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Scalped #1
Scalped: Indian Country
Jason Aaron, the up-and-coming writer of the critically acclaimed series THE OTHER SIDE teams with gritty artist R.M. Guera for an intense crime drama that mixes organized crime with current Native American culture.
Fifteen years ago, Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse ran away from a life of abject poverty and utter hopelessness on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in hopes of finding something better. Now he's come back home armed with nothing but a set of nunchucks, a hell-bent-for-leather attitude and one dark secret, to find nothing much has changed on "The Rez" -- short of a glimmering new casino, and a once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized crime. Is he here to set things right or just get a piece of the action?
Collects:/b> Scalped #1-5.
Fifteen years ago, Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse ran away from a life of abject poverty and utter hopelessness on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in hopes of finding something better. Now he's come back home armed with nothing but a set of nunchucks, a hell-bent-for-leather attitude and one dark secret, to find nothing much has changed on "The Rez" -- short of a glimmering new casino, and a once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized crime. Is he here to set things right or just get a piece of the action?
Collects:/b> Scalped #1-5.
124 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2007
77 people are currently reading
4799 people want to read
About the author
Jason Aaron
2,358 books1,678 followersJason Aaron grew up in a small town in Alabama. His cousin, Gustav Hasford, who wrote the semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers, on which the feature film Full Metal Jacket was based, was a large influence on Aaron. Aaron decided he wanted to write comics as a child, and though his father was skeptical when Aaron informed him of this aspiration, his mother took Aaron to drug stores, where he would purchase books from spinner racks, some of which he still owns today.
Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors.
In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry.
Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.
In 2007, Aaron wrote Ripclaw: Pilot Season for Top Cow Productions. Later that year, Marvel editor Axel Alonso, who was impressed by The Other Side and Scalped, hired Aaron to write issues of Wolverine, Black Panther and eventually, an extended run on Ghost Rider that began in April 2008. His continued work on Black Panther also included a tie-in to the company-wide crossover storyline along with a "Secret Invasion" with David Lapham in 2009.
In January 2008, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it would not affect his work on Scalped. Later that July, he wrote the Penguin issue of The Joker's Asylum.
After a 4-issue stint on Wolverine in 2007, Aaron returned to the character with the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, launched to coincide with the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaron commented, "With Wolverine: Weapon X we'll be trying to mix things up like that from arc to arc, so the first arc is a typical sort of black ops story but the second arc will jump right into the middle of a completely different genre," In 2010, the series was relaunched once again as simply Wolverine. He followed this with his current run on Thor: God of Thunder.
Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors.
In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry.
Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.
In 2007, Aaron wrote Ripclaw: Pilot Season for Top Cow Productions. Later that year, Marvel editor Axel Alonso, who was impressed by The Other Side and Scalped, hired Aaron to write issues of Wolverine, Black Panther and eventually, an extended run on Ghost Rider that began in April 2008. His continued work on Black Panther also included a tie-in to the company-wide crossover storyline along with a "Secret Invasion" with David Lapham in 2009.
In January 2008, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it would not affect his work on Scalped. Later that July, he wrote the Penguin issue of The Joker's Asylum.
After a 4-issue stint on Wolverine in 2007, Aaron returned to the character with the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, launched to coincide with the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaron commented, "With Wolverine: Weapon X we'll be trying to mix things up like that from arc to arc, so the first arc is a typical sort of black ops story but the second arc will jump right into the middle of a completely different genre," In 2010, the series was relaunched once again as simply Wolverine. He followed this with his current run on Thor: God of Thunder.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 456 reviews
May 21, 2023
Out of nowhere in the world of comics, the superbly innovative Vertigo strand of D.C. comics came through with this superb Native American military veteran homecoming / reservation crime drama centred round the return of Dashiell 'Dash' Big House to 'The Rez' where he grew up.
Superbly crafted and very much a human interest tale with it's no holds barred look at the downside of the modern Native American set-aside communities. 8 out of 12, Four Star read.
2017 and 2013 read
Superbly crafted and very much a human interest tale with it's no holds barred look at the downside of the modern Native American set-aside communities. 8 out of 12, Four Star read.
2017 and 2013 read
August 27, 2025
(A-) 83% | Very Good
Notes: Prairie noir, an au revoir to hope, despoiled and wrecked, crime and grime's the paradigm, a tale hard-boiled as heck.
*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issue #1 ◦ Issues #2-3 ◦ Issues #4-5
Notes: Prairie noir, an au revoir to hope, despoiled and wrecked, crime and grime's the paradigm, a tale hard-boiled as heck.
*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issue #1 ◦ Issues #2-3 ◦ Issues #4-5
March 1, 2025
When I first read Preacher, several years ago, I found it over-the-top crazy violent with (too many) layers of intrigue and I stopped reading it after the first volume. It took me some time before I could come back to it and see it all the way through as one of the great comics series ever. I had pretty much the same experience with Scalped. Too violent, too crazy, over the top. Now, years later, impatient for the next volume of Aaron’s Southern Bastards, I reread this first volume and yeah, it is violent, but it is also pretty powerful. I had missed the quality of the writing and the deep political commentary. It reminds me a bit of 100 Bullets with its story of betrayal and murder, but adding in dimensions of race and class. Maybe a touch of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, exposing the underbelly of American history. And Preacher, of course.
After fifteen years, Dashiell (as in a nod to Dashiell Hammett, to get at the dark noir aspect of this series) aka "Dash" Bad Horse returns to Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest county in America, with 80% unemployment, $3k average household income, and raging alcoholism. And in the midst of this poverty, Chief Lincoln Red Crow of the Oglala Lakota tribe is opening a $97 million casino, relaxing those alcohol restrictions in the process. Will this help the local economy? The feel of this series owes something to sixties Blaxploitation flix as the angry Dash gets hired by the Chief to clean up the rez. But what if the chief is the central source of corruption? And what if Dash is an undercover FBI agent with the job of bringing down Red Crow?
After all these years Dash meets up with his mother, who put him on a bus 15 years ago to get him away from rez life. This meeting doesn’t go well. Bad Horse also reconnects with the drug-addicted, lost Carol Red Crow, too. Will he save her or will she drag him down with her? We also have in the background a sort of mythical Native American figure Catcher, riding his horse Festus (Festus was a character on the tv series Gunsmoke). And Officer Falls Down (“No, not all of us get noble animal names.”). The storytelling reveals Aaron’s deep research into the long tragic history of the American reservation, with some authentic nasty dialogue and even some dark humor exposing the poverty and corruption and inequity in the poorest county in the richest country on the planet. Yes, it is gritty, dark, and violent. Not for everyone, but finally, it does seem to be for me.
After fifteen years, Dashiell (as in a nod to Dashiell Hammett, to get at the dark noir aspect of this series) aka "Dash" Bad Horse returns to Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest county in America, with 80% unemployment, $3k average household income, and raging alcoholism. And in the midst of this poverty, Chief Lincoln Red Crow of the Oglala Lakota tribe is opening a $97 million casino, relaxing those alcohol restrictions in the process. Will this help the local economy? The feel of this series owes something to sixties Blaxploitation flix as the angry Dash gets hired by the Chief to clean up the rez. But what if the chief is the central source of corruption? And what if Dash is an undercover FBI agent with the job of bringing down Red Crow?
After all these years Dash meets up with his mother, who put him on a bus 15 years ago to get him away from rez life. This meeting doesn’t go well. Bad Horse also reconnects with the drug-addicted, lost Carol Red Crow, too. Will he save her or will she drag him down with her? We also have in the background a sort of mythical Native American figure Catcher, riding his horse Festus (Festus was a character on the tv series Gunsmoke). And Officer Falls Down (“No, not all of us get noble animal names.”). The storytelling reveals Aaron’s deep research into the long tragic history of the American reservation, with some authentic nasty dialogue and even some dark humor exposing the poverty and corruption and inequity in the poorest county in the richest country on the planet. Yes, it is gritty, dark, and violent. Not for everyone, but finally, it does seem to be for me.
September 21, 2011
Thirty years ago Alan Moore changed the face of comics, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The Killing Joke--we've all heard the story before, and I've certainly put my 2 cents in. Now, he's not the only revolutionary comic writer out there: Gerber was writing realistic superhero stories years before Moore, and Milligan has a complex, literary voice to rival Moore's.
