16 Years Later, DC Just Fixed Its Biggest Cinematic Flop

Published Oct 4, 2026, 6:30 PM EDT Shaun Corley has been with ScreenRant for over 5 years, and is currently the Coordinator for PR and Outreach for the Comics Team. Warning: contains possible spoilers for Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death #1! 16 years later, DC Comics fixes one of its biggest cinematic flops. Today, DC’s slate of live-action movies and television series traditionally do well with critics and audiences, bringing the publisher’s vast stable of characters to life. Films like Superman and shows like Lanterns are raising the bar for the superhero genre. Yet this was not always the case, and DC had to suffer through a string of embarrassing flops before achieving cinematic greatness. Jonah Hex was created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga. Released in 2010, Jonah Hex was one of these box office duds. Starring Josh Brolin as the titular bounty hunter, it also starred John Malkovich, playing the villain. Megan Fox also co-starred. Brolin, who a few years prior wowed audiences with his performance in No Country For Old Men, seemed like a “slam dunk” to play Jonah Hex. However, the film opened to terrible reviews and disappointing box office returns. Jonah Hex came and went in theaters, and is now remembered as a major let down. However, Jonah Hex has a much better go of it in the comics. Debuting in 1972, Jonah Hex has appeared in several series of his own, the most recent being All-Star Western during the New 52 era, which would have been just a year after the movie came out. Recently, DC began its Next Level Initiative, bringing some of the publisher’s second-tier characters, such as Zatanna and Firestorm, back to the forefront of its universe. Now, it's Jonah Hex’s turn, and it will make up for his terrible movie. Jonah Hex Gets Down and Dirty in The Shadow of Death DC’s western bounty hunter returns in Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death #1, written and drawn by Michael Walsh. In a five-page preview provided by DC Comics, a gang of outlaws is preparing to rob a stagecoach. As they wait for their quarry, a young member of the posse, who joined to raise money for his sister and him to move, is unsure of the job ahead. He voices these concerns, but the other men brush them off. Then, the posse is shocked to see a lone rider coming their way. When one of them expresses his surprise, he gets shot by the rider. A gunfight breaks out between the rider and the other outlaws. It does not end well for the posse, and all that is left is the scared young man from the beginning of the preview. He looks on in horror as the rider, revealed to be Jonah Hex, aims his gun. Hex then kills the young man. Writer/Artist Michael Walsh Nails Jonah Hex's Dark and Dirty World Jonah Hex's Adventures Were Not Pretty, and The Shadow of Death Continues This Trend Jonah Hex’s world is a dark and savage one, chock-full of murderous outlaws and cattlemen. In the provided preview pages, writer/artist Michael Walsh invokes the senseless violence and bloodshed that follows Jonah Hex wherever he goes. Terrible things happen to good people who cross paths with Hex. While the nervous young man of the preview was an outlaw, his heart was not into it. He and his sister were trying to move, and he was there simply to get the money to do so. It didn’t matter, however: Jonah Hex killed him anyway. Terrible things happen to good people who cross paths with Hex. Based on the preview, Walsh is also going to pursue the grey morality present in Jonah Hex’s stories. In Hex’s earliest appearances, he would drift into town. The townspeople would hire him to right a wrong, usually perpetrated by an Indigenous person. When Hex would then set out to investigate, he’d learn the Indigenous tribes had been wronged first, and were merely retaliating. In the preview, Walsh shows, through the scared young man, that not all outlaws are evil, and can sometimes be driven by desperation. Michael Walsh Can Erase the Memory of Jonah Hex's Feature Film Debut These qualities were noticeably absent from Jonah Hex’s feature film. While Jonah Hex sometimes had one foot in the supernatural/horror genre in the comics, his villains were regular human beings, be they corrupt sheriffs or land barons. Jonah Hex decided to shift the focus to a magical direction, but it felt incongruous with the character, making the tone another disappointing aspect of the film. Now, Michael Walsh has come to give fans a new vision of Jonah Hex. Hex has been absent from the DC Universe for too long. Perhaps DC’s flagship Western character, Jonah Hex, has had a shelf life beyond his contemporaries. Generations of creators have been drawn to Hex, each adding their own layer. For Walsh, he is going to show fans how Jonah Hex is done, and more than make up for the movie flop. Jonah Hex and the Shadow of Death #1 is on sale October 7 from DC Comics!