Slugfest!

Since it's Christmas Eve, here at ol' Slugfest! we've dug out a Christmas treasure Super-Star Holiday Special (DC Special Series vol.4 #21) from 1979 (never mind that April 1980 cover date!) featuring several of DC's mainstays. First off is the bounty hunter himself, Jonah Hex. Ol' Hex must have been really good this year because he even got to see the return of his own comic series! But back in '79, as the first run was getting underway, he was featured in a story titled The Fawn and the Star written by Michael Fleisher and art by Dick Ayers and Romeo Tanghal.

It's the day before Christmas, and Jonah rides with two companions: death and gunsmoke. As dusk settles in, the stars fill the sky and Jonah can't help but notice one in particular "off tuh the south, sparklin' like a diamond big as all Tennessee!" So he decides he's going to take advantage of the starlight to track Barlow Tull and his brother, who can't be too far off on account of the .30-.06 shell Hex lodged in Tull's neck day before last!

Suddenly, he comes upon a man aiming at a little doe in the snow and the man's daughter, a little girl named Holly imploring, "No! You can't shoot him again!" Hex listens as the father tries to explain to his daughter that the deer is simply Christmas dinner for the family. When Hex greets them, the man tells him, "Stay outta this, mister! This is just a family matter..." But Holly takes advantage of Hex's entrance and gets him to aid her in saving the injured fawn. Jonah dismounts and tells little Holly, " 'Pears like yore little deer has went an' busted his leg!" He directs her to get some strips of cloth from his saddlebag. When Holly's father sees Hex setting the leg, he speaks up. But before he can voice his protest, Hex tells him, "Seein' as how ah stole yore Christmas dinner from yuh, ah'm gonna go out an' find you a substitute dinner!" Holly's dad agrees but tells Hex, "If'n you ain't back here by sunup, ah'm gonna shoot thet deer an' me'n muh family's gonna eat it fer dinner!"

As Jonah rides along, he realizes why he has gotten involved in this situation. His mind drifts back to a time when he was little and he rescued a raccoon from a bear trap, took it home, patched up the leg that had been caught in the trap, and named the little critter Roy. He also recalls how when his dad arrived all liquored up and found him coming out of the woodshed, Jonah explained how he had found the raccoon and told him, "A-ah'm keepin' 'im inside the woodshed! Thet's okay fer me tuh do--ain't it, Pa?" Hex's dad replied, "Shore, boy!" then sent him off to mend the back fence and chop a cord of firewood before supper.

Later at dinner, Jonah's mom noticed that he was eating his dinner like something was after him! He explained that he was in a hurry so he could try and scrounge up some food for Roy. Mom was puzzled until Hex's dad explained that Roy was a raccoon that Jonah "brung home from the forest this mornin'!" Mom whispered, "Y-you mean the one we're---" In disgust, Jonah tossed away his glass of milk and upset his plate saying, "You killed Roy? Y-you killed my raccoon?" Hex's dad tried to make his son understand telling him, "A raccoon is a raccoon, boy, an' people is people! You an' me an' yore maw, we is people!" But in anger Jonah shouted, "I hate you! I wish you were dead!" Soon the haunting memory fades and Jonah realizes that his chances of finding game on this moonless night are next to nil. And seeing as how the bright star in the south is the only light in the sky, he decides to follow it to see "if'n mebbe it cain't bring me a little Christmas luck!" Hours later, still coming up empty, he comes upon a cave and decides to check it out thinking he might be able to "flush me out a hibernatin' bear!" Well as rotten luck would have it, there's something worse than a bear in the cave; it's the Tull brothers, Barlow and Homer!

They spot Jonah approaching the cave and Homer sends off two rounds in Hex's direction. Hex collapses, but Barlow is suspicious because "thet Hex kin be mighty crafty!" And as they leave the cave to check on their quarry, Hex bolts upright with a blazing six-shooter and yells, "Here's a little somethin' fer yore Christmas stockin', skunk!" Homer goes down, and Hex tells him, "Come on outta thar wi'f yore hands up high!" When Barlow refuses, Hex lights a cord of dynamite and hurls it toward Barlow telling him, "Ah shore wouldn't want tuh lose out on the reward money bein' offered...just on account'a yore remains turnin' out to be unrecognizable!" Then the cave erupts in a thundering explosion.

When the smoke clears, Hex approaches the cave and thinks to himself, "Well ah guess it's turnin' out tuh be a profitable Christmas fer me, but thet ain't gonna be much consolation tuh little Holly!" But then he spies a backpack and thinks, "It just could be thet Holly's little fawn is gonna make it through the holiday season after all!"

As dawn breaks, Hex finds himself on Holly's doorstep being greeted by Holly and her family. First thing Holly notices are the two dead bodies trussed up on the two trailing horses. Hex tells her, "Never mind them, Honey!" Then he turns to Holly's dad and gives him the backpack. The man quickly opens it up and says, "Wha---!? There's nothing in here but trail provisions: hardtack an'....an' beef jerky!" Hex reminds him he just promised he'd "feed yore family fer Christmas!" He tells Holly, the fawn is yores now, Honey!" Holly's dad explains that he would never have been able to shoot the deer anyway.

Hex rides off thinking, "If'n ah wuz a religious man, ah'd be tempted tuh say it wuz thet lucky star up thar whut led me tuh the Tull brothers an' thet knapsack full'a vittles!"

This issue also features what must have been one of Robert Kanigher's last Sgt. Rock stories. It also includes a story from the House of Mystery written by Bob Rozakis, a Legion of Super-Heroes story written by Paul Levitz (with the Phantom Girl and Saturn Girl in the great 70s costumes!) But what is probably most desireable about this issue is the Batman story written by Denny O'Neil with artwork by Frank Miller. This particular story is Miller's first work on Batman, and although you can see glimpses of his signature style, I decided against a comprehensive review because the story is practically unintelligible. However it does have an unusual ending for a story in a comic book: a Bible verse from Luke 1:78...."To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."