Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Jonah Hex #69Jonah Hex #69
DC Comics
Gray, Palmiotti & Lemire

I'll admit I don't typically pick up Jonah Hex. It's not that I have something against the creators or the character, in fact I usually pick up anything with Palmiotti and Gray on the cover. However, westerns don't usually grab me, but when I saw Jeff Lemire was on pencils for this issue, much like issue fifty when Darwyn Cooke took on art duties I knew I had to have this issue. I wasn't disappointed one bit as both sides of the story brought their "A" game to make an excellent read.

As is the case for most Jonah Hex comics from the current volume, this issue is a standalone. The issue setup is really very simple: Hex watches the demise of his own father. Actually, the issue has very little action and relies heavily on the dialogue and the emotions brought out from that dialogue. Great writing and amazingly detailed art pull this off nicely.

Hex observes some sketchy folks track an old gold miner. Their plan is to rob the old man from his claim and leave him for dead. Hex's plan is to swoop in for the aftermath because he knows the old miner they are tracking is his father.

When Hex tracks down the men and his dad the action had already occurred. What's left is a standoff. Not the OK Corral-type of a standoff but one that can only happen when two people that should make amends would rather play a battle of wits. Except these two characters are generally evil men that are perfectly happy with mentally torturing the other. This all just adds more drama and it plays out beautifully.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsOne thing I feared with Lemire on pencils was that all of the characters would look like they walked out of Sweet Tooth. To some extent they do, but it works. Hex's father is described as someone that has been beaten down by the desert and is a character that carries around an awful past. These are basically the same types of characters that live in the Sweet Tooth world, so it fits perfectly. Not to be underplayed is Lemire's page layouts. Near the end of the book he's got a double page spread that is sheer mastery. It's a ten panel spread with a panel acting as a bookend on each side – one of Hex and one of his old man. The middle section contains six equal panels of Hex's father and then two slightly larger ones; one on top and one on the bottom of Hex and his father. It's a unique layout that draws out so much more drama from the final scenes in the book. Oh yeah, additionally you get even more line detail than Lemire normally already generates so, yes, you can say the artwork didn't disappoint.

I realize that westerns aren't everyone's thing. However, this story barely reads like a western. It's more of a father and son story, kind of the anti-Vito and Michael Corleone conversation from the Godfather if you will. The creators know how to tell a story in an entertaining and artistic way. What more could you ask for in a comic book? I highly recommend checking this one out.

4.5 out of 5 geek goggles.