Throwback Thursday: The Searing Introduction of Jonah Hex
Feb 10, 2022
Jonah Hex differs in many ways. Not a superhero and not a villain, Jonah is a complex antihero who has done some nasty things while attempting to protect the innocent. Lacking special powers, Jonah relies on his wits and sharp aim to stay alive as one of the few Western-themed characters who still appears in modern comics. Recognizable by the extensive scarring on the right side of his face, Jonah was forged by the harsh realities of the mid-1800s.
Introduced 50 years ago in All-Star Western #10 (February-March 1972), he is a creation of writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga. Jonah’s life was tough from the beginning. He was born in 1838 to an abusive, alcoholic father who sold him to an Apache tribe. He worked as their slave until he saved the chief from a puma’s attack. To show his gratitude the chief adopted Jonah as his son, much to the disapproval of his son, Noh-Tante.
When the boys embarked on their rite of passage into manhood, Noh-Tante left Jonah to be killed by a group of Kiowas. A group of cavalrymen intervened, but Jonah chose to defend the Kiowa men, so the soldiers shot him too. He was left for dead until an old trapper found him and nursed him back to health.
On his travels, he found his old tribe and told the chieftain that Noh-Tante had left him for dead. When Noh-Tante denied the accusations, it was decided that the two men would settle their differences by combat. Noh-Tante sabotaged Jonah’s tomahawk before the fight and when it broke, Jonah stabbed him with a knife. The chieftain was furious that Jonah had broken the rules of combat and killed his son, so he disfigured his face by burning him with a heated tomahawk. He was banished from the tribe and later when Jonah saved a white woman that was being held captive, he killed the chieftain and many others in the tribe.
Jonah became a cavalry scout for the US Army and when the Civil War began, he joined the South in support of their desire for independence. It was then that he became friends with fellow soldier, Jeb Turnbull. As the fighting continued, he changed his position in supporting the Confederates and their desire to keep slavery. Jonah surrendered himself at a nearby Union camp, but wouldn’t confess where his former unit was located since he had become friends with fellow soldiers. The Union troops were still able to find and capture them, and after Jonah punched the Union commander, he was put in solitary confinement.
Jonah found a tunnel under his cell, then with Jeb’s help, convinced his former fellow soldiers to escape. What they didn’t know was that the Union soldiers were running low on food and created the tunnel for an opportunity to kill their captives for “trying to escape.” Almost all of the Confederate soldiers, including Jeb, were killed and Jonah murdered the commanding officer. The few survivors were convinced that Jonah had betrayed them and when he became a hunted man by both Union and Confederates, Jonah headed west to start his life over.
Since then he has become a bounty hunter and intervened in conflicts to help those who are ill-equipped to protect themselves.
Art by Tony DeZuniga, Doug Wildey, Jos Lu s Garcia-L pez and others
Cover by Luis Dominguez
Witness the earliest adventures of DC's legendary gunslinger from ALL-STAR WESTERN #2-8 and #10-11, WEIRD WESTERN TALES #12-14 and #16-33! Jonah Hex had no friends, but he did have two companions: death, and the acrid smell of gunsmoke!
This article originally appeared in Gemstone Publishing’s e-newsletter Scoop.
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Amanda Sheriff is Gemstone Publishing’s Associate Editor, serving as the writer/editor of the e-newsletter, Scoop. She is the author of The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Movie Posters, The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Concert Posters, and The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Horror, and co-author of The Overstreet Price Guide to Star Wars Collectibles and The Overstreet Price Guide to Batman.
