More history updates and a hint at what's coming next!

Happy 188th birthday, Jonah Hex!  To mark the occasion, we've got some fresh updates to the Jonah Hex history project, with Part 5 being completely redone, and while Part 4 got the honors back in April, I did just add a few new lines to that and to Part 3, all courtesy of the TwoMorrows book Comic Book Implosion.  If you're unfamiliar with it, I advise getting a hold of the book for some great in-depth reporting on the state of the comics industry in the late 1970s.  It's been invaluable to me in detailing the ups and downs of our favorite bounty hunter during the first few years of his self-titled comic, along with some other DC Western titles that never even made it to the racks.

As always, I was hoping to be further along in the project by now -- two updates in one year is pretty good, though! -- but I am getting more work done than I used to thanks to seriously cutting back on the ultimate time-killer that is social media, and I credit it all to a fella named Victor.  He's a fellow Hex-nut who contacted me earlier in the year with a fanfic idea that kinda lit my brain on fire (he also informed me of another proto-Hex ad, this time in Star-Spangled War Stories #160, so that section in Part 1 has been updated accordingly).  Nearly every morning, I check messages, then get right to work, either doing history rewrites or spitballing scenes with Victor.  The latter has been a blast, by the by.  What started as a "Wouldn't it be fun if..." idea has expanded into a 6-part tale, which I daresay will be novel-length by the time he and I are through writing it (the first part is nearly done and will likely clock in at 50 pages!).

Now, I'm sure you're wondering what this oh-so-spectacular idea is.  I'm going to keep the details vague, but I will tell you that this will be the next storyarc for "Jonah Hex: Shades of Gray", which I haven't worked on since...let's see...2017?!?  Boy, I am horribly overdue.  I'd promised at the end of the last chapter that we'd be moving on to something called "Color War", and this project with Victor ain't it.  It'll come around, just not yet.  Nope, the next SoG arc is going to involve two characters who've already made brief cameos, and are now going to be front and center for the next few chapters.

That's right, kids, The Shade and Bat Lash, together on the page for the first time ever!  Jonah Hex will be there too, so don't think we're kicking him out of his own fic, but you know these two like to be the center of attention, so humor 'em for a bit, will ya?  I did have vague plans for both of those fellas since the beginning of SoG, but once Victor made his pitch, I threw those ideas out the window because he had a much better one!  We want to have a couple of chapters in the can before we begin posting, so expect to start seeing it soon.

One last tidbit before I go: the title of the arc is "Dead Men Walking".  You'll learn what that's about when the first chapter goes up next year.  See ya then!

REVIEW: Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death #1

 

Welcome back, old man.

It feels really good to type those words and mean them.  Ever since the stealthy announcement back in January that Jonah was getting a new series this year, I've been a mite worried as to what that would look like, partially because of how badly he was handled in that Justice League: Warworld movie.  I also did a fair amount of speculating as to what this book might look like, and it looks like we've landed somewhere between "Bounty-Hunting Wild West Hex" and "Brand-New Reimagined Hex": A miniseries in a traditional setting, yet with a new twist that retains Jonah's heart.

It's wild how many moments in this first issue echo ones from all across Hex history (I should know, as I'm a bit of an expert on that).  The opening pages are similar to the opening of Jonah Hex (vol. 2) #1, he finds himself haunted in a manner that may or may not be genuine (as seen in JHv2#9, not to mention the situation with his dead daughter sprinkled throughout J&J's run), there's an allusion to the crows seen in the 2010 Jonah Hex movie, the young stable hand rattles off references to events from JH#7, JHv2#13, and Two-Gun Mojo, and of course the bounty hunter sports the "Old Man Hex" look we first saw in the Jonah Hex Spectacular way back in 1978.

On that note, if we have to put a date on this story (and ya know I love to do that), I'd say this takes place at the turn of the 20th Century, either before or after JHv2#25, as Jonah has apparently given up his old ways (another echo, this time to JHv2#34, an issue I know very well), and is so reluctant to return to them that he not only turns the other cheek after getting walloped in the face, he goes so far as to take a hatchet to his pistols when the temptation to wield them again arises.  This is a Hex who is bound and determined to not participate in his own story, and I love that.

As for the story...oh my.  There's tinges of Vertigo, but this ain't the crass humor of Lansdale.  Michael Walsh is dead serious and creepy, in both his words and art.  That flower the little girl, Annie, gives to Hex is one of the few bright spots in this issue, the rest is just foreboding, including the fact that we don't know who'd doing the narration here (points for sticking with J&J's decision to not give Hex an interior monologue).  I have no idea where all of this is going, but I'm happy to say that we're off to a great start.  I look forward to reading -- and reviewing -- the next one.

