While I am constantly enjoying the new adventures of Jonah Hex in this new ongoing, I am finding myself having a hard time keeping the enthusiasm up. Let me explain. You have two writers who obviously know what they’re doing with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. Then you have a great artist in Moritat giving us a unique visual on the world of the most angry cowboy. Finally, you have the usual mainstay with Jordi Bernet giving his usual talents to the duo in a backup. What can go wrong?

Well the thing that bugged me most about this issue was two fold: One, the pacing of this was very weird. Basically, the guys decide to start the issue with what should have been the ending last month. Then they decide to end this issue in what felt like the beginning of next month’s tale. It’s a weird structure to give in an issue and I don’t think it was very successful. Instead of feeling psyched for the gunfight that may happen next week, I feel like I got a bit too much and had more of a ‘teaser’ at what’s to come then a proper ending. Mainly, it feels like the guys are definitely writing with trade (without chapter breaks) instead of telling a story in each issue. While I knew that was going to be the case, I’m just not used to it considering the previous ‘one and done’ tales from before. But what is in here in terms of content is entertaining. Hex is the ultimate badass and not even the first use of a drive by shooting can stop him. It’s these, Clint Eastwood-like, badass moments that makes Hex one of the best character DC has in their arsenal.

The second problem I had with this issue is the art by Moritat. Now on the whole it’s good, but he definitely seemed to lost of his luster from the amazing first issue. A lot of these pages looked rushed in both pencils and coloring. Sometimes Moritat doesn’t bother to draw complete faces or make empty spaces in the background of panels. The coloring also doesn’t seem to gel anymore with the light reds and browns. Old Gotham City might be a hellhole but there has to be some sun eventually. Also, the blood coming from gunshots looked lazy as well. Just putting some drops of red doesn’t make it believable to look at. But again, as with the writing, there are some good pages in here. Particularly the two page spread of the chain gun in action. You can tell Moritat put some of his best work into these pages and it shows.

I’m torn to say that this was a bad issue, because it really wasn’t. Palmiotti and Gray deliver what you would expect from a Jonah Hex comic, a lot of violence and tough talk. But the bizarre structure of the issue of both the main story and the back up really put me off. The art by Moritat is good on some pages, but you can tell a monthly schedule is tough for him considering the rushed and sketchy pages peppered throughout. I’m in no way saying I am going to see myself out the door in this new Hex ongoing. But hopefully this will be the last lackluster issue I read of this title in the near future.