Jonah Hex #38

Jonah Hex stands dominant over a bloodied, fallen man in the sun-baked badlands, pistol in hand and the defeated man's hat dangling from his grip — all while vultures circle overhead in the bleached desert sky, making the mood unmistakably grim and final. This February 2009 issue, "Hell or High Water," finds Gray and Palmiotti's scarred bounty hunter in his element, and Jordi Bernet's cover art — all sharp lines and dusty atmosphere — captures the harsh poetry of the frontier perfectly. If you like your Westerns unsparing and your heroes morally weathered, this is exactly the kind of DC Comics storytelling that rewards a closer look.