey what was happening.
  

We did get a small teaser in the letter column last issue showing Jonah Hex on a motorcycle and Crisis on Infinite Earth was gearing up. It was at this time I was thinking that the new direction for Jonah would be tied into CoIE but even though he did make an appearance, the weirdness in the final three issues of Jonah Hex, weren't tied into it at all.

Next Issue: The circus comes to town, more of the weird ray, and a Neal Adams cover.

Jonah Hex movie toys???

Paul Nomad over at Idle Hands has been to the UK Toy Fair and says that he saw Jonah Hex toys put out by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA). Hmmm, with Halloween costumes and a possible toy line coming out, it appears that some folks think there is money to be had in secondary merchandise with a Jonah Hex tie in.

Got me to thinking, what would be some really BAD product tie-in for this movie?

Bounty paper towels?

Icepocolypse 2010

Well, Christmas Eve 2009, Oklahoma City got hit with a "Storm of the Century". All I can say is "Time flies when you're having fun." because Oklahoma City is getting hit with another punch in the groin from Old Man Winter. Wednesday was 65 degrees. Yesterday the freezing rain starting falling, turned to sleet and little snow. It let up around 8PM leaving my part of town with 1/4 -1/2 in of ice with about 2 in of snow on top.

Today has been non-stop snow and we probably have about 4-6 in of snow on the ice. At least it's the weekend. Roads aren't plowed, some parts of the state are without power and everyone just kind of hunkers down and waits it out.

Me? My wife & I played Pandemic & Rock Band. She worked on her Stampin' Up! business and I worked on taxes. Later I'll be working on some more blog stuff.

Tomorrow? Digging out and more of the same.

Jonah Hex movie storyboards

Darren at viaPonyExpress yahoo group unearthed these two sequences on Flickr posted by Neveldine & Taylor. There is an opening sequence and a confrontation between Hex & Turnbull. Not sure how much of these are in the final film but they are dated November 3rd of 2008. (Missed Jonah's birthday by 2 days).


Take a peek at more over on Flickr. Then feel free to discuss here.

Jonah Hex #89 "Blood Legacy!"

Jonah Hex #89 Feb 1985
"Blood Legacy!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Mark Texiera & Dennis Jenke, art - Ed Hannigan & Tony DeZuniga, cover

Jonah Hex is in bed at Mrs. Crowley's Boarding House with the local doctor telling him to take it easy. The doc has dug the bullets out of Jonah that Emmy put there and is demanding that Hex stay in bed, have only a bland diet and no cigars. Hex continues to protest, but the doc hears none of it & Mrs. Crowley is determined to carry out the doc's orders.

Back at Brett's hideout, Emmy is in tears but Brett keeps telling her it was either Hex or her that would have been dead. The girls finally tell Emmy that they are the only family she has left now.

Dinnertime at the Crowley house consists of chicken broth & rice and a very irritable Jonah Hex. Mrs. Crowley literally throws her arms across the door, barring Hex escape to the local saloon.

That night, Jeremy Ashford, the son of the Gray Ghost, is camped outside of town & is starting to realize the size of the oath he swore on his father's deathbed. He doubts that he will be able to carry on the life of the Gray Ghost but he does acknowledge that he will kill Jonah Hex.

At the same time, Jonah, locked in his room, decides to tie bedsheets together and shimmy out the window and walk into town. He finally makes it to the saloon, orders dinner and starts working on a bottle of whiskey. At the bar, a thug named Quaid, takes an instant dislike to Hex and starts making trouble. He throws down on Hex only to be staring at the muzzle of Hex's pistol long before his own leaves the holster. Just then Mrs. Crowley storms into the saloon and demands that Hex holster his weapon, drop the whiskey and get back into bed this instant! Hex falters for a moment, hangs his head and complies.



Several miles away in another saloon, Adrian Sterling is fending off the advances of a very drunken cowpoke who is getting very irate that the waitresses aren't bestowing enough affection to compensate for the water:whiskey ratio in the drinks. Finally he starts to get rough and Adrian busts him across the chops with her cane. Several of the cowpokes buddies decide to get even but then a local card shark steps up and soundly trounces both men.

