Jonah Hex V2 #30 "Luck Runs Out"

Jonah Hex V2 #30 June '08

"Luck Runs Out"
Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, Jordi Bernet- art and cover


Jonah is passed out on the desert sand, whiskey bottles spelling out his name. We are given a two-page sepia flashback of Jonah's life, leading us to this moment. His birth, his mother leaving, the abuse by his father, being sold to the Apache, the Civil War, his scarring, bounty hunting, meeting Mei Ling, Jason being born, Mei Ling leaving in the night with Jason, and finally, Jonah drinking himself into a passed out stupor in the town of Desperation.

Last Stop for the Damned

Desperation, population 10 6. The train pulls into the station and everyone in town perks up from their dreary lives. The people that get off the train are not the regular workers, they are Lucky Dave and his outfit. They kill the engineer as the train stops and Dave tells the station master to get everyone in town into a safe place where he can keep track of them.

  Dave tells Samson, Whitey and Belle to secure the townsfolk. Chuck and Gary will help Dave open the safe on the train. Dave figures they have a few days to get out of town before the Texas Rangers show up. Dave demands of the station master information as to how many horses are in town. He tells Dave that there is an old mare and then the horse that belongs to the fella sleeping off a drunk in the hotel. Just two horses.

  When Dave had scouted the town, there was a working stable. Now they are rethinking having killed the engineer.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

 Whitey, Belle, and Samson herd everyone over to the hotel so they can gather up the drunk. Samson heads upstairs and when he enters the room, he finds it empty. Jonah jumps out from behind the door and plunges a broken whiskey bottle into Samson's throat.

All Things in Moderation

  Back at the train, Chuck and Gary are questioning the amount of dynamite that Dave has placed around the safe. Dave assures them that he learned safe cracking from Wilcox Monroe (whom Gary remembers as missing fingers on his right hand). They back off a safe distance and light the fuse and blow the entire train to hell and back. The engine is damaged and all the boxcars are on fire.

  Dave hurls his hat to the ground in disgust, cursing a blue streak and Gary and Chuck start chuckling. Dave takes umbrage and guns them both down. Standing over their warm corpses, Dave states that there are two horses in town, one for him and one for Belle (which doesn't bode well for Whitey or Samson)

  Speaking of Samson, upstairs in the hotel, blood is spurting from his throat through the neck of the bottle. He pulls out the bottle and throws Jonah on the bed, strangling him. Jonah reaches up, into Samson's throat, and pulls out as much tissue as he can. Samson falls dead to the floor. Jonah stands up, finds a bottle, drains it.

  Downstairs, Whitey and Belle are getting nervous. Dave walks in and Whitey wants to know if the safe is open. Dave wants to know where Samson is. Whitey says Samson is still upstairs and Dave orders Whitey upstairs.

  As Whitey leaves, Dave whispers to Belle that Chuck and Gary used too much dynamite and destroyed everything. They have to grab the two horses and get out of town. Just then they hear a scream and Whitey's mutilated body crashes to the ground outside. Dave grabs Belle and heads outside. The smoke from the burning train can be seen for miles, drawing the Rangers straight to this town.

  They arrive at the stable and find the old mare....dead. Dave loses it and kicks the dead horse, only to have the side cave in and he gets his foot stuck in the rotting carcass. The townsfolk show up and grab Belle and Jonah enters the corral, gun drawn. Jonah wants to know who named Dave 'Lucky'. Dave states that it was his Mom, since he was the only kid to survive birth.

  They trade barbs back and forth and finally Dave demands to know who is holding a gun on him.

  Belle starts entreating Dave to shut up, but Dave continues to berate and insult Hex. Jonah tells the townsfolk to help Dave up and put a gun in his hand. The station master obliges and tells Dave just who Hex is but Dave is having none of it. He shoves the station master aside and stands his ground.

  Dave pulls his pistol and gets off three pulls of the trigger....

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - Three, Samson, Whitey, and Lucky Dave
Running Total - 673 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 181 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Strangled
Timeline - Three days. The station master mentions that Hex showed up three days ago. Spring of 1876, right after "The Haunting."

  This is one of the funnier stories, what with all the 'luck' that Lucky Dave has. One thing about being lucky, you have to know if you have good luck or bad luck. I think that Dave was blessed with the latter. Bernet's artwork sets a nice tone here and the town itself reeks of bad luck itself. All in all, plusses all the way around for this tale.

