Showcase: Jonah Hex

[dr_cyclops]

Last Wednesday I'm picking up the latest "Futurama and JLU animated" and I can't seem to shake the feeling there is something I'm missing. Going over the displays again, I finally spot it! Under $20 book I can't live without.
Showcase Jonah Hex, is better than I remember it. Reading these stories again has brought back many memories of 70s comic reading. Now, I remember exactly, why he was my favorite Western hero. It is so nice to have these stories again. :)

[divinebrown]

Are these stories similar at all the current "Jonah Hex" series? I'm loving those.

[The Wayner]

Are these stories similar at all the current "Jonah Hex" series? I'm loving those.

Yep. Stand-alone stories that feature Hex as a grim gunfighter dipped in Italian oater spaghetti sauce.

If you like the new series, I don't think you'll have any trouble diggin' the Showcase.

[Apathy Boy]

Are these stories similar at all the current "Jonah Hex" series? I'm loving those.I love the Gray/Palmiotti/Ross JONAH HEX series, but I think the SHOWCASE PRESENTS stuff is even better. Really sophisticated storytelling that captures Jonah's many inner conflicts much better than the current series has to date.

Unlike the current series, SHOWCASE PRESENTS also has a lot of running subplots through several issues, which I like.

[Rob Imes]

This book has been my favorite of the Showcase books so far (not that I've actually read 'em all, mind you). The pages are reprinted nicely in B&W. I've kinda avoided the Essentials because I've not been crazy about the reproduction, but so far Showcase has looked good, and none has looked better than the Jonah Hex volume. I think the 1970s mystery and war titles will look great in this format.

[dan bailey]

I think the 1970s mystery and war titles will look great in this format.

i've only glanced through my copy so far to remind myself of the issues i bought new off the stands (i appear to have skipped the first post-"dial h" ish but bought the next several), but the house of mystery volume that came out wednesday does indeed look sharp.

[rarndt]

One of the nice things that DC did (& does) better than Marvel is that it actually maintains its old film to use as reprint material. Thus, many DC reprints look as good if not better than the original publication. Marvel is notorious for losing film and having to fill in spots in the Essentials with de-colored comic pages. A copy of a copy of a copy as it were.

[roach04]

The pages are reprinted nicely in B&W.

Big time eh? I am enjoying the new Jonah Hex series a ton, but the classic tales are really something. There are a couple of covers from DeZuniga that really skirt the Code. And those old Hex stories have so much of the Leone westerns in them that you can almost hear the music in the background when Hex is hunting a man down. Great stuff, and a fantastic choice by DC for their Showcase format.

[Marc Spector]

I'm really enjoying Jonah Hex as well.

I mostly read the later stories as a kid, so it's nice to get all these earlier tales together. DeZuniga's art is great here, and the stories move along at a rapid clip.

Hex is a good character. Who created him?

[dan bailey]

the co-creators were dezuniga & writer john albano, who unfortunately died last may, i believe.

[dr_cyclops]

As for DeZuniga art, I wouldn't want to see it colored. B&W is the way to own these stories. If my memory is correct, I don't recall color adding much to these stories. This often happens when classic style illustrators draw in a black and white illustration style. It doesn't leave room for the color, and four color printing can muddy-up the final product.
As for the latest JH series, I have not read it. I did buy the Lansdale- Truman stories of the 90s. Good stories, but I like these original stories more. :D

[The Wayner]

As big a Joe Lansdale fan as I am, I really thought he fumbled Jonah Hex. Been a few years since I read those stories, so I'll take for another spin---now that the character is reviving my total interest---to see how they pair up.

And I think if you like the old Hex, you could definitely dig the new.

Reminds me more of Corbucci than Leone, though. :cool:

[Cei-U!]

The Jonah Hex volume is far and away my favorite of the four Showcase Presents books I've picked up so far. I agree with the doc: this is better in b&w. I'm a sucker for the classic illustrative look, never more so than when applied to a Western. And the stories are beautifully constructed and executed. They prove just how much story can be told in a done-in-one and how deep characterization can run without resorting to soap opera. Good stuff. Yup.

