All-Star Western 5: Man Out of Time

Comic Info

All-Star Western (3) #27

Reprints All-Star Western (3) #22-29 (September 2013-April 2014). Jonah Hex is out of time…literally. Stranded in the 21st Century by Booster Gold, Hex finds that things have changed in the world and truths he believed to be certain are now in question. Having to prove his identity and with a new girlfriend in Gina Green, Hex is encountering people like John Constantine, Swamp Thing, and even Superman in his quest to return home…but time could be running out for Hex!

Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, All-Star Western Volume 5: Man Out of Time is part of DC Comics’ New 52 line-up which began in 2011. Following All-Star Western Volume 4: Gold Standard (the title is sometimes also non-hyphenated as All Star Western), the collection features art by Moritat, Staz Johnson, and Fabrizio Fiorentino.

I like when Western heroes cross over with superheroes. In Marvel, it was always fun to see Two-Gun Kid hang out with the Avengers (though Two-Gun was much more wholesome), and it is fun to see Jonah Hex in the present day. I wish it could have gone on a bit longer.

The series really keeps moving at an almost unnatural rate. It has Hex institutionalized, freed, a free man, and a traveler all in a couple issues. It feels like a ton of story-arcs are crammed into the issues. I often feel that comics drag out stories too long, but here Hex’s adventure seems condensed (it could be due to fears of cancellation).

All-Star Western (3) #27

It is also a strange unbalance of writing at points. You have characters like Superman telling Hex that he’s been following his adventures, but you have the curator of the Jonah Hex Museum not knowing about Jonah’s resurrection…even if he doesn’t believe it. I realize in the world of superheroes, Hex’s story might not rank as high as something that Wonder Woman, the Justice League, or even Martian Manhunter is doing, but it seems like there would be some universal interest in the fact that Hex is from another time (plus, there is always the problem that have of society doesn’t believe in time travel where there are aliens flying around the planet…it seems like a lot is possible).

Hex gets a little more self-aware in this volume by doing things like questioning Superman on the state of the world and why he hasn’t fixed things. He also helps a crowd injured when a man runs into it. It isn’t that I think he’s an amoral character, but it does seem a bit out of character at points. There is a difference between speaking your mind and waxing poetic.

This might actually be my favorite volume of All-Star Western just because of the oddity of it. It ditches the back-up story to provide more room for Hex (a plus), and I also like the Stranger in a Strange Land vibe of the comic here and wished there had been more of that (even in the West, Hex is an outcast). Hex heads home in this volume and sets up the final volume of the series. All-Star Western 5: Man Out of Time is followed by All-Star Western 6: End of the Trail.

Related Links:

All-Star Western 1:  Guns and Gotham

All-Star Western 2:  War of Lords and Owls

All-Star Western 3:  The Black Diamond Probability

All-Star Western 4:  Gold Standard

All-Star Western 6:  End of the Trail

Jonah Hex (2010)