But Moore is still the great inspiration, the ever-changing, wide-reaching face of comics as an art form. And so he has become a touchpoint, a polarizer, and a target--though hardly one of his own making. As Emerson once wrote, 'To be great is to be misunderstood', and I am hard-pressed to say whether dear old Alan is more great, or more misunderstood.
So, because he is the acknowledged high priest of 'graphic novels', and because a lot of people who wouldn't touch a comic book take great pride in reading 'graphic novels', and because one of Moore's creations is invariably relicensed and remade every year, people seek Moore out. Journalists go to the old wise man on the rock, begging for visions of the future.
And Moore is every bit the wily hermit, which is why these interviews always turn out the same way:
Journalist who hasn't done his homework: "Mr. Moore, where do you see comics going in the future? What are your favorite comic books?"
Merlin in a black cutoff shirt: "The industry betrayed me over and over, especially the big companies. I don't really read comics any more, and I certainly don't follow them enough to have an opinion."
J: "Oh, I see. Well, what about the news that they are going to remake [something Moore did in 1987]?"
AM: "Well, they own it, so they can do what they want with it. I don't care, but I don't want to see it."
J: "Well, how about the fact that [other company] is going to make a sequel to [some minor Moore story] using old scripts you pitched to them in 1991 but they rejected?"
AM: "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, I wish that they would stop cannibalizing old stories and ideas, trying to recapture their glory days, and instead to to move ahead with something new."
J: "Like what?"
AM: "I don't know, how about something that isn't just a rewrite of work from decades ago? How about they promote a culture of new-thinking, creative talent instead of just hiring guys who grew up as comic fans and just want to tell the same stories about the same characters, stories which are so full of inside-jokes and impossibly complex histories that no new reader could possibly find them interesting? It sounds like nothing has changed since I left, and the industry is still run by people who discourage anything new and push for anything that resembles a successful work that is now old an outdated."
Then the journalist publishes the piece as 'Alan Moore Bashes Comics Industry (Again)" and the internet erupts in another unpleasant shitstorm. People who are tired of Moore's huge reputation say he's an old man who is out of touch, and people who buy into his reputation a bit too much say he's completely right, and that all modern comics are shit. And so we see how reputations are built: both sides misread Moore's statement and then everyone talks about how he is a saint and/or a bastard, while Moore sits at home writing stuff and not caring.
Inevitably, people in the industry start putting in their opinion. We usually get something from Grant Morrison about how there are all kinds of great comics out there besides Moore's, which is true, but since Morrison has spent his career being labeled 'that guy who is like Alan Moore, but not as good' (sometimes fairly, sometimes not), he tends to be too close to the controversy to see things clearly.
And he's hardly the only one. After reading Jason Aaron's 'The Year I Stopped Caring About Alan Moore', I found myself thinking that someone else in the industry had grossly misread him, taken the whole thing personally, and ultimately, failed to refute any of the points Moore had made about the industry. In fact, his naive lashing-out rather seems to confirm Moore's concerns.
Moore contends that the industry does not promote talent. He doesn't just say that they have no top talent, but that there is no system of writing promotion, whatsoever: "Why are DC Comics trying to exploit a comic book that I wrote 25 years ago if they have got anything?". But Aaron contends that he has written a story where he, as a character in his own story, is shot in the face by a funny in-joke character who only die-hard geeks remember.
As any writer from Family Guy will tell you, there is no more creative act than combining violence, obscure references, and breaking the fourth wall--a technique that was already tired when Morrison did it in 1990. Already, Aaron is feeding into Moore's critique of the industry as worn-out, incestuous, and cannibalistic.
Then there's Moore's assertion that the industry is now run by fans. He's not saying it shouldn't be run by people who love comics--clearly, Alan himself loves comics, despite all the bitterness and difficulty-- this is more akin to a winery being in the hands of alcoholics: of people who do not want to make the best product, but who want to make something that will get them good and drunk.
This is supported by Aaron's own whining assertions that Alan Moore 'owes him' for buying all his comics over the years. Now here, I had always thought that the writer repays you in the story, and if you like what he has written, you buy it, and you both get what you want. But in the mind of a 'fan', that's not how it works. The relationship between writer and consumer is personal, it's an interaction, or as Aaron puts it:
"But just how has Alan Moore seen fit to thank me for all the support and adoration I've shown him over the years?"
Well, I'd say he thanked you by writing great stories in the medium you love. Not enough? Tough shit. Alan is not obliged to coddle you and be your friend, nor is it necessary for him to read every single author's work in order to see that the industry is stagnant and backed up, and that, despite the great, undiscovered authors who may be out there, the industry is not embracing a new vision.
And I've been looking for one. There are a lot of comics coming out these days and I wish that there were voices as revolutionary as Moore, Gaiman, and Milligan leading the way to some new period, instead of just aping the past. Instead of Sandman, we have Fables, a pale shadow of Gaiman's mythic explorations, lacking writing ability, insight, and character. For artistic exploration we have The Nightly News, which is pretty enough, but which has the sort of plot a first-year college student might write while using the term 'sheeple' without a trace of irony.
The Walking Dead is an endless, straightforward soap opera with some passable characterization, but no aspirations to anything greater. Y: The Last Man does have aspirations, but gets lost in chauvinism, cliche, and overly-convenient plotting.
I could go on. My first thought, after reading Aaron's invectives against Moore was 'who is this guy, and does he have any ground to stand on?' So I looked him up and found he was the author of a few comics, but then I forgot about him and moved on. It wasn't until much later that I happened to read a highly-recommended book called 'Scalped' and then, while writing this review, realized it was by the same guy.
Well, if Aaron wants praise from Moore for keeping comics alive into a new era, he's going to need more than this. It's a rehash of Frank Miller's Sin City, without the hard-driving, elegant plot. Aaron tries to do a bit of what Moore is famous for: a disjointed story that skips back and forth, but like Morrison, he shows how damned hard it is to do without losing the thrust of the plot. He does have some nice moments and attractive pieces of composition, but they are the exception.
Then again, the plot isn't very well-constructed to begin with. He takes a noir bent and lampshades it, calling his protagonist 'Dashiell', then writes out a story where everything is confused and uncertain, doled out slowly over time for our hard-nosed hero. But we never get any starting impetus to get us into the story, its all just undefined mystery with the characters jumping back and forth between time and place, trying to get us to our destination.
Aaron didn't seem to learn from either Miller or Hammett that you need to stick with something small and palpable to hook the main character, a central personal journey for him to follow as we uncover the larger tale, otherwise it just feels like a normal story with the structure chopped up and reversed to fool us into thinking it might be interesting.
The dialogue is reminiscent of Preacher: every third word isn't a swear word and everyone is constantly threatening and insulting one another. Yet there isn't as much differentiation between the characters, especially in terms of dialogue, so everyone just ends up sounding the same. Everything is loud and crude for its own sake, and the tone suffers.
Using characteristic, strong dialogue can be a great way to give your story mood and your characters personality, but filling every bubble with as much wild vernacular as possible is just distracting and silly, and it makes everyone sound the same. At some point, you're going to have to tell a story.
But this is Sin City on the Rez, and therein lies some opportunity for a new vision--something not already done to death in comics--and which has the added benefit of being able to comment on the long tradition of Western comics. But this is not an eye-opening bit of realism, not a glimpse into the Rez culture. So far, I haven't seen any details I haven't already encountered in the cliche depictions of Natives that sometimes show up on TV. This isn't Sherman Alexie or Louise Erdrich, it's not even Momaday, it's just a crime drama with a 'Native' veneer.
It's frustrating because you do finally have these Native voices coming out in those authors or in movies like Dead Man and Pow Wow Highway, and then to read something like this, which is so reductive. It lacks the self-aware humor which makes stories about isolation and poverty feel human. But then, mirthlessness is a sure sign of an 'edgy' comic that takes itself too seriously. Sure, there's plenty of witless sarcasm, but that hardly adds depth to an already cynical story.
So whatever Aaron wants from Alan Moore, or feels he deserves, I've seen nothing so far to suggest that he's earned any of it. He's not in the new vanguard of up-and-coming writers who are going to redefine comics for the next generation, he's just another guy remaking the great comics of the previous generation.
Maybe his childish diatribe would have had some more punch if he had some accomplishments to back it up, but as of yet, I'm not seeing it.
