DC and the Wild West part 2...
Jonah Hex is the grandest and most well-known Western hero not only at DC, but in all comics. He is arguably in the first rank of DC Characters; as iconic as any of the first tier superheroes. In fact, he and Batman are the only "human" characters (in my mind at least) who straddle the line between being human and superhuman. Like Batman, he seems inexplicably touched by the supernatural.
Hex was created in 1972 by the writer John Albano (who had a wide-ranging career writing for Archie Comics and Batman) and artist Tony DeZuniga. Apparently inspired by the Spaghetti Western/anti-Westerns of the late 60s and early 70s, the character of Jonah Hex was an anti-hero to his bones. To give himself visual anti-hero credibility he even wore a Confederate Army uniform (even though the stories were set well after the end of the Civil War) and, most notably, he had a horribly disfigured face. Naturally, Hex was an expert gun fighter and a great marksman.
Hex’s first appearance in comics was in an anthology series of DC’s called All-Star Western. The character struck an immediate chord with DC’s readership and the title was changed to Weird Western Tales to reflect the eerie, near supernatural nature of Hex’s tales. The artists on the series stayed consistent, but in time Albano was replaced by Mike Fleischer who was expert at devising grisly deaths for evildoers in the Hex books (who were often just slightly “better” than Hex). Most importantly, Fleischer filled in Hex’s origin story, including explanations of his scars, the back story of his most formidable foe (Turnbull) and the symbolism of his Confederate garb.
The Hex comics remained popular past a point at which Western comics were fully passé, running until the mid-80s. Even then, DC was reluctant to drop the character and actually rebooted the series just weeks later with Hex (in a move that was probably influenced in part by the original Terminator film) being transported into the 21st century where his 19th century frontier skills and weaponry competed with technology and antagonists from the 21st century.
Hex also had one of the weirder, more memorable death narratives (written by the creative Fleischer). Hex was murdered by an old adversary and eventually his corpse ended up in the hands of a show business man of the Barnum and Bailey type. Hex’s corpse was stuffed and became part of a traveling sideshow. Underlying this fate was the darkly humorous touch of putting Hex into a tacky white hated ensemble which was slicker than his living persona. This story made a real impression on the DC Universe and this totem has popped up as a footnote and/or sight gag in many a mini-series (memorably in the Planet Krypton Epilogue in Kingdom Come).
Hex currently has a strong profile in the comics world due to the strong interest in the DC/Vertigo series starring the anti-hero gunslinger. This profile just promises to be stronger as a film starring Josh Brolin as JH is currently in pre-production (with John Malkovich as Turnbull!). Hex has been animated many times in the popular Justice League, Batman: The Animated Series and most recently the Brave and the Bold.
Bat Lash was a different kind of western hero. The character (created in 1968) was apparently an attempt to revive the western superhero/western comics genre. The popularity of European “Spaghetti Westerns” was at a peak and the editors at DC felt that a loner type character set in the American west might have some appeal to DC’s readership. Hence the creation of Bat Lash, whose family was murdered and home burned in retribution for the youthful Lash killing a crooked deputy in self-defense.
Lash was no squinty eyed monosyllabic gunfighter, however. More in the tradition of romantic cowboys, Lash was a dandy and most definitely a ladies man. Indeed, the character has more in common with James Garner’s “lover not a fighter” type in the popular 50s series Maverick. Despite this, Lash was no clown, he was adept with a gun and his fists. The character was never as popular as other DC western types like Vigilante and Jonah Hex. Recently, however, the character’s profile has risen with the slight upswing in Western Superhero comics at DC. The character had been the subject of a six issue mini-series in 2008 and appeared in a memorable 2004 two-part Justice League Unlimited episode (with other DC western stalwarts like Jonah Hex) called “The Once and Future Thing.”
Loveless, a recent series from 2005 created by Writer Brian Azzerello and Marcelo Frusin, shows some of the influence of Jonah Hex on the current generation of comic creators. The series began with a fairly straightforward narrative about Wes Cutter, a Confederate who spends time in prison during the Civil War and who returns home to Black Water to find his town under Union control and his house occupied. At this point, Cutter is offered employment as a sheriff in town. The book deepened into its run and eventually evolved past exploring the relationships of the characters in the work to exploring ideas about race, region, American identity and the like. A solid work without the magic (or witchcraft if you will) that made Hex such a noteworthy book.
Footnote: There is a great Website with all things Jonah hex at
www.jonahhex.blogspot.com
A note about this piece-DC has many great Native American characters like Super Chief that I am working on compiling for a future piece.-I decided not to include them in this piece as I did not think I could give them proper attention...
