DC Database
Advertisement
DC Database
DC Database
131,027
pages
in: Issues Rated T, Marie Javins/Executive Editor, Roger Cruz/Cover Artist,
and 60 more

Outsiders Vol 5 8

Sign in to edit

"Hex": Batwoman heads to the abandoned town of Zero, Texas, as she has heard someone there is in trouble. As she crosses into town Jinny Hex fires at her with an old revolver and tells her to leave, as she has deliberately put herself fifty miles away from any other living person. Batwoman asks

A good guy with a gun. That's what they called me. But there ain't no such thing. There's just a person and a tool. And the choice made where the two meet.
— Jonah Hex

Outsiders (Volume 5) #8 is an issue of the series Outsiders (Volume 5) with a cover date of August, 2024. It was published on June 11, 2024.

Synopsis for "Hex"

Batwoman heads to the abandoned town of Zero, Texas, as she has heard someone there is in trouble. As she crosses into town Jinny Hex fires at her with an old revolver and tells her to leave, as she has deliberately put herself fifty miles away from any other living person. Batwoman asks what's going on and Jinny tells her to ask the man behind her. Kate turns around and is backhanded away by a ghostly cowboy. She throws a batarang at him but it harmlessly passes through his head; he can hit her but she can't hit him. Jinny destroys the ghost with a blast of energy from the gun, then takes out two others approaching them. They run and Jinny tells Batwoman that the ghosts have been following her for days; the gun is the only thing that can temporarily banish them but they always quickly return.

Batwoman tells Jinny to take shelter in an abandoned garage. The younger hero points out that the ghosts can walk through walls, but Kate finds a bag of rock salt in the building and throws it as the ghosts start to phase into the building. The salt causes the ghosts to explode and the others remain waiting outside. With a moment's respite, Jinny asks Batwoman how she knew who and where she was.

Batwoman reveals that three weeks ago she received a call from Jenny Crisis. Since meeting the Outsiders, Jenny has been travelling to even more remote places in order to escape the "feedback" of people's emotions and allow herself to "listen" to the weave and weft of the world. This has allowed her to sense other Century Babies around the world: the baby sea monster under the Enlil Triangle, City Boy and Jinny. Jenny sensed that Jinny was in trouble and reached out to the Outsiders to help her, not knowing that Batwoman had quit. Rather than tell her, Batwoman assured Jenny that "we're on it".

Jinny is confused by the story, and Batwoman says she doesn't really understand it either, but she knows that Jinny and people like her are important. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door, and the ghost of Jinny's ancestor Jonah Hex walks in. Jinny asks what is going on and he replies "Nothing you didn't start".

Jonah Hex tells them his story: back in the 19th Century, he was hunting a band of outlaws called the Elliot Gang. He took a bullet in the shoulder during a shootout and the wound became infected. Realising the wound was fatal, he crawled into a crevice to die, not wanting the Elliots to have the satisfaction of knowing they killed him. In the crevice he found a gun, and when he picked it up he was suddenly full of vitality. He hunted down and killed the Elliot gang in a matter of days, if they fled he could hear the voices of their dead comrades telling him where they were hiding. Hex then went on a spree of killing outlaws, never even needing to reload, eventually racking up over two hundred kills.

The ghosts of the men he had killed haunted him, and any time he tried to get rid of the gun they would hound him relentlessly. Hex eventually realised that the gun was gaining power from every kill, and if it took one more life it would have the power to destroy the world. With an act of immense willpower, he sealed it away in his trunk to make sure it would never get the last kill and the ghosts would never get their hands on it. He asks Jinny why she used it when she had so many advanced weapons at her disposal, and she tells him that a man broke into her home one night and the revolver was simply the first weapon she grabbed when she reached into the trunk.

As Jinny killed the intruder with the gun it has now unlocked its full power and all the ghosts are trying to take it for whatever its ultimate purpose is. Jinny realises that she is cursed to be haunted for the rest of her life, and will eventually slip up or become exhausted and the ghosts will get the gun. Kate tells Jonah to take the gun to make sure the others never get it, but he says he is no different from the other ghosts and would also use it for evil. He says that the only way to make sure that the gun never falls into the wrong hands is for Jinny to kill herself with it. She he seems willing to go through with it, but Kate snatches the gun from her.

Batwoman tells Jinny that she deserves to have a life, but she has been cursed since she put on the cowl. She shoots Jonah's ghost and flees the town, pursued by the mob of ghosts. Kate runs from sunset to sunrise the next day, leading the ghosts out into the desert. Exhausted and surrounded, she considers shooting herself but decides to call the Outsiders for help. However, her call goes unanswered as Luke Fox's communicator lies smashed in a ransacked campsite outside the "Lost City of Cannon".

Appearing in "Hex"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Ghosts
    • Colonel Jack (First appearance)
    • Elliot Gang (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
      • Red Elliot (First appearance) (Dies in flashback)
    • Silverclaw Brothers (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
    • Tomahawk Jones (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
  • Unnamed burglar (Single appearance) (Dies in flashback)

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Concepts:

Notes

  • This issue reveals that the sea monster from Outsiders (Volume 5) #2, Jinny Hex and City Boy are actually Century Babies.

Trivia

  • The abandoned town being named "Zero" is a reference to Science City Zero from Planetary #8.
    • Curiously, both cities first appeared in the eighth issue.


See Also


Links and References
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement