Jonah Hex V2 #41 "Sawbones: The Second Half"

Jonah Hex V2 #41 May '09

"Sawbones: The Second Half"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, David Micheal Beck - art and cover  

Jonah is naked, tied to the post in the 'Operating' shack of Sawbones. Tallulah lies dead on the table, Saawbones waxing poetic about what he saw on battlefields and how it lead him to the denial of the human soul. He pulls out Tallulah's heart and her brain, both still warm and steaming. He then approaches Hex, bloody saw in hand.

Jonah wakes up screaming to see Tallulah sitting in a chair across the room. She lights up a cigarette for Hex and explains that his hollering is not sitting well with the patrons and owners of the hotel, however, she has been running up a tab on Hex's behalf to calm their complaints. She tells him it has been two weeks and he wakes up every time screaming yet he has yet to tell her why he was almost dead in the river. He calmly tells her to be on her way.

She says that she will not leave him but she realizes that whoever visited this damage upon Jonah is not to be dealt with lightly. She understands vengeance and she has no intent of having Jonah be without aide when he brings down his wrath upon the perpetrator. He grabs her, intending to force her to leave and she slaps a hand across his mouth and starts berating him for his stubbornness. He pulls her forward and kisses her. She pushes him back unto the bed and proceeds to remove her clothing while straddling him.

Some time later, Tallulah is in the bar, talking to Ernest, trying to ascertain the location of one mad doctor. Ernest states that he has been unable to unearth the information when two men sidle up on either side, demanding to know where Jonah Hex is. One lays a hand on her, she spins and places a bullet upwards through his jaw and nails the other dead center as Ernest sneaks out the front door.

Ernest makes his way between two buildings and encounters Sawbones himself. The aproned doctor asks if they are there, to which Ernest acknowledges. Sawbones holds a pistol out to Ernest and instructs him to go back into the saloon, telling her he knows where Sawbones is at, lead her out into the woods and then kill her. Ernest hesitates, stating she is as mean as Hex. Just then Tallulah appears at the end of the alley and opens fire, with Sawbones returning shots and striking Tallulah in the neck. 

As she lies in the dirt, Sawbones slowly approaches, places the pistol in her mouth and finishes the job with a single shot. He stands and walks out of the alley, stating "I'm waiting on you, Hex."

Jonah wakes up screaming to see Tallulah sitting in a chair across the room. Jonah starts getting dressed, asking how long he had been sleeping this time. She tells him it has been four days and he says he is leaving and she ain't following along. She agree with no fight, conceding that Hex has to banish these dreams himself. She indicates there is something on the table for him, she has been busy and has located Sawbones and his location is on that paper. Jonah thanks her and leaves.

For an unknown length of time Jonah rides to get to Sawbones location and finally arrives at a barn at sunset. Inside Sawbones has a woman tied to a table, several skeletons hang from the walls and ceiling, he is giving a class to six students. Sawbones is explaining about ghost pain from amputations and that is where the questioning process is most productive.

Jonah sneaks up outside the barn and as he approaches the door, he is kicked from behind and lands inside. A henchman of Sawbones is standing on Hex's neck and holds him on the ground. Sawbones states he had been expecting Hex but he is surprised at the stupidity of Jonah's return. He orders the removal of the slave woman from the table and to be replaced by Jonah. Sawbones says that he had been searching for Hex and wonders where he had been hiding. 

Tallulah appears in the doorway and says that he was with her. She opens up with a shotgun, killing two men. She guns down another as Jonah recovers, pulling his pistols and mows down another four students. Sawbones breaks for the door but Tallulah shoots him in the leg, dropping him to the floor and Jonah picks off the final two students. Jonah tells Tallulah go up to the house and fetch something to drink, they are gonna be mighty thirsty.

