THE AISLE SEAT - by Mike McGranaghan

"JONAH HEX MOTION COMICS"

Jonah Hex hits theater screens on Friday, June 18. As a prelude to the release, Warner Premiere has debuted a Motion Comics series about the character. Based on the comic book written by John Albano and drawn by Tony DeZuniga, the series is being released in weekly installments leading up to the movie’s opening. It is comprised of three Jonah Hex tales, “Two Gun Mojo,” “The Hangin’ Woman,” and “The Gunfighter.” You can find the series on iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand, Sony Playstation and other online digital distributors.

For those of you unfamiliar with Motion Comics…well, I think they’re very cool. If you can imagine a comic book coming to life, that’s generally the effect. Original artwork and page layouts are used, with movement and voices added. It’s not traditional animation – the lips don’t really move and fluidity is not an intentional part of the style. Instead, it’s more intended to preserve what you’d see on the page. This, I believe, is what makes it appealing to comics fans; it is not an adaptation of the comics but rather an enhanced version of them.

Admittedly, I knew little of Jonah Hex before sitting down to screen the Motion Comics series. Now that I’ve seen it, my anticipation for the upcoming movie is greater. The Motion Comics (which are rated TV-M) are gritty, violent, and pulpy – all in the best possible ways. The first five episodes find Hex (voiced by Jim Cummings who, amazingly, also does the voice for Winnie the Pooh in Disney productions) avenging the murder of a friend. This arc was adapted from “Two Gun Mojo.” The remaining two episodes are from classic 70’s comics, so you get a nice sense of the visual history of Jonah Hex. All of them are really fun to look at, as they give Old West archetypes a nice gothic feel.

Jonah Hex Motion Comics can be purchased on a per episode basis, or through a subscription that delivers each new episode to you as soon as it’s released. If you are planning to check out Jonah Hex (starring Josh Brolin and Megan Fox) on June 18th, you might want to familiarize yourself with the character via these episodes. And if you’re already a fan, be prepared to enjoy some favorite stories in a whole new way