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.

Jonah Hex #87 "Resurrections"

Jonah Hex #87
"Resurrections"
Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Ed Hannigan & Dick Giordano, cover

We have cheesecake, yes we do. We have cheesecake, HOW 'BOUT YOU?!?!?

Well, if you have a copy of Jonah Hex #87, you have enough cheesecake to open a factory and name it thusly. Our timely tale opens with Jonah Hex packing his bags while Adrian is lounging in an 'easy on the eyes' nighty in an obvious attempt to have Megan Fox portray her in the upcoming film.

Adrian wants to know why Jonah is suddenly leaving and Jonah finally fesses up that he doesn't want to be a lap dog to some high society debutante. Jonah does offer to take her along with him, back to the wild west, but Adrian is hesitant to leave her family and Jonah walks out with a slam of the door.

Meanwhile (and there will be a lot of that word being used this issue), Brett is reading in the Orleans Daily (even though they are 100's of miles to the west) about the bank robbery that was almost ruined by Emmy Lou. They get into an argument with Brett reminding Emmy that he alone is responsible for her safety and then grabs her and starts with the smoochy-smoochy. And of course, that is the moment the other two women in Brett's gang return with supplies. AWKWARD!!!

Several days later Jonah has hitched a ride in the locomotive of a westbound train. The engineer is slowing down to let Jonah off but then he sees something on the tracks ahead. Of course, it is several sticks of dynamite that blows the train to Hell & halfway back. Four hardcases swoop down on the wreckage and start looting the train.

Jonah, battered & bruised, manages to pull himself out of the twisted steel but manages to get spotted by the looters. He ducks and runs off into a nearby swamp.

Meanwhile, in the town robbed last issue, the sheriff returns with his posse, having not found hide nor hair of Brett and the girls. However, the banker's daughter has drawn up a fantastic likeness of Emmy Lou for the wanted posters.

Back at the swamp, the four corpses-to-be's are still tracking down Jonah. Sadly, slogging through the swamp has jammed Jonah's pistols with mud, so he has to rely on his wits to get out of this mess. He grabs his knife, some scrawny trees and gets to work.

Meanwhile, back at the cheesecake factory, uh, I mean, Adrian's, she is still prancing around in her nighty-nights and realizes that if she wants Jonah Hex, she will have to go get Jonah Hex and after a stiff drink, that is just what she does (after she gets dressed, of course.)

Meanwhile, back in the swamp, one fool steps into a loop of vines, causing a branch to swing loose and slam him into a tree with a knife tied to it at heart level. His death spooks two of the survivors but the boss isn't deterred. It is obvious that Hex's guns aren't working and his knife is gone.

Just then one of the goons spots Hex, takes a couple of potshots and then gives chase. Sadly, he steps onto a covered pit and quickly lands on the bottom of the spike-filled pit.

Back at Brett's hideout, the two girls want to have a word with old Brett. He tells Emmy to hold tight and Brett and the girls take it outside. They think that Brett is showing too much attention to Emmy and he starts laughung that they are jealous. Of course, he starts handing out hugs and kisses and everything looks like it's gonna be alright for Brett and the girls.

Night has fallen on the swamp and the two survivors have built a fire, planning their next move. Just then Jonah leaps down from a tree above them, kicking the loving crap outta both of them. The boss grabs his rifle and Jonah grabs the other goon as shield. The boss fires anyway and Jonah jumps the boss and pummels him senseless.

Just outside New Orleans in a doctor's office, The Gray Ghost lays on his deathbed. His son, Jeremy, comes in and the Ghost hands over the uniform of the Ghost and has Jeremy swear a solemn oath to continue the work of the Gray Ghost. Jeremy does this and the Ghost, dare I say it, actually gives up the ghost. Jeremy, swears that he will avenge his father's death by killing Jonah Hex!

Next morning, Jonah turns the three corpses and the surviving gang boss to the local sheriff. The sheriff pays out the bounty and tells Jonah that he would be very thankful if there are any other hardcases up on the board that Jonah would want to apprehend. That is when Jonah spies a wanted poster for...