Cei-U!
I summon the best comics I read in '05!

[Marc Spector]

I agree about this series in B+W, DeZuniga's art is fine here. I just finished the 3 issue Billy the Kid stories at the end of this volume, and was very pleasantly surprised by them! Great guest stars make the stories fun and lively, and super art by DeZuniga. You'd think that character would be played out, but here he comes alive.

I actually prefer many of the Essential/Showcase reprints in B+W. Tomb of Dracula is certainly better. I guess you can color the art in a variety of ways, but the core is the pencilling and inking. It's like a peek into the artist's studio, before it gets sent to be colored.

Certain scenes in the Conan Dark Horse reprints seemed wrong to me because of the new color choices. I'm curious to see the old art with modern coloring, since it can sometimes look so good, but overall I'll take B+W. :mad: :eek: except for these faces :D

[Slam_Bradley]

Gotta agree with everyone that Showcase Jonah was a gem, even if I had about a quarter of the issues in the book. And Dezuniga's art was perfect for the book. I'm a huge Garcia-Lopez fan, but his work on the last couple of issues in the book was just too clean for Hex.

[roach04]

As big a Joe Lansdale fan as I am, I really thought he fumbled Jonah Hex. Been a few years since I read those stories, so I'll take for another spin---now that the character is reviving my total interest---to see how they pair up.

I actually pulled out the Lansdale/Truman issues before the new Hex book started. I enjoyed them, but they were too "weird western" for me and not enough just "western". When I bought the Lansdale/Truman "Lone Ranger & Tonto" at the time I was hopeful that due to the characters it would be more of a straight-up 'duster; nope - it had zombies too!

[The Wayner]

Lansdale loves him zombies, I'll agree. :rolleyes:

Are you a fan of his, too? That sucker can write some darned good books.

[dan bailey]

Lansdale loves him zombies, I'll agree. :rolleyes:

Are you a fan of his, too? That sucker can write some darned good books.

i, for one, love his hap & leonard novels. cold in august & savage season were quite good, too, as were drive-in & drive-in II.

[The Wayner]

Hap and Leonard are great, as are the Drive-In novels (though I couldn't dig part three too much). My favorite Lansdale remains The Bottoms. That sucker could be downright creepy in parts...

[dan bailey]

the Drive-In novels (though I couldn't dig part three too much).

there's a part 3? nobody ever tells me anything.

[The Wayner]

Here's a link to buy it: Drive-In 3: The Bus Tour (http://store.yahoo.com/shocklines/dr3bustobjoe1.html)

It's not too good, though...

[OutlawJW]

Its the only Showcase that caught my attention. I'm almost finished and have loved every bit of it. I didn't read Hex as a kid and am glad DC released it as one of their Showcases. :)

[The Wayner]

Outlaw: Welcome aboard! Always cool to have another fan haunting the Classics forum. :)

[sheets]

Here's a link to buy it: Drive-In 3: The Bus Tour

That's the problem I have with Lansdale's deal with Subterranean: His new books all start at $40 retail. I love small press publishers and I'd love to get a copy of Zepellins West but $30-40 for a relatively small book is too rich for my blood :)

[dr_cyclops]

I'm a huge Garcia-Lopez fan, but his work on the last couple of issues in the book was just too clean for Hex.I agree, still it's Garcia-Lopez! Hex always looked better in that darker style. This is what I was talking about in how "Open-for-color" and "B&W" styles differ. I trully believe "Lopez" was leaving room for the color. In B&W, this would look way too clean. As an artist, I can see color on this work, that would "Dirty it up" enough to make it "Hex".
I'm getting to the end of this book, and I must say, $16.99 is nothing compared to the enjoyment this edition has provided.

[roach04]

Are you a fan of his, too? That sucker can write some darned good books.

I've only read a couple of the western short-story collections that he's done. Which...in hindsight...should've prepared me for his Jonah Hex. I have never been that big a fan of straight horror/thriller novels so the Drive-In series wasn't really my cup of tea. (because they're straight up horror, yeah?)