Next Issue: Jonah encounters the Red Hood... Mask

Jonah Hex #13 "The Railroad Blaster"

Jonah Hex #13 June 1978
"The Railroad Blaster"
David Micheline, story - Vincente Alcazar, art - Rich Buckler & Dick Giordano, cover

Location: A Union Pacific passenger car near Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory in 1874. Can you count the mistakes in that sentence? Anyway, this is the first story not written by Michael Fleisher in 28 issues.

This story takes place after Jonah gets away from the Louisiana crazies so he is taking a train through the Oklahoma territory in the north central part of the state. We see a hand lighting some dynamite and then we are shown that the dynamite is next to the tracks. The splash page is a huge explosion with the train tossing everyone about. Earl & Virgil, two ruffians, decide to take advantage of the confusion and start robbing folks. They steal a woman's purse and knock a man out before they hear a voice ask if they really want to take the purse because it doesn't go with their outfit at all. Jonah Hex is standing behind them with his hand casually resting up in the overhead storage.

Virgil notes that Jonah's holsters are empty and draws on Jonah. Suddenly the overhead compartment erupts when Jonah squeezes the trigger on the shotgun he had hidden there. Earl gets three shots off but Jonah dives and unloads the second barrel into him. Jonah congratulates himself on his foresight of takes the shotgun from the swamp crazies he tangled with but he is interrupted by the man that was beaten up. The man berates Jonah for endangering them all by discharging firearms in close quarters. Jonah responds by punching him with the woman's purse.

A few hours later, several wagons from nearby Guthrie show up to investigate the explosion. In town Jonah is lamenting that he only has 50 cents to his name. Down the sidewalk comes a small boy running from a shopkeeper. The boy has stolen a small bag of grain and runs into Jonah. The shopkeeper catches the boy, but Jonah intervenes and gives the man a quarter for the grain. The man starts to protest but Jonah quietly says that the quarter will cover it. Jonah sends the boy on his way with an admonition to not let thievin become a habit.

A short while later in the saloon Jonah is about to get a drink when a man by the name of Reuben Gittes offers to share a bottle with him. Jonah takes up the offer and the man says that he has admired the fine way that Jonah handled the purse-snatchers on the train and then calls him by name. Gittes explains that he has a pistol under the table aimed at Jonah and that Gittes work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Gittes explains that he isn't after the bounty on Jonah, he has been sent to Guthrie to investigate a series of explosions that have been plaguing the railroad. He has been offered $5,000 to bring in the saboteur. He knows Jonah reputation for tracking down men and offers Jonah $1,000 to help him. Jonah asks why Gittes doesn't just kill him now & collect the $10,000 on his head. Gittes explains that it would do his health no good to be known as the man who killed Jonah Hex. Jonah agrees to Gittes' terms and starts tracking the saboteur.

For hours he follws a trail that appears to be made by two people with a wagon that has a 'bum wheel'. Eventiually he comes upon a large ranch that has seen better days. As he rides up the owner, Roy Cooper, steps out and threatens Jonah with a rifle. Just then the young boy, Billy, Jonah helped earlier runs out of the house and explains that Jonah paid for the grain. Roy apologizes and explains that there have been robbers in the area and he has to be careful.

Roy continues working on repairing his buckboard wheel and eventually starts bad mouthing the railroads. He catches himself and then invites Jonah for dinner. During dinner, Jonah probes for Roy's opinion of the railroad and Roy starts talking about how the railroad has started taking cattle drives away and a man like him has a hard time making ends meet. After dinner Jonah excuses himself and leaves only to climb a nearby hill so that he can continue to watch the cabin after dark.

Soon, Roy & Billy get in the buckboard and Jonah follows them to a railroad trestle. The tracks come around a huge bend near some rocks and then go across a gorge. Roy's plan is to blow up the rocks and knock them onto the track. Billy asks why they just don't blow up the bridge. Roy explains that the engineer will see the rocks and have time to stop the train. If the trestle was gone folks would die in the crash.