EMMY LOU HARTLEY!!!

Statistics for this issue
Men Killed by Jonah Hex - 3
Running Total - 420
Jonah's Injuries - none
Timeline - This one covers two days from last issue. No telling how much time elapsed between issues. I would say we are still in July 1878.

Not a bad issue. Jonah's killing of bad guys isn't advancing the plot here, just adding action. The plot now is mostly Jonah coping with Adrian and Emmy coping with Brett. We have seen no sign of Turnbull, Mei Ling, or JD Hart for some time now, but they will be returning. It's hard to review these issues as standalones, because they are chapters in a sweeping saga that will pretty much continue until issue 92 when things take a dramatic change.

I'll be posting more scans of this issue later, just wanted to get some color/flavor in there for now.


Next Issue: Copycat crimes, a bloody train robbery and the death of Jonah Hex!!!

Jonah Hex #86 "The Slaughterhouse!"

Jonah Hex #86 Aug 1984
"The Slaughterhouse!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Ed Hannigan & Tony DeZuniga, cover

Jonah is all duded up while he and Adrian Sterling step out into the New Orleans nightlife. Adrian is walking with a cane, much like the doctor predicted last issue and as she and Jonah are seated in the fine French restaurant, Jonah overhears the folks in the booth next to them.

Of course, this being a French restaurant and it being in New Orleans, the patrons are bad-mouthing other customers within earshot. Jonah calmly dons his hat, walks over to the table and assists the patrons with their meal...








The staff of the restaurant don't take kindly to this ruckus so Jonah grabs a nearby cart and serves up a side helping of whoop-ass casserole.

Meanwhile, several hundred miles away, The Gray Ghost finally makes it back to his cabin & his son. The horse ride has reopened his wounds and he makes his son swear that the Gray Ghost will never die.

A week later, back in lovely New Orleans, papa Sterling is having a row with his hard headed offspring regarding her choice of man-friends. Mr. Sterling brings up that Jonah is still married to a Chinese woman but Adrian counters that Jonah hasn't seen her in quite some time. Finally papa Sterling asks if Adrian loves Jonah and she honestly says that she doesn't know and despite everything Jonah, uncomfortable and confused in New Orleans and tracked by the Gray Ghost, is still better for her than the cowardly Clifford Mapely who engineered her kidnapping.

During all of this, Jonah is riding back to Adrian's grandmother's house (where he & Adrian are shacking up) and as he crosses a rope bridge he suddenly spies the Gray Ghost atop a hill on the far side. The Ghost opens fire, forcing Jonah off his horse and returning fire. The Ghost manages to shoot one of the ropes holding the bridge and as Jonah stands there shocked, the Ghost pierces the other rope, sending the bridge swinging, Jonah's horse swimming, and Jonah hanging on for dear life.

As Jonah tries to climb up the bridge, the Ghost nails Jonah Hex in the left wrist, sending Hex right into the drink. Jonah stays underwater for as long as he can and manages to elude the Ghost.

And, of course, at that same moment, several hundred miles away, Brett is planning his next bank robbery with Camille, Sandy, and Emmy Lou. As they head out for the robbery, Brett hands Emmy an unloaded rifle and before they leave Brett reminds Emmy of the possibility of her getting locked back up in the closet and then seals the deal with a lingering lip-lock.

Also at that time, Adrian finally comes home from her talk with papa and she finds the front door ajar. She walks in calling out Jonah's name but the Gray Ghost grabs her from behind and drags her away.

Shortly thereafter, Jonah returns to the mansion and finds...


We suddenly switch to a bank holdup, already in progress. Brett is forcing the teller to hand over the cash when an overly brave customer suddenly grabs Emmy's unloaded rifle. Emmy cries out and her bandanna falls, revealing that she is a woman. Brett quickly solves the problem by killing the customer and the entire gang rides out of town as hard as they can.

That night, back in Louisiana, Jonah is approaching the only slaughterhouse in the area. He decides to not use the front door and scales to an upper window. As Jonah sneaks inside, the Ghost appears out of the darkness and pumps two slugs into him. The Ghost closes in on Hex but Jonah suddenly grabs the Ghost & they topple through a railing into the packing crates below.

