10 Criminally Underrated Comic Book Runs EVERYONE Missed

3. Jonah Hex - Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray

Jonah Hex Gray Palmiotti
DC Comics

Given Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray were working on Jonah Hex for six years, it's actually bonkers to think that the run isn't held in the same regard as some of DC's best. Yes, western comics haven't been an exemplar of popularity for quite a while now, but the duo's stint on Hex was typified by quality, carving out a new role in DC's lineup for their infamous bounty hunter with the help of some legendary artists, including the late, wonderfully talented and adored Darwyn Cooke.

If there's any word that would describe Palmiotti and Gray's Hex, it would be cinematic. Their run speaks not just to the spaghetti westerns of the 1960s, but also to the revisionist westerns of the next decade, and it remains absorbing throughout. Add to that the introduction of Tallulah Black, a fellow bounty hunter who falls in love with Hex on their journeys together, and you have a western comic that is, in every sense, DC's most definitive.

Unfortunately, Palmiotti and Gray's series is difficult to come by physically. Trade paperbacks went out of print a while ago, and though it is online too, those after a physical collection may have to be patient.

In the meantime, readers curious to read Palmiotti and Gray's run can check out All-Star Western, where Hex ventured to 19th century Gotham City. Several pivotal Hex stories are also collected in the must-read Graphic Ink: The Comics Art of Darwyn Cooke, so venture there if your interest has been piqued.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.