One last thing: I am seriously weirded out that there's multiple covers to choose from!  Like for almost the entirety of Jonah's existence, he's gotten one cover per issue.  Only exceptions I can think of are JHv2#50 and JHv2#56, that's it.  Now I have FIVE to choose from?  With EVERY issue?  Decadence!

No joke, here's the latest news on the Hex history project!

I wish I had some real news for you about the upcoming Jonah Hex title instead of a goofy April Fool's post on Facebook, but for those of you who were brave enough to click the link, I can tell you that Chapter 4 of my long-running Hex history project has been updated!  I’ve added lots more info, including a fuller picture of how the DC Implosion affected numerous Western characters, not just Hex, along with brief rundowns of some issues I skipped the first time around (I was really bad about that in the early days of this project).  I also covered a 1978 parody of “The Last Bounty Hunter” published in The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom called "The Death of Jonah Hoax" by Eddie Eddings, which was the inspiration for this year’s April Fool on VPE.  Here’s that same panel, back in its original context of “Hoax” telling fibs about his career:

Plus, if you flip back to the end of Chapter 2, you’ll find that the final paragraphs have been rewritten, thanks to something I found last month in a 1976 issue of The Comic Reader, which totally changed the story of how Jonah’s first self-titled book came to be.  While I’m constantly apologizing for the delays on this project’s physical release, those delays have benefited the overall book because I keep finding more information!  I suspect that’ll still be the case once this is published…great works are never finished, just abandoned.

Anyways, Happy April Fool’s Day, have fun, and don’t take any wooden nickels!

What will a Jonah Hex book in 2026 look like?

 

I finally found some time to sit down and type up some thoughts about the under-the-radar announcement by Scott Snyder over on his own blog that, shockingly, Jonah Hex is getting a new title...or at least that how he seems to be phrasing it.  Two weeks earlier, DC had dropped the news that their latest publishing initiative will be titled "Next Level", to follow their current one called "All In".  While the company itself only focused on Lobo, Batwoman, and Deathstroke getting books, it was Snyder who mentioned Hex, along with a ton of other characters and titles.  He just tossed the bounty hunter's name out there with no other info, rather like what happened when Dan Didio name-dropped Hex in a WIZARD interview in early 2005.  As I wrote in Chapter 15 of my long-running Hex history project, we didn't get another peep from Didio or DC  about what was coming until many months later, with Jonah Hex (vol. 2) #1 finally hitting the stands in November 2005.  I'm going to presume that, since this "Next Level" stuff is to begin this March, we won't be waiting as long this time around, but the same question faces us now as it did 21 years ago: What sort of Jonah Hex are we going to get?

Over on the "Jonah Hex, Via Pony Express" Facebook page, my co-admin Darren Schroeder put up a poll to ask our members what they'd like to see in a new Hex title, giving folks nine possible versions of our favorite bounty hunter to choose from.  Nearly all of them got at least one vote, and I personally couldn't decide which one to throw my weight behind, because each has the potential to be something good, and unless this hypothetical new series turns out to be something truly heinous, I will follow ol' Jonah wherever he goes.  So instead, I'm going to go through Darren's list and tell you what I think DC could do with each version, starting with the one that got the highest votes and working my way down from there, even touching on those that got bupkis.

"Bounty-Hunting Wild West Hex": Garnering 79% of the votes, this version may seem like a no-brainer, but I put 50/50 odds on it being what we actually get, simply because standard Western titles -- even "weird" ones like an average Hex comic -- don't bring in high sales numbers, as proven by Jonah's previous two series.  Even stunts like big-name artists and superhero guest-stars don't permanently move the needle, so unless the potential creative team has a very strong idea that they think will generate big sales over a long period, I doubt DC would put money behind a standard Western.  That being said, both the creation of Jonah Hex and every revival has been loosely tied to a rising interest in Westerns via other media -- Spaghetti Westerns in the 1960s/70s, gritty revisionism like Unforgiven in the 1990s, TV shows like Deadwood in the 2000s -- so the creation of a third volume of a straight-shootin' Jonah Hex could be tied to the current popularity of Yellowstone and all its spinoffs.  If this is the route DC is taking, I bet it'd be more of a limited series than a monthly title (like how they did Jonah's Vertigo run), with it maybe getting extended if the numbers really show up this time.

