`Counting Corpses' compiles Jonah Hex issues 43 (July 2009), and 50 - 54 (February 2010 -June 2010).
(the intervening issues 44 - 49 constituted the `Six Gun War' miniseries).
All issues were written by the team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray.
Issue 43, `The Hyde House Massacre', starts with an extended, wordless sequence of mayhem, as Jonah carries out a rescue mission involving an abducted banker and his daughter; the artwork, by Paul Gulacy, is among the best featured in this incarnation of the franchise.
Issue 50 saw DC raise the cover price of all its comics from $2.99 to $3.99; consequently it has more pages than the previous issues.
Unfortunately, while `The Great Silence' has a competent plot involving Jonah and his on-and-off romantic interest Tallulah Black, a psychopathic Church Lady, and a bounty on 50 men, Darwin Cooke's art is so cartoony as to give the story a `Saturday Morning TV Funhouse' appearance quite incongruous with its grim storyline.
`Divining Rod' (issue 51), with art by Dick Giordano, deals with a dowser who can discover buried gold, and a unique set of duplicitous characters. `Too Mean to Die' (issue 52) sees regular artist Jordi Bernet return; the plot concerns swamp-country bushwhackers, and a young mother who endangers herself, and her child, to save Jonah's bleeding skin.
Issue 53, `You'll Never Dance Again', features a young dance hall girl with more than a passing resemblance to Megan Fox (star of the `Jonah Hex' 2010 feature film). Bill Tucci's artwork is very good, and it's a shame he never contributed to other installments in the series.
The book closes with issue 54, `Shooting Stars', with artwork by Bernet. This story sees Jonah in trouble with vengeful lawmen; some supporting cast members from previous issues of `Jonah Hex' team up to help him clear his name...not, of course, without considerable bloodshed.
All in all, `Counting Corpses' is a middling entry in the `Jonah Hex' series compilations. Unfortunately, the careful artwork by Gulacy and Tucci was the exception, rather than the rule, as the series entered its last year of publication. Too often a rote, get-it-out-the-door quality became associated with this title, as the transition to DC's questionable '52' re-launch loomed ever-larger......