My Suggested Readings in Comics
But Moore is still the great inspiration, the ever-changing, wide-reaching face of comics as an art form. And so he has become a touchpoint, a polarizer, and a target--though hardly one of his own making. As Emerson once wrote, 'To be great is to be misunderstood', and I am hard-pressed to say whether dear old Alan is more great, or more misunderstood.
So, because he is the acknowledged high priest of 'graphic novels', and because a lot of people who wouldn't touch a comic book take great pride in reading 'graphic novels', and because one of Moore's creations is invariably relicensed and remade every year, people seek Moore out. Journalists go to the old wise man on the rock, begging for visions of the future.
And Moore is every bit the wily hermit, which is why these interviews always turn out the same way:
Journalist who hasn't done his homework: "Mr. Moore, where do you see comics going in the future? What are your favorite comic books?"
Merlin in a black cutoff shirt: "The industry betrayed me over and over, especially the big companies. I don't really read comics any more, and I certainly don't follow them enough to have an opinion."
J: "Oh, I see. Well, what about the news that they are going to remake [something Moore did in 1987]?"
AM: "Well, they own it, so they can do what they want with it. I don't care, but I don't want to see it."
J: "Well, how about the fact that [other company] is going to make a sequel to [some minor Moore story] using old scripts you pitched to them in 1991 but they rejected?"
AM: "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, I wish that they would stop cannibalizing old stories and ideas, trying to recapture their glory days, and instead to to move ahead with something new."
J: "Like what?"
AM: "I don't know, how about something that isn't just a rewrite of work from decades ago? How about they promote a culture of new-thinking, creative talent instead of just hiring guys who grew up as comic fans and just want to tell the same stories about the same characters, stories which are so full of inside-jokes and impossibly complex histories that no new reader could possibly find them interesting? It sounds like nothing has changed since I left, and the industry is still run by people who discourage anything new and push for anything that resembles a successful work that is now old an outdated."
Then the journalist publishes the piece as 'Alan Moore Bashes Comics Industry (Again)" and the internet erupts in another unpleasant shitstorm. People who are tired of Moore's huge reputation say he's an old man who is out of touch, and people who buy into his reputation a bit too much say he's completely right, and that all modern comics are shit. And so we see how reputations are built: both sides misread Moore's statement and then everyone talks about how he is a saint and/or a bastard, while Moore sits at home writing stuff and not caring.
Inevitably, people in the industry start putting in their opinion. We usually get something from Grant Morrison about how there are all kinds of great comics out there besides Moore's, which is true, but since Morrison has spent his career being labeled 'that guy who is like Alan Moore, but not as good' (sometimes fairly, sometimes not), he tends to be too close to the controversy to see things clearly.
And he's hardly the only one. After reading Jason Aaron's 'The Year I Stopped Caring About Alan Moore', I found myself thinking that someone else in the industry had grossly misread him, taken the whole thing personally, and ultimately, failed to refute any of the points Moore had made about the industry. In fact, his naive lashing-out rather seems to confirm Moore's concerns.
Moore contends that the industry does not promote talent. He doesn't just say that they have no top talent, but that there is no system of writing promotion, whatsoever: "Why are DC Comics trying to exploit a comic book that I wrote 25 years ago if they have got anything?". But Aaron contends that he has written a story where he, as a character in his own story, is shot in the face by a funny in-joke character who only die-hard geeks remember.
As any writer from Family Guy will tell you, there is no more creative act than combining violence, obscure references, and breaking the fourth wall--a technique that was already tired when Morrison did it in 1990. Already, Aaron is feeding into Moore's critique of the industry as worn-out, incestuous, and cannibalistic.
Then there's Moore's assertion that the industry is now run by fans. He's not saying it shouldn't be run by people who love comics--clearly, Alan himself loves comics, despite all the bitterness and difficulty-- this is more akin to a winery being in the hands of alcoholics: of people who do not want to make the best product, but who want to make something that will get them good and drunk.
This is supported by Aaron's own whining assertions that Alan Moore 'owes him' for buying all his comics over the years. Now here, I had always thought that the writer repays you in the story, and if you like what he has written, you buy it, and you both get what you want. But in the mind of a 'fan', that's not how it works. The relationship between writer and consumer is personal, it's an interaction, or as Aaron puts it:
"But just how has Alan Moore seen fit to thank me for all the support and adoration I've shown him over the years?"
Well, I'd say he thanked you by writing great stories in the medium you love. Not enough? Tough shit. Alan is not obliged to coddle you and be your friend, nor is it necessary for him to read every single author's work in order to see that the industry is stagnant and backed up, and that, despite the great, undiscovered authors who may be out there, the industry is not embracing a new vision.
And I've been looking for one. There are a lot of comics coming out these days and I wish that there were voices as revolutionary as Moore, Gaiman, and Milligan leading the way to some new period, instead of just aping the past. Instead of Sandman, we have Fables, a pale shadow of Gaiman's mythic explorations, lacking writing ability, insight, and character. For artistic exploration we have The Nightly News, which is pretty enough, but which has the sort of plot a first-year college student might write while using the term 'sheeple' without a trace of irony.
The Walking Dead is an endless, straightforward soap opera with some passable characterization, but no aspirations to anything greater. Y: The Last Man does have aspirations, but gets lost in chauvinism, cliche, and overly-convenient plotting.
I could go on. My first thought, after reading Aaron's invectives against Moore was 'who is this guy, and does he have any ground to stand on?' So I looked him up and found he was the author of a few comics, but then I forgot about him and moved on. It wasn't until much later that I happened to read a highly-recommended book called 'Scalped' and then, while writing this review, realized it was by the same guy.
Well, if Aaron wants praise from Moore for keeping comics alive into a new era, he's going to need more than this. It's a rehash of Frank Miller's Sin City, without the hard-driving, elegant plot. Aaron tries to do a bit of what Moore is famous for: a disjointed story that skips back and forth, but like Morrison, he shows how damned hard it is to do without losing the thrust of the plot. He does have some nice moments and attractive pieces of composition, but they are the exception.
Then again, the plot isn't very well-constructed to begin with. He takes a noir bent and lampshades it, calling his protagonist 'Dashiell', then writes out a story where everything is confused and uncertain, doled out slowly over time for our hard-nosed hero. But we never get any starting impetus to get us into the story, its all just undefined mystery with the characters jumping back and forth between time and place, trying to get us to our destination.
Aaron didn't seem to learn from either Miller or Hammett that you need to stick with something small and palpable to hook the main character, a central personal journey for him to follow as we uncover the larger tale, otherwise it just feels like a normal story with the structure chopped up and reversed to fool us into thinking it might be interesting.
The dialogue is reminiscent of Preacher: every third word isn't a swear word and everyone is constantly threatening and insulting one another. Yet there isn't as much differentiation between the characters, especially in terms of dialogue, so everyone just ends up sounding the same. Everything is loud and crude for its own sake, and the tone suffers.
Using characteristic, strong dialogue can be a great way to give your story mood and your characters personality, but filling every bubble with as much wild vernacular as possible is just distracting and silly, and it makes everyone sound the same. At some point, you're going to have to tell a story.
But this is Sin City on the Rez, and therein lies some opportunity for a new vision--something not already done to death in comics--and which has the added benefit of being able to comment on the long tradition of Western comics. But this is not an eye-opening bit of realism, not a glimpse into the Rez culture. So far, I haven't seen any details I haven't already encountered in the cliche depictions of Natives that sometimes show up on TV. This isn't Sherman Alexie or Louise Erdrich, it's not even Momaday, it's just a crime drama with a 'Native' veneer.
It's frustrating because you do finally have these Native voices coming out in those authors or in movies like Dead Man and Pow Wow Highway, and then to read something like this, which is so reductive. It lacks the self-aware humor which makes stories about isolation and poverty feel human. But then, mirthlessness is a sure sign of an 'edgy' comic that takes itself too seriously. Sure, there's plenty of witless sarcasm, but that hardly adds depth to an already cynical story.
So whatever Aaron wants from Alan Moore, or feels he deserves, I've seen nothing so far to suggest that he's earned any of it. He's not in the new vanguard of up-and-coming writers who are going to redefine comics for the next generation, he's just another guy remaking the great comics of the previous generation.
Maybe his childish diatribe would have had some more punch if he had some accomplishments to back it up, but as of yet, I'm not seeing it.
