No Way Back from Heaven's Gate :D
This is the first Original Graphic Novel from the most celebrated writer duo to ever write Jonah Hex. I don't know who does what and I don't care, they have Jonah down to the core. When I think Jonah Hex, I think "Western", "Scar", "Whores", "Booze" and J & J (Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti). I don't know if they just come up with stories or they have them all plotted, all I know is that I never want them to run dry. "Jonah Hex is the best anti-hero book on the stands bar none" according to Geoff Johns. I hate to disagree with him, I am a Hellblazer fan first, but Jonah is a darn second hands down.
I loved the presentation of this hardcover book. No dust-jacket to get ripped or get tattered, and a printing that give the look of a an old book. Pick this bad boy up. The history of Hex told in a new angle.
This is a classic fully contained Jonah Hex tale. Cowboys, Mexicans, Injuns, whores, gun-fights, and dead friends of Jonah Hex. The same bloody formula that never gets boring from these two writers.
For those who do not know Jonah Hex: "It is said he'd killed more men than Hell has souls. He was a hero to some, a villain to others, and whenever he rode, people spoke his name in whispers. He had no friends, this Jonah Hex, but he did have two companions... ...One was death itself, the other the acrid smell of gunsmoke". Never was there better said words of this Iconic cowboy.
What makes this book a must is it may just be the greatest Jonah Hex story ever written. I love Original Graphic Novels (OGN) because the story is not interrupted by monthly comics page counts, the normal 22 pages or some times a little more. Even the Prestige "novella" size is still limiting when doing a story in serials. This OGN is a smooth story, giving us vital history in flashbacks, while we are reviled history never explored in the series. Such as what happened to Jonah's mother after she left him and his father for a traveling salesman.
I loved that the original Jonah Hex artist Tony Dezuniga gets to illustrate this vital piece of DC work. How Jonah is presented in these pages is from the hand of the first man to draw him, it is only right that the one must have Jonah Hex book is done by him. The grit, the ugly violence and the classic line work gives this book a true western feel. I loved the splash page of the how Jonah got the Mark of the Demon. I would buy that as a poster.
The only thing that would make this volume even better, can't happen. It would have been nice to have an introduction by the other creator of Jonah Hex, John Albano, rest his soul.
If you are wondering about the "Heaven's Gate" comment you have to read this book. Trust me there is No Way Back from Heaven's Gate.
Buy this book if you want a good read. It is the book I would now use as the introduction book to Jonah Hex for those who want to know Jonah.
5/5 Stars! Thank ya kindly Justin and Jimmy! Thank ya Kindly!
Cheers!
- Silkcuts.
3 Comments