If I am to die, then I will have my say! Perverse aberrations such as yourselves are the reason societies and religions formed -- to elevate us from the fecal-smearing, superstitious savagery of our murderous ancestors! You imbecilic brutes fancy yourselves agents of some higher power because you suffer from a sickness of the mind! Like a deformed and inbred child incapable of expressing itself, you turn to violence and murder as a means of controlling your internal fear by terrorizing others! 
Appearing in "The War of Lords and Owls, Part Three"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Amadeus Arkham
- Tallulah Black
- Alan Wayne
Villains:
- Charlotte the Harlot, Lord of Prostitution
- Jackson Duggar, Lord of Assassins
- Lorna Kyle, Lord of Thieves (Death)
- Stephan Kaoss, Lord of Terror (Death)
- Evan Charles, Lord of Extortion
Other Characters:
- Gotham City Police Department
- Mayor Cobblepot
- Elizabeth Arkham
- Reginald Forsythe
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The War of Lords and Owls, Part Three"
Amadeus Arkham and Jonah Hex are not faring well against the torture of the Religion of Crime's steam machine. Their only hope of escape lies in Tallulah Black, who managed to free herself. While Arkham is sure she could easily kill all of their captors, whether she does it in time to save her companions is questionable.
With the help of some corrupt police officers, Lorna Kyle, the Lord of Thieves, and Stephan Kaoss, Lord of Terror, begin searching the house for Tallulah. The police are are confused as to why so many of them are needed, when she is only one woman, but she deftly brings death down on each one, picking them off one by one. Alerted by a crash, Kaoss rushes her with a gun, only to have his head detached from his body by Black's thrown hatchet. Lorna Kyle finds herself targeted for a barrage of bullets from Black's pistols, until the woman runs out of them. Ripping the skirt from around her legs, Kyle begins a deadly counter-attack with her daggers.
Hanging in the torture apparatus, Hex taunts the remaining followers of Cain by telling them of how he contacted Alan Wayne a few days previously. When they fell under attack by the Religion of Crime's thugs, Wayne was convinced that he should use his pull and influence to cripple the Religion of Crime's holdings in land, given that the then Lord of Extortion was soon to die.
Meanwhile, Lorna Kyle and Tallulah Black are impressed with each other's close combat skills. Tallulah tackles her opponent, shoving her thumbs into Kyle's eyes as the thief thrusts her knives into Black's shoulder joints. Ignoring the pain, Tallulah Black squeezes harder, until her thumbs pierce into the woman's brain - just in time for Alan Wayne to appear with some good police men, and look on in horror.
The torture continues for Arkham and Hex, and the pain brings Arkham to such a point at which he can no longer contain his rage, screaming of his captors' depravity until they become fed up with him and plan to finally give the pair death. As the torturer reaches for the handle on the device, Tallulah Black arrives, and shoots off his fingers. The followers of Cain are arrested, and the two men are saved.
Back at Arkham's mansion, he treats Black's wounds, warning her to avoid any rigorous activities for a week. She refuses, given that she intends to engage in some very rigorous activity with Hex, as soon as the wounds are treated. In the meantime, she suggests that she and Hex will be leaving soon, but Hex responds that he does not intend to go with her - given his lack of desire to have a woman yammering in his ear all the time. Angrily, Tallulah begins brawling with him, a rigorous activity which soon melts into the activity she had originally planned, much to Arkham's revulsion.
The three of them attend the public hanging of the remaining followers of Cain, with Alan Wayne and Mayor Cobblepot at their sides. While Hex obviously intends to leave the city, Arkham will stay, and with Wayne's help, he will design a hospital for treating psychiatric patients of a criminal nature.
They are interrupted by a young man named Reginald Forsythe, who asks to speak with Arkham and Hex in private. Despite the exclusiveness of his invitation, Tallulah Black forces her way into their meeting. Reginald works for a Scottish doctor of some renown named Jekyll.
Appearing in "The Haunted Highwayman!, Part 2"
Featured Characters:
- Dr. Terrence Thirteen
Supporting Characters:
- Detective Foster (Death)
Villains:
- Haunted Highwayman (Death)
Other Characters:
- Helen Rood (Death)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Haunted Highwayman!, Part 2"
After the supposedly haunted highwayman sprays Doctor Thirteen with fire, the police accompanying the doctor prove their cowardice, and the horseman escapes. Angrily, Thirteen chastises them for their failure to trust in the laws of science. Fortunately all is not lost, as a phosphorescent substance which the highwayman had used to enhance his ghostly myth is not unknown to the doctor.
Thirteen leads the police to the nearby university, where the headmaster invites them in out of the rain. Thirteen explains that he believes one of the employees there is posing as a ghost in order to commit crimes, and may be using chemical compounds which, when mixed, give off a phosphorescent effect. The headmaster realizes that after he had laid off a certain member of the faculty, those same compounds had gone missing. Helpfully, the headmaster informs them that the employee in question now lives in Slaughter Swamp.
Doctor Thirteen and the police arrive outside the cabin of Professor Jonathan Rood, overhearing the man's argument with his wife, as she accuses him of being with another woman during his numerous absences of late. The Doctor and Detective Foster burst into the cabin, and when they discover his mask and flame-thrower, Rood desperately shoots the detective in the chest. Thirteen throws himself upon the killer and thief, trying to wrest the gun out of his hand. In their struggle, it goes off, and Rood's wife Helen is shot.
She was already in a wheelchair. Rood explains that he had been fired because he had been trying to find a cure for her. He had needed money, and so he had become the Haunted Highwayman. Though Rood blames Thirteen for his wife's death, the doctor will accept no responsibility.
That night, on the hangman's gallows, Rood offers a curse on Doctor Thirteen and all of his offspring until the end of time. The noose tightens, and Rood's neck snaps. Thirteen explains to the police how he had known the highway man had to have been a professor based on the advanced science that was involved in creating the flamethrower and the glow.
Thirteen had no belief in the curse that was placed on him, and instead, blames the dead man himself for his wife's death.
See Also
Recommended Reading
Links and References
- Jonah Hex at Wikipedia.org
- Jonah Hex at DCU Guide
- Jonah Hex at TV Tropes
- Jonah Hex at Toonopedia
- Jonah Hex at Lonely Geek
- Jonah Hex Blog with a "Body Count"