My Suggested Readings in Comics
May 28, 2015
Dashiell Bad Horse returns to the reservation where he grew up with a pair of nunchucks and proceeds to start whipping ass. This gets the attention of local honcho Red Crow who is getting ready to open a casino, and he gets Bad Horse a job as a deputy where he can legally crack the skulls of everyone interfering with Red Crow's plans. Bad Horse also has to face his estranged activist mother who is protesting the casino,and there's also his old flame who doesn't let a husband stop her from banging every guy she can and who just so happens to be Red Crow's daughter. Dash is also harboring a pretty big secret that seriously complicates his life as a hired thug.
This is great crime story with enough violence, blood and sex to be an HBO series. The unique setting of the rez with its population of disenfranchised Native-Americans gives it an interesting backdrop and provides plenty of complex conflicts for Bad Horse to deal with.
My only complaint is that more people weren't actually scalped. That's false advertising!
This is great crime story with enough violence, blood and sex to be an HBO series. The unique setting of the rez with its population of disenfranchised Native-Americans gives it an interesting backdrop and provides plenty of complex conflicts for Bad Horse to deal with.
My only complaint is that more people weren't actually scalped. That's false advertising!
February 12, 2013
Hoka Hey!
You don’t know this yet but “Scalped” is one of the best comics you’ll ever read.
I know because I’ve read the whole series now and there isn’t a weak link in the chain; every single book is solid. There isn’t a lull in the middle, there aren’t weird tangents that are pointless to the overall story - there is simply one incredible book after another with writer Jason Aaron creating, alongside visionary artist and co-creator R.M. Guera, one of the most impressive literary achievements ever written.
The series is set on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest county in America, where unemployment is at 80%, the average yearly household income is three thousand dollars, and alcoholism is rife. It is a third world country within the richest country in the world. Amidst such poverty, Lincoln Red Crow, the chief of the Oglala Lakota tribe, is set to open the $97 million Crazy Horse Casino, supposedly to rejuvenate the county’s stagnant economy.
Red Crow is one of the two main characters in this series, a complex man with a dark past filled with murder and betrayal. The other main character is Dashiell Bad Horse, an angry young man who left the Rez (as the Reservation is known) at 13 and returns to become one of Red Crow’s enforcers. He is really an undercover FBI Agent tasked with collecting evidence to bring down Red Crow and his criminal syndicate once and for all. Both characters are richly drawn and over the course of the series become two of the most unforgettable characters you’re ever likely to encounter in all of literature. They feel both timeless yet also of their time.
This flawless first book introduces Bad Horse and Red Crow while setting up their desolate, dangerous and desperate world. Key to this introduction is R. M. Guera’s astonishingly emotive pencils and dusty appearance, perfectly suiting the desert background. Guera gives each of the characters an immediately recognisable and unique face and figure, bringing Aaron’s white hot dialogue to life. In the characters’ expressions are perfectly drawn emotion and depth while bringing real motion to the action sequences. The squalor and disenchantment of the Rez is perfectly captured with Guera’s masterful art and strong eye for detail.
The tragic character of Carol Red Crow, the mysterious figure of Catcher perched atop his horse Festus, the vengeful Agent Nitz, the honourable Officer Falls Down, and the earnest Dino Poor Bear are all introduced in passing – each one of this supporting cast will develop beautifully over the series, adding so much to the overall tapestry of “Scalped”.
There isn’t a first volume in any series that gets so much right, so fast. I expected there to be a grace period where the groundwork is laid before the action starts up but Aaron pulls off the most incredible balancing act of introducing everything and everyone and setting the tone while crafting a mesmerising and pulse-pounding story at the same time. It’s a crime story. It’s a love story. It’s a story about fathers and daughters, mothers and sons. It’s about cultural heritage. It’s about institutional corruption. It’s about the American Dream. It’s about American history. By turns it is seriously exciting, darkly funny, sexy, insightful, and always entertaining. And as much as this first book contains? There is so much more yet to come.
For now though, pick up “Indian Country” and read the beginning of a masterpiece.
Toksa Ake!
You don’t know this yet but “Scalped” is one of the best comics you’ll ever read.
I know because I’ve read the whole series now and there isn’t a weak link in the chain; every single book is solid. There isn’t a lull in the middle, there aren’t weird tangents that are pointless to the overall story - there is simply one incredible book after another with writer Jason Aaron creating, alongside visionary artist and co-creator R.M. Guera, one of the most impressive literary achievements ever written.
The series is set on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest county in America, where unemployment is at 80%, the average yearly household income is three thousand dollars, and alcoholism is rife. It is a third world country within the richest country in the world. Amidst such poverty, Lincoln Red Crow, the chief of the Oglala Lakota tribe, is set to open the $97 million Crazy Horse Casino, supposedly to rejuvenate the county’s stagnant economy.
Red Crow is one of the two main characters in this series, a complex man with a dark past filled with murder and betrayal. The other main character is Dashiell Bad Horse, an angry young man who left the Rez (as the Reservation is known) at 13 and returns to become one of Red Crow’s enforcers. He is really an undercover FBI Agent tasked with collecting evidence to bring down Red Crow and his criminal syndicate once and for all. Both characters are richly drawn and over the course of the series become two of the most unforgettable characters you’re ever likely to encounter in all of literature. They feel both timeless yet also of their time.
This flawless first book introduces Bad Horse and Red Crow while setting up their desolate, dangerous and desperate world. Key to this introduction is R. M. Guera’s astonishingly emotive pencils and dusty appearance, perfectly suiting the desert background. Guera gives each of the characters an immediately recognisable and unique face and figure, bringing Aaron’s white hot dialogue to life. In the characters’ expressions are perfectly drawn emotion and depth while bringing real motion to the action sequences. The squalor and disenchantment of the Rez is perfectly captured with Guera’s masterful art and strong eye for detail.
The tragic character of Carol Red Crow, the mysterious figure of Catcher perched atop his horse Festus, the vengeful Agent Nitz, the honourable Officer Falls Down, and the earnest Dino Poor Bear are all introduced in passing – each one of this supporting cast will develop beautifully over the series, adding so much to the overall tapestry of “Scalped”.
There isn’t a first volume in any series that gets so much right, so fast. I expected there to be a grace period where the groundwork is laid before the action starts up but Aaron pulls off the most incredible balancing act of introducing everything and everyone and setting the tone while crafting a mesmerising and pulse-pounding story at the same time. It’s a crime story. It’s a love story. It’s a story about fathers and daughters, mothers and sons. It’s about cultural heritage. It’s about institutional corruption. It’s about the American Dream. It’s about American history. By turns it is seriously exciting, darkly funny, sexy, insightful, and always entertaining. And as much as this first book contains? There is so much more yet to come.
For now though, pick up “Indian Country” and read the beginning of a masterpiece.
Toksa Ake!
December 25, 2024
Loved it!
July 20, 2011
There have been 4 major turning points in my life when it comes to media: when I first heard Slayer, when I first read Breakfast of Champions, when I first saw Pulp Fiction, and when I first read Preacher. Those were major points that redirected and reshaped not only my tastes, but by extension, me as a person. From there I found so much more to love, more that I could love, in all the media markets. They prompted me to dig deeper and search harder and to not settle for mediocrity in my tastes, but to find those things that are truly excellent. Oh, I almost forgot when I was introduced to the art of Egon Schiele.
And then, 13 years after all of that, I think that there won't be any more days like that. Days of wonder where I find something that completely reinvents my expectations of everything that comes after that.
This book is too good for just a 5 star rating. It's off the charts phenomenal. And I am overselling it on a critical level. I am. But I can't give it enough praise as it applies to my own personal taste.
Here's a good indicator of whether or not you, personally, will enjoy this book- it has elements of racism, violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, drug manufacturing, fist fights, murders and an overall air of desperation.
On a critical level, the book has an intellectual appeal that lies beneath it's gruff exterior. It speaks volumes about America from a perspective that you absolutely never see in other media or storytelling. Not even in a Sherman Alexie story. How desecrated and battered American Indian culture is and how exploitative it has become of it's own self. The drugs and alcoholism, the way the reservations have become secluded and desolate ghettos, the power structure that is exploiting it's own people and that the wealth generated is not distributed among the population of the reservation where 80% of the people live below the poverty line.
If you can stomach real dialogue, with all of it's misogyny and racism, then get your hands on this book. It's art is just as visceral as it's scripting.
And then, 13 years after all of that, I think that there won't be any more days like that. Days of wonder where I find something that completely reinvents my expectations of everything that comes after that.
