Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures won't bring "Jonah Hex" to movie theaters until June 18, but the scarred gunslinger has already jumped off the page in another way -- vintage issues of the Old West adventure have been reloaded as the latest motion-comics effort from DC Comics and Sequence Post.
The first epsiode is now available for download on iTunes and Amazon, and the remaining six will be released weekly leading up to the film's arrival. The first five episodes present the "Two Gun Mojo" story arc from the character's Vertigo years, a tale that was written by Joe R. Lansdale, drawn by Timothy Truman and collected up in graphic-novel form in 1994. The final two episodes, "The Gunfighter" and "The Hangin' Woman," are from the bounty hunter's 1970s run and were written by John Albano and drawn by Tony DeZuniga. Jim Cummings is handling the voice role of Jonah Hex.
Hex is the rare cowboy character that has endured in comics into the 21st century -- the medium's audience hasn't embraced many other riders of the range. I asked Eva Davis, the executive vice president and general manager of Warner Premiere, why that might be the case.
“Jonah Hex has endured because the character brings the Old West but with a with modern edge that appeals to current-day fans," Davis said. "It’s a great blend of action, the superrnatural and horror layered with macabre humor that stands the test of time. Also, the story lines of Jonah’s exploits to avenge injustice are timeless.”