[dan bailey]

I've only read a couple of the western short-story collections that he's done. Which...in hindsight...should've prepared me for his Jonah Hex. I have never been that big a fan of straight horror/thriller novels so the Drive-In series wasn't really my cup of tea. (because they're straight up horror, yeah?)

almost nothing of lansdale's is "straight-up" anything, but yeah, those're pretty much horror, albeit quite skewed.

hasn't lansdale (whom i regard as something of a homeboy, as it happens, since he grew up in east texas & apparently was raised on the same tv stations i was in sw arkansas, though he's maybe a half-decade old) written some batman short stories?

[sheets]

hasn't lansdale (whom i regard as something of a homeboy, as it happens, since he grew up in east texas & apparently was raised on the same tv stations i was in sw arkansas, though he's maybe a half-decade old) written some batman short stories?

Yeah. He's also written a Batman novel called Captured by the Engines. And he wrote a couple of episodes of the Batman animated series, including the one with Jonah Hex :)

[MWGallaher]

I'm about halfway through the JH Showcase now (that is, a third through the Hex stories and all done with the Outlaw backups). These stories have aged better than almost anything I can think of from that publishing period. But as good as the art is, I think it *does* suffer from being in black and white. De Zuniga's episodes, in particular, because he'd often draw Hex's shadow in outline; the colorist would fill that in with a darker color, but here, it's a "white shadow". He'd also draw a line across Hex's cheek to indicate a region where the colorist would put the shadow of his hat, but here, it's just a pointless line on his face.

And the first Fleischer story suffers hugely from lack of color: a major character is supposed to be Black, and we have to figure that out several pages after his introduction from the text, and there are way too many minor characters, leading to one page that's extremely confusing. It's largely the fault of neophyte writer Fleischer, but color might have helped distinguish the cast. It's a page where Hex appears to be rescued by four men, who then announce that they want to hang him, who then note with alarm that people are coming (we see approaching riders), and suddenly Hex is surrounded by friendly people who note that Hex has killed "all four of them". I'm still not sure exactly what was supposed to be going on there.

And it wasn't just the covers that pushed the boundaries of the Comics Code: there are several instances of barely-disguised rape threats, hints that at least one character is a former prostitute, and, in the 2nd version of "Outlaw" (the short series was actually two entirely separate ones) we see the rather shocking sight of the star of the series slapping a woman. But Outlaw Billy the Kid turns out to have an excuse for behaving in such an "ungentlemanly" manner.

[Sir Tim Drake]

A belated welcome to CBR, Outlaw.

[dr_cyclops]

Thank you, divinebrown, The Wayner, Apathy Boy, and roach04. Yesterday I picked-up the new Jonah Hex series, #1-4. Looks like I just added a third title to my subscription service. Thanks for pointing it out.
Back to the Lansdale-Truman series of the 90s; Although I would call these stories good, I wouldn't call them great. I'm sure the idea of more supernatural content into the "Jonah" storyline seemed great at the time. It was a far cry better idea than sending him to the furture! Sadly Jonah doesn't lend himself well to stories that are "full blown supernatural". Not that the supernatural doesn't fit in Jonah's world, it's that it must not over-shadow Hex. Once this happens, Jonah becomes nothing more than a scar face gunslinger, who has immortal luck. I think if they are going to add the supernatural, it will have to be handled very carefully.

[Watchman]

Just to put my two cents in:

I'm reading through the Showcase at present and it is simply: frickin' awesome! I liked the simplistic art and the good stories. It's just all-round fun and action-packed!

To add, the new series is quite good, and, IMO, the best series out right now.

[Mister Intensity]

I went on a trip recently and bought Showcase: Jonah Hex along as reading material. Fantastic stuff, although I must admit that I prefer the earlier John Albano stories over the later Michael Fleisher ones. The Albano stories felt more like a Western while the Fleisher ones seemed to be more superhero in Western drag, with all the "comic book-isms" the earlier stories didn't have. Also the Fleisher stories were noticably more violent. Yeah, those things were expected but the shift in direction was very noticable. I wondered what it would have been like if the series continued in the Albano style?

Mister Intensity