This book is too good for just a 5 star rating. It's off the charts phenomenal. And I am overselling it on a critical level. I am. But I can't give it enough praise as it applies to my own personal taste.
Here's a good indicator of whether or not you, personally, will enjoy this book- it has elements of racism, violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, drug manufacturing, fist fights, murders and an overall air of desperation.
On a critical level, the book has an intellectual appeal that lies beneath it's gruff exterior. It speaks volumes about America from a perspective that you absolutely never see in other media or storytelling. Not even in a Sherman Alexie story. How desecrated and battered American Indian culture is and how exploitative it has become of it's own self. The drugs and alcoholism, the way the reservations have become secluded and desolate ghettos, the power structure that is exploiting it's own people and that the wealth generated is not distributed among the population of the reservation where 80% of the people live below the poverty line.
If you can stomach real dialogue, with all of it's misogyny and racism, then get your hands on this book. It's art is just as visceral as it's scripting.
December 2, 2024
My 900th book of the year!!!!! I hit my goal!!!!
Anyway on to the excellent volume one of scalped. I've been waiting years and years to read this and it is well worth the wait. The characters are all terrible assholes who deserve their fates but you can't stop reading. Like a Trainwreck. I loved the twist and turns, learning the background of our lead only gets darker and by the end of volume 1 I was completely hooked. I'm being vague cause so many things happen in five issues and I refuse to spoil anything. There's a reason this book made Jason Aaron considered one of the heavy weights. Read it now.
Anyway on to the excellent volume one of scalped. I've been waiting years and years to read this and it is well worth the wait. The characters are all terrible assholes who deserve their fates but you can't stop reading. Like a Trainwreck. I loved the twist and turns, learning the background of our lead only gets darker and by the end of volume 1 I was completely hooked. I'm being vague cause so many things happen in five issues and I refuse to spoil anything. There's a reason this book made Jason Aaron considered one of the heavy weights. Read it now.
March 25, 2018
True story: I volunteered to work on a Native American reservation in the American southwest a few years ago. Needless to say, from the low quality cots to the do-gooder personnel running the joint it was a miserable experience. However, I was quite surprised to find the same location providing the setting for a comic book. My volunteering experience was not the least bit pleasant yet I had quite the opposite feeling from this one.
First up to bat has to be the art. The word grit keeps coming up in innumerable comic book related reviews which could be well applied here. However, the word grimy would be far more apt for Scalped. Claustrophobia and the ensuing density that would rival Jupiter's Red Spot jar our eyes first, and then our minds. Brutal anti-chiaroscuro ethos enshrine themselves in a style that favors the dark rather than the light.
Second, the story takes from 100 Bullet's sensibilities and denudes them of their typified accessibility but still retaining their essences. There's alot of overlap with 70's inspirited Blaxploitation films that drives detail as much as dialogue. The past has been successfully reduplicated with a new "rez" veneer.
Thirdly, creative paneling takes a strong point here. Instead of a simplistic arrangement of panels, Scalped decries well established know-how and follows its own ethos. Panels overlap background illustrations as much as other demarcated quadrilaterals to dramatic effect. The same force that shoves rotating razor blades in out face like the infamous Texas Chainsaw Massacre are in effect here.
In conclusion, I'll be real. I still have no idea what to think here. Unlike any other comic I've read, even after reading some 100 pages (in many ways) I still have no idea where I am nor what has happened over all. So many threads have been unspooled here it's gonna take a while to make sense of it all. However, poignant artwork has pierced first, and then engaged mine eyes so strongly, it's been impossible to turn away. I'm excited to see how the story develops from here...
First up to bat has to be the art. The word grit keeps coming up in innumerable comic book related reviews which could be well applied here. However, the word grimy would be far more apt for Scalped. Claustrophobia and the ensuing density that would rival Jupiter's Red Spot jar our eyes first, and then our minds. Brutal anti-chiaroscuro ethos enshrine themselves in a style that favors the dark rather than the light.
Second, the story takes from 100 Bullet's sensibilities and denudes them of their typified accessibility but still retaining their essences. There's alot of overlap with 70's inspirited Blaxploitation films that drives detail as much as dialogue. The past has been successfully reduplicated with a new "rez" veneer.
Thirdly, creative paneling takes a strong point here. Instead of a simplistic arrangement of panels, Scalped decries well established know-how and follows its own ethos. Panels overlap background illustrations as much as other demarcated quadrilaterals to dramatic effect. The same force that shoves rotating razor blades in out face like the infamous Texas Chainsaw Massacre are in effect here.
In conclusion, I'll be real. I still have no idea what to think here. Unlike any other comic I've read, even after reading some 100 pages (in many ways) I still have no idea where I am nor what has happened over all. So many threads have been unspooled here it's gonna take a while to make sense of it all. However, poignant artwork has pierced first, and then engaged mine eyes so strongly, it's been impossible to turn away. I'm excited to see how the story develops from here...
May 9, 2015
I've been reading a lot of Aaron's work and so I was recommended Scalped a few times. I've avoided this title for a while because it just didn't sound all that fun to read, but I was wrong.
I'm used to reading image comics, so when I picked up this vertigo title I was a bit disappointed with the print. No glossy pages and a dull printed colours for the artwork. That aside, what a brilliant story. It's a more mature story than I imagined and I've likened it to be very similar to the TV show or vice versa 'Banshee'. There are a lot of similarities.
Anyway it's got a solid story and a kick ass main character and what looks like some twists about to rear their head in future issues and lots of unexpected turns, especially at the end of this volume. I think I'm going to read on and invest in the deluxe.
I'm used to reading image comics, so when I picked up this vertigo title I was a bit disappointed with the print. No glossy pages and a dull printed colours for the artwork. That aside, what a brilliant story. It's a more mature story than I imagined and I've likened it to be very similar to the TV show or vice versa 'Banshee'. There are a lot of similarities.
Anyway it's got a solid story and a kick ass main character and what looks like some twists about to rear their head in future issues and lots of unexpected turns, especially at the end of this volume. I think I'm going to read on and invest in the deluxe.
September 18, 2014
A full-speed, gritty, noir-inspired book, in the somewhat unusual setting of a modern Oglala Lakota reservation. The story takes off from the first scene, and rarely lets up. It's rough, violent, and steeped in corruption on many levels.
And I don't think it's for me. I have no doubt of Aaron's skills, and I've greatly enjoyed some of the things he's written. But though I think that he's done exactly what he set out to do with this book, I'm still not onboard. I can't pretend that some of that isn't my discomfort with a white author writing an entire reservation as, essentially, the slums of Gotham on a bad day. I don't doubt that Aaron has done his research, but it's a very one dimensional view.
And I don't think it's for me. I have no doubt of Aaron's skills, and I've greatly enjoyed some of the things he's written. But though I think that he's done exactly what he set out to do with this book, I'm still not onboard. I can't pretend that some of that isn't my discomfort with a white author writing an entire reservation as, essentially, the slums of Gotham on a bad day. I don't doubt that Aaron has done his research, but it's a very one dimensional view.
December 17, 2016
Indian Country is the perfect way to start a gritty saga. There's the characters, the place called the Rez and the Indian country which seems to be hiding a horrible, horrible past. Scalped starts with a young war veteran Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse returning to Praire Rose Indian Reservation. Nothing good has happened in the Rez. In fact, things got a lot worse there. And for Dash, it brings back to him so many nightmares of the past.
The scenes are very cinematic and action-packed that it may as well look good on the TV screen! Scalped is a battle between the whites and the reds, a crime story of all sorts - drugs, gambling, prostitution and murders. And to think that this is only the first of ten volumes, I'm definitely in one helluva ride.
The scenes are very cinematic and action-packed that it may as well look good on the TV screen! Scalped is a battle between the whites and the reds, a crime story of all sorts - drugs, gambling, prostitution and murders. And to think that this is only the first of ten volumes, I'm definitely in one helluva ride.
November 7, 2018
Updated November 2018 on completion of the series.
"Sixty issues. Ten trade paperbacks. More than 1,200 pages. God knows how many shootings, stabbings, betrayals, and bad choices."
This fantastic series is set on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation, and while there is a large group of characters, the story centers mainly around Chief Lincoln Red Crow and Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse. While these two have history, Dash left the Rez fifteen years ago planning to never return to this land of poverty and hopelessness. Now he's back, and while nothing has really changed, there is a new casino run by Red Crow, who also heads up the local organized crime unit.