"Civil War Hex": This was an intriguing notion Darren tossed out there, and about 5% of the voters agreed.  With the current state of things all around us, the right writer could deliver one helluva message along with filling in a long-standing gap in Hex history.  Jonah's pre-War life (i.e. the couple of years prior to 1861) has barely been touched, and while I've written my own speculations as to how he ended up in the Confederacy, I'd love to see someone else tackle it, giving us a canonical reason as to how and why Jonah was swayed to fight for a cause he didn't believe in.

"Post-Apocalypse Hex": This version also netted 5% of the vote.  I've said my piece many a time regarding HEX, both in fanfiction and in a historical context, so I'll quickly sum up my feelings by saying that the idea is good but the execution is terrible.  That means it has the potential be turned into something great in the right hands.  This could be done within its original 2050 setting -- presumably moved to an alternate DC future -- or a complete rehaul where Jonah gets dropped even further ahead in time, thereby avoiding the conundrum we're in now (i.e. we are rapidly catching up to a future that will not happen).  There's even a third possibility, wherein the events of HEX get revised to fit within the framework of Batman Beyond, allowing Hex to piggyback on what is still rather popular iteration of the Dark Knight instead of making one from scratch like Michael Fleisher originally did.

"Time Travel Hex": Yet another 5% vote, and one that I think is strongest possibility of what we're getting.  Remember, over in the JLU title, Hex is still bouncing around with "Legend" and some other time-displaced heroes, and since we still don't know who she or he is yet, it could be that a new Jonah Hex series contributes to wrapping up that storyline.  There's also the fact that this setup is essentially the same as Legends of Tomorrow -- where Hex was a semi-regular -- plus there's the whole idea that the Hex we're seeing is a "quantum ghost" who doesn't actually need to go back to the Old West, so yeah, a Jonah Hex title where he's constantly bopping around time seems the most likely scenario at the moment.

"Brand-New Reimagined Hex": Our final 5% vote is possible, but the potential of it backfiring is high.  That's not to say he hasn't been reimagined before, as the "Future Hex", "Vertigo Hex" and "New 52" eras technically fall into that category.  However, in the first and third examples, the same team who'd been writing him for years stuck with him, lending a sense of continuity, and in the second example, Joe Lansdale actually misremembered how Jonah Hex was originally presented in the 1970s, so while things went a little off-book, he somehow managed to portray Hex himself in the same manner he'd always been presented, so his "new take" was actually the same old one.  And that's what is key to any new Hex title, be it a reimagined version or "back to basics" like Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti did for their run: If Jonah's heart isn't there, the whole thing falls apart.  I have no issues with taking him out of the Confederate uniform so long as they don't turn him into a Yankee, and I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with them changing how Jonah gets his scar so long as his surliness and ironclad personal morality remains intact.  If the heart of the character is there, Jonah should be able to weather any changes.  This is why I enjoy parts of the 2010 movie despite it being an overall mess (Josh Brolin fully embraced Jonah's heart, no question), but I'm still royally pissed about Justice League: Warworld (that man had Hex's name and face, but otherwise, he's literally a heartless bastard, and I had to write a fic about it just to make myself feel marginally better).  To sum up, if they reimagine Jonah Hex, they'd better not lose what's made the character last nearly 55 years.

"Modern-Day Hex": With only 1% of the vote, this is the last version that anyone put any support behind, and like "Time Travel Hex", I put good odds on this being where they might go, partially due again to what's happening in JLU.  This "quantum ghost" of Hex has nowhere to go -- the Hex of the past is still in the past, this one merely represents a split-second of the bounty hunter's life -- so if he doesn't go bopping around the timestream and he doesn't "die", then he's stuck in the present.  J&J explored the notion of Jonah dealing with the modern DCU midway through All Star Western (vol. 3), and I've dabbled in this area myself because I like watching the old man react to the everyday bullshit the average DCU citizen has to deal with.  Pitting Jonah against a "New West" -- perhaps with his many-times-great-granddaughter Jinny Hex in tow -- would be great fun, so here's hoping.

