his week seems to have a theme for me; Comics that are drawing to an end. Thats no surprise seeing as the DC reboot draws near. But with Spider-Girl ending and Fear Itself getting to the point where I might drop it out of frustration, It really seems that my comic pile may start to get a little smaller (“thank god” my wallet and girlfriend scream). And this is the title I’m most sad about saying goodbye to. But unlike the irritating nature of Fear Itself, and the wasted potential of Spider-Girl, I’m sad about this comic ending, due to its constant high quality. Jonah Hex was always the book I relied on to be great. We all get weeks when the stack of comics we buy are of mixed quality, but if Jonah was hiding in there, I was always guaranteed that I’d get at least one, great issue. Almost all of the stories were concluded in a single issue and the art duties constantly moved around from great talent to great talent (Jordi Bernet being one of my favorites). The plots were always dark, violent and funny. The purpose and tone of the book never wavered and Jonah himself never changed. And although I’m sad to see it go, I’m amazed that it ever lasted 70 issues. The sales of this book were terrible and I don’t know anybody else to reads it. My comic shop only gets copies in for people who order it as it never sells on the shelf. But somebody in DC liked it, and it survived until now. And at least I’ll always have 70 issues to read over when my stack of super-hero books feels a little light. This issue feels like something that Palmiotti and Grey may have been saving for a while. Jonah Hex finding the drunkard father that beat him and sold him as a slave to the Apache as a child. But the greatest aspect of this book is that it doesn’t let us know that for the first half. The comic opens with the story of a gold prospector who is about to be robbed. It feels like any other Jonah Hex book. A fun little story. And then as the prospector lies, dieing in the desert, surrounded by vultures, Jonah appears, and reveals himself to the son of the dieing man. The rest of the book then becomes a conversation between them as the old man bleeds to death and Jonah watches. Its fantastic, and such a delivery on everything that a Jonah Hex fan would want. Jonah is a bastard, but the characters that surround him are even worse. The idea of Jonah dealing with his father almost feels like closure for a character who only ever lived one day (or one issue) at a time. The art in contrast to that, wasn’t to my taste. Lots of people love Jeff Lemire and I’ve seen praise for his work in this issue. But it just wasn’t for me. I want Jordi Bernet to draw every issue and I want my Hex a little less sketchy. But I’m not going to complain too much. It was ok and kind of suited the mood of the book and certainly didn’t detract from the quality of the story telling. We have one last issue to look forward to before the DC reboot, when it will be re-named as Wierd Western Tales and Jonah will be demoted to an occasional character. But if issue #70 is as good as this one, at least it will go out on a high. Art 2.5/5 Story 5/5