With the waning of super-hero popularity in the 50s with the end of the war, western themed heroes had found their way into America’s hearts.  Comics were then as they are now a reflection of the popular trends of the time

So, from left to right in this Justice League story is Bat Lash, Cinnamon, Jonah Hex, and Scalphunter facing our modern day gunslingers, Flash, Zatanna, Green Lantern, and the Elongated Man.

Most of the Wild West characters have the same set of sensibilities.  A matter-of-factness about them that modern sensibilities consider blunt or even rude.  Most know how to use a gun, survive in the harsh climate of the West, ride horses, etc.

From there the skills get a little more diverse.  Some are excellent trackers, while others are more educated and can do something we take for granted, read.  Some are gamblers and others have had extremely hard lives and are not trusting of anyone near them making allies a very difficult prospect.

Bat Lash is a colorful character cut from the Mississippi riverboat card sharks.  Always an eye for a profit or a pretty gal, Bat Lash is more a rogue than the typical white hats of the Wild West, but his heart is in the right place.

Cinnamon, the first female law in the Wild West, her father gunned down when she was a girl she swore to bring the bad men to justice.  In addition to be a fine shot, Cinnamon uses a sheriff’s badge shuriken.  She’s well aware she is attractive but she does not tend to play on that too much, preferring to be thought of as “one of the men” in a male dominated field.

Scalphunter is known as Kee-Woh-Noh-Tay or originally Brian Savage if you please.  Brian who was kidnapped as a child by Kiowa indians was raised by them and learned their ways.  An excellent tracker and woodsman Scalphunter is the mix of both worlds, the white man who is an Indian.

Jonah Hex, the most famous of the DC Wild West heroes.  Jonah has led a cursed life.  Born to an abusive father and abandoned by his mother who could no longer take the father’s abuses, Jonah’s dad eventually sold him to members of the Apache nation.  Jonah learned the way of the Apache and excelled at tracking and hunting.  Jonah won his “freedom” from the Apache tribe but had spent so much of his formative years with them he decided to stay.

His second family betrayed him when sent on a raiding party a fellow brave and romantic rival to the affections of the chief’s daughter knocked Jonah unconscious.  Jonah awoke in the midst of another raiding party of white men and Jonah was shot.  Saved by a trapper, Jonah joined a third family for a while until he finally enlisted in the confederate army.

As time moved on, Jonah realized that he could not stay true to the Confederate army as he too had been enslaved when he grew up.   Leaving the Confederate army and turning himself in to Union forces, the Union soldiers held Jonah and used him to raid the rest of his regiment.  Shortly thereafter, Hex was the instigator of the Fort Charlotte Massacre.  The Union soldiers had planned to kill all the Confederates but they needed the Rebels to stage a breakout, which they forced by withholding food.  All the Confederates were killed except for Jonah who managed to survive to kill the Union commander of the post.

Jonah eventually found his way back to the Apache settlement, only to discover the rival brave had since married the chief’s daughter.  The chief, not knowing why Jonah was alive, since his son-in-law had told him Jonah had died, demanded the two fight in a duel.  The dishonest brave again sabotaged Jonah and instead of using Native American weapons, Jonah had to use a knife, which killed the brave.

The chief was disgusted with Jonah and had the other braves hold Jonah down where he was branded with “the mark of the demon” giving Jonah his distinctive scarring.

Jonah then headed to the closest place he could with a bar, to drink himself into oblivion, he discovered a man outside assaulting a woman.  Jonah flash-backed to his dad’s rage at Jonah’s mother, and instantly shot the man dead.   The sheriff then brought Jonah some gold and told him he could make a lot of money chasing down bad men.  And the most famous bounty hunter of the DCU was born.

Next up:  We’ll finish up the Wild West heroes… Nighthawk!  Johnny Thunder! Pow-Wow Smith, Madame .44, and El Diablo!