Customer Reviews

Jonah Hex: Bullets Don't Lie

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After reading a Jonah Hex trade, the reader will come to realize that while each story is built as a stand-alone work, each also deepens the character of Jonah Hex. Utilizing a variety of artists for their stories, the writing team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti seem to have a great sense of how to play up the skills of each creator's artistic strengths, such as design elements, visceral rendering or storytelling. Jonah Hex doesn't live in a pretty world. His life is surrounded by misery, tough life, hardship and tough decisions. The highlights of this trade are Darwyn Cooke's breathtaking art and story. JH Williams contributes another captivating tale, adding multiple level story elements to the sequentials.

If there is any Jonah Hex trade that one might consider "must have", I'd say this is the one.

`Bullets Don't Lie' collects `Jonah Hex' issues 31 through 36 (2008). All issues were written by the team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.

`Red Mask' (issue 31) sported a great cover by Richard Corben, an illustration which also is used as the cover to this `Bullets' graphic novel. This is a well-written tale centering on double crosses, double-double crosses, and a search for stolen loot. Paulo Sisqueira provides outstanding artwork, although his depiction of massive head wounds might be too graphic for some readers.

`The Matador' (issue 32) sees regular artist Jordi Bernet return; his artwork seems makeshift and cartoony compared to Sisqueira's in the previous issue. This tale sees Jonah South of the Border, dealing with Mexican machismo gone sour.

`The Hunting Trip' (issue 33) has Jonah North of the Border, mixing it up with Canadian Mounties. I found this issue's artwork, by Darwin Cooke, to be overly cartoony as well; plus, there is so much first-person external narration that many panels wind up being overwhelmed by text boxes.

`Outrunning Shadows' (issue 34) is one of the best stories in this collection, with outstanding artwork by Mark Sparacio and a good script about Jonah trying to take the straight and narrow path.

J. H. Williams III also contributes some fine artwork to issue 35 and `A Crude Offer'. The story starts with a violent combat with well-equipped desperadoes, and then takes a very weird turn. There is an `autumn' theme to the artwork and coloration that makes this issue stand out as another of the better entries in this compilation.

The `Bullets' compilation winds with issue 36, titled `Seven Graves Six Feet Deep'. Rafa Garres provides the illustrations, and while his work has a unique kind of warped energy, its contorted, figurative style and murky coloration make the panels difficult to make out. The storyline deals with Jonah, a backwoods colony of freed slaves, ex-Confederates with a grudge, and racial conflict; somewhat inevitably, there is a preachy tenor to the goings-on.

All in all, `Bullets' gathers some of the better Jonah Hex comics and those fans of the series who lack the individual issues will want to get this compilation.