Jonah Hex #9

Jonah Hex #9, 'The Carlota Conspiracy' starts a new story arc for Jonah Hex. Michael Fleisher was always good about trying to keep things historically accurate in Jonah Hex comics, but this issue he really ramps it up. It's a bit odd at times seeing Hex use period appropriate insults like calling someone a 'bean' or a 'fried banana', but the story itself is steeped in history. The Carlota referred to in the title is deposed Mexican monarch Empress Carlota. In this story Carlota is said to have hidden the Mexican gold treasury before she was driven out, however it was recovered and now Mexican soldiers use a prostitute to lure Hex across the Rio Grande, where they offer him a 100,000 peso reward if he will oversee the shipment of the gold back to Mexico City. Of course, if he refuses, he'll be handed back over to the U.S. authorities for the reward on his head. Hex, of course, agrees, but when he goes to check in to a local hotel, he's assaulted by his old nemesis El Papagayo (from Jonah Hex #2).

There are some downsides here - the biggest one being the fairly unbelievable way Jonah Hex escapes the death sentence depicted on the cover - but it's great to see Hex has another recurring villain in El Papagayo, and it's great seeing a comic with the kind of attention to detail Michael Fleisher gives this one - both the historical elements, and the liberal use of Spanish words, since the events take place south of the border. I'd say this is one of the better issues - and hopefully the start of a good story arc.