Jonah Hex is one of the great non-superhero comic book characters, and an excellent bargain is DC Comics' trade paperback SHOWCASE PRESENTS JONAH HEX, VOLUME 1, which presents more than 500 pages of ALL-STAR WESTERN and WEIRD WESTERN TALES issues from the 1970s. Sure, they're in black-and-white, but that keeps the cost down (to well under $20), and this particular series looks fine in b&w anyway. Hex was created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga in ALL-STAR WESTERN #10, and was the recipient of many sharp, gritty, action-packed adventures penned by Albano and, later, Michael Fleisher (who is still likely best known for his work on Hex and The Spectre in ADVENTURE COMICS around this same time).
The Comic Treadmill today has a fine post on Jonah Hex, coming from a comic-book fan just noticing Hex for the first time.
I've managed to amass most of the issues in the book, but I really wish the Showcase volume were in color. Non-superhero titles too frequently get gypped out of color Archive editions, and Hex is my favorite DC book ever, so the option would be nice.
ReplyDeleteThere's a kinda crappy '97 screenplay for a Jonah Hex feature floating around. In it, Hex battles werewolves and undead Confederate soldiers. It's written in PG-13 mode, which is sort of understandable, but would kids really latch onto the adventures of a grotesquely mutilated middle aged misanthrope?