Jonah Hex
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Jonah Hex is an American western comic book hero published by DC Comics. Created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga, Hex first appeared All-Star Western #10 (Feb-Mar 1971). The vast majority of the Jonah Hex stories were written by Michael Fleisher, who filled in the details of Hex's background, history and eventual death and made the character his own.
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[edit] Character biography
Hex is a bounty hunter whose face is horribly scarred on one side, and whose attitude is fittingly surly and cynical, although tempered with a personal code of honor. In the original stories, Hex's scar was caused by injuries received from a hot tomahawk. In a revised origin, his face was scarred after being whipped by killers dressed in Union uniforms. Hex is generally dressed in a Confederate States Army uniform.
Throughout the character's history, the western genre conventions are heavily subverted. Jonah battled alcoholism, and as an adult had to face his mother's turn to prostitution. Though he traveled extensively throughout the American West, he also ended up in South America and China. He actually got married, quit bounty hunting, had a son & took up farming. His past kept hounding him, though, and his wife, Mei Ling, took their son, Jason, and left Jonah for good.
A major example was the manner of Jonah's death (chronicled in Jonah Hex Spectacular (#1, 1978) prior to the cancellation of Jonah Hex), when he was in his declining years but unable to accept aging and continued to pursue bounties. He was murdered in cold blood during a card game. His corpse was later stolen by the owner of a traveling circus and then stuffed, mounted, and dressed in a ridiculous singing cowboy costume to be displayed in the circus. The owner of the circus was murdered and Jonah's body was stolen. It passed through various hands until it was finally acquired by the Planet Krypton restaurant (owned by Booster Gold), seen in the The Kingdom mini-series.
[edit] Recurring villains
Being a "non-superhero", Jonah did not have a "Rogues gallery" comparable to Batman or The Flash, but he did have a few adversaries that returned from time to time. The first and most notable of these to date was Quentin Turnbull, known at first as simply the man with the eagle-topped cane.
Turnbull was the father of Hex's best friend, Jeb Turnbull. During the American Civil War, Jonah actually surrendered himself to the Union forces, but refused to betray where his fellow soldiers were camped. A Union soldier was able to determine the location of that camp by examining the dirt in the hooves of Jonah's horse. The Union soldiers captured all of Jonah's fellow soldiers and then later massacred most of them, framing Jonah as a turncoat. Turnbull's son was one of those slaughtered and Turnbull vowed his vengeance upon Jonah.
Turnbull hired an unnamed stage actor to impersonate Hex and commit several crimes, leading to Hex becoming a wanted man. This actor, naming himself "The Chameleon", eventually was hideously scarred in a fire started by Hex, and vowed vengeance upon Hex.
El Papagayo was a Mexican bandit running guns. Hex was hired by the United States Secret Service (actually a man hired by Turnbull to pose as an agent) to infiltrate El Papagayo's band and bring him to justice. Hex was unsuccessful and he and Papagayo met several more times over the years.
[edit] Significant dates in Jonah's life
The majority of Jonah's adventures were never given actual dates, however, some significant events were given year references. The ones listed here are actually mentioned or calculated using dialogue or other references.
November 1st, 1838: Jonah was born. (JH V1, #50 & reference in #57)
June, 1848: Jonah's mother runs away with a traveling salesman. (JH V1, #57)
July, 1851: Jonah's father, a physically abusive alcoholic, sold him into slavery to the Apache in exchange for a pile of pelts. (JH V1, #7)
1853: At the age of fifteen, Jonah saves the tribe's chief from a puma. The chief expresses his gratitude by adopting Jonah as his second son. Jonah eventually exceeds the chief's son, Noh-Tante, in the chief's eyes. (JH V1, #7)
1854: Jonah & Noh-Tante, in a tribal ritual of manhood, raid a nearby Kiowa village to steal ponies. Noh-Tante ambushes Jonah and leaves him to the Kiowas and tells the chief that Jonah is dead. Jonah is 'rescued' by scalphunters who slaughter the Kiowas and shoot Jonah, leaving him for dead. A trapper finds him and nurses him back to health. (JH V1, #7)
1859: Jonah is engaged to Cassie Wainwright but she is killed by Indians the day before their wedding. (JH V1, #65)
Dec 25th, 1861: Jonah and Turnbull's son Jeb give Quentin Turnbull an eagle-topped cane. (JH V1, #55; WWT #29)
May 2nd, 1863: Jonah accidentally shoots Stonewall Jackson as the General returns from a reconnaissance, inflicting the wound which cost him his arm & precipitated his death shortly after due to sepsis.
1863: Jonah surrenders to the Union forces at Fort Charlotte. Jonah's platoon is subsequently captured and then slaughtered during an attempted escape known as the Fort Charlotte Massacre. Jonah is accused by the survivors of being a turncoat. (WWT #29)
1866: Jonah locates his old tribe and tells the chief how Noh-Tante betrayed him years before. The chief decrees that this must be settled by a tomahawk battle. Noh-Tante had sabotaged Jonah's tomahawk so that the handle would break. In an act of desperation during the fight, Jonah pulls a knife and kills Noh-Tante. As punishment for breaking the rules, Jonah is bound and the chief has a heated tomahawk pressed against the right side of Jonah's face giving him "The mark of the demon". The tribe then banishes Jonah, never to return upon pain of death. (JH V1, #8)
1874: While tracking down the kidnapping of Laura Vaden, Jonah once again comes in contact with the Apache chief and is captured. The chief admits to taking Laura and announces that he will kill Hex at sunrise. Jonah is rescued by White Fawn, his former girlfriend and widow of Noh-Tante. The chief kills White Fawn and Jonah kills the chief before he rescues Laura Vaden. (JH V1, #8)
1875: Jonah marries Mei Ling and promises to give up bounty-hunting and gunfighting.