The Ghost grabs a meat hook and as he raises it over his head, Jonah whips out his pistol and pops the Ghost a good one. As the Ghost tries to flee, he throws a crate at Hex and Jonah administers another lead pill, knocking the Ghost backwards amongst the crates. Jonah finally finds Adrian and unties her. When they go to drag the Ghost's dead carcass back to town they find......

Statistics for this Issue
Men Killed by Jonah - 0
Running Total - 417
Jonah's Injuries - Shot in the wrist and shot once in the gut.
Timeline - This one covers a week plus some. I'm not sure where it falls regarding last issue since the doc said it would be some time before Adrian was up & about and I'm not sure how long it takes an injured man to ride several hundred miles. Let's say that amounts to another week, so this issue covers 15 days. That would place into July, 1878.

There was a lot of hopping around in this issue, Fleisher has a lot of subplots to keep going. I'm glad he didn't throw in Mei Ling, that would have been way too much. The ending seemed quite rushed with the sudden vanishing act pulled by the Gray Ghost, but we all know that we will be seeing more of him (father & son).

I've been slowing down on my reviews and I think it's because there are only six more issues of Jonah Hex left before the switch to Hex. We'll still have a lot of stories to go through with Hex, the Vertigo titles and then into the new ongoing series, but it's just bittersweet as we wind up the run on this book. I know my mood will change as we move on. I'll try to keep the tears to a minimum.

Next Issue: More Emmy Lou! More Adrian! and just for fun a train gets blown to Hell!

Jonah Hex #85 "Behold the Gray Ghost"

Jonah Hex #85 June 1984
"Behold the Gray Ghost"
Michael Fleisher, story - Tony DeZuniga, art - Ed Hannigan & Tony DeZuniga, cover

Well, this story has no exclamation point in the title, so you know something is wrong! What's wrong is that Jonah Hex has gone bi-monthly with this issue and it is also the 100th Jonah Hex story penned by Michael Fleisher. So what happens in this bitter-sweet issue?

For starters a bunch of guys in Confederate outfits are burning Jonah Hex in effigy, shouting death to the traitor, Jonah Hex. But then they come to their senses & realize that they'll probably never have revenge on Hex. Just then Quentin Turnbull emerges from the shadows, chastising them for being so spineless. He has actually done something about Hex. Turnbull has hired the Gray Ghost!!!!

Several days later we get our first glimpse of the Ghost as we are witness to a wedding that is rudely interrupted by a hooded Confederate officer. The Ghost claims that the groom betrayed Confederate troop movements and that the Ghost will carry out the death sentence. The Ghost draws his pistol and shoots the groom right in the middle of the service. The Ghost backs out of the doors and hightails it but the men inside are unable to give chase because the doors were blocked.

When they finally bust out of the church they spy an older gentleman and ask if he saw the Ghost ride off. The old man points them out of town and the posse mounts up and heads out as the old gentleman gets on his horse and rides the opposite direction literally whistling Dixie.

Needless to say, the posse doesn't find the Ghost (because he was the old gentleman) and the posse start asking the sheriff if he knows who the Gray Ghost is. The sheriff replies that all he knows is that Ghost was a Confederate officer whose family was butchered during Sherman's March to the Sea (late 1864). When Gen. Lee surrendered, the Ghost didn't, he continued slaughtering Union soldiers and kill former Confederates on a list that he made of traitors to the South.

A week later, on the outskirts of New Orleans, Adrian and Jonah Hex are getting ready for a dinner party. Jonah is looking pretty dapper in formal dinner attire, but he ain't none too happy about it. It's only been two weeks since he met Adrian and they have been living in her Grandma's former house. Adrian puts a liplock on Jonah and as they get ready to leave they encounter Clifford, Adrian's former fiance.

Clifford, berated throughout all of New Orleans, is there to win his honor back and he pulls a pistol on Jonah. In one swift move, Jonah disarms Clifford, breaks his arm and then throws him out the door like last weeks trash.


