Comic Review: All-Star Western 7-9

All-Star Western, issues 7-9. Written by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti, with art by Moritat. DC Comics, cover-dated March-May, 2012.

After the actions in issue 6, Jonah Hex & his “sidekick” Amadeus Arkham visit New Orleans, following Thurston Moody from Gotham. Cinnamon and Nigthawk join him there, and the quarter seek out the anarchist group “August 7.” 

We see the first real instance of mystical powers in the series, in the form of Nighthawk’s necklace. This  amulet gives him his heroic strength,  and is used to restore a desperately injured Hex to health.

Hex beats up a giant of a man in a battle arena, only to be subdued by the petite blonde, Z.C. Branke. She is one of the 7, and invites to Hex to join their cause. All he has to do is blow up a ship in the port to prove his agreement with their cause. 

Meanwhile, Amadeus gets arrested on an opium charge, and after committing psychology on a fellow prisoner, he inadvertently reveals that Hex is a bounty hunter from Gotham, blowing Hex’s cover with the terrorist group. Both of our main characters appear headed to the bottom of the gulf, along with the targeted barge.

Hex’s plan for getting them out of this situation is terrific, as is the way this arc ends. They find Thurston Moody, but so does an owl-masked costumed acrobat. This is the kick-off of the “Night of the Owls” crossover storyline, which introduces the eyepatched-wearing tough girl Tallulah Black.

These three issues also contain backups of the bounty hunter team Nighthawk & Cinnamon, who also appear I the main stories, as mentioned above. These are written also by Gray & Palmiotti, with art chores performed by Patrick Scherberger, Dan Green, and Terry Austin. While telling interesting origin stories for each of them, and for them as a couple, they face ad overcome a range of dangers. It is actually quite a nice little love story. With lots of guns and all.

This title continues to be a terrific read.

Source: My daughter and I are purchasing these regularly from various local comic shops.