
A few day ago, DC announced their latest group of cancellations. The six titles are getting the ax are 'Superboy', 'Birds of Prey', 'Batwing' and both 'Trinity of Sin' titles. But the one that hit me the hardest was 'All Star Western'! But surprisingly...I'm not ready to climb into a bell tower with a rifle.
Instead of being sad at the loss and angry at DC I'm having different thoughts and feelings. First off, the only fault DC has in this is not promoting the title more. Jonah Hex is an amazing character and the writing team is the best in the business so this thing could sell itself, but didn't. But comics are a business and if the people ain't buying, they'll stop producing. I want to thank DC for giving the title a chance to breathe and try to catch on.
But my biggest thank you goes to the above mentioned writing team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray who gave us about 100 or so issues of Jonah Hex (and All Star Western) and creating for me THE definitive run of the character! More than anyone before them, Jimmy and Justin not only wrote the best stories, they got the character and what he represents. Sure 'All Star Western' was written more to fit into the DCU than the previous 'Jonah Hex' series was, but they were still able to make the character as magical and fun to read.
So thank you Jimmy and Justin for taking my favorite character on an incredible ride that sadly in August will be riding off into the sunset.
*The above picture is from Jonah Hex #34, where Jonah takes out Brian and I in a wild west saloon. Best day of my life--thanks Jimmy, Justin and Mark Sparacio!