All-Star Western 6: End of the Trail

Comic Info

All-Star Western (3) #29

Reprints All-Star Western #29-34 (May 2014-October 2014).  Jonah Hex is back in his own time with Gina and trying to start a new life with a new face…but life has other plans for him.  Finding himself on the road with Tallulah Black, Hex learns that he’s not the only one using his name, and as he hunts for a killer, Jonah finds that the ending is coming…whether he likes it or not!  Plus, Madam .44 finds herself on an adventure that’s out of this world!

Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, All-Star Western Volume 6:  End of the Trail is a DC Comics New 52 Western title.  Following All-Star Western Volume 5:  Man Out of Time, the collection features art by Staz Johnson, Fabrizio Fiorentino, Darwyn Cooke, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Cliff Richards.

The New 52 gave a lot of opportunity to comics…often to have them rather unceremoniously shot down.  All-Star Western was one of the titles that made you pause simply because Westerns have fallen so out of vogue that they fill a weird/unique niche when they do show up.  All-Star Western fills that niche…but now it’s time is over.

The story in many ways sets All-Star Western back to the status quo.  I liked the “Man Out of Time” storyline with a Western hero experiencing a modern day world, but it wasn’t something that was very sustainable in the long run.  Sending Jonah back to his own time not only balances out the series, but it also gives a brand new experience.

All-Star Western (3) #32

Jonah is no longer the scarred and scary man he was.  The series plunks him back in the past with a fixed face and a future girlfriend (who is rather unceremoniously killed…but another sign of bad decisions by Hex).  With Jonah a solo act again, the series has him teaming up with off-and-on ally Tallulah Black.  Gray and Palmiotti plot a storyline that allows Jonah (of all characters) to get a happy ending.  It is kind of bumpy and rough but the sentiment is nice and feels right.

The series features great art throughout, but it is easily highlighted by the art of Darwin Cooke who illustrates the last issue.  It feels like an odd one for Cooke who generally creates wholesome superheroes and Hex and Black are anything but wholesome.  Cooke’s artwork always seems to work, and it is nice whenever it pops up.

All-Star Western Volume 6:  End of the Trail wraps up a series that was oddly entertaining and kind of unexpected.  It was bumpy and rough at points like the trails that Hex traverses, but it was a journey worth taking.  An antihero, Jonah Hex is something you don’t come across much anymore in comics…but it is nice to see a Western comic hold its own ground.

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 5:  Man Out of Time