Jonah steps out from the shadows, pistols drawn. Jonah says that he is going to have to take them in but then Gittes steps out behind Jonah. Gittes tosses some ankle-irons to Jonah and tells Jonah to put them on himself so Gittes can collect the $15,000 himself. Gittes laughingly explains that his plan is to kill Jonah for the $10,000 and then kill Roy for the $5,000 but he will explain that Roy killed Jonah first. Before Gittes can pull the trigger, Billy jumps up on a boulder with a stick of dynamite and a match. Billy tells Gittes to drop the pistol.

Gittes decides to drop Billy instead and shoots the boy. Billy falls backwards onto the trestle and the dynamite explodes. Roy lunges at Gittes but is gunned down and when Jonah attempts to tackle Gittes he falls, due to the ankle-irons and Gittes pistol whips him. Gittes is about to shoot Jonah in the head when he is knocked out with a rock by Roy, who dies right afterward.

Sometime later we find Gittes shackled to the railroad track. Jonah is sitting atop his horse next to him. Jonah explains that since the bridge is blown up somebody has to warn the train but since Jonah is going to be busy burying Roy and Billy, Jonah will leave Gittes there. Gittes starts screaming that it is still too dark for the train to see him. Jonah says that's not a problem. the train will stop to find out what the big bump was.

Jonah turns and rides off, leaving Gittes screaming in the dark.


Statistics for this issue
Men killed by Jonah - 3 Running Total - 159
Jonah's injuries - pistol whipped, but not knocked out
Timeline - 1874. But, let's go back to the first sentence.

1. The Union Pacific does run through Oklahoma, starting in 1964.
2. Guthrie, Oklahoma was founded on April 22, 1889 during one of the land runs.
3. The previous issue took place around 1876 & 1877 due to a timeline continuing from a reference to Mexican President Porfirio Diaz.

I think any ranting at this point would be pointless. But, understand that I am ranting on the inside.

Besides all of this, I did enjoy this issue with Gittes pulling a great double-cross and everyone threatening everyone else with dynamites, rock, rifles & pistols. Jonah is kinda helpless through the whole thing but gets the final say in a very gruesome EC kinda way.

Next Issue: More bad geography and Jonah almost gets religion.

Weird Western Tales #29 "Breakout at Fort Charlotte"

Weird Western Tales #29 July-Aug 1975
"Breakout at Fort Charlotte"
Michael Fleisher- story, Noly Panaligan - art, Luis Domiguez - cover

There is no way that I can do this story justice, but I will try. If you are a Hex fan, you have to get a copy of this, either on ebay or in the Showcase Presents. It is that good, the artwork and layouts are that rich, the story is that pivotal in the Jonah Hex saga. I understand it will also be retold in the upcoming 3 parter in the new Jonah Hex series. But, I'm getting the cart before the horse. Let's get to the story.

The story starts with Jonah riding into Red Rock Texas, 1875. As Jonah dismounts a young man calls Jonah a Judas & a traitor and starts yelling at Hex about Fort Charlotte. He says that his dad died because of Jonah being a traitor. Jonah turns and walks away, leading his horse, but the young draws his pistol and fires. He misses Hex, but hits the bit on the horse's bridle. The bullet ricochets away but the horse, spooked, rears up and accidentally kicks Jonah in the head. The doc comes rushing out and gets Jonah into his office. There, Jonah starts crying out in a delirium and the story goes into a flashback.

Richmond, Virginia, Christmas Day, 1861. Jonah, unscarred, and his best friend Jeb ride up in front of a large plantation. The black butler calls for Mr. Turnbull to come out because Jeb Turnbull & Jonah are home. Jeb explains that he & Jonah are on a three day pass. They are welcomed into the home & they present Mr. Turnbull with a present, the Eagle-topped cane that we have seen previously. Jeb mentions that they took it off a Union General.


During dinner there is a discussion about how well the war is going. Jeb, full of bravado, exclaims that within three months, the Confederacy will have won its freedom. Jonah expresses doubts because it seems that for every Yankee he shoots, six more seem to pop up. Just then, one of Mr. Turnbull's men comes in, shouting that some of the slaves have gotten loose and started an uprising by setting the barn on fire. They all rush outside to see some of the hired hands and some loyal slaves shooting into the mob, trying to calm the riot. Suddenly one of the slaves rushes up behind Jonah, wielding a large club. Jeb shouts a warning & Jonah turns and shoots the slave dead.
Jeb shouts, "YAHOO! You got im, Jonah boy! Good shot!" Jonah appears remorseful at having killed the man and mumbles a short thanks. Mr Turnbull orders his son to forget about Jonah and to "get those rebellious darkies back to their sheds so we can resume our Christmas dinner".