"Alt-Universe Hex": We're down to the 0% votes, but despite there being no apparent demand for these versions, we're gonna discuss them anyways, starting with one that's rather similar to "reimagining".  For this, however, I reckon it'd be something akin to Elseworlds or the new Absolute line, wherein you can REALLY go off-book.  We've kinda gone down this path before, with the aforementioned Warworld, Amalgam's Generation Hex, and even the Tangent line had a Hex in it.  Overlaying the general beats of Jonah's life over a totally new concept could be very interesting, as seen by the Elseworlds idea suggested by my pal Henry Joseph Feakes for my pretend HEX solicits: Feakes turned the bounty hunter into a scarred Vietnam vet in the 1970s, and while we only jotted up a paragraph, it's something I'd still love to see fleshed out into an entire story.  So yeah, depending on the idea, an Elseworlds/Absolute Hex would be a welcome sight.

"Supermodel Hex": I'm sure Darren tossed this out there as a gag, but since her existence was noted in the recently-published New History of the DC Universe -- her first mention in over 26 years -- the possibility of it is open!  If she did come back, I would demand an explanation of what her deal is, though.  And bring back her creator, Karl Kesel, while you're at it.

"Space Traveler Hex": This one is funny, because I've run across mentions of HEX that describe it as a space adventure, so there's some folks who already think ol' Jonah has gone to space!  In truth, the only spacebound Hex incident I can think of was in Justice League Action, and admittedly that was fun, so I wouldn't be against the ol' buzzard doing it in the comics.  Once again, this is a good possible destination for the "quantum ghost" version of Hex in JLU, and the notion of our timelost cowboy riding off into the final frontier is full of potential.  At the very least, we could see Jonah Hex butt heads with Lobo in the ultimate bounty-hunting faceoff, and how can you say no to that?

So yeah, no matter what form this potential new Jonah Hex series takes, I'll be there for it, full of hope that they do justice to his very long history.  I also REALLY need to get my Hex history project into print ASAP, so excuse me while I go back to editing!

New goodies to buy in my webstore!

In an effort to keep the dollars coming in as I work on my books, I keep trying to think up different things that y'all might like to buy.  The current thing in this vein is handmade ribbon bookmarks!

My mother-in-law recently gifted me a bunch of revolver and fantasy sword charms, along with some other jewelry-making bits, so after a few trips to Joanne Fabrics during their bankruptcy sales, I eventually came up with what you see here.  Each one is long enough to fit either version of Swords & Sixguns: An Outlaw's Tale, and each color denotes a different sword design, so feel free to buy all six while I still have them in stock!

And if tiny guns and swords dangling from ribbons don't do it for you, I have a few other designs as well.  I literally only have one or two of each of these, so I paired them with my "READING IS SO LIT" mugs to make them a little extra-special.  Again, feel free to buy all three, because every dollar I can add to my "war chest" will make it easier to pay for the production of my upcoming books.  Cover design and printing costs money, y'know.  Anyways, click here to go to my webstore, buy some goodies, and I'll get them in the mail quick as a wink. ;)

Ol' Jonah got an early birthday gift this year!

While I am sorry to say that the book version of "An Illustrated History of Jonah Hex" is still not available yet (I'll talk more about that later), I did update Chapter 3 here on the blog, so y'all can enjoy the new info I've added.  The expansion isn't as large as when I updated Chapters 1 & 2 last year, but there's a few good-sized chunks of newness in there, so go check it out.

"Hold on," I can hear you saying, "if your book isn't done yet, then what's that picture I see here on your blog?  Looks like a Hex book to me!"  Indeed it is, it's just not mine.  A couple of days ago, I picked up the brand-spanking-new Jonah Hex: All-Star Western Omnibus, and I gotta tell you, it's gorgeous!  Even before I cracked it open, I was in love with the dustjacket design, not to mention the image concealed beneath (I adore it when publishers do stuff like that!).

In addition to containing the entirety of ASW's New 52 run -- including the backup tales-- this omnibus features lots of behind-the-scenes artwork, much of which I've never seen before, along with a new, brief interview with Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray.  If you missed out on the single monthlies or just want a nice collected version, you need to get this!

That same day, I also picked up Justice League Unlimited #12 and New History of the DC Universe #4, both of which contribute new Hex-related info.  For JLU, it's the revelation by Mr. Teriffic that all our time-lost heroes are actually "quantum ghosts", each representing a single, standalone second in the existence of their true selves.  Anything that happens to them will have no consequences on the actual heroes: no knowledge of the future passed on to their past selves, no memory whatsoever of what is occurring in JLU right now...and if these "quantum ghosts" die, they'll simply cease to be, their true selves unharmed.  That means our Jonah Hex who's bouncing around with those "Legends" in the Waverider could be killed and not affect Hex's known history.  Unfortunately, other than an acknowledgement of a distress signal sent out by Airwave, we have no advancement on that particular story thread yet.  Fingers crossed we get back to it soon.