The next afternoon, the Jeremy Ashford, son of the Gray Ghost (sans costume) arrives at Mrs. Crowley's boarding house, since the local sheriff told him that is where Hex is staying. Crowley & Hex are playing gin rummy on the porch as Ashford walks up the steps. Suddenly Hex notices a rifle barrel pointing from an alley across the street and he jumps up, knocking Ashford down out of line of gunfire.

Jonah hotfoots it across the street and rushes into the alley, shooting and killing the gunman, the thug from the saloon the previous night. Ashford arrives shortly, helps Jonah to his feet and walks him back over to the boarding house. Ashford introduces himself and learns that the man who just saved his life is Jonah Hex.

That night in his room, Ashford is putting on the costume of the Gray Ghost. He is bedeviled by the fact that the man he has to kill is the man who saved his life. His whole new life has been thrust upon him, he never asked for this but what kind of son would not carry out an oath sworn to his dying father. Ashford walks down the hall to Hex's room and decides that once he kills Jonah Hex, the Gray Ghost will disappear for good.

In the room, Jonah Hex is asleep and racked by a nightmare. He is being pursued by three horsemen and he can't escape. Suddenly one of them appears in front of him and when Hex reigns in his horse he is suddenly ensnared by a lasso. Yanked from his saddle, Hex fights the ropes but the other two horsemen surround him and lasso him as well. The horsemen dismount, drawing their pistols, ready to kill Hex. They remove their hats and...



Ashford walks into Hex's room and stands over Hex. Standing over the helpless Hex, Ashford realizes that shooting a sleeping man is a an act of a coward and so is hiding behind a mask. He decides that he will kill Hex tomorrow, face to face and man to man.

In that saloon many miles away, the card shark, Mr. Erdnase, is escorting Adrian home after another night of work. She thanks him and he makes a lunch date with her for tomorrow. Adrian is still bothered by her amnesia and quietly walks up to her room for the night.

Next morning finds Mrs. Crowley tucking blankets around Jonah Hex while he rests in a glider swing in the front lawn. Hex is sitting there when Ashford walks up and sits in the swing. Ashford starts to tell Hex about what brought Ashford to town and that he is the Gray Ghost. Hex explains that he already knows. When Hex knocked Ashford down yesterday, he saw inside Ashford's bag and recognized the mask. Hex knows that Ashford isn't old enough to be the Ghost, therefore..

Ashford suddenly pulls a pistol on Hex and announces that he has to kill Hex. Jonah calmly tells Ashford that there ain't no life in what is about to happen. Hex has spent his entire life in blood and guts and killing and that is all he has known & all he will ever know. He tells Ashford to throw away the Gray Ghost and live his own life. Ashford says that Hex is only saying these things because he is scared to die.

Hex, gun barrel to the eye, states that is isn't afraid of death. Ashford cocks the hammer and then jumps up, storming away. Cursing Hex for saving his life, Ashford runs into the boarding house shouting that he has failed his father. Hex slowly pulls out a pistol from beneath the blanket and quietly drops the hammer.

Up in his room, Ashford is convinced he is an unworthy son and places the pistol to his own head and then ends his torment.

Statistics for this Issue
Men killed by Jonah - 1
Running Total - 422
Jonah's Injuries - Recovering from bullet last issue.
Timeline - This one covers three days. I would say that we are nearing the middle of July 1878.

A pretty good story, one about honor and the turmoil that it can cause when two types of honor conflict within an individual (Ashford) when he tries to keep his word to his father, honor Hex for saving his life, yet retain any of his own identity. The end where Ashford ends it all is particularly effective.

The Texiera art is a lot cleaner that what we were used to with DeZuniga and gives us a preview of what we'll see in Hex. Some of the characterization of Jonah was rather lacking. Having him buckle so quickly to Mrs. Crowely was uncharacteristic. The nightmare scene was one of the best parts of the book.

Next Issue: The return of JD Hart, the return of Mei Ling, more of Emmy Lou and Gray Morrow taking over the art chores.