All-Star Western (Volume 3) Issue 4

Untitled
Having tracked down the Trapp gang, bounty hunter Jonah Hex kills Sam and Bo Trapp, and pins Jasper demanding to know where his remaining brothers are. Jasper refuses to tell Hex anything, and loses a finger as a result. He persists in his silence, and loses another finger. After shooting off a third finger, Jonah Hex gives up, and shoots Jasper Trapp in the head.

Looking up from his work, He is surprised by the appearance of a gentleman named Thurston Moody. The man has sought him out specifically in the hope that Hex can find his missing son. Hex responds that he hates Gotham City, and has no reason to stay beyond collecting the bounty on the Trapp brothers' heads. Moody counters with an offer of fifty thousand dollars, and Hex reconsiders abruptly.

Hex makes his way to St. Jude's Orphanage, where a nun, put off by his appearance and profession, attempts to shoo him away. Fortunately, Dr. Amadeus Arkham is at the orphanage for other reasons, and upon hearing Hex's voice intercedes on his acquaintance's behalf. Arkham talks the sister into letting Hex make his investigations regarding a missing child, hoping to question some street urchins.

Arkham was at the orphanage because he was called to treat a young boy who was found wandering the streets in a state of severe malnourishment, covered in open wounds, and suffering from dysentery. He had been missing for nearly three years. Realizing that the boy was likely living in the sewers, given his sensitivity to light and numerous rat bites, Hex decides to question him.

The boy is obviously mentally crippled, so Hex turns to his parents. They reveal that this boy is only one of hundreds that have gone missing in the last few years, but the people of Gotham's south end have been unable to identify their kidnappers. Not to mention that the police are of little help to the poor people south of the park. The kidnapper is known to wear a long cloak of black and red with a mask and guns. Hex decides that he will find this kidnapper in the course of his investigation, and Arkham insists on accompanying him, once again.

The pair head into the sewers, and Arkham is thoroughly impressed with Hex's use of deductive reasoning. After some searching, they discover a child's skull, and follow the trail until they discover an apparent mining operation using local children as slave labour. There are seven guards around, and Hex endeavours to take each of them down, and have Arkham escape with the children when it seems safe.

Stealthily, Jonah Hex kills or incapacitates the guards while Arkham guides the children into a nearby tunnel escape. Unfortunately, a large and disfigured man discovers Arkham, and when he realizes that someone else must have taken out his men, he turns to Hex and challenges him to outrun the bullet he intends to put in Amadeus Arkham's head.

"The Barbary Ghost, Part 1"
In San Francisco in the year 1878, thugs under the employ of Chinese gang leader Bo Long are growing nervous about the impending appearance of a certain woman who is rumoured to be like a vengeful ghost. From the shadows behind them, she emerges, using untold powers to kill all but one of them. Grabbing him by the collar, she demands to know where Bo Long hides.

Before the man can give up his master's location, more of Bo Long's thugs arrive and shoot him dead as a traitor. Amid the hail of gunfire, the woman users energy blasts to bring down the roof on them. Annoyed at failing to get the info she needs, she makes her escape, stealing a horse.

The woman's name is Yanmei, and she has lived with her grandfather for some time, sneaking off at night on a quest for vengeance against Bo Long. Her family had come to America from the Canton province in China, hoping for a life of opportunity. Unfortunately, they were not the only ones to arrive on the boat, and the criminal element followed in the form of the Tiandihui gang led by Bo Long.

Bo Long's men came to Yanmei's father and grandfather's gunpowder shop demanding protection money, but they refused. As compromise, Yanmei's father Wei Tsen decides to take half the amount demanded, and hopes that Bo Long will respect the move as a business man.

Later, Bo Long's men reported back to him with news of Wei Tsen's disrespect. Bo Long angrily orders them to make an example of him by cutting out his tongue and breaking his fingers. No sooner has he ordered this when Wei Tsen himself arrives to discuss business.

Individuals

 * Jonah Hex
 * Amadeus Arkham
 * Thurston Moody
 * Sister Marks
 * Trapp Family
 * Jasper Trapp
 * Sam Trapp
 * Bo Trapp

Locations

 * 1880's
 * Gotham City
 * St. Jude's Orphanage

Items

 * Gotham Gazette

Individuals

 * Barbary Ghost
 * Grandfather
 * Wei Tsen
 * Tiandihui
 * Bo Long
 * Cheng Pu

Locations

 * 1878
 * California
 * San Francisco

Links

 * http://www.dccomics.com/comics/all-star-western-2011/all-star-western-4
 * http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/All-Star_Western_Vol_3_4
 * http://www.comicvine.com/all-star-western-the-barbary-ghost-part-1/37-308769/