Graphic Novel Review: Jonah Hex Vol. 6: End Of The Trail

Riding High!

All Star Western featuring Jonah Hex: Volume 6: End Of the Trail by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Staz Johnson, Darwyn Cooke and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, DC Comics.

Gray and Palmiotti have spent the last eight years showing their love for DC’s grizzled bounty hunter hero Jonah Hex and despite surviving the company’s New 52 reboot back in 2012, they have had to say goodbye to Hex. End of The Trail has Hex and companion Gina Green returning from the future with Green faring less well in Hex’s time. His occasional companion, the scarred female mercenary Tallulah Black, is then reintroduced in a story that is a classic slice of Western.

This then ends with a magnificent conclusion to the series, drawn by Darwyn Cooke, who manages to produce a tale that feels old-fashioned and contemporary at the same time with an inventive script to match. Cooke bases the look of Hex Clint Eastwood, a visual nod that really works rather well. The volume ends with a 20 page Madame 44 tale, drawn by one of the greatest 1970s superhero artists, the incomparable Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, which feels like a suitable end cap for Gray and Palmiotti’s run on Hex and their intriguing backups. The pair obviously admire and respect western comics and their Hex run has felt like a love letter to the genre, helped by many of the greatest artists from the world of US and European comics.

Hopefully, it won’t be too long before they return to the world of Jonah Hex but regardless of when this happens, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray should be justifiably proud of what they’ve produced…