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 now, 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.