Spring, 1876: Jonah's son, Jason, is born. A month later, Mei Ling takes Jason and leaves Jonah. (JH V1, #51-53)
1904: Jonah is gunned down and killed by George Barrow. Despite some reports to the contrary, Jonah was not killed during a gunfight, nor was he shot in the back. Jonah was sitting playing cards in a local establishment. As he took off his glasses to clean them, George Barrow stormed into the establishment and shot Jonah in the chest with both barrels of a shotgun. Barrow was then confronted by the local law. Barrow dropped his weapon and surrendered but the local sheriff killed Barrow in cold blood.
[edit] Publication history
The character first appeared in a revived series, All-Star Western (#10-11, 1972) and soon dominated the title, which was eventually renamed Weird Western Tales (#12-14, 16-38, 1972-1977, written by John Albano, Anthony Drake, & Michael Fleisher) in the 1970s to highlight the character. Weird Western Tales continued publication in issue #39 with a new character named Scalphunter and Jonah was moved into his own book named Jonah Hex(#1-92, 1977-1985, written by Michael Fleisher). That comic was the last western-themed comic book series to be published by the major comic publishers for several decades.
The series was canceled during Crisis on Infinite Earths (in which Jonah also appeared along with Scalphunter and other western heroes issue #3, 1985) and Jonah was moved to an 18 issue run in a book titled Hex (#1-18, 1985-1987, written by Michael Fleisher)where he was transported to the 21st century to become a post-apocalyptic warrior like Mad Max. The series had mediocre success in the United States but was critically acclaimed and well received in Great Britain, Italy, Spain and Japan. There are even rumors of a Jonah Hex gekiga (a more serious Lone Wolf & Cub style manga, rather than the exaggerated cuteness that typifies current manga titles) being planned in Japan. Jonah Hex continues to appear in various DC Universe titles.
In 1998, a female character named Hex was introduced in the pages of Superboy. At first she appeared to be a temperamental supermodel until an agent of the Agenda sliced the right side of her face, then she started claiming to be Jonah Hex; adopting his voice and manner of speaking, as well as displaying his marksmen skills with a pistol, until she passed out. Afterwards the Guardian found out that the gun she used had no clip. It was later revealed that she had the ability to shoot "psionic bullets" from whatever kind of gun she got her hands on but only when she was in her "Jonah Hex" mode; otherwise she was powerless. It was hinted that the Agenda had either experimented on her or that she was an experiment created by them; but nothing was confirmed. Also not confirmed was whether she was really channeling Jonah Hex's spirit or was she simply crazy. She was last seen flying out of Cadmus riding on top of Grokk, the Living Gargoyle. She has not been heard from since.
Three Jonah Hex mini-series have been published under DC's Vertigo imprint. These series, written by Joe R. Lansdale and drawn by Tim Truman were more of the western-horror genre, in which he interacts with zombies ("Two-Gun Mojo" #1-5, 1993), a Cthulhoid monster ("Riders of the Worm and Such" #1-5, 1995), and spirit people ("Shadows West" #1-3, 1999).
In November 2005, DC began a new monthly Jonah Hex series written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti with interior art by Luke Ross. In assorted postings on their message board[1], Grey and Palmiotti have stated the intent to depict various adventures from across the full length of Hex's life and career. The main artistic difference is that the series is published without the external restraints of the Comics Code which enable harder edged stories without having to keep with the Vertigo imprint's dark fantasy themes. Famous Hex artist Tony DeZuniga has pencilled two issues of the book (#5 & 9) and may do more in the future.
In Issue 3 of the Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters mini-series (November 2006), Jonah Hex makes a cameo appearance, guarding the Long Walk of the Navajo in 1864.
[edit] Amalgam Comics
Jonah Hex appeared in the DC Comics/Marvel Amalgam event, in which DC's heroes were syncretized with Marvel's. DC's western heroes were crossed with Marvel's Generation X, so that Jonah Hex became Jono Hex (Chamber), Scalphunter became Skinhunter (Skin) etc.
[edit] Collections
- Showcase Presents Jonah Hex Volume 1 (written by John Albano and Michael Fleisher; art by Tony DeZuniga, Doug Wildey, José Luís Garcia-López and others, 526 pages, November 2005, ISBN 140120760X)
- Two Gun Mojo (Joe R. Lansdale, 1994, ISBN 156389162X)
- Face Full of Violence (written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; art by Luke Ross, and Tony DeZuniga, 144 pages, Titan Books, December 2006, ISBN 1845764080, DC, September 2006, ISBN 1401210953)
[edit] Other media
Talk of a live action movie has circulated since the late 1970s without much progress beyond pre-production, though it has been reported that John Albano's exit from writing for the character was the result of a dispute over payment for film rights.
He has appeared in animated form, first in Batman: The Animated Series in the episode, "Showdown" (voiced by William McKinney), where he hunted for a son of Ra's al Ghul in the 1800s. Hex's second TV animation appearance was a Justice League Unlimited episode, "The Once and Future Thing, Part 1: Weird Western Tales", this time voiced by Adam Baldwin. Jonah makes an oblique reference to his Hex time travel adventures.
The Post-Apocalypse Hex made an appearance in a solo game module of DC Heroes titled "Hex: Escort to Hell".
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Toonopedia entry
- Jonah Hex Corral
- Cover galleries for All-Star Western and Weird Western Tales
- Cover galleries for Jonah Hex Vol 1, Hex, and Jonah Hex Vol 2
- Matching Dragoons a weekly blog reviewing every appearance of Jonah Hex
- The Coarse Whisper of Jonah Hex Reviews of the recent DC Comic series revival
