SLOW GO SMITH

Real Name: Smith (first name unrevealed)

Class: Human

Occupation: Bounty hunter

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Texas, Old West era

First Appearance: Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo #1 (August, 1993)

Powers: Slow Go Smith was a skilled bounty hunter, but a subpar marksman due to his poor eyesight. He was armed with a rifle, pistol and saber.

History: (Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo #1-3) - Slow Go Smith was a bounty hunter whose advanced age and poor sight made him a lousy shot, but he bragged that if he kept shooting he eventually killed his bounty. Jonah Hex was ambushed by a Traywick woman, and after he shot her in the head her brothers, the Traywick Boys gang captured him and strung him from a tree. Slow Go Smith was after the Traywick Boys, which took a while due to his poor eyesight, and after shooting them all, he cut Hex down. Hex told Smith he owed him one, and Smith was disappointed to learn Hex hadn’t heard tell of his exploits. Smith cut off the Traywick Boys’ heads and stuffed them in a bag so he could collect the bounty. Hex and Smith made their way to Mud Creek, Texas, where a local entrepreneur tried to see them a look at pictures of outlaws the townsfolk had just gunned down. Hex disliked his ghoulish business and threatened to make him bleed if he didn’t get away. Smith went to the sheriff's office to get his bounty, and learned that the “outlaws” the townsfolk had killed were innocent men mistakenly identified as the Traywicks. The sheriff didn’t want his constituents mistake getting out, and agreed to pay Smith, but since the original bounty had already been paid and spent the best he could do was give Smith a voucher, telling him to wait a few days. He asked Hex how he got his scars, and Hex replied that he was chewing a toothpick when it slipped. Hex and Smith went to a saloon to grab some whiskey, and they witnessed two men abusing a Native American waitress, telling her to lick up the beer they intentionally spilled. Hex roughed them up, and made one of the men lick the other’s boots at gunpoint. The bartender tried to pull a rifle out, and Smith knocked him out by throwing his pistol at him, admitting to Hex he knew his chances of hitting the bartender with the gun were better than trying to shoot him with it. Hex and Smith found lodgings for the night and shared a room, but Hex couldn’t sleep because of Smith’s incessant snoring and kicked him out, telling him to sleep in the nearby stables. Smith was irritated to find out he’d be sharing the stables with the Price gang two of the corpses local paid money to see pictures of. Smith was woken in the middle of the night when one of the corpses came to life and walked toward him. Smith shot the zombie to no effect, and the corpse responded by raising a gun and shooting him. Smith was hit in the side, and saw the arrival of Doc “Cross” Williams, who ordered his flunkies String Bean Jones, Half Pint and Ramona to load the Price Boys up in his cart. He was accompanied by the reanimated corpse of Wild Bill Hickok, who shot Slow Go several more times, fatally wounding him. Hex went to the stables to see what the commotion was, and Hickok shot him, with the bullet razing Hex’s skull. Doc and company rode off, and Hex sat with Slow Go as he died, promising to find who killed him and put a bullet between their eyes. Jonah was blamed for Smith’s death by the sheriff, and was set to be hanged, but was rescued by the native woman he and Smith had helped before. The next day at sunrise Jonah snuck back into town and found Slow Go’s body in the town dump. He put the stiffened corpse on the back of his horse, and followed the tracks from Doc Williams’ wagon to the nearby town of Nacogdoches. Hex found the local undertaker, Neal Barrett, and paid him to put his friend to rest, warning that he’d return and kill the undertaker if Smith wasn’t buried properly.

Comments: Created by Joe R. Lansdale & Tim Truman.