Jonah straps Sawbones to the table and pulls the blood bucket from under the table. Sawbones starts bargaining, trying to come to some agreement and Hex pours the fresh blood into Sawbones mouth. Hex then reach for a lantern and says he had been thinking about how Sawbones said they are alike, but that ain't really true. Sawbones relents and tells Hex to torture him as he sees fit. Jonah shouts that he doesn't need his permission and smashes the lantern across Sawbones face, setting his head afire.

Jonah the douses the flames with more blood from the bucket, grabs another lantern and sets him alit once more. Tallulah walks in with a bottle of whiskey, stating it smells like a barbecue. Jonah pours more blood onto Sawbones and tells Tallulah to make tracks as he will busy for awhile. She says she would rather stay since watching him work makes her blood hot. Jonah relents, telling her to roll a smoke and keep quiet. He pulls a knife and says he's gonna try some new things tonight.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - six and Sawbones (eventually), so seven
Running Total - 750 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 248 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - Kicked in the back and a foot on the neck
Timeline - Just under three weeks.
Rape Percentage -  25% (10 of 41)

Man o man o man o man, was this one gruesome. It was good to see a continuation of a villain, reminding me of some of the Fleisher run. Sawbones, as an adversary, wasn't really all that tough. He relied on Jonah falling into his lap in the prior issue and then Jonah getting bushwacked this time. However the  physical and emotional scars that Sawbones visited upon Jonah were almost equal to those Woodson visited upon Hex in the past.   

Again, the dialogue is top notch with Sawbones waxing poetic, and the interchanges between Hex and Tallulah is quite telling of their relationship (probably one of the top two relationships in comics. I'll let others comment on who the other pairing might be). And again, not a fan of Beck (I know that a double barreled shotgun needs to be loaded prior to a third shot being fired, something that Tallulah didn't do). The art was too dark (I don't enjoy black gutters, too hard to determine panel layout at times). All in all, not a bad story, but pretty gruesome and definitely R-rated if made into a film.

Next Issue: Speak of the Devil!!! We get some more of Jonah's past and Woodson's training up of the boy.

Jonah Hex V2 #40 "Sawbones The First Half"

Jonah Hex V2 #40 Apr '09

"Sawbones The First Half"

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - story, David Micheal Beck - art and cover 

Hang on, this one is brutal:

Texas, 1879. We see a woman pleading for her life and someone trying to calm her but we then see a chisel hammered into her head and the top of her skull removed

The Good Doctor

Another woman is standing outside and is witnessing these actions through a window. The woman chokes back her tears and then turns and runs through the woods and into the night. Back in the building, a man with a butcher's apron is holding a bloody saw and we see his victim with her head poking up through a specially made table. Various organs in jars line the table and the man looks out the window, knowing that he has been spied upon.

To Catch a Killer...You Need a Killer

A few men are digging up a mass grave outside the house where the previous action took place. The witness and the sheriff stand at the edge of the pit. There are numerous bodies and parts in the pit and the sheriff asks the woman if she can give a good enough description for them to print up a wanted poster. She says that she will never forget that face.

The posters are quickly printed up and Jonah Hex is talking to the sheriff. The sheriff is saying that the man claims to be a doctor who travels around so that's why they called in Hex. He explains that the doc cuts people up with precision and takes out all of their organs to which replies, that sounds somewhat familiar. He never actually met that man but heard tales that had been told by freed slaves.

Some Legends Are Bloody

Kentucky, December 17, 1862

Hex recounts the tale: Back during the States War there were few doctors for the battlefields and several men stepped in with no training, some to help their fellow men, others to avoid the front line. There was one man from Louisiana, who had studied hoodoo and was with the Confederacy. He would often take wounded Union soldiers and experiment on them to extract information, further his own knowledge, and to train other so-called doctors. Some soldiers used the expertise of this doctor to gather information and would tolerate his gruesome tactics as long as he produced results.

