Scalped: Casino Boogie

Scalped #2

by Jason Aaron (Writer), R.M. Guéra (Illustrator), Giulia Brusco (Colorist)

Fifteen years ago, Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse ran away from a life of abject poverty and utter hopelessness on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation searching for something better. Now he's come back home armed with nothing but a set of nunchuks, 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.

This volume explores Dash Bad Horse's troubled origin and chronicles his day-to-day life on 'the Rez" working for Chief Red Crow.

Collects: Scalped #6–11

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Comic Book, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Noir

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 6, 2008

About the author

Jason 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.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

(A-) 83% | Very Good
Notes: Scenes replayed (more context laid), a jigsaw puzzle plot, on Indianness, the dispossessed, and ties that bind (or not).

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #6-7 ◦ Issues #8-9 ◦ Issues #10-11

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always wondered why Marvel hired Jason Aaron, now I know why - it was very likely because of this superlative Native American military veteran homecoming drama centred round the return of Dashiell 'Dash' Big House to the 'The Rez' who was revealed to not necessarily have his community's best interests at heart on his return in the first volume!

Superbly crafted and very much a human interest tale with its no holds barred look at the downside of the modern Native American set-aside communities. In this volume we watch his reintegration into 'The Rez' life and get a fair bit of his backstory. 8 out of 12., Four Star read.

2017 and 2013 read

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hoka Hey"--used by Catcher as a toast to the Dog Soldiers.

Prairie Rose Indian reservation in South Dakota is described as the place where "the Great Sioux nation came to die." This volume, issues 6-11, occurs at the opening of Chief Red Crow’s multimillion casino in the poorest county in America. So the casino will save the soul of the rez, right? Jason Aaron’s epic tale continues with operatic aspirations, and it really hits its mark. While it is mainly a fleshing out of the first volume, deepening and enriching it, it is pretty amazing.

You know without reading a word of this comic what the US of A did to Native Americans, and you already know about the teen pregnancy rate and alcoholism and poverty on American reservations. But you should still read this comic, which I come to 11 years after the first issue’s publication. And since I was driving through the American West (or what some people called Injun country; and what isn’t?) I made sure I read this as I passed every roadside sale of Authentic Indian Jewelry, just to remind me of some of my country’s history.

Each issue of this volume focuses on a different character in dramatic fashion, with dramatically dark artwork by R.M. Guéra, featuring Dashiell Bad Horse (the guy who returned to the rez to work for the cops), Gina, Chief Red Crow (the corrupt casino owner and rez “leader; Diesel (the 1/16 Choctaw); Dino Poor Bear (who cleans toilets at the casino, trying to save money for car parts to take his ol’ junker off the rez to somewhere better).

The tragic spiritual center of the story is the mythic story of Catcher, an alcoholic former activist, who visits Granny along the way to an important, tragic act, inspired by his visions. Gina also a one-time activist, visits Lawrence in prison. Lawrence is another name for Leonard Peltier, whose story in part inspired Aaron in the shaping of this story. Peltier is a Native American activist who was arrested for the murder of two FBI agents.

Some background on Leonard Pellitier, one of the most prominent American political prisoners:

http://www.famous-trials.com/leonardp...

Did Leonard Peltier, at close range with his AR-15, execute two FBI agents who had entered the Pine Ridge Reservation? Peter Matthiessen (In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, about Peletier) and Robert Redford (who filmed a documentary about the case entitled Incident at Oglala), think he was innocent of those crimes. Aaron’s fictional treatment also weighs in on this case and the history of Native American activism.

So, yeah, this is good. We get Catcher’s visions. We get a fight between Diesel and Dash; we get background into Gina’s involvement in the 1975 uprising. We get organized crime, terrible poverty, drug addiction and alcoholism, local politics amidst a desperate attempt to preserve cultural identity. Great comics series.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Casino Boogie” takes place on opening night of the casino where we see the corruption and ugliness required to create such an expensive venture in a land locked remote location such as South Dakota. The bribing of officials, the hand-outs from the mob – Red Crow has had to get into bed with a lot of dangerous people who threaten to bring the whole scheme crashing down around him. And amidst all of this chaos is Gina Bad Horse, Dash’s mother, whose protest group against the casino has attracted the likes of the sociopathic wannabe-Indian Diesel, a man intent on sabotaging opening night – unless Dash can stop him.

This is really Volume 1, Part 2 rather than Volume 2. The ending of the first book is put on ice as Jason Aaron jumps back to the story before the final page finale before ending the second book on almost exactly the same final page as the first. But it’s an ingenious choice for so many reasons.

The first half of the book tells the story of Lincoln Red Crow’s life. His beginnings as a resilient child proud of his Indian heritage despite being brutally beaten to conform otherwise by his Catholic school teachers in the 1950s, we see him become a hard-headed and increasingly cold man who tries to make people aware of the Lakota, their heritage, their rights, and their land, through a small domestic terrorist group. He then turns to a life of murder, doing everything he can to become as powerful as possible, culminating in the Crazy Horse Casino – a venture he half-heartedly believes will bring money in for his tribe and raise the standard of living for everyone on the Prairie Rose Rez. Or does he even care about his tribe anymore?

