All Star Western # 14 (DC)
Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti (writers); Moritat ( art, main feature); Phil Winslade (art, back-up feature)
One of the most consistently excellent reads of the New 52 has been Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Moritat's All Star Western. Jonah Hex is an enduring and fun western anti-hero and his time in 1880s Gotham has mined great depths of his character. Here we have Hex and Dr. Arkham hired to find Dr. Jekyll, which is an inclusion that works, even if this veers the story further away from what part of its title promises. Taking place in an industrial eastern city and including characters from Victorian fiction isn't exactly "western" but it does pass muster on the "all star" part. I'm particularly keen on the inclusion of the Barbary Ghost in the main story and enjoyed the banter between Ghost, Jonah, and Tallulah Black during their fight in Gotham's Chinatown.
Tomahawk gets the back-up again this month in part 2 of his tale, a methodical, historical-based story in the years after the Revolutionary War, that hasn't really drawn me in outside of Phil Winslade's gorgeous art. How this guy isn't drawing a monthly somewhere is beyond. Always a treat to see his lithe, lively, classical renderings. These back-ups have been a great showcase for him, but I wish DC would give him his own book. In the meantime, I can only hope that
Winslade is on board to draw what I predict is a Barbary Ghost/Tallulah Black back-up feature in coming months.
