Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such

As I mentioned on the podcast a while back, I’ve been wanting to read this series for quite some time.  “Two-Gun Mojo” was a definitive work that crystallized what I think a Jonah Hex story should be like.  I’m certain that it’s the reason I was never able to really get into Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti’s take on the character — it was never weird or witty enough.  Now that I’ve read through “Riders of the Worm and Such,” I can say that it was mostly worth the wait.  Teaming Hex up with a pre-infamy Billy the Kid and setting them against underground worm creatures and their demi-human spawn makes for a good story, but it felt like there was only enough of it for three issues.

The rest of the series is padded out with what feels like a bit of self-indulgence on the part of writer Joe Lansdale.  I’m certainly not criticizing his dialogue or his way with words, but there are too many scenes that go by where the characters talk, and talk, and talk without advancing the plot at all.  Some might argue that it’s a bit too quirky for its own good, but I thought that having Oscar Wilde inspire an English ranch owner to bring some class to the frontier was actually pretty inspired.  Hex’s commentary on the wretched poetry he hears is also welcome.  The art from Tim Truman is just as good as it was in the original series, and he keeps the series grounded even when it threatens to spiral off into science fantasy madness at the end.  I still liked this series overall, and it’s worth picking up if you can find all the issues, but it just can’t measure up to the high standards of the original.