The history of Native Americans is a bleak one, and there is much that is bleak here, but there is also the exploration of the proud Lakota and their traditions. This is a bloody and violent tale, and that's as it should be, and in the midst of all of the blood and gun fights, there is the figuring out who you are, what you stand for, and whether it's possible to have a different destiny than the one predicted/expected. Race, poverty, crime, drugs, violence, love, pride, community, and redemption are some of the themes explored within these pages. The characters are all fully fleshed out, and I cared for even the ones I didn't like as they were all complicated and flawed in their own way. Who are the good guys and who are the bad? That changes time and again, and while the ending is not a happily ever after, it is the only one possible.
I had a love/dislike relationship with the art style here. Very dark and moody, sometimes it was perfect and other times too much. There were some wordless pages that were so beautifully illustrated that they stopped me in my tracks. Maybe overall it was just right. As with all collections there were some installments that I loved and others that I really liked. I've never read anything like this before, and am left a little stunned as to what to read next.
While this is a series I would only recommend to those not faint of heart, Scalped has pushed its way to my top ten list of graphic novels of all time. It did so with much violence and bloodshed, but the spot is well earned.
"Sixty issues. Ten trade paperbacks. More than 1,200 pages. God knows how many shootings, stabbings, betrayals, and bad choices."
This fantastic series is set on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation, and while there is a large group of characters, the story centers mainly around Chief Lincoln Red Crow and Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse. While these two have history, Dash left the Rez fifteen years ago planning to never return to this land of poverty and hopelessness. Now he's back, and while nothing has really changed, there is a new casino run by Red Crow, who also heads up the local organized crime unit.
The history of Native Americans is a bleak one, and there is much that is bleak here, but there is also the exploration of the proud Lakota and their traditions. This is a bloody and violent tale, and that's as it should be, and in the midst of all of the blood and gun fights, there is the figuring out who you are, what you stand for, and whether it's possible to have a different destiny than the one predicted/expected. Race, poverty, crime, drugs, violence, love, pride, community, and redemption are some of the themes explored within these pages. The characters are all fully fleshed out, and I cared for even the ones I didn't like as they were all complicated and flawed in their own way. Who are the good guys and who are the bad? That changes time and again, and while the ending is not a happily ever after, it is the only one possible.
I had a love/dislike relationship with the art style here. Very dark and moody, sometimes it was perfect and other times too much. There were some wordless pages that were so beautifully illustrated that they stopped me in my tracks. Maybe overall it was just right. As with all collections there were some installments that I loved and others that I really liked. I've never read anything like this before, and am left a little stunned as to what to read next.
While this is a series I would only recommend to those not faint of heart, Scalped has pushed its way to my top ten list of graphic novels of all time. It did so with much violence and bloodshed, but the spot is well earned.
December 20, 2017
A sleezy modern day crime drama with all the grittyness I loved in Southern Bastards, Vol. 1: Here Was a Man.
November 28, 2017
İlk sayfalar itibariyle içine zor girdiğim, kurgusunu anlamak için kafa patlattığım bir çizgi roman oldu. Üstelik Egemen Görçek gibi takip edip çevirdiği her şeyi okumaya çalıştığım birinin eli değmesine rağmen. Ve fakat sabrın sonu selamet diyerek, ısrar ederek ilerleyince kurgu ilk cildin sonuna doğru kendini açmaya başladı. Gittikçe daha da acayip, derin bir mevzuya girdim. Hemen ikinci cilde geçeceğim. Okuduklarımdan, gördüklerimden memnun olmaya başladım. Alışık olduğunuz türden biraz daha farklı, dramatik bir altyapısı var. Güçlü, daha iyi bir yere doğru gidiyor. Ben de peşine takıldım :)
December 10, 2014
I couldn't move while reading this. It was that gripping!!
Violent, dark, gritty with twists and turns and a story to be slowly revealed.
A must read for all Jason Aaron fans. Absolutely brilliant and terrifyingly unique!
Violent, dark, gritty with twists and turns and a story to be slowly revealed.
A must read for all Jason Aaron fans. Absolutely brilliant and terrifyingly unique!
December 14, 2012
(This is my review of the entire series, not just this book.)
Holy crap, what a ride.
After five years and 60 issues, Jason Aaron and R. M. Guera's noir masterpiece, Scalped, came to an end a couple of weeks ago with the release of Scalped: Trail's End, the tenth and final collection.
And just. . .wow.
There is s spoiler below, just so you know, but it's given away at the end of the first issue. If you absolutely can't stand spoilers, stop reading this and go read Scalped. It's that good, just go read it instead of my craptastic review. Everybody else, you're going to be a little spoiled.
Scalped is the story of a Lakota reservation in South Dakota, seen through the eyes of its inhabitants, most notably: Lincoln Red Crow, the bloody-handed chief and community who wants nothing more than prosperity for his people at absolutely any price and may have killed some FBI agents in the 70s; Catcher, the enigmatic loner who still follows the old ways and has visions of their gods; reservation officer Falls Down, who may be the most (and nearly only) genuinely good person in the whole story, and Dino Poor Bear, a single father with a family that is physically and/or mentally ill and who wants nothing more than to leave the reservation once and for all. Our protagonist, our guide to the reservation, the eyes that show us this poverty-ridden, drug- and alcohol-ravished community, is Dashiell Bad Horse.
Dashiell left the reservation - more to the point, was sent away from the reservation - 15 years ago by his mother. Dashiell returns seemingly for no apparent reason 15 years later, angry, full of piss and vinegar, and eagerly kicking the crap out of Lincoln Red Crow's soldiers. This of course gets him pulled into Red Crow's office, who decides Dashiell Bad Horse would make a better soldier than an enemy, and because Dashiell's mother, Gina Bad Horse, leads the protests against Red Crow's soon-to-open casino.
So remember when I said that Red Crow might have killed some FBI agents in the 70s? FBI Special Agent Bayliss Nitz certainly remembers, and will do anything he can to inflict pain and suffering on three of the people that were involved: Gina Bad Horse, Catcher, and Lincoln Red Crow. Agent Nitz figures the best way to nail Red Crow is to send a mole onto the reservation and into Red Crow's organization to find evidence of wrongdoing and nail Red Crow on murder charges. His choice?
FBI Agent Dashiell Bad Horse.
And that's where Scalped begins: Dashiell returns to the rez, and is revealed (to the reader) as Nitz's mole at the end of the first issue. That's the spoiler.
Believe it or not, being caught in the war between Red Crow and Nitz is pretty much the high point of Dashiell's life for most of the series. This is a story that takes its noir very seriously: each story arc, rather than presenting some happiness here, some sadness there, a problem, and a resolution basically boils down to the philosophy "things always get worse."
And things always get worse. Unrelentingly, unrepentantly, unmitigatedly worse. Poor decisions are made, worse consequences follow, violence and drug addictions spiral out of control, body parts get lost, Red Crow's hands only get bloodier the harder he tries to clean them, Dino Poor Bear falls in with a bad crowd, Falls Down falls down, Catcher starts losing his mind, and Dashiell. . .the shitstorm around Dashiell is just terrible.
And it's still one of my favourite comic book series of all time.
Scalped wears its influences proudly. You can see bits of old Westerns in the behaviours of some of the characters (especially Sheriff Karnow of the neighboring county in Nebraska, where rez people go to buy alcohol). The dialogue, character complexity, and noir nature are deeply reminiscent of my favourite TV show ever, Deadwood, which Jason Aaron specifically cites an an influence and also took place in the Black Hills of South Dakota. There is also a bit of Garth Ennis's Preacher in the writing, which Aaron also cites an influence.
Speaking of that character complexity: Aaron nails it very well here. No one is pure. People do bad things for good reasons and good things for bad reasons all the time in Scalped. There are no real heroes or real villains; even Red Crow comes off a lot like Al Swearengen of Deadwood, doing bad things for the good of his people.
That's what makes it noir, and that's what makes it good. Guera's art is a bit too dark at times; some scenes are difficult to make out, but that's a small complaint to make in comparison to the rest of the fantastic work done on this series.
Best of all, the ending is neither overly sappy nor overly dark - it simply fits. Consequences come back to haunt everybody in the end, and that's really as it should be. No one gets out with clean hands, and some do not make it out alive. It's a dark story, and glorious in its darkness. It's a simple story made wonderfully complex by its characters - just like life.
