Jonah Hex, Vol. 2: Guns of Vengeance

Jonah Hex (2006) (Collected Editions) #2

by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Luke Ross (Illustrator)

Written by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti Art by Luke Ross, Paul Gulacy and various Cover by Ross The bloody Western adventures of Jonah Hex continue in this volume collecting issues #7-12 of the acclaimed series! Hex dodges bullets, rights wrongs and courts death in these lushly illustrated tales!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Westerns, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Fiction, Historical Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2009

About the author

Justin currently writes Novels, Graphic Novels, Video Games, Screenplays.

He has held various jobs including, fossil hunting, microphotography of 20 million year old insects and plants trapped in amber, seminars and exhibitions on the cleaning, mining and identification of prehistoric insects for the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian. He traveled to the mountains of the Dominican Republic and mined amber.

He has also worked as a victim advocate for Victims Assistance of Westchester, a not-for-profit organization that helps victims of crime.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six, stand alone, hard bitten tales of one of the baddest sumbitches to travel the Old West. Gray and Palmiotti don't pull any punches, these stories are full of evil bastards.

[Jesse A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, Jonah Hex is a cool character. Another solid volume.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. It's not like it was a real page-turner or anything. It was fun. Good ol'Jonah killing bad people and getting in trouble.

Nice artwork. Sometimes good sometimes mediocre but overall nice stuff.

I'd recommend this to people who are either fun of Jonah Hex or Westerns in general.

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six gritty, brutal and violent stories set in the wild west showing why one shouldn't mess with Jonah Hex. The writing is consistently fun and engaging. There are different artists for each of the stories and the art in some of them are sadly, below average.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection contains one of my favourite Jonah-stories: "Gettin' Un-Haunted". In that story a little girl gets shot while Jonah tries to capture some bad guys. I like it how her death somewhat haunts him and how he tries to make his peace with the girl's mother who blames him for her death.
And then there is this great story with El Diablo: "The Hangin' Tree". I especially like the scene at the end when Jonah asks Lazarus how many times he has to tell him that they aren't friends and Lazarus replies: "Until you believe it's true."

[Adam M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This issue give us a story featuring El Diablo and I always find those interesting as it confronts Hex with the morality of what he does. Some brutal stories in this volume and it's pretty unflinching.

Again, I'm a sucker for Jonah Hex so take this with a grain of salt.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old Fashioned Comic fun - each issue in the collection a complete story and the few recurring characters are kept fresh and interesting through sparse use.

** Reading through the whole run so the same review will be used for most.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still would like to read longer story lines. But your normal violent fun with some great art.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonah Hex comes off as more opportunistic this time around. He is a bounty hunter, though. His sense of justice is still there in a series on one-shots that are more daring in terms of plot.

The massacre at a wedding attended by Jonah Hex is truly a sight to behold. If only the story made more sense.

Then he settles a matter between a group of Germans and a bounty hunter friend of his after the latter accidentally kills one of their children when he 'only' intended to rape the child's mother. That is to say, friendship or not, Jonah's friend gets the bullet.

What I think is the first glimpse into Jonah's past is also by far the most dramatic so far. It's an event that led to a young girl dying, partly out of Jonah's fault. He takes it pretty hard and visits the girl's grave every year. The mother follows him and tries to get him killed after sleeping with him, but Jonah is one step ahead.

The first bit of humor comes in the story featuring a family of stereotypical hillbillies who use the crocodiles around their house to make the bodies of their victims go away.

Jonah's next target is the carnival boss who used kids in a dogfighting arena in the very first issue of the series. The story starts as the boss's 'sideshow misfits' hang Jonah, but he is too hard to kill. Ironically he saves their lives later on with the help of el Diablo.

A group of mormons are hunted by a gang for the bounty on their heads. Jonah aims to stop it and will unknowingly be the cause of more deaths.

[Justin Partridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You boys are about six feet North of where ya belong.”

Yeah, like…these rule.

“One Wedding and Fifty Funerals” I remembered but basically the whole rest of this volume was like a brand new book. We are still pretty firmly locked into the format now, but nooooowwww! We are getting to stretch it out a bit and Jesus, is it some fun godDAMN comics. Flinty and absolutely garish in a way that only early-mid Aughts comics are totally, but just totally readable and occasionally quite beautiful STILL!

We even get a bit of Weird Western Tales with this section’s big cameo, El Diablo (sort of a mishmash of Zorro, Ghost Rider, and Dr. Fate; he fucking rules) so it’s awesome to see the series taking these broader swings even less than 10 issues into the series.

PLUS! Guest artists! Like, I absolutely love Luke Ross and the super old-school vibe of Dezuniga’s issues (his “new” issue here “Gettin’ Un-Haunted” I think is a much stronger effort than the previous Christmas themed one in the opening 6 episodes). But getting people like Noto and Gulacy woven into the interiors beyond the awesome covers. To quote The TODDFATHER, that’s the spice of life, bud.

Sincerely happy this is making me so happy to rediscover. I kinda needed it tbh. It’s been nice to re-appreciate and reappraise a series with no stakes or expectations behind the reappraisal. I just get to sit and read them and it’s just for me. That’s so charging to me. I hope I can keep it up.

[Pranay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonah Hex is a fouled mouth, surly bounty hunter in the old wild wild west. Despite appearing to having no moral codes, he is the messaih for the weak, oppressed and the poor.

