All-Star Western #14 – Review

By: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray (story), Moritat (art), Mike Atiyeh (colors)

The Story: Not even Asian exceptionalism stands a chance in Gotham.

The Review: One of the more unfortunate side-effects of growing up is having all your favorite historical myths stripped away.  I would’ve been happy to spend the rest of my life believing that the proto-Americans and Indians spent at least the early parts of their relationship in some kind of harmony.  The truth, of course, involved a great deal more violence and a whole lot less comfort food.

Although the Indians proved to be hospitable at the beginning, one of them made the covetous mistake of stealing a small silver cup from Richard Grenville’s first group of British settlers.  Grenville, perhaps feeling he ought to set boundaries straight from the beginning, responded by sacking and burning the whole Indian village.  And as any history book will tell you, life between the red and white people plunged sharply downhill from there.

All-Star Western #13 – Review

By: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti (story), Moritat (art), Mike Atiyeh (colors)

The Story: Can we all just agree that it’s all clowns that creep you out, not just the one?

The Review: Pre-relaunch, Gray-Palmiotti wrote Jonah Hex solo for a long—surprisingly long—time, and they seemed to find plenty of success that way.  For Hex in the Wild West, cooperation wouldn’t seem natural or necessary anyway.  But in his urban environment, Hex could use the help.  Without Arkham’s intercession, he’d probably just get arrested and executed in a few months; without Tallulah’s randiness, he’d probably go crazy from the city life.

All this is to say I’m glad Arkham and Tallulah are officially part of Hex’s trio for the foreseeable future.  Although none of them would probably call it as such, they’ve developed a very functional teamwork.  Probably no one can cover Hex in a scrap as well as Talulah, and when it comes to tending to the innocent harmed, or offering some intellectual insight into the happenings, or fending off law enforcement (“I’ll explain to the authorities as best I can,” he sighs resignedly over a bloody mess at a circus), Arkham’s the man.

All-Star Western #6 – Review

By: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Moritat (artist), Gabriel Bautista (colorist), Phil Winslade (feature artist), Dominic Regan (feature colorist)

The Story: Don’t expect an informercial, but Hex wants you to save the children.

The Review: Not that Jonah Hex is a blisteringly popular character in the DC galaxy of stars, but he does have a certain, cultish appeal, one that’s a little difficult to pin down.  He has that scar, of course, and he’s a sharp shot, but plenty of heroes have scars and great aim.  If you can pin down one thing that separates him from the rest of the pack, it’s his grit.  When a thing gets in his way, he just pounds it into submission—there’s no finesse, grace, or elegance about him.

More than that, he makes no apologies for being what he is, nor does he feel the need to change his ways so long as it works out for him—and it always does, since Hex will be a monkey’s uncle before he changes for anyone.  So when a giant, underground bat-monster attacks, does he try to come up with some fancy, elaborate plan to take it down?  Nope.  He just runs into it head-on and kicks it in the face.  Make no mistake—he’s a man’s man to the core.

And yet we see in this issue that he’s not exactly the same as when he first rode into Gotham.  He’s gotten to the point where he not only tolerates Arkham’s presence, he actually banters with the doctor now, which is probably more consistent conversation with a body in his whole life.  What’s interesting about their dynamic is that neither on his own has much of a funny bone, but when they rub shoulders, that’s when the humor comes out.  Who knew Hex could be dry (“We just…battled a prehistoric bat…”  “Ah didn’t see a whole lotta we back there.”), or Arkham sassy (“Do mind your manners, though.”  “Don’t ah always?”  “No, not always.  In fact, please let me do all the talking.”)?

All-Star Western #5 – Review

By: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray (writer), Moritat (artist), Gabriel Bautista (colorist), Phil Winslade (feature artist), Dominic Regan (feature colorist)

The Story: Instead of seeing the situation as a death trap, Arkham, consider it an adventure!

The Review: I think the real fun of these buddy stories—although calling Hex and Arkham buddies is admittedly a stretch—is not only the misadventures they can get up to, or even the energy that comes from their interaction, but seeing how each one affects the other over time.  Obviously, that kind of thing works best when you have characters who are polar opposites, and you can’t get more polar or opposite than our two stars here.

In the long run, it’s doubtful Hex will change much under Arkham’s mild-mannered influence, but we can see that this extended companionship with the bounty hunter has definitely opened the stodgy recluse of a doctor to a whole new world of experiences: the numbing horror of hard exercise, the value of violence in a pinch, the rush of excitement and hysteria that you only get when you know death is imminent.  It might be too much to hope that Arkham will take to these things as habit, but he should buck up after a while, and grow hardier for it.

Besides, it’s great fun to see his usual, intelligent composure completely undone as he tackles the sweatier side of the emotional spectrum.  In short order, he expresses paralyzing fear (“Oh God…I fear I’ve soiled myself.”), biting sarcasm (“I should have anticipated your keen intellect would factor into our liberation from this hellish…”), and screaming panic (“Hex?  Where are you?  HEX?!?!”).  Breakdowns are often entertaining to watch, and Arkham’s is no exception.

As it turns out, Arkham’s outbursts turn out to be the saving grace for both men at the bottom of Gotham’s cave network, although the sudden appearance of the Miagani (Grant Morrison’s tribe of Batman-inspired natives) doesn’t really seem as such.  On the other hand, you got a cowboy in Hex and now a passel of Injuns before him—can circumstances be any more perfect?  Palmiotti-Gray aren’t the most inspired of writers, but this scene is very clever, and quite enjoyable, too.

All-Star Western #4 – Review

By: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Moritat (artist), Gabriel Bautista (colorist), Phil Winslade (feature artist), Dominic Regan (feature colorist)

The Story: Gee, it’s good to be together again.  I just can’t imagine that you’ve ever been gone!

The Review: The beauty of Jonah Hex and Dr. Arkham’s partnership is not only how well they work off each other, but also the uneasy tension that remains, and will perhaps always remain, a part of their dynamic.  At any rate, the dynamic between the duo has easily been the best part of this title, so it was a bit dismaying to see them part ways so suddenly last issue.  It’s actually hard to imagine one without the other now, like Sherlock and Watson, or Starsky and Hutch.

For that reason, you’ll be glad to see them back together again, when Hex’s latest commission brings him face-to-half-face with Arkham once more.  While you can’t describe their reunion as anything like happy, you can see how their relationship has evolved over the course of three issues.  Arkham’s no longer surprised by Hex’s lack of social graces (for example, calling a nun “Sister Hardcase”), and even demonstrates a measure of influence on the bounty hunter.

For his part, Hex keeps a pretty cold shoulder towards the doctor, but whether consciously or no, he has also come to take advantage, if not rely upon, Arkham’s presence in his life.  When the two of them discover a cavern of mining slave-children in the depths of the Gotham sewers, Hex not only clues Arkham into what he’s planning (an unthinkable move for Hex in the past), he gives Arkham a role to play in his plan: “Start movin’ the kids out when it looks safe.”

That last line is evidence that for the mercenary attitude Hex projects (he ostensibly accepts this quest for missing children only after being offered an obscene amount of money), he has a soft spot somewhere in his body.  Even he can’t be totally untouched by the pitiful sight of a boy, left malnourished, ghoulish, and mindless after years of slaving.  And who knows?  Maybe we’ll see more of his sensitive side the longer he sticks with Arkham, but don’t bet on it.