So why are you still here? Go read Scalped.
Oh, by the way: Scalped is violent. Nearly everybody gets shot at least once, there are vicious beatings, stabbings, and horrific crimes committed by terrible people (also by well-meaning people). If you can't handle violence, this is most definitely not the story for you.
Hoka hey.
Holy crap, what a ride.
After five years and 60 issues, Jason Aaron and R. M. Guera's noir masterpiece, Scalped, came to an end a couple of weeks ago with the release of Scalped: Trail's End, the tenth and final collection.
And just. . .wow.
There is s spoiler below, just so you know, but it's given away at the end of the first issue. If you absolutely can't stand spoilers, stop reading this and go read Scalped. It's that good, just go read it instead of my craptastic review. Everybody else, you're going to be a little spoiled.
Scalped is the story of a Lakota reservation in South Dakota, seen through the eyes of its inhabitants, most notably: Lincoln Red Crow, the bloody-handed chief and community who wants nothing more than prosperity for his people at absolutely any price and may have killed some FBI agents in the 70s; Catcher, the enigmatic loner who still follows the old ways and has visions of their gods; reservation officer Falls Down, who may be the most (and nearly only) genuinely good person in the whole story, and Dino Poor Bear, a single father with a family that is physically and/or mentally ill and who wants nothing more than to leave the reservation once and for all. Our protagonist, our guide to the reservation, the eyes that show us this poverty-ridden, drug- and alcohol-ravished community, is Dashiell Bad Horse.
Dashiell left the reservation - more to the point, was sent away from the reservation - 15 years ago by his mother. Dashiell returns seemingly for no apparent reason 15 years later, angry, full of piss and vinegar, and eagerly kicking the crap out of Lincoln Red Crow's soldiers. This of course gets him pulled into Red Crow's office, who decides Dashiell Bad Horse would make a better soldier than an enemy, and because Dashiell's mother, Gina Bad Horse, leads the protests against Red Crow's soon-to-open casino.
So remember when I said that Red Crow might have killed some FBI agents in the 70s? FBI Special Agent Bayliss Nitz certainly remembers, and will do anything he can to inflict pain and suffering on three of the people that were involved: Gina Bad Horse, Catcher, and Lincoln Red Crow. Agent Nitz figures the best way to nail Red Crow is to send a mole onto the reservation and into Red Crow's organization to find evidence of wrongdoing and nail Red Crow on murder charges. His choice?
FBI Agent Dashiell Bad Horse.
And that's where Scalped begins: Dashiell returns to the rez, and is revealed (to the reader) as Nitz's mole at the end of the first issue. That's the spoiler.
Believe it or not, being caught in the war between Red Crow and Nitz is pretty much the high point of Dashiell's life for most of the series. This is a story that takes its noir very seriously: each story arc, rather than presenting some happiness here, some sadness there, a problem, and a resolution basically boils down to the philosophy "things always get worse."
And things always get worse. Unrelentingly, unrepentantly, unmitigatedly worse. Poor decisions are made, worse consequences follow, violence and drug addictions spiral out of control, body parts get lost, Red Crow's hands only get bloodier the harder he tries to clean them, Dino Poor Bear falls in with a bad crowd, Falls Down falls down, Catcher starts losing his mind, and Dashiell. . .the shitstorm around Dashiell is just terrible.
And it's still one of my favourite comic book series of all time.
Scalped wears its influences proudly. You can see bits of old Westerns in the behaviours of some of the characters (especially Sheriff Karnow of the neighboring county in Nebraska, where rez people go to buy alcohol). The dialogue, character complexity, and noir nature are deeply reminiscent of my favourite TV show ever, Deadwood, which Jason Aaron specifically cites an an influence and also took place in the Black Hills of South Dakota. There is also a bit of Garth Ennis's Preacher in the writing, which Aaron also cites an influence.
Speaking of that character complexity: Aaron nails it very well here. No one is pure. People do bad things for good reasons and good things for bad reasons all the time in Scalped. There are no real heroes or real villains; even Red Crow comes off a lot like Al Swearengen of Deadwood, doing bad things for the good of his people.
That's what makes it noir, and that's what makes it good. Guera's art is a bit too dark at times; some scenes are difficult to make out, but that's a small complaint to make in comparison to the rest of the fantastic work done on this series.
Best of all, the ending is neither overly sappy nor overly dark - it simply fits. Consequences come back to haunt everybody in the end, and that's really as it should be. No one gets out with clean hands, and some do not make it out alive. It's a dark story, and glorious in its darkness. It's a simple story made wonderfully complex by its characters - just like life.
So why are you still here? Go read Scalped.
Oh, by the way: Scalped is violent. Nearly everybody gets shot at least once, there are vicious beatings, stabbings, and horrific crimes committed by terrible people (also by well-meaning people). If you can't handle violence, this is most definitely not the story for you.
Hoka hey.
January 23, 2012
This series starts off with a real bang. Issue #1 immediately sets the tone and milieu for a whole lotta shit in a tiny, pressure cooker community of low lifes, shit kickers and double-dealing snakes. There isn't one redeeming character in the whole bunch of them, and it's fantastic.
Dash, Shunka, Chief Red Crow, Gina, Diesel, Nitz and the shaman/drunk all get introduced in the FIRST ISSUE, giving us a smorgasbord of meaty, compromised and shifty characters to chew on. And gives us all the madness and action of a rough, sharp-as-razor setting to make us jealous we didn't have whatever life experience led Aaron and Guera to be able to inhabit this hellhole so vividly. Pretty much every character by this point already feels fully formed and very real.
This book runs pretty much headlong to the final pages, towards the tragic cliffhanger that *really* sets this story in motion. The storytelling that leads up to this ending is pretty impressive - layers of parallels that any typical script just wouldn't (or couldn't) pull together with elegance and subtlety.
The art at this point is already pretty damn good - some of the lighting and shadows are just perfect for the mood, and the action is almost always easy to follow.
Dash, Shunka, Chief Red Crow, Gina, Diesel, Nitz and the shaman/drunk all get introduced in the FIRST ISSUE, giving us a smorgasbord of meaty, compromised and shifty characters to chew on. And gives us all the madness and action of a rough, sharp-as-razor setting to make us jealous we didn't have whatever life experience led Aaron and Guera to be able to inhabit this hellhole so vividly. Pretty much every character by this point already feels fully formed and very real.
This book runs pretty much headlong to the final pages, towards the tragic cliffhanger that *really* sets this story in motion. The storytelling that leads up to this ending is pretty impressive - layers of parallels that any typical script just wouldn't (or couldn't) pull together with elegance and subtlety.
The art at this point is already pretty damn good - some of the lighting and shadows are just perfect for the mood, and the action is almost always easy to follow.
September 3, 2013
It's got punch. That's for sure.
Characters who stand out, no holding back, the kind of book that goes for it all, doesn't wait too long to try and get people talking, it starts right from the get-go.
Dashiell Bad Horse is a bad mother-shut your mouth!
I like the grit of the art, I like the story, I like everything.
More please!
Characters who stand out, no holding back, the kind of book that goes for it all, doesn't wait too long to try and get people talking, it starts right from the get-go.
Dashiell Bad Horse is a bad mother-shut your mouth!
I like the grit of the art, I like the story, I like everything.
More please!
July 4, 2015
Pretty awesome. It was a bit hard to follow at first, but I got into it by the end of the volume. The feel and the style are very similar to Aaron's current ongoing book, Southern Bastards. And if you have read it, you know it's a good thing. Artwork is great, too, fits the story well.
December 2, 2024
Revisiting some of those classic VERTIGO titles and this is a prime example.
Crime Noir..set in/around a Native Reservation that's just about to open a Casino on it.
Drugs..crime are everywhere and so is a returned son..now a police officer with his own reluctant agenda.
Great art that fits right in with the gritty story.
Crime Noir..set in/around a Native Reservation that's just about to open a Casino on it.
Drugs..crime are everywhere and so is a returned son..now a police officer with his own reluctant agenda.
Great art that fits right in with the gritty story.