Some of the Confederacy leaders actually noticed there was a higher mortality rate for Union soldiers in battles where this doctor was present. Several of the soldiers steered clear of him our of fear, disgust, or morals. The slaves hated him not only because of what he did but also his co-opting of their magic. The man was called Sawbones and the end of Hex's tale we see Union soldiers discovering a camp that has a pentagram made out of human limbs.

Bloodbath at Ramrod Dancehall

Farmington, New Mexico, 1879. One month later.

Sheriff Henry McClude and his deputy Jim sit in the dancehall. Jim is concerned about some men that are gunning for them. Three men come in, guns drawn, to warn the sheriff that Andy is coming and he is looking for revenge over the sheriff killing his brother. Andy barges in, words are exchanged and Andy shoots Sheriff McClude in the neck. McClude falls to the floor and Andy puts a bullet in the back of McClude's head, just as the sheriff's grown son Rick comes in. 

Rick opens fire just as the deputy steps up to stop him. Rick ends up shooting and killing Jim but continues shooting anyone and everyone he lays eyes on. A kerosene lamp bursts and the dancehall bursts into flames and Rick heads for the front door. He waits outside as men, ablaze, come running out and he guns them down in the street.

Just then Jonah Hex rides up and Rick whirls and draws on him. Hex tells him to take it easy, he is looking to talk to the sheriff. Rick, thinking Hex is with the gang that killed his father, shoots Hex in the shoulder, knocking him off his mount. Hex draws and kills Rick before losing consciousness as a crowd gathers.

Belly of the Beast

The wanted poster for Sawbones sits on a table and we see a knife being honed on a strop. It is Sawbones himself and Hex is sitting on the floor, bound to a 4x4 post. His hands are tied behind his back, and he is bound at the ankles. Several skeletons hang on the walls. Sawbones introduces himself as William Zimmerman and says that based on Jonah clothing and his scar, he must be Jonah Hex. Zimmerman says that he is happy to meet Hex because they are both death dealers, long lost brothers, if you will. 

Zimmerman keeps with his dissertation as he slices the bottoms of Jonah's feet and then cauterizes the wounds. Zimmerman excuses himself, he has 'pupils' coming to town, he gags Hex and then leaves. Jonah then starts slamming backward into the 4x4 post he is bound to and eventually cracks it and manages to make his escape. He staggers across the countryside on his bleeding bare feet, arriving at a river. 

He crawls into the river and floats downstream, finally becoming entangled in a fallen tree.

Lady in Black

and, lo, who shall come upon him and rescue him? None other than Tallulah Black.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - one
Running Total - 743 (432 past, 55 future, 15 Vertigo, 241 V2)
Jonah's Injuries - shot in the shoulder, feet sliced and burned and other injuries from slamming into a post until it breaks.
Timeline - This covers a month.
Rape Percentage -  25% (10 of 40)

First off, this is Beck's third shot at the art for Jonah, and it as it was before....meh. On to the story: I'm not a big fan of vivisectionists as villains, they are much too cruel for my tastes. I did like the story of how cruel some of the doctors in the Civil War were. It is pretty well known the harsh conditions they had to work under and how often they had to perform surgeries and amputations without any pain killers. Not too far of a stretch to imagine someone steeped in arcane practices to revel in the pain and draw others in with them, in the name of 'science'.

It is a trope of the villain thinking he and the hero are two sides of the same coin (or the same side of two coins) is, well, a trope and it gets a little tired. It IS nice to see a bad guy last an extra issue and we get a Done in Two rather than a Done in One. And it is great to see Jonah just have a run of bad luck that almost ends in death for him. Guy can't be lucky all the time (except in the case of waterfalls or bears in caves).

Next Issue: The return of Dr. Sawbones and probably the most brutal end to a story that we have yet seen.

Justice League Unlimited #19 "The Justice Rangers Ride Again!"

