Jonah Hex: Only the Good Die Young

Regular readers of this blog know of my fondness for the Western comics featuring disfigured bounty hunter Jonah Hex. ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG is the latest trade paperback reprinting six issues of Hex’s current title, and like all those before it, it’s an excellent collection of gritty, violent Western tales written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti. These are mostly stand-alone yarns, although there’s a slight connection between a couple of them, and a couple of others refer to things that happened in earlier issues. There are even guest appearances by Bat Lash and El Diablo, who shared the billing with Hex in the late, great comic WEIRD WESTERN TALES.

Those first appearances of Jonah Hex appeared more than thirty-five years ago, making him one of the most durable Western characters in the history of comics, although stories featuring him haven’t been published continuously during that time, of course. Still, it’s good to see him still around after all these years. I don’t care for some of the art in this collection as much as I did in others, but I’m always more interested in the stories than I am in the art, anyway, and all the stories worked just fine for me. If you’re a fan of Western comics, you should definitely consider picking up these trade paperbacks or the monthly issues of JONAH HEX.