August 5, 2012
When "Scalped" first came out, I wasn't interested. Maybe it was the description of the series in the sales pitch. I don't know. But somewhere along the line, I had the opportunity to pick up "Indian Country", the first volume, for a steal so I shrugged and thought, "okay, let's give it a try." One of the best decisions ever! "Scalped" turned out to be just about the most rough, raw and edgy crime story I've read in a long time... maybe ever. On the surface, the plot is fairly straight forward. Dash Badhorse returns to the Indian reservation home he left years before, only this time, unknown to anyone, he's an undercover FBI agent assigned to take down the criminal organization run by Lincoln Red Crow, the head of the reservation council. What sets this apart from most graphic novels (and most novels for that matter) is Jason Aaron's storytelling abilities, weaving threads from past events(the wild west days and the 1970s American Indian Movement) into the squalid, sordid despair (and casino glitz) of a contemporary American Indian reservation. The sub-plot involving Dash's parents (and just about everybody else) in bloody events during the A.I.M. years is complex and compelling, keeping you guessing at every turn what all of it has to do with the present story. And the present story is one of duplicity, brutality, deceit and murder beyond anything most readers would ever expect to see on a comics page. There's shock and horror, and there's devastating heart-break.
As a prose story, "Scalped" would be an amazing accomplishment. The fact that Aaron pulls this off in a graphic novel (comic book, if you will) is almost beyond belief. There are 10 volumes collecting all the monthly issues of "Scalped". It's one big story, so I rate each volume the same: 5 stars.
Well done! And it's high time HBO or Showtime get on the ball and turn "Scalped" into a TV series ('cause it's just to raw for AMC or FX).
As a prose story, "Scalped" would be an amazing accomplishment. The fact that Aaron pulls this off in a graphic novel (comic book, if you will) is almost beyond belief. There are 10 volumes collecting all the monthly issues of "Scalped". It's one big story, so I rate each volume the same: 5 stars.
Well done! And it's high time HBO or Showtime get on the ball and turn "Scalped" into a TV series ('cause it's just to raw for AMC or FX).
December 20, 2018
This is a spoiler-free review of the entire series
After staying away from home for years, Dashiell 'Dash' Bad Horse returns to the Prairie Rose Reservation and starts working for Lincoln Red Crow, the tribal chairman who is also a dreaded crime boss. But Dash has a secret, and when a loved one of his is brutally murdered, all hell breaks loose in the rez.
Jason Aaron got his big break in the comic industry with this ultra-violent comic, which boasts of well fleshed out characters and some of the best character developments I've ever seen in comic books. By the end, I couldn't believe who I was rooting for.
This was quite an uncomfortable read at times. I couldn't help but watch as the characters kept making one bad choice after another and were pretty much doomed from the start without any redemption in sight. Besides being a crime story, the book also depicts vividly the plight of the Native Americans, which reminded me of the 2017 film Wind River.
R. M. Guéra's illustrations were perfect for the noir aspect of the comic, and Jock's phenomenal cover art was the icing on the cake.
If you're into comic books or crime stories in general, this is a book you should not miss.
After staying away from home for years, Dashiell 'Dash' Bad Horse returns to the Prairie Rose Reservation and starts working for Lincoln Red Crow, the tribal chairman who is also a dreaded crime boss. But Dash has a secret, and when a loved one of his is brutally murdered, all hell breaks loose in the rez.
Jason Aaron got his big break in the comic industry with this ultra-violent comic, which boasts of well fleshed out characters and some of the best character developments I've ever seen in comic books. By the end, I couldn't believe who I was rooting for.
This was quite an uncomfortable read at times. I couldn't help but watch as the characters kept making one bad choice after another and were pretty much doomed from the start without any redemption in sight. Besides being a crime story, the book also depicts vividly the plight of the Native Americans, which reminded me of the 2017 film Wind River.
R. M. Guéra's illustrations were perfect for the noir aspect of the comic, and Jock's phenomenal cover art was the icing on the cake.
If you're into comic books or crime stories in general, this is a book you should not miss.
November 7, 2010
I have mixed feelings on Scalped. On the one hand, I enjoyed its grittiness. Despite not actually liking any of the characters, I was left wanting more, which is kind of unusual for me. On the other hand, I am bothered by the racist implications of some of it. The title, for one thing. And, of course, the book starts out with a scalping. Also, the book shows only the darker side of reservation life, and an exaggerated version of it, at that. So I'm torn. I know that dark stories like this have been told about other groups, and those aren't necessarily racist. But the average reader probably knows something about how the stories relate to reality with other groups. With Native Americans, there are probably still a lot of people who don't know the reality well enough to know where Scalped is exaggerated. That could be damaging.
In the end, I will probably read more of this series, but I probably won't carry the books into work, for fear of causing offense.
In the end, I will probably read more of this series, but I probably won't carry the books into work, for fear of causing offense.
December 8, 2016
Jason Aaron's Scalped left me a little on the half empty portion of my glass. I was hoping that I would get something with a little more substance. However, Scalped is a little too cliché ridden to be considered something amazing.
The badass of the story Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse skipped out on his shitty life on the reservation when he was 13 in hopes of finding something better. He's an angry guy and butts heads with just about every person he comes across. Why did he return?
I hope Scalped gets better. I see the potential to get more interesting. Right now though, the initial offering is not enough to get me excited to read the next one right away. I will return though at some point and see where Dash and his journey takes me.
The badass of the story Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse skipped out on his shitty life on the reservation when he was 13 in hopes of finding something better. He's an angry guy and butts heads with just about every person he comes across. Why did he return?
I hope Scalped gets better. I see the potential to get more interesting. Right now though, the initial offering is not enough to get me excited to read the next one right away. I will return though at some point and see where Dash and his journey takes me.
November 24, 2010
Hmmm. I mean...I like edgy. I really do. I enjoy works that take risks. I enjoy works with something to say. Of course I do. And I love works that address Native American history and issues. BUT...sorry, I just don't think I can finish this graphic novel. It's got the main character slapping his mother in the first part. Then the only other female character is this busty hardened woman who is washed over with a rather rude male gaze when she is first presented. The cursing feels over done (and I LIKE cursing!). All the men are just filthy and gross. Prostitutes, drunken bar brawls, double agents, gangsters, yaaaaaaawn. The story...man, this isn't going to work for me.
August 24, 2013
Not impressed. I picked this comic up months ago and had attempted to read it but wasn't very interested. So I set it down and waited for it to appeal to me. Today was that day. And I'm still not impressed. As a Native American, I thought that finally we had a comic book for our race, for our people. But I'm not sure if it was more offensive or more boring. I don't know much about the author of this graphic novel but I can tell you that maybe that haven't had enough exposure to indian life. I thought this could have been much better. Sadly, it's just like everything else the white man has put his hands on; a gross stereotypical glance at America's first people.
April 24, 2019
Eh not my thing.
October 6, 2022
I consider this series to be Jason Aaron's masterpiece (although I haven't read all of his works), far superior to his work on trademarked/licensed characters for DC and now Marvel. The main story is a suspenseful noir about a Native American police officer on a South Dakota reservation, working as an undercover agent for the FBI trying to dig up some incriminating dirt on a Native American crime boss now running a brand-new casino. SCALPED is also a story about the realities for too many residents of an Indian reservation: rampant alcoholism, drugs, poverty, and crime in a desolate landscape.
Main character Dashiel Bad Horse is a former resident of The Prairie Rose reservation and has prior history with many of the current residents, particularly his mother Gina and Lincoln Red Crow, President of the Oglala Tribal Council, Sheriff of the Tribal Police, and operator of the new casino.
SCALPED is extremely violent, it's ugly, and shines a dirty spotlight on the hopelessness of too many members of this isolated community. The vivid art by Guera matches the tone of Aaron's gritty dialog, and the coloring paints the appropriate picture of a dark, dismal setting (except for the well-lit and colorful casino).
Can Bad Horse possibly survive this world? He jumps right into the fire in this first volume, and he's only getting started. This series will hook you.
Main character Dashiel Bad Horse is a former resident of The Prairie Rose reservation and has prior history with many of the current residents, particularly his mother Gina and Lincoln Red Crow, President of the Oglala Tribal Council, Sheriff of the Tribal Police, and operator of the new casino.
SCALPED is extremely violent, it's ugly, and shines a dirty spotlight on the hopelessness of too many members of this isolated community. The vivid art by Guera matches the tone of Aaron's gritty dialog, and the coloring paints the appropriate picture of a dark, dismal setting (except for the well-lit and colorful casino).
Can Bad Horse possibly survive this world? He jumps right into the fire in this first volume, and he's only getting started. This series will hook you.
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