Justice League Unlimited #19 May 2006
"The Justice Rangers Ride Again!"
Adam Beechan, story - Gordon Purcell and Bob Petrecca, art - Ty Templeton, cover

1879.
Jud Saunders rides as hard as he can across the American West to elude the men chasing him, the men with cowboy hats and ray-guns. He is just about cornered when three men come to his rescue, Bat Lash, El Diablo, and Jonah Hex.

Current Day.
On the Justice League satellite, The Vigilante and Elongated Man are helping Wonder Woman inventory the trophy room. Vigilante is admiring an hourglass when he is startled by Ralph Dibny and drops the hourglass, shattering it and opening up a time vortex.

Naturally, they end up in 1879 Wyoming right in the middle of our western heroes being chased by the bad guys. Wonder Woman is startled to see Hex, Lash and Diablo. Ralph asks if she knows these guys and Wonder Woman explains that she, Batman and Green Lantern once... "well, never mind. It's time travel. It's complicated."

The bad guys realize they are overpowered and they take off, leaving the heroes to talk over what caused the ruckus. Jud explains that he was just mining his own business playing cards in Laramie when those guys came in and shot up the place. Bat grabs Jud and asks if Jud had cheated them the way he cheated Bat in Dodge last month. Jud denies that he cheated but Bat states "There's no way you pulled that fourth ace on the draw cause I had palmed it two hands before." But Bat won't let anyone hurt Jud until he can get back the rabbit's foot that he lost in the game.

Vigilante notices that Jud's last name is Saunders and asks if he is married to Kitty Wilcox Saunders. Jud says he ain't married but he has visited Kitty Wilcox in Carson City. Vigilante starts to explain the relationship between he and Jud, but Wonder Woman intervenes and says that they can't say too much since it could cause a time paradox.

Ralph then brings up the fact that the bad guys had been shooting laser pistols. Wonder Woman asks Vigilante if his family had ever been involved with someone named Starr and he stats that they did. She then theorizes that the hourglass was destroyed in their time but the vortex brought them back to a time where the glass still exists and since it is here then they could possibly use it to get back to their own time.

Anyway, she now knows that they are facing off against the Time Commander.

It is this Time Commander who is back at the bunkhouse with his bunch of bad guys. He goes on a tirade explaining how the Vigilante foiled his plans in 2009 so he came back here to get rid of Jud Saunders, he gets weapons for the bad guys to use but Time keeps trying to correct itself. To counteract this, the Commander goes hopping through time and returns with some more advanced weaponry... heavily armed robot suits!

That night, Diablo is mad at Bat for dragging him into trying to recover property that Bat lost while cheating, Jonah is talking to Diana and telling her that they will stick around until everything is cleared up and Ralph and Vigilante are discussing meeting your own ancestors and not mucking up the Time Stream. While everyone is discussing their next step the bad guys show up in their robot suits!

Ralph springs into action and wraps himself around one of the villains. Jonah gets into a Mexican standoff with another and does his best Clint Eastwood impression...

and Wonder Woman cleans up the last of them. Time Commander has been watching it all from a nearby hilltop and right before he can escape, Jud tackles him and knocks him down. Commander jumps up and states that he will send Jud back to the Dawn of Time but Jud has 'picked the pocket' of the Commander and now has possession of the hourglass!

All the bad guys are easily tied up and Wonder Woman tells Jonah how they will return to their own time..

Our current heroes return to the JLA satellite with Time Commander in tow and in the closing panels Vigilante starts feeling better about his contributions to the team.

Statistics for This Issue

Well, Jonah didn't kill anyone or get hurt, so a big zero on both of those counts!

It was kinda nice how Jonah took the whole time travel thing in stride, a nice little wink to his own adventures skipping across the time stream. The story was light-hearted, nothing to write home about, but it did a good job of giving everyone the same amount of 'screen time'. The whole story is a sideways redo of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon "The Once and Future Thing Part 1: Weird Western Tales" and that isn't a bad thing. It's nice to have this in book form.