Jonah Hex #66

Artist Fiona Staples joins Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray for this (delicious?) issue.

The Good 

CHEW meets 30 Days of Night in this self contained issue of Jonah Hex. Gray and Palmiotti's run on Jonah Hex has been consistently good throughout- and this issue is no different. Hex stumbles on a town where the villagers are far too friendly at first glance. Always the skeptic, Hex doesn't much care for or trust the kindness bestowed on him by members of the village; and even though he chooses to disregard the fact that they decided to store a dead body in their ice box; Hex soon discovers that there is more going on than meets the eye. Incredibly well written, eloquent and containing the most perfect characterization of Hex I have ever read. He says what he has to- nothing more, nothing less. Once again, the team of Palmiotti and Gray brilliantly capture the essence of Hex's mysterious loner persona. Artist Fiona Staples' artistic style is perfect for Jonah Hex in that the pencils are gritty and have an unfinished look which works very well with the story, but still left something to be desired. 

The Bad 

The premise is far too interesting to be one, self contained issue. In fact, I think the creative team could have easily fleshed the premise out into at least three issues and it still would have been fantastic. In a way, the story felt somewhat rushed. As much as I would have liked to see a little bit more detective work on the part of Jonah Hex- the issue was still solid. While I did enjoy Staples' pencils on the book, I felt that she spent little time on the background of many of the issues' panels, and it would have been nice to see a more detailed backdrop. 

The Verdict - 4 out of 5

Fantastic writing. Once again the characterization of Jonah Hex by Gray and Palmiotti was absolutely brilliant, even if the art lacked detail. Still, another solid issue.