Jonah Hex

Jonah Woodson Hex is a Western comic book antihero created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga and published by DC Comics. Hex is a surly and cynical bounty hunter whose face is horribly scarred on the right side. Despite his poor reputation and personality, Hex is bound by a personal code of honor to protect and avenge the innocent. The character is portrayed by Josh Brolin in the 2010 film adaptation of the same name. Thomas Jane provided his voice in a DC Animated short film.

Publication history

The character first appeared in a full-page in-house ad for All-Star Western #10 which was published in various Nov/Dec 1971-dated DC comics, including a few of DC's war comics line, as well as a half-page version of the same house ad in Batman #237. This house ad contains the first published images of Jonah Hex, as well as two dialogue-filled comic strip panels not used in his first "full-story appearance".

His first full-story appearance was published a few weeks later in volume two of All-Star Western #10 (February–March 1972),^[1] which was renamed Weird Western Tales with its twelfth issue. Jonah Hex all but dominated the new title right up until issue #38, at which point Scalphunter took over the spotlight while Jonah Hex moved into his own self-titled series in 1977. The series lasted for 92 issues with Michael Fleisher as the main writer.

Jonah Hex was canceled during Crisis on Infinite Earths (in which Jonah also appeared along with Scalphunter and other western heroes in issue #3, 1985), but in the same year Jonah moved to a new eighteen-issue series titled Hex, also penned by Michael Fleisher. In a bizarre turn of events, Hex found that he had been transported to the 21st century and became somewhat of a post-apocalyptic warrior, reminiscent of Mad Max. The series had mediocre success in the United States but was critically acclaimed and well received in Great Britain, Italy, Spain, and Japan.^[2]

Three Jonah Hex miniseries have been published under DC's Vertigo imprint. These series, written by Joe R. Lansdale and drawn by Tim Truman, fit more into the western-horror genre, as Hex interacts with zombies ("Two-Gun Mojo" #1-5, 1993), a Cthulhoid monster ("Riders of the Worm and Such" #1-5, 1995), and spirit people ("Shadows West" #1-3, 1999).

In November 2005, DC began a new monthly Jonah Hex series written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti with interior art by varying (and occasionally recurring) artists. In assorted postings on their message board,^[3] Grey and Palmiotti have stated their intent to depict various adventures from across the full length of Hex's life and career. The main artistic difference is that the series is published without the external restraints of the Comics Code Authority which allows for harder edged stories without having to keep with the Vertigo imprint's dark fantasy themes. Tony DeZuniga, the original Hex artist, has pencilled two issues of the book (#5 and #9) and may do more in the future. John Higgins drew issue #28^[4] and J. H. Williams III provided the art for Jonah Hex #35,^[5] expressing an interest in doing more: "I certainly want to do more issues myself or even a graphic novel if the opportunity and schedule presented itself."^[6]

To coincide with the release of the film Gray and Palmiotti wrote an original graphic novel, No Way Back (ISBN 1401225500), that was illustrated by Tony DeZuniga.^[7