We're taking a bit of a break from Batman, as that's pretty much all I've covered up to this point. However, looks like we're still chilling out in Gotham, back in its days as an Old West boomtown.
We're treated to a panoramic view of Gotham City while we receive gleefully pretentious narration about progress and survival in the wilderness. Meanwhile, disfigured drifter Jonah Hex wanders into town and gets a Gotham welcome. They get a taste of his sixguns, and we learn that the narration is by Amadeus Arkham. Arkham is attempting to aid the police in a murder investigation while the police want no part of the alienist's theories. The victim is the latest in a serial murder series. Each victim a prostitute horribly butchered, and the word "Fear" written in blood in a different language over the corpse.
Jonah Hex makes an entrance accusing the police of incompetence because he's been hired to find the Gotham Butcher. His confederate uniform is the last straw for the police chief and though he is talked down from anything more drastic, the two are supposed to have no public involvement in the case. Which means plenty of private involvement, of course. Hex immediately takes a disliking to Arkham, because he can tell Arkham is studying him. While looking over the scene, Hex quickly determines that the killer is a strong man who works with his hands, conflicting with Arkham's assessment of the killer as a wealthy, educated man.
Hex goes to a bar to search for information. Arkham can't help but observe him, and composes a psychological profile on Hex. He does this as Hex picks a bar fight and proceeds to beat up the entire bar. The fight ends when someone pulls a knife, and Hex puts a gun to his head saying he wasn't here for murder, just a fight. This adds another aspect to Arkham's profile.
Hex gets the information by talking to a prostitute once the dust has settled. A black carriage, and a man with a skull ring. Arkham is impressed and insists on following Hex further, but since he's going to bed Hex tells him to get lost. However, Arkham is there the next morning. The prostitute he'd been talking to the night before is dead, and instead of "fear" the message is more direct: Jonah Hex Leave Town.
He refuses. Arkham continues to amend his profile, until it starts to resemble many modern vigilantes like Batman, turning pain and rage into strength, held in check by a strict moral code. And it is this moral code and only this code that seperates men like Hex from men like the Butcher. Hex's brutal investigation, combined with Arkham's own work, reaches the conclusion that there is more than one Butcher. Amadeus is writing this in his notes, and he stops to take care of his mother, who hears things scratching at the walls. For those unfamiliar with Batman lore, Amadeus Arkham eventually turns his home into the foundation for Arkham Asylum, and his mother is the first patient. Eventually, however, he succumbs to her madness and becomes a patient himself.
Tonight, however, the partners are heading to a charity ball. Arkham suspects the mastermind killer will be there. Hex immediately causes a stir, particularly from a certain Colonel Hammersmith and Doctor Dupree. When Arkham asks about their rings, they both confront him saying they are members of a holy society working to improve Gotham. Of course, it is the ring of the killer. Uncharacteristically, before a fight starts Hex drags Arkham away and tells him to "look around." Arkham is shocked to see that most of the people in the room are wearing that ring. And staring threateningly.
This comic was pretty awesome. The artwork has an oddly archaic feel to it that fits well with the themes. I love the intrigue and the fight scenes overlaid with Arkham psychoanalyzing Jonah Hex were awesome. The parallels with Jack the Ripper and the conspiracy theories surrounding it were obvious, but considering America had a little-known Ripper in 1880s Texas as well, it's not out of place.
One point that REALLY bothers me: The prostitute the Butcher murdered. I know why they're targeting sex workers, and aside from linking it to Jack the Ripper, it's the same reason sex workers have historically been targets: Marginalization, opportunity, trust that is purchasable, etc. What bothers me is that she wasn't even given a name. That's low. Come on, at least give your characters a name before you stuff them in the fridge. Also, aside from her the only other female character was Arkham's off-panel mother. On that subject...anyone wanna bet she's actually dead and he's already nuts? Just sayin'.
I would be willing to give this my first Issue #1 five stars, but just how uncomfortably the disposable sex worker trope plays out causes me to knock it down a peg. I give it 4/5 stars.
...wait a minute, isn't Gotham on the *East Coast?*
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