As much as I enjoyed playing around with the other columns and such on this site, I gotta say that I'm happy to be back at my little home here at Stumblebum Studios. This will be my first DBNO of 2006, so I gotta make it a good one, right?

I'll at least make it mediocre!

All-Star Western #10 - Jonah Hex "Welcome to Paradise"
Original Release Date: February-March 1972
Writer: John Albano
Artist: Tony Detuning
Editor: Joe Orlando

The horse kicks up a good bit of dust as it makes its way through town, but it's the two bodies it's dragging behind it that really put the dirt in the air. Atop the horse sits the bounty hunter Jonah Hex, a man--or demon?--feared throughout the west by all.

Inside town hall, three men watch as the gunfighter dismounts and makes his way toward them. Once inside, Hex tells him his job is done and that they owe him a good two-hundred dollars. One of the men praises Jonah for a good well done--Big Jim's raiders had been terrorizing their town for a while now, so hiring him was the best idea they'd had in a while.

As another man hands over the money, he comments that Jonah's arrived back in town just in time: three more of Big Jim's raiders rode into town a little while ago and they're at the saloon across the street. Jonah smiles and notes how nice it was of them to spare him the time it would take to look for them on his own. The man also tells Hex that the raiders no doubt watched him ride through town with a couple of their friends scrubbing the ground, so there has to be a trap set already.

Hex checks his pistols and tells the man, "No doubt!... only thet's when they should have gone on the offensive and gunned me down..." The grim bounty hunter exits the town hall with one last statement, "...now the advantage is mine... ah'm on the offensive!"

Upstairs at the saloon, a local dancer is busy preparing herself for her next exhibition when, suddenly, she gets the shock of her life: someone has come through the open window behind her and wrapped his hand around her mouth! His gravelly voice tells her to keep quiet or he'll mess her face up in a hundred different ways, otherwise he's not going to hurt her, only pass through the room. She nods and does as she's told.

The door to the room slowly opens and Hex looks down from the second floor to the first and sees just what he's expecting: an ambush--three raiders waiting for him to stroll in through the front door. Two of them get bullets put through 'em immediately, while the third outlaw lucks out and gets away. Hex follows and just as he is lining up the perfect shot, a kid walks by and into Jonah's way, 'causing the strange bounty hunter to fall and shoot wide.

The kid proves to be a bit more than Jonah is prepared for: he's a grumpy little snot.

Hex makes his way over to the blacksmith to get his horse, 'cause he figures that runaway raider will lead him to Big Jim, the leader of the gang. Once at the blacksmith, Jonah watches as the man, Clem, struggles with his horse; Clem's answer to the beast's wildness? A whip. But, before the blacksmith can crack it, Jonah rips it from his hand and puts a fist square to the Clem's jaw.

Later that night, at a cabin some miles away from town, Big Jim can't believe that one man was able to take down so many of his men. Cody, the man that got away from Hex at the saloon, tries to explain to Big Jim that the bounty hunter just isn't human, "Ah, j-jest can't describe the feeling you git when you look in the man's eyes..."

Big Jim is having none of it and grows tired of Cody's spinelessness, so he tells him to go outside for some water. Cody objects to going outside, fearing the crazed bounty hunter might be lurking nearby. Big Jim insists and Cody eventually relents, taking the pail and exiting the cabin to go to the well.

Things go well for Cody until he tries to return to the cabin with the pail: on the dark horizon, he spots an even darker figure. Is it? The shadow's lights up as a match is struck; the sudden burst of light reveals the horribly scarred visage of Jonah Hex!

In a matter of seconds, Cody is mowed down by Hex's irons.

Inside the cabin, Big Jim hears the death cries of Cody... but that doesn't last for long: a shotgun blast puts those cries to rest. Big Jim jumps out a back window, fully intending to escape, but he spots an opportunity! There Hex is, right in front of him! With multiple shots, Big Jim drills the shadowed body of Hex... until he realizes it's not actually Jonah, but a tree stump instead!

Big Jim sprints to his horse and is quickly off through the woods--a place he knows better than anyone else. Some time later, Big Jim comes to a stop, allowing his horse a rest. On the horizon, against the moon, Jim is once again shocked at the outline of the bounty hunter... this time though, he's knows it's the one true Hex, not just some stump.

Believing Hex to be a demon, just as his former compadre Cody did, Big Jim tucks tail and runs. After a few hurried yards, the criminal spots a farmhouse and, jumping a fence, makes his way to the front door. With one last look back, Jim confirms his fears: Jonah is still on him!

Jonah watches the raider king enter the farmhouse and knows nothing but trouble can come from this; fortunately for him, trouble is his game. Just as he shouts a single taunt to the farmhouse, Big Jim exits the building with a female hostage and tells Jonah to drop his irons or he'll blow a hole in the woman's head.

