Broken Frontier

Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti have just finished their first multi-issue story arc on DC’s underrated Jonah Hex, telling how the gunslinger came to be.

In 1972, a new character graced the pages of a comic book.  An anti-hero, old west, bounty hunter who appeared on the scene fully formed.  Horribly scarred, tougher than saddle leather, and more deadly than rattlesnake venom, where the character of Jonah Hex came from mattered less than what he did and how he did it.  Over the ensuing years, writers slowly began fleshing out the character’s past, creating a kind of patchwork origin that served well enough for decades.

Now, we skip ahead to the 21st century as the character of Jonah Hex rose again in his own solo title under the pens of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.  As 2006 slowly moved toward 2007, the writing duo completed their first year on Jonah Hex. 

So, how do you kick off a whole new year?  Well, for Gray and Palmiotti it meant going back to the beginning; reshaping and retelling the origin of Jonah Hex—this time with some new additions and with their own, particular spin on things. 

After a year of doing stand-alone Hex stories, Gray and Palmiotti decided to do a three-issue arc with numbers 13-15 telling Jonah’s origin.  Remaining rebels to the last, however, they managed to craft the issues so that each story still largely stands on its own but becomes part of an intricate whole when all three are read together. 

As was mentioned above, there have been past stories dealing with Hex’s early days.  Some writers might have simply thrown these out or ignored them, but it is a tribute to Gray and Palmiotti’s respect for both the character and the work of past writers that they chose to do their homework.  There is nothing in the three-part origin that overtly conflicts with what previous writers had set down.  In fact, if anything, this writing duo has taken what went before and fleshed it out—lending it a greater sense of realism and historical accuracy.

So, just what does it take to create a man like Jonah Hex?  Each issue flashed back to one of three important times in Jonah’s past—his service in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, his youth with his drunken, abusive father which gave way to his time with the Apache, and finally, the events that led to his scarring at the hands of those same Apache. 

As the issues jump from time frame to time frame, readers are given a glimpse at how Jonah’s iron will was forged at a young age by dealing with his father’s treachery and cruel abandonment.  How a young man who still had romance in his soul was again betrayed just when he thought he found a home.  How a man who fought for what he believed in was tortured and humiliated, and finally, how a man sought justice... and was denied. 

Framing all of these flashbacks is a story of revenge, as Jonah pursues a former Union Army officer who deserves death twice over from Hex’s point of view.  For Jonah Hex, the definition of justice is a personal one and that is the one point that truly echoes long after the pages to these issues are closed.

Of course, such an auspicious occasion as the origin of Jonah Hex needs an artist who is up to the task.  In this case, celebrated Spanish artist Jordi Bernet was tapped to handle the work.  His style is a bit cartoony but he adds a deliberate roughness to it that transforms it from something childish to something adult and sophisticated.  There is also a brilliant sense of setting as each scene is drawn as if with an eye to a movie camera. 

Bernet handles light and shadow with such flair and skill that it all looks natural and effortless.  In fact, it is fascinating to see how Bernet uses shadow to create subtle foreshadowing in the flashback scenes.  In going through each issue readers can see a number of occasions where Bernet calls to mind Hex’s future scarring by placing half of Jonah’s face in shadow. 

His skill with facial expressions is equally breathtaking.  In one panel in particular, when little Jonah is left by his father as “collateral” with the Apaches Bernet manages to draw the adult Jonah’s expression of steely determination inside of the youthful face of a boy.

These three issues provide an excellent capsule summary of who and what Jonah Hex is about as both a title and a character.   Hex is a character that lends itself well to tales that are timeless; studies of the nature of justice and the hearts of humanity, both light and dark.  While the trappings here are Western, the ideas behind them—revenge, justice, love, compassion, and betrayal—are as old as time.