Wednesday is Comic Day!

Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray Artists: Luke Ross and Tony DeZuniga Publisher: DC Comics Price: $12.99

Follow up:

Jonah Hex first appeared in 1972 in a book called All-Star Western written by John Albano and drawn by Tony DeZuniga. This book (Face Full of Violence) is a collection of the first six issues of a new Jonah Hex series that began in 2006.

Hex was an officer of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Now, he is a bounty hunter. The right side of his face is horribly disfigured, but Luke Ross makes the left side look an awful lot like a young Clint Eastwood.

Although this is a collection of the first six issues, it is not a singular story. To the contrary, each issue was created as a separate story. There is a lot of discussion that, nowadays, comic stories are decompressed and "written for the trade" - meaning written in 5-6 issue arcs so that they can easily be collected and sold. Jonah Hex is a return to earlier days when a story was told in 22 pages. It is actually quite impressive how much story Palmiotti, Gray, and Ross are able to tell in 22 pages. Each story is as complete and detailed as it needs to be.

Jonah Hex is reminiscent of the film Unforgiven in that its hero is a stone cold killer, yet he's surrounded by people that are so much more morally unbound that he almost appears angelic. Blood practically drips from the pages and the body count is likely over 100.

The Western is an artform that ebbs and flows in our culture. It's great to have such an excellent example bringing new stories to us, today.