• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

jonah hex - the FIRST grim & gritty kill people bronze hero

Started by shiverbones,

33 posts in this topic

shiverbones

shiverbones

Posted
Posted

i have been reading jonah hex in weird western lately, which is a GREAT read btw, and it dawned on my now jaded mind, HEY, this guy is killing people, left & right! Not shooting the guns out of their hands, or aiming for shoulders, he's KILLING lots of people! 4 or 5 an issue! in 1971 & 1972! WHAT THE F???? Its easy to overlook now because its so overdone, but, man this is brutal for the post code period. hangings & chokings are never too far behind either. At least Punisher did it for his own whacky rules for justice, but jonah just wants to get PAID. Anyway, just thought i'd share in case anyone out there hasn't read these treasures yet. I haven't gotten to his own regular series, but the weird westerns are some of the best 70's books i have read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shiverbones

shiverbones

Posted
  • Author
Posted

yeah, dezuniga is sooo under appreciated. I was guilty of it myself until i saw these hex books. Its really gorgeous and gritty at the same time. I also didn't realize that the early part of the run wasn't written by michael fleischer and was dissapointed when i saw it was john albano. It turns out his take on hex has been BETTER than fleischer's with what i have read so far. I guess i never appreciated him either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shadroch

shadroch

Posted
Posted

Let me ask a quetion here.

In the ads for his first appearence He is depicted as almost a werewolf like monster. This turned me off and I though it was another phantom Stranger type comic. I picked up something like his 6th issue and he was normal except for some scars. Never have read his 1st appearence and his origin in 31,32 don't mention it. GREAT BOOK until relaunched as Hex. So what happened to his appearence in those missing issues?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dam60

dam60

Posted
Posted

Glad you like it! cloud9.gif Bronze Age DC Supernatural / Horror is my collecting specialty #2.

 

I have a boxed set of the Tales of the Crypt from EC / Gemstone, but no original pre code horror. Too much $$$. frown.gif

 

DAM

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PovertyRow

PovertyRow

Posted
Posted

but no original pre code horror. Too much $$$

 

You know, if you don;t mind lower grade (Gd or so) copies you can get tons of pre-code horror for not so much. Certainly under $20 and sometimes less. It would behoove you to pick up even a few at low prices. The thrill of reading them first hand, so to speak, is wonderful. And you can probably sell them on ebay again for what you paid for them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dam60

dam60

Posted
Posted

That's a good point. I know that you and I have pm a bit about this before, but I have to tell you, Tales Too Terrible to Tell was AWESOME and worth far more than the $25 I paid for it!!! Those are keepers. I want to get the Vault of Horror box set next, I've really enjoyed the T of the C set and it totally spooked me out!

 

DAM

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shadroch

shadroch

Posted
Posted

I perfer the older BW sets from the 80s to the color ones. Its amazing the detail some of the artists put into these stories,knowing the color process would obscure most of it.But what about Hex?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted
Let me ask a quetion here.

In the ads for his first appearence He is depicted as almost a werewolf like monster. This turned me off and I though it was another phantom Stranger type comic. I picked up something like his 6th issue and he was normal except for some scars. Never have read his 1st appearence and his origin in 31,32 don't mention it. GREAT BOOK until relaunched as Hex. So what happened to his appearence in those missing issues?

 

I've read the first couple of All-Star Westerns, and as I recall, Jonah Hex was never depicted as a monster-- this was apparently just a marketing tease in the ads (remember "Angel & Ape: Who are they? What are they?").

 

Add me to the list of admirers of Tony DeZuniga art-- he also did a single Phantom Stranger fill-in in the middle of that great Aparo PS run. And his 3 Adventure Comics featuring Shelly Mayer's Black Orchid are some beautiful noir-ish early 70s comics.

 

Oh, by the way, I'm surprised none of the Marvel-ites have taken offense at the title of this thread. If Joe Collector were still here, he'd be sure to point out Conan as the the first "kill people bronze hero" ! wink.gif

 

Cheers,

Z.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shiverbones

shiverbones

Posted
  • Author
Posted

ah yes, conan. I would have to reread the early issues, but he is earlier than jonah. I guess there is something about shooting people that seems more harsh than swording them. grin.gif

The tone is different too, conan just seems more heroic and his kills are based on survival, and often aren't really men if i remember right, but usually monster, monstermen & the like (at least early on). Jonah just shoots people for money. Seems more grim. Maybe its just personal perspective, i'll have to reread conan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dave_Hennen

Dave_Hennen

Posted
Posted
The tone is different too, conan just seems more heroic and his kills are based on survival, and often aren't really men if i remember right, but usually monster, monstermen & the like (at least early on). Jonah just shoots people for money.

 

I've been a fan of Jonah Hex books for probably close to ten years, I picked up a few early issues of the Bronze Age JH series and was hooked. I disagree that he just shoots people for money. He had a set of morals that was his own and didn't care what anyone thought of him or his morals, apparently a result of his Civil War experiences and disfigurement. He did shoot people for money, if they deserved it in his mind and I guess he thought a lot of folks deserved it! But there are also stories where he did the "right thing" and walked away from the bounty or blew away the person offering the bounty because they were the real villian. I think that's what hooked me, the character was very well written and had a real personality.

 

I think the quasi-supernatural nature of the stories in Weird Western Tales made the series a perfect home for a character like JH and they had a "grim and gritty" feel that you get from some old Western movies. The stories got a lot tamer as he was transitioned into the Jonah Hex series (but still pretty great!). The Hex series is a real let down, not much to recommend it except occasionally good Texeira and Giffen art.

 

I remember when I finished the Jonah Hex series and later on the Weird Western series, it was tough to find them all but fun hunting. cloud9.gif

 

I have some doubles that aren't CGC candidates if anyone has a want list and isn't too picky about grade ...

 

dave h

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shiverbones

shiverbones

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Oh yeah, i too love the fact that he had this dichotomy of personality. I just read one issue where he donated all the money he won from a bounty anonymously to keep a charity house up & running, or something like that. He also cares for people who help him out or are downtrodden, but he accepts just about every job offered to him, and they don't always need to end in death, but they seem to. He is a humanitarian and a killer, very nice complexity!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing