Jonah Hex # 2 - Mobile Edition

DC Comics
Jonah Hex # 2
By Koppy McFad
December 17, 2005 - 04:01

DC Comics
Writer(s): Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti
Penciller(s): Luke Ross
Cover Artist(s): Leonardo Manco
ISBN: 978-1401212490
144 pages

Bandits raid a Mexican village, stealing a gold cross and Jonah Hex goes after them in this tale that tries to compress eight spaghetti Westerns into one issue. The story begins nicely, promising a lot but eventually it fails to deliver. A fiery Latina accompanies Hex on his quest but she never provides anything but eye candy. A corrupt town ruled by a disgruntled Confederate officer is introduced but this setting is never fully fleshed out. The ending is suppose to be ironic but just comes off as ill-placed. SPOILER ALERT-- well, actually, having greedy townspeople suddenly rush into a mine like it was a bank vault is just stupid. Does anyone know how hard it is to dig ore out of a mine? You don't just run in with a shovel! The townspeople would know that. A big part of the problem with this comic is they are trying to use elements of decompressed storytelling while keeping fairly complex stories confined to a single issue. You can't have it both ways. Make the stories simpler or make the stories longer or make the storytelling faster. Oddly, the art this time fails to add to the gritiness of the story. It was too languid and laid-back.