Speaking of history, the fourth and final issue of that series gave the nod to Jinny Hex and her Young Justice pals within the main story, but it's the timeline in the back that really delivers the goods, as it surprisingly refers to "Lady Hex" as a distant relative of Jinny!  This is the first mention I've seen of that gal since her last appearance in Superboy #75 (no mention of Chastity Hex from the Bizarro mini, though).  If anything, this moves our female, gargoyle-riding Hex further up when it comes to the possibility of her being Legend since Mark Waid co-wrote this timeline.  Sadly, it also moves Stiletta, Stanley Harris, and the Batman of 2050 further down due to no mention of the "Future Hex" reality on their list of possible futures (that reality may be gone for good, seeing as we're less than 25 years away from it now).

So, lots of goodies for Hex fans here on his 187th birthday...but no published Hex history book yet.  I want to sincerely apologize for the lack of movement there: I've done very little editing since last year, as I've frankly been distracted by the world slowly falling apart.  It's been hard to peel my eyes off the social media feeds and do real work.  Add in that fact that sales of Swords & Sixguns: An Outlaw's Tale have trickled to near-nothing, with me sometimes not even making back my table fees at cons over the past year, and I have been occasionally slipping into depression a couple times a month.  Just thoughts of "Why bother?" for a day or two, then I'll pull out of it and go on like normal, but not necessarily sitting down to write or edit.

After my last big show that resulted once again in just a couple of books sold, my husband and I discussed the situation, and came to the decision that I needed to take a sabbatical for a year.  No con appearances save for Dawn of the Collectors because it's literally 5 minutes from our house and we sell more than my book at those (e.g. toys and comics), and even that will only be 2-3 shows.  So no Fantasticons, no Free Comic Book Days.  Let's see if they miss me.  I'm also doing my damnedest once more to stop fiddling with social media, which is really hard because I understand how scrolling acts like a dopamine hit on your brain.  I've struggled with it for years, so here's hoping I can kick it this time.  I want to concentrate all my energy and attention on writing so I can come back to the cons in 2027 stronger and with more to offer.

Since my sales are obviously going to tank with no con presence, I will be putting a couple new items up on my online store pretty soon, so if you want to help financially, go over there and buy something.  Other than that, I plan on being fairly quiet aside from my weekly commitments over on the "Jonah Hex, Via Pony Express" FB page (frankly, putting together dumb stuff for #Memeday posts is a fun way to decompress).  If you get worried about me, drop me a line and I'll respond as soon as I can.  Anyways, that's it for now.  Go raise a glass to Jonah and have a great weekend, y'all.

Two Weekends, Two Shows, One Special Deal!

Been meaning to put this up for a few days, so sorry for doing this last-minute.  I promise to make it up to you, though!

For you folks who usually see me at Blue Water International Comic-Con, I won't be doing it this year due to low sales the last couple of years (didn't even make table last time).  Instead, I'll be at the NEW Fantasticon show in Waterford, MI -- specifically at the Oakland Expo Center -- September 27-28.  Saturday hours are 11am-6pm, and Sunday is 11am-5pm.  Going by the map I saw when I bought my table, I will be all the way in the back corner of the hall, which means I get to shill books to people as they head to the bathrooms.  Never done anything out in Waterford before, so fingers crossed that sales go up!

Then one week later -- Sunday, October 5th, to be exact -- I'll once again be at Dawn of the Collectors, located at the VFW Bruce Post in Saint Clair Shores, MI.  Show runs 10am-3pm with a 9am early-bird option.  This is the show where I sell not just my book, but all sorts of pop culture goodies that my husband I have acquired...plus we're bringing out the Halloween and Christmas stuff for this one!  If you have kids, let them dress up for trick-or-treating, as some of us (myself included) will be handing out candy.

Speaking of handouts, I said I'd make it up to you, and here it is: if you go to one of these shows and find my table, TELL ME YOU READ THIS POST AND I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING FOR FREE.  It's just a little freebie, so don't think I'm handing you a book gratis, but I want to see how many people actually see this stuff I put up.  For those who can't make it out to the show, put in an order for anything at my online store by October 6 and I'll give you a little something as well.

Okay, that's it for now.  Gotta get some rest 'cause we're heading out tomorrow to set up the table before the Waterford show.  See y'all later!