This volume is a collection of stories of Jonah Hex and the various adventures he has on the road. Its like the Lone wolf and cub in the wild west. Good adventures that make you turn the pages.

The first story "One Wedding and Fifty Funerals"is fantastic and sets the tempo for the rest of the book. In between, "Gator bait", pits Hex against an evil and powerful swamp family who rejoice in torturing and raping innocent victims. This story was again gripping and fast paced and a bit more gruesome than the rest. Even the last story set in the harsh snowy background turns out very well.
The only grouse I had was that the different stories have different illustrators leading to inconsistent art. Imagine Jonah Hex with his distinct features appearing different in different stories.

The best part about the book are the strong diverse stories which stand out. So if you like Gunslingers and western movies then this book should be picked up for sure.

[Michael Emond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I echo other reviewers - good fun. 6 stand alone stories of Jonah Hex with different artists all of whom turn in great work. Jonah reminds me as kind of a Parker character (from Richard Stark novels) but instead of a criminal he is a bounty hunter tracking down criminals. Like Parker he is pretty unkillable, he doesn't have time for sentimentality, he has an objective and he does it in the most direct way. I beleive there is supposed to be something mystic about him but it never shows up in the stories and even his half melted face barely gets commented on by people.

I rate this a little lower because a couple of the stories didn't have a good flow - the last one in particular seemed to be odd (were we supposed to root for the Mormons who had been involved in a senseless slaughter or for the rich man who was trying to hunt them down?)- but all in all most of them were enjoyable reads. I could see someone with vision turning Jonah into a long running TV show. He is straight out of a Western. Good fun.

[Jennifer Juffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe you will either be intrigued by Jonah Hex or you will detest him. Falling in love is almost out of the question... but I've only read two books.
I do find him fascinating and enjoy the stories of the West. The strength, the bravery, the loyalty are traits that helped solidify the Western states. The cowards, the crime, the cruelty were held in check by the law. I suppose in many cases, if the law wasn't good enough, people such as Hex were called upon.
Human nature doesn't change. Only the time periods in which we live and the definition of savagery and civilization change.
I'm hooked on Hex.

[Jennifer Juffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard not to give these guys a 5 star rating! Jonah Hex is just that kind of character. You either dislike him with great vehemence or you love the hell out of him.
Combined with the outstanding artwork, the whole life story of Jonah Hex is fascinating, especially every character he meets.
This book is certainly no exception!
One thing cannot be denied, there is golden talent in 'dem books'.
(I know. I'm not the wittiest.)

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book - the second trade (yeah, I'm way behind) - wasn't nearly as good as the first. The script in DeZuniga's story was difficult to follow, and I didn't care for David Michael Beck's art in the El Diablo issue. Phil Noto's issue remained pretty good due to a strong script and decent artwork. Paul Gulacy and Luke Ross's chapters managed to be both well written and well drawn, and were subsequently the highlights of the book.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gray and Palmiotti have such a great handle on the character of Jonah Hex. Reading their Hex feels...right. The book is setup with different artists handling different stories issue to issue and its a perfect fit for the series. The art obviously varies but overall, its very good. While the issues are separate the same themes and elements are present. The dialogue is fun and Hex is who he is. Very fun read.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 3 out of 5]

After really enjoying the first volume, this one was a little disappointing. The stories lean into the Weird West but it wasn't really the kind of Weird West I would prefer (it was a bit too mundane). I found the out of sequence story telling to be a little confusing here at times too. When you couple that with different and I would argue not as appealing art, I found this volume to be pretty average. Hopefully future volumes can recapture the magic from the first volume.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know what I'll never understand about the old west?

Why does everyone mess with the baddest badass?

I'd be a total coward who messed only with the least badass badasses. Like a grandpa who runs a church, that's the guy I would mess with. And not if he had a dark past or something. He was mostly in a hospital as a child. And an adult.

[Doctor Doom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonah Hex is an old west Punisher/the Man with no name [a la Clint Eastwood] combination. Like the outlaw Josey Wales he stills wears the colors of the south from the War Between the States but he is no Rebel with a cause.
This is not a kid's graphic novel... much too graphic for that.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

These Jonah Hex stories are all pretty much the same so far, first volume and this one. They're good stories, not really following a longer plot like maybe I would like or am used to though. More like short story volumes.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really just as good as the first but the formula and Hex's character are starting to wear thin. It seems like the same one or two stories over and over with new(admittedly cool) settings. I wanted to stop but kept coming back.

[Jaime Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dagnabit! If this ain't dah best durn cowboy comic West of the Pecos than ah'll eat muh hat!
Highly Recommended!

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonah Hex makes the Punisher look like a Salvation Army bell ringer.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t like this as much as the first volume. That may be because the panel-by-panel transition was messed up on Hoopla, but I just didn’t feel as if the stories were very good.

[Keith Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable entry in the series. Great action for sure. Jonah does a great job of hiding his empathy but it shows up from time to time.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly better than the first volume - particularly the addition of El Diablo - but still just your standard vengeance Western-style kind of stories (for the most part).

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stories, good art.

[Thor Aksdal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a pass the time read. Not horrible, but it’s far from being an impressive work of fiction.

[Nate]

Better than the first book. The story with El Diablo is awesome.

[Steve Howells · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read. A great collection of Jonah Hex stories. Good stories and great art work makes for an enjoyable read.