Elsewhere, Brett and his two female cohorts have decided to let Emmy Lou out of the closet where they have imprisoned her. She can stay out on one condition, she help rob their next bank. She refuses but quickly changes her tune when they start to shove her back into the closet.

Several hours later, Jonah Hex and Adrian are returning home from the dinner party, via a fancy buggy. They happen upon an old gentleman carrying a small bag & a saddle. The man explains that his horse stumbled and broke a leg and he asks for a ride. Jonah & Adrian oblige. During the ride, Adrian learns that the man's name is Gray but suddenly a shot rings out and a bullet grazes Gray's scalp, knocking him unconscious.

There are three men on a hilltop taking potshots at the buggy. Jonah hands the reins to Adrian, grabs his rifle and quickly sends one of the men to his final reward. Jonah manages to wing another in the leg before they hightail it off into the darkness.

Adrian checks on Mr. Gray and finds that he is alive and offers to take Gray to her house to help him recover from his wound. Back at the house, Adrian does a fine job of doctoring Gray and she tells him to spend the night in an upstairs bedroom.

Back in town, Clifford is disgusted to learn that the three men he hired to kill Jonah Hex not only failed, but killed an innocent man in the bargain (Mr. Gray). The two thugs tell Clifford to shut up and get ready with the ten thousand dollars they were promised because they are going to finish the job tonight.

The next morning at Adrian's house, Jonah is in bed and Adrian is already up when she decides to check in on Mr. Gray to see if he needs anything. What she doesn't know is that Mr. Gray has donned the garb of the Gray Ghost and is getting ready to carry out Turnbull's orders to kill Jonah Hex. Adrian walks into Gray's room and sees the Gray Ghost. He tells her to be quiet because he has never harmed an innocent but she scream out for Jonah.

Jonah hears the gunshot and leaps out of bed and heads for the stairs. The Ghost is standing over the body of Adrian and vows to make Jonah Hex pay for Adrian's life (he has some serious issues with responsibility!). Jonah shouts from the bottom of the stairs that he has found the death warrant that the Ghost had for Jonah and Jonah & the Ghost end up in a Mexican standoff at the top and bottom of the stairs.

The Ghost realizes that he can't kill Jonah, at least not tonight, and decides to cut and run by bailing out a second story window. Just as he is getting ready to vault off the balcony, who should show up but Clifford's goons. They spot a Confederate figure on the balcony and open fire, knocking the Ghost to his death.



Jonah heads up the stairs and finds that Adrian is only wounded. The next day, the local doctor tends to Adrian's wounds and states that in a month or two she will be fine. When Jonah questions the doc about the Ghost, the doc stammers that the Ghost died while the doc was attempting to dig out the bullets.

As the doc heads away from the mansion, he is stopped on the road by the Gray Ghost. The Ghost thanks the doc for patching him up and telling Hex that he is dead, then hands over a fat wad of bills. The Ghost and the doc go their separate ways.

Statistics for the Issue
Men killed by Jonah - 1
Running Total - 417
Jonah's Injuries - none
Timeline - This one must start right after last issue. It takes 'several days' from the start of the story before we are introduced to the Gray Ghost and then it is the 'following week' that Clifford gets his arm broken. I will place this finishing up around the middle to end of June, 1878.

Adrian is one heck of a woman. Last issue she kills a guy, this issue she smirks as her former fiance gets his arm broken, she takes a bullet and is still going. She's fairly bossy, dragging Jonah all around New Orleans; fairly spoiled, partying non-stop; and completely into the scar-faced bounty hunter.

I laughed at the start when the Fort Charlotte brigade realized they are a bunch of losers! The ending seems fairly rushed with Jonah finding the death warrant that the Ghost dropped and Adrian surviving her gunshot wound. But we now have another lunatic hunting down Jonah Hex. And I'm sure that we'll be seeing more of him.

One last thing, do you like Jonah Hex all fancied up?



Or ready for......?


Next Issue: Emmy Lou in a bank robbery gone bad, the Gray Ghost returns, and Jonah Hex visits a pastry bar!!!