Today’s my birthday, and I was really stoked for this issue after the bar raised by the first. Sadly, I have to say I’m somewhat disappointed. It’s not bad by any means, but nothing much really happens.
The issue begins as if an entire chapter has been missing, with Jonah and Arkham facing off against some hired assassins, while we also get a look at Gotham’s hellfire club. Arkham also surmises that the club is rooted in some kind of “Crime Bible” (seriously, that’s what it’s called), and wouldn’t you know it, he’s right. There’s none of the great character interaction that made the first issue so great, and Jonah now spouts Crow-style wisecracks.
Come on, that's just pathetic.
The art by Moritat is also rushed looking, with heavy reliance on filters and big splash pages, and pretty much all of the art looks like rough sketches, although in one part that may have been to illustrate that it was from the point-of-view of a dying man.
The reason for this drop-off in quality is probably because the creators were limited, you see, the story is reduced to make room for an El Diablo (another old DC western hero) co-feature, wherein El Diablo's alter ego Lazarus Lane enters a town facing a zombie infestation. This isn’t bad, but it’s not a good sign that the first story of a new feature is trying to cash in on the zombie craze. For all the bitching about vampires and werewolves these days, I have to say zombies are probably the most overexposed monsters of the past decade, and I know how ironic it is to say that considering that this a blog whose mascot is the go-to comic book zombie next to Simon Garth. It’s an okay story, but if the presence of this co-feature continues to affect the quality of the main Jonah Hex feature, then I’m gonna get pissed.
And to be fair, most of DC’s books this month have had to cut back on the page count to make room for a preview of some Batman comic. Let’s hope everything is back to normal next month.
3/5. A big drop-off in quality from the first issue, but the orange/red color filters and the hooded assassins give this one an okay Halloween feel. El Diablo is okay, but superfluous.
Justice League Dark continues to show promise, but still isn’t sure what it wants to be. Milligan is doing a fairly good job making all the protagonists broken, wounded, and in some cases, perverted people. Mikel Janin’s art is still great. Things are starting to draw tighter together and next issue the characters will probably start meeting. All in all it’s a small, but considerable step up from the last issue. 3/5.
All in all, a pretty disappointing birthday present. And that’s bad, because in a few more hours, I’m going out for some Japanese cuisine for my birthday party, and I’m gonna try one of these babies:
So switching into Halloween mode, and in case I don’t make it, here is a “fishy” story from Marvel to tide you over in case you’re feeling all wet, nautical in the right mind and the world isn’t your Oyster.
Yes, puns when I could very possibly not live to see tomorrow. Oh well.
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