With recent release of the upcoming movie Jonah Hex I know a lot of you guys might not be really that hip to this comic turned movie. So I below I have provided just a quick regarding the character.
JONAH HEX BIO:
[edit]Publication history
The character first appeared in a full-page in-house ad for
All-Star Western #10 which was published in various Nov/Dec 1971-dated DC comics, including a few of DC's war comics line, as well as a half-page version of the same house ad in
Batman #237. This house ad contains the first published images of Jonah Hex, as well as two dialogue-filled comic strip panels not used in his first "full-story appearance". This "cameo appearance" pre-dates his first "full-story appearance" by a few weeks.
His first "full-story appearance" was published a few weeks later in volume two of
All-Star Western #10 (
1972), which was renamed
Weird Western Tales with its twelfth issue. Jonah Hex all but dominated the new title right up until issue #38, at which point
Scalphunter took over the spotlight while Jonah moved into his own self-titled series,
Jonah Hex, in
1977. The series lasted for 92 issues with
Michael Fleisher as the main writer.
Jonah Hex was canceled during
Crisis on Infinite Earths (in which Jonah also appeared along with Scalphunter and other western heroes in issue #3,
1985), but in the same year Jonah moved to a new eighteen-issue series titled
Hex, also penned by Michael Fleisher. In a bizarre turn of events, he found that he had been transported to the 22nd century and became somewhat of a
post-apocalyptic warrior, reminiscent of
Mad Max. The series had mediocre success in the United States but was critically acclaimed and well received in Great Britain, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
[1] Three
Jonah Hex miniseries have been published under DC's
Vertigo imprint. These series, written by
Joe R. Lansdale and drawn by
Tim Truman, fit more into the western-horror genre, as Hex interacts with
zombies ("Two-Gun Mojo" #1-5,
1993), a
Cthulhoid monster ("Riders of the Worm and Such" #1-5,
1995), and spirit people ("Shadows West" #1-3,
1999).
In November
2005, DC began a new monthly
Jonah Hex series written by
Justin Gray and
Jimmy Palmiotti with interior art by varying (and occasionally recurring) artists. In assorted postings on their message board,
[2] Grey and Palmiotti have stated their intent to depict various adventures from across the full length of Hex's life and career. The main artistic difference is that the series is published without the external restraints of the
Comics Code Authority which allows for harder edged stories without having to keep with the Vertigo imprint's dark fantasy themes. Famous Hex artist
Tony DeZuniga has pencilled two issues of the book (#5 and #9) and may do more in the future.
John Higgins drew issue #28
[3] and
J. H. Williams III provided the art for
Jonah Hex #35,
[4] expressing an interest in doing more: "I certainly want to do more issues myself or even a
graphic novel if the opportunity and schedule presented itself."
[5]To coincide with the release of the film Gray and Palmiotti wrote an original graphic novel,
No Way Back (
ISBN 1401225500), that was illustrated by
Tony DeZuniga.
[6][edit]Character biography
Jonah has battled
alcoholism, and as an adult faced his mother's turn to
prostitution. Though he traveled extensively throughout the
American West, he also ended up in
South America and
China. At one point he quit bounty hunting, got married and had a son, and took up farming, though it didn't last.
Hex's facial injuries can be traced back to being sold into slavery by his father to the Apache for safe passage. Jonah eventually saved the chief from being killed by a mountain lion and was made an honorary member of the tribe. He was soon betrayed by the envious son of the chief while on a raid. He returned years later to challenge him in a sacred tomahawk battle but the chief's son sabotaged Jonah's tomahawk and Jonah used his knife in self defense when the tomahawk broke. The tribe saw this as breaking the rules of the sacred battle and sentenced Jonah to wear the mark of the demon by pressing a searing hot tomahawk to his face. They said his honorary relationship to the chief was the only thing that saved him from death.
In 1904, Jonah was shot during a card game (but not before he was transported to 2050 for the
Hex series. The exact date when this occurred has been in debate. Several sources point to 1875, however a running timeline of events in Jonah's life places this closer to 1878). His corpse was stolen, stuffed, mounted, and dressed in a ridiculous singing cowboy costume, then put on display in a traveling circus. The circus owner was eventually murdered and Jonah's body was stolen yet again. It would pass through various hands before finally being acquired by the restaurant "
Planet Krypton", owned by
Booster Gold.
In 2010 Jonah was found by a Black Lantern ring and was revived as a
Black Lantern.
[7][edit]Recurring villains and supporting cast
Being a "non-superhero", Jonah did not have a "
Rogues gallery" comparable to costumed comic-book heroes, though he had a few adversaries who returned from time to time. The first and most notable of these to date was
Quentin Turnbull, known at first as simply the man with the eagle-topped cane.
Turnbull was the father of Hex's best friend, Jeb Turnbull. During the
American Civil War, Jonah actually surrendered himself to the
Union forces after the passage of the
Emancipation Proclamation, but refused to betray where his fellow soldiers were camped. A Union soldier was able to determine the location of that camp by examining the dirt in the hooves of Jonah's horse. The Union soldiers captured all of Jonah's fellow soldiers and then later massacred most of them, framing Jonah as a turncoat. Turnbull's son was one of those slaughtered and Turnbull vowed his vengeance upon Jonah.
Turnbull hired an unnamed stage actor to impersonate Hex and help "destroy Hex". This actor, naming himself "The Chameleon", was eventually hideously scarred in a fire started by Hex, and vowed vengeance upon Hex.
