Jonah Hex #16 - A Review

From DC Solicitations:

Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; Art and cover by Phil Noto The debut of the Wild West's newest antihereo in an issue with art by Phil Noto (DANGER GIRL)! Jonah Hex has ridden with his share of outlaws, cutthroats and even supernatural gunfighters, but he's about to meet his match in the deadly young woman known as Tallulah Black!

Why recreate the wheel, instead of doing my own premise, the one already written is just as good.

What I Liked:

1) The art. I wish had a scanner to share some of the great panels from this book. The credits read Art by Phil Noto, no inker or colorists, so I assume this is all his work and it is really a great job. It is obviously being enhanced with computer coloring and other such tools, but I don't have enough knowledge to tell you what he is using. The style is very much his own and his layouts are strong, his expressions are great and the art has a very nice feel to it. Just wonderful work. I would like to own page #3. It is a page that shows Hex hanging a man. He is still obviously alive and a little girl happens upon them. She asks if he is going to cut him down and Hex says no. She states that is not very Christian of him and proceeds to grab him by the ankles and picks up her feet in order to shorten his death. We "hear" a "crakk". Hex asks "Did they teach you that in church?" Very cool and it just works.

2) The story. Essentially this is the origin story of Tallulah Black, who appears to be a female Jonah Hex to a degree. A horribly scarred woman, who wants to learn how to kill in order to pay back the people who have harmed her and killed her family. What really works is that Jonah's part still makes him at least the co-star of the book, if not still the actual star. So often when a new character is being introduced the main character will be put so far back stage you wonder why they are in the book. I always think just do a mini-series to introduce that character and have the "big name" be a guest star. The writer kept this a Jonah Hex comic and introduced the new character. Well done.

3) I can't wait for next issue. This to me is the ultimate test of a Part 1 in a story arc. Next issue looks to be where Hex starts to train her in the art of gun slinging and hunting people.

What I Didn't Like:

1) The ads. Sounds a little picky, but I'm really tired of the ads being interjected into the middle of the story pages. It is not horrible in this book, it is just that it becomes too much and really makes me second guess buying the comic and not just going for the trade.

GRADE A