DC and the Wild West part 2...
Jonah Hex is the grandest and most well-known Western hero not only at DC, but in all comics. He is arguably in the first rank of DC Characters; as iconic as any of the first tier superheroes. In fact, he and Batman are the only "human" characters (in my mind at least) who straddle the line between being human and superhuman. Like Batman, he seems inexplicably touched by the supernatural.
Hex was created in 1972 by the writer John Albano (who had a wide-ranging career writing for Archie Comics and Batman) and artist Tony DeZuniga. Apparently inspired by the Spaghetti Western/anti-Westerns of the late 60s and early 70s, the character of Jonah Hex was an anti-hero to his bones. To give himself visual anti-hero credibility he even wore a Confederate Army uniform (even though the stories were set well after the end of the Civil War) and, most notably, he had a horribly disfigured face. Naturally, Hex was an expert gun fighter and a great marksman.
Hex’s first appearance in comics was in an anthology series of DC’s called All-Star Western. The character struck an immediate chord with DC’s readership and the title was changed to Weird Western Tales to reflect the eerie, near supernatural nature of Hex’s tales. The artists on the series stayed consistent, but in time Albano was replaced by Mike Fleischer who was expert at devising grisly deaths for evildoers in the Hex books (who were often just slightly “better” than Hex). Most importantly, Fleischer filled in Hex’s origin story, including explanations of his scars, the back story of his most formidable foe (Turnbull) and the symbolism of his Confederate garb.
The Hex comics remained popular past a point at which Western comics were fully passé, running until the mid-80s. Even then, DC was reluctant to drop the character and actually rebooted the series just weeks later with Hex (in a move that was probably influenced in part by the original Terminator film) being transported into the 21st century where his 19th century frontier skills and weaponry competed with technology and antagonists from the 21st century.
Hex also had one of the weirder, more memorable death narratives (written by the creative Fleischer). Hex was murdered by an old adversary and eventually his corpse ended up in the hands of a show business man of the Barnum and Bailey type. Hex’s corpse was stuffed and became part of a traveling sideshow. Underlying this fate was the darkly humorous touch of putting Hex into a tacky white hated ensemble which was slicker than his living persona. This story made a real impression on the DC Universe and this totem has popped up as a footnote and/or sight gag in many a mini-series (memorably in the Planet Krypton Epilogue in Kingdom Come).
Hex currently has a strong profile in the comics world due to the strong interest in the DC/Vertigo series starring the anti-hero gunslinger. This profile just promises to be stronger as a film starring Josh Brolin as JH is currently in pre-production (with John Malkovich as Turnbull!). Hex has been animated many times in the popular Justice League, Batman: The Animated Series and most recently the Brave and the Bold.
Bat Lash was a different kind of western hero. The character (created in 1968) was apparently an attempt to revive the western superhero/western comics genre. The popularity of European “Spaghetti Westerns” was at a peak and the editors at DC felt that a loner type character set in the American west might have some appeal to DC’s readership. Hence the creation of Bat Lash, whose family was murdered and home burned in retribution for the youthful Lash killing a crooked deputy in self-defense.
Lash was no squinty eyed monosyllabic gunfighter, however. More in the tradition of romantic cowboys, Lash was a dandy and most definitely a ladies man. Indeed, the character has more in common with James Garner’s “lover not a fighter” type in the popular 50s series Maverick. Despite this, Lash was no clown, he was adept with a gun and his fists. The character was never as popular as other DC western types like Vigilante and Jonah Hex. Recently, however, the character’s profile has risen with the slight upswing in Western Superhero comics at DC. The character had been the subject of a six issue mini-series in 2008 and appeared in a memorable 2004 two-part Justice League Unlimited episode (with other DC western stalwarts like Jonah Hex) called “The Once and Future Thing.”
Loveless, a recent series from 2005 created by Writer Brian Azzerello and Marcelo Frusin, shows some of the influence of Jonah Hex on the current generation of comic creators. The series began with a fairly straightforward narrative about Wes Cutter, a Confederate who spends time in prison during the Civil War and who returns home to Black Water to find his town under Union control and his house occupied. At this point, Cutter is offered employment as a sheriff in town. The book deepened into its run and eventually evolved past exploring the relationships of the characters in the work to exploring ideas about race, region, American identity and the like. A solid work without the magic (or witchcraft if you will) that made Hex such a noteworthy book.
Footnote: There is a great Website with all things Jonah hex at
www.jonahhex.blogspot.com
A note about this piece-DC has many great Native American characters like Super Chief that I am working on compiling for a future piece.-I decided not to include them in this piece as I did not think I could give them proper attention...
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