Before Jonah can respond, a small voice from behind calls out, "Don't let him hurt mah ma, please!" It's the same boy that caused Hex to misfire earlier! After some pleading, Jonah agrees to Jim's demand and drops his gun belt to the ground. Big Jim releases the woman, grabs a horse and begins to ride off.

No one gets away from Jonah that easily! Just as Big Jim thinks he's free and clear, he gets a knife in his back!

"Let thet be a lesson to you, boy--never show yore back to a man aimin' to kill ya..." Jonah tells the young boy as they carry his unconscious mother into the farmhouse.

After placing the woman, Jonah readies to leave, but asks the boy where his pa is--the one the boy threatened to get on Jonah after their incident in town yesterday. The boy submits and tells Hex that he doesn't have a pa--he's just a liar. The boy then asks Jonah if he would be willing to come back and visit him. The bounty hunter asks why and the kid stumbles a little before choking out that his ma makes the best apple dumplings and it would be a shame if Hex missed out; Hex says he might be back.

Later, back in town, Hex collects his reward for taking down Big Jim and his raiders. The three men of the town congratulate Jonah on making their town, Paradise Corners, a safer one. Hex asks about the boy and his mother he had just saved. The men tell Hex that the man of that family was killed some time ago in an Indian raid and the family has been having a hard time financially ever since--right now they're in debt $300 and will probably lose the farm.

Hex hands over some of his reward money to make sure they don't lose their farm. He also tells the men that he's been looking for a place to settle down and that he noticed a vacant house at the edge of town; the men are quick to tell Jonah that the house has been sold... just that morning. Apparently there's not a house in the whole territory for sale!

As Jonah rides away, the three men discuss what a terrible mistake it would have been to let a horrible monster of a man like Hex live in their town.

As Hex makes his way back to the young boy's farm to say goodbye, he is startled by a gunshot that nearly splits his skull. Hitting the ground and doubling back behind where the shot came from, Hex is surprised to find the boy's mother was the source of the bullet that almost took his life. She's none too happy that her boy looks up to such a murderer and she tells him that she put the bullet through Hex's hat to show him that he's not welcome around those parts.

Hex tells the woman that he didn't want anything to do with her or her boy 'cause he doesn't like either of 'em! The bounty hunter rides off, irritated and, though he doesn't show it, a little bit hurt by the woman's words, but before he can get out of the territory, a voice calls to him.

It's the boy and he's ready to ride off with Hex to be his partner. Jonah tells the boy to go home, but the kid is a bit surprised--he thought Jonah liked him! Jonah replies, "Like you? Ah hate you, boy! Hate you like poison!" With that, he rides off.

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I'm new to Jonah Hex, so I can't say this is a book that's been sitting on my shelves for too long. I was actually introduced to the character via a Batman cartoon during the 90's and then again via Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti's new Jonah Hex series. Shortly after that book launched, DC released a fantastic volume of DC Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex. I've been absolutely hooked since I picked these books up.

Apparently Hex's creators, John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, based the character on "the man with no name" from Sergio Leone's western trilogy featuring Clint Eastwood as the main character. If you've seen the movies and then read these books, then you can definitely see the similarities.

As far as why I'm so into the series? It's a breath of fresh air! Sure, it's thirty years old, but damn, it's nice to read something that doesn't have a main character with super-strength, a cape, and colorful spandex. Also, something different is that almost every story featured in the Showcase volume is self-contained. The later issues start sprinkling a bit of continuity in, but it's nothing that isn't new reader friendly (the new Jonah Hex series is much the same).

Ya know, I actually caught myself saying, out loud, "Damn!" at half of what goes on in this book. Every time you turn the page, you see something that's damn cool! It seems like the writer tried to up the coolness with each subsequent page. I'm almost convinced that Jonah Hex is the biggest badass of comic books--this guy could go toe-to-toe with anyone and come out alive! That's all, of course, a credit to Mr. John Albano, the co-creator of Jonah Hex and author of this particular issue. The man's work here is amazing, as well as the subsequent issues he wrote. Unfortunately, Alabano passed away nearly year ago at the age of 82. He had been writing comic books for Archie Comics up until a year just before his passing, so the guy was still in the business fairly recently. That's not to mention all of the DC work he did, which comes in at around 172 various issues for the company.

Tony DeZuniga, co-creator and artist for this issue, is an accomplished comic book artist that's still in the business today. Actually, he'll be returning to the character he co-created with Jonah Hex #5, part of the newest volume of the series written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, my current favorite writing team! Kind of cool that the man gets to return to this character so many years after he helped create him. It shows a respect for past creators and artists from DC that I'd like see Marvel employ, but that's a rant for another day (that will hopefully never come).

So, what I'm saying is that if you're looking for something different; you're tired of super hero books, then you should probably try this. DC has given you the perfect opportunity by releasing their massive DC Showcase Presents volume of this series and also, given the fact that the new series is just as good, you've got no excuse not to sample something with Hex in it.