The next day, Mr. Turnbull personally takes it upon himself to flog the leaders of the uprising. Jonah comments that maybe the slaves had been whipped enough, but Turnbull says that slaves are like children, requiring beating to understand their master's love for them. A day or so later, Jonah & Jeb are back on the front lines, fighting the Yankees.

January 1st, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation takes effect. Even though it was written on Sept 22nd of '62, this story shows Lincoln reading it on Jan 1 '63.

An undisclosed time later, Jonah & Jeb are talking over the campfire. Jonah explains that he can't continue to kill Yankees while they are fighting for men to be free, but he can't turn & fight against his friends. His only solution is to turn himself in to the Union & sit the war out in prison.

That night, Jonah appears in the bedroom of the commander of the nearby Fort Charlotte. The Commander thinks that the fort has been overtaken, but Jonah explains that he is surrendering to the top man at the fort. The commander questions Jonah as to the location of his unit, but Jonah explains that he alone is surrendering & will not divulge that information.

The commander calls for his orderly, a black soldier, & berates him for allowing Jonah to get into the bedroom. He tells the orderly tha Jonah can have free reign of the stockade area. Jonah, mentally notes that it seems like the black man has no real home in the North or the South. Later, the orderly comes in and explains that he found red clay on the hooves of Jonah's horse. That may lead them to where Jonah's platoon is camped. The commander orders that a platoon be sent out to check a nearby marsh.

That morning, Jonah's entire platoon is captured in their bedrolls and not one shot is fired. As they are being taken to Fort Charlotte, some of the men are already blaming Hex, calling him a "sneaky, nigger-lovin'..." before being threatened by Jeb. once they are all in the fort, the commander has Jonah brought out and publically thanks him for turning traitor on his friends. Jonah punches the commander, but the damage is done, his friends believe he has turned them in. Jonah is then locked in solitary confinement.

While in solitary confinement, Jonah locates a loose board that leads to a tunnel. The jailer brings Jonah's ration of bread & water, notices the loose board and then warns the captain. The captain is overjoyed because the fort doesn't have enough supplies to feed their own soldiers, much less dozens of prisoners. The captain orders gatlin guns placed around the perimeter, ready for a breakout.

Jonah climbs down the tunnel into the prisoner barracks. He hands out some guns he stole along with wire cutters, however only a few men of the thrity five escaping are able to escape alive. Jeb dies in Jonah's arms, begging to know if Jonah is guilty of the betrayal.
Jonah later hunts down the captain and kills him in revenge. Two weeks later when the news reaches Quentin Turnbull, he swears vengence upon Jonah for the death of Jeb.

The flashback ends as Jonah awakens. Jonah asks the doctor about the young man that shot at him. The doctor tells him that the young man is still waiting across the street. Jonah walks out and asks the man if he's ready for a showdown. The young man quickly pulls his gun and guns Jonah down before Hex can get a shot off. The doctor runs out & pronounces Jonah dead. The young man, having avenged his dad, rides slowly off. Once he is gone, Jonah gets up. The doc says that Jonah took an awful chance, letting the boy take a shot, but Jonah replies that a kid that wet behind the ears couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. He then rides off as well.

Statistics for this issue
Men killed by Jonah - 2; Jonah shoots the captain and we see Jonah shoot a man in battle.
Running Total - 84
Jonah's Injuries - Kicked in the head by a horse and punched in the face.
Timeline - 1875 for the opening & closing and 1862-63 for the flashback. This is the beginning of some of the stickier points in Jonah's timeline. 1875 was a dumping ground for Michael Fleisher and it seemed that later on, when the Jonah Hex stories started having a continung storyline the 1875 stories that were told earlier were not shoehorned in. This was a western comic & people weren't paying attention to it. The errors, starting with issue #30, just kept coming.

Like I said earlier, this is probably one of the best & most pivotal stories in the Hex legend. Quentin Turnbull was a driving force in Jonah's life and that would come to a climax in the next issue.

Next Week: Disgrace, Cowardice, Yellow Paint, and Turnbull almost upchucks!!!

Note of thanks to Susan for spotting my error on the year Turnbull got the cane. It wasn't 1962 (or even 1862) it was 1861.