El Papagayo was a Mexican bandit running guns. Hex was hired by the
United States Secret Service(actually a man hired by Turnbull to pose as an agent) to infiltrate El Papagayo's band and bring him to justice. Hex was unsuccessful and he and Papagayo met several more times over the years.
Tallulah Black is a character introduced in 2007. As a young woman she was savagely raped and mutilated by the men who murdered her family. She was saved by Hex, who helped her gain vengeance. She would go on to become a bounty hunter herself, and eventually Hex's lover.
[8] Tallulah eventually became pregnant by Hex, however the child, a girl, was killed before being born (
JH V2, #50).
[edit]Significant dates in Jonah's life
The majority of Jonah's adventures were never given actual dates, however, some significant events were given year references. The ones listed here are actually mentioned or calculated using dialogue or other references.
November 1, 1838: Jonah is born. (JH V1, #50 & reference in #57)
June, 1848: Jonah's mother runs away with a traveling salesman. (JH V1, #57)
July, 1851: Jonah's father, a physically abusive alcoholic, sells him into slavery to the
Apache in exchange for either a pile of pelts (
JH V1, #7) or safe passage through Indian land (
JH V2, #14). The two Jonah Hex series have different explanations, and it is unclear which is the canonical version of the story, if either.
1853: At the age of fifteen, Jonah saves the tribe's chief from a puma. The chief expresses his gratitude by adopting Jonah as his second son. Jonah eventually exceeds the chief's son, Noh-Tante, in the chief's eyes. (JH V1, #7)
1854: Jonah & Noh-Tante, in a tribal ritual of manhood, raid a nearby Kiowa village to steal ponies. Noh-Tante ambushes Jonah and leaves him to the Kiowas and tells the chief that Jonah is dead. Jonah is either 'rescued' by scalphunters who slaughter the Kiowas and shoot Jonah, leaving him for dead before a trapper finds him and nurses him back to health (JH V1, #7), or Jonah manages to defeat the Kiowas but does not return to the Apache village. (JH V2, #14) Once again, the records are conflicting.
1859: Jonah is engaged to Cassie Wainwright but she is killed by Indians the day before their wedding. (JH V1, #65)
Dec 25th, 1861: Jonah and Turnbull's son Jeb give Quentin Turnbull an eagle-topped cane. (JH V1, #55; WWT #29)
Jan. 1863: Jonah surrenders to the Union forces at Fort Charlotte. Jonah's platoon is subsequently captured and then slaughtered during an attempted escape known as the Fort Charlotte Massacre. Jonah is accused by the survivors of being a turncoat. (WWT #29, JH V1, #35)
May 2, 1863: Jonah accidentally shoots
Stonewall Jackson as the General returns from a reconnaissance, inflicting the wound which cost him his arm & precipitated his death shortly after due to
sepsis. (
JH V1, #37)
April 23, 1865: Jonah surrenders (once again) to Union forces at the federal stockade in Lynchburg, Virginia, two weeks after Lee surrendered to Grant. (JH V1, #30) It is assumed, but not yet chronicled, that Jonah returned to the Confederacy after the Fort Charlotte massacre.
1866: Jonah locates his old tribe and tells the chief how Noh-Tante betrayed him years before. The chief decrees that this must be settled by a tomahawk battle. Noh-Tante secretly sabotages Jonah's tomahawk so that the handle will break. In an act of desperation during the fight, Jonah pulls a knife and kills Noh-Tante. As punishment for breaking the rules, Jonah is bound and the chief presses a heated tomahawk to the right side of Jonah's face giving him "The Mark of the Demon." The tribe then banishes Jonah. (JH V1, #8)
Winter, 1866: Jonah takes his first job bounty hunting by tracking down an old Confederate buddy, Eddie Cantwell (JH V1, #30-31)
1874: While tracking down the kidnapping of Laura Vanden, Jonah once again comes in contact with the Apache chief and is captured. The chief admits to taking Laura and announces that he will kill Hex at sunrise. Jonah is rescued by White Fawn, his former girlfriend and widow of Noh-Tante. The chief kills White Fawn and Jonah kills the chief before he rescues Laura Vanden. (JH V1, #8)
1875: Jonah marries Mei Ling and promises to give up bounty-hunting and gunfighting. (JH V1, #45)
Spring, 1876: Jonah's son, Jason, is born. A month later, Mei Ling takes Jason and leaves Jonah. (JHV1, #51-53)
August, 1878: Jonah is transported to the year 2050 by Reinhold Borsten. Several documents reference the date of the time travel to be 1875, but a careful examination of events, dates, and corresponding timespans, place this event closer to 1878. (JH V1, #92)
1899: Jonah meets his grown son, Jason, in Mexico. Jonah learns that Mei Ling has died, but leaves before finding out that he now has a grandson, Woodson Hex II. (JH V2, #25)
1904: Jonah is gunned down and killed by George Barrow. Despite some reports to the contrary, Jonah was not killed during a gunfight, nor was he shot in the back. Jonah was sitting playing cards in a local establishment. As he took off his glasses to clean them, George Barrow stormed into the establishment and shot Jonah in the chest with both barrels of a shotgun. Barrow was then confronted by the local law. Barrow dropped his weapon and surrendered but the local sheriff killed Barrow in cold blood. (Jonah Hex Spectacular)
[edit]Powers and Abilities
Despite having the "Mark of the Demon," Hex is an outstanding marksman who rarely ever misses his target. He is also a resourceful combatant.
Battletoads game
