All Star Western is one the unqualified successes of the New 52. It features Jonah Hex – a not unfamiliar western anti-hero type, but one whose adventures have often turned toward the macabre.

The stellar writing team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti that guided the character through 70 issues of his own title return now transplanting the character back east in the formative days of Gotham City and in the middle of the hunt for a serial killer.

I was initially concerned how this clear effort to link Jonah Hex more closely to the main DC Universe would impact the character and the title. But I was won over by a story which brought back memories of both the “Weird Western Tales” of the 1970s and the western-horror mini-series of the 1990s as well as evoking other effective period serial killer novels like Caleb Carr’s The Alienist and Matthew Pearl’s The Dante Club.

The story by Gray and Palmiotti is elevated to another level with beautiful and atmospheric art provided by Moritat and color artist Gabriel Bautista.