The lives of the supporting characters Catcher and Dino Poor Bear are explored further. Catcher is a mysterious shamanistic figure who seems to be insane, claiming visions of the future and communing with spirits while living in a filthy mobile home in the middle of nowhere, drinking himself into a stupor regularly, his potential as an Oxford and Rhodes scholar all but squandered. Through the flashbacks showing a young Red Crow and a young Gina Bad Horse, we see that Catcher was part of their terrorist group and the events of one night where 2 FBI agents were shot – both friends and colleagues of Agent Nitz – remain shrouded, the murderer still unknown. For now.

Through Dino Poor Bear the awful living conditions of the Rez are highlighted. Children damaged from fetal alcohol syndrome, pregnant teenagers smoking crack, double amputees from diabetes, morbid obesity, numerous high school (and some middle school) drop outs, and chronic alcoholism, all litter Dino’s sad life. He himself is a father despite being a teenager while also being the uneasy breadwinner of his troubled household dreaming of escape.

In a book where we are learning about the characters, Aaron has the characters questioning who they are as well. The issue of identity runs throughout this book as we see Red Crow fighting for his tribe’s identity and ultimately losing his Indian heritage for the “white man’s” via his choices that led him to become the successful and enormously corrupt businessman he is today. And despite this he berates Poor Bear for wanting to leave the Rez to give his kid a better chance at life – “abandoning” the only land the Lakota have and fought so hard for. “Never forget where you came from” he says, reprimanding Poor Bear. While Poor Bear is disgusted with the current state of the Lakota and seems eager to all but abandon his Indian heritage, Diesel is quite clearly a white man but clings desperately to his “one-sixteenth” Choctaw blood, demanding he be considered an Indian – a futile effort and yet one he perseveres with. So what does it mean to be an Indian in 21st century America – how can they retain their identity while lifting themselves out of poverty and addiction into more rewarding lives? And is it time to abandon tradition in favour of modernity?

By ending the second volume on more or less the same place as the first, the reader is now fully up to speed on all of the main players’ motivations and personalities in this story and can see the plot elements beginning to converge and intertwine beautifully. It also raises the stakes as we see how many will be affected by the discovery on the last page, making the reader, especially this reader, that much more invested in where the story is headed in the next book. Like I said at the start, it is an ingenious creative decision by Aaron.

The story of the Rez continues at a breakneck speed with the richness of the tale and quality of the characters making for a terrific read. From the first page to the last I was enveloped in the world of Red Crow, the Bad Horses, Catcher and Poor Bear and was held utterly enthralled by their perfectly realised lives and personalities regardless of the staggering challenges they face. It’s hard to believe when this was being written Aaron was still a relatively new writer to comics – the book reads like that of a seasoned veteran. It is a masterclass of writing from the pacing to the plot to the characters, Aaron knows exactly when to change tack and when to go in close for more detail. It’s no wonder he is one of the most acclaimed comics writers working today when his work is this extraordinary.

“Casino Boogie”, hell, the entire “Scalped” series is highly recommended to any and all who are looking for an incredible and immersive narrative experience.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

[Ill D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vol 2. picks up roughly were Vol. 1 left off. Even though the first 2-3 issues continue the focus on our protagonist, the rest of the material features a wider panorama of set and setting. More threads of character are coalesced into a rope of narrative that would well rival that of the Gordion knot. Instead of Alexander's sword, we'll have to use all of our mental acumen to slice through this close-knit tale on the "rez."

Overlaps with the style of Pulp Fiction both in depiction and underlying structure that began in Vol. 1 have matured tremendously here. Much like Tarentino's magnum opus, chronological linearity is sacrificed in order to tell a more character-centric story. Instead of shifting the structural platter between relevant episodes, Jason Aaron instead opts for a more distorted approach. The present is contrasted mere pages later with the past. The past then informs the current present. This approach is as crushing in its power as it is in its stylistic rarity.

The same atavistic deluge of narrative is compounded by the illustrated visuals. The black of an abyss is always contrasted with equally dingy colors that rarely go beyond their murky outlines. Unclear lines lend a steely griminess that echoes well established themes such as alienation, nihilism, and the sheer brutalism that ensconces each and every page here. The same sonic force that drove the early Swans canon is well applied here. (In fact the entirety of Filth would be an excellent soundtrack for Scalped.)

The art work punches with the strength of a prizefighter's right hook. And the story flies like fly a between in between stories whilst poignant development stick like a hoard of unceremoniously awoken bees. If this wasn't enough, there's an equally muscular depth of religious allegory and reduplicated myth-(re)making here.

Not only do we get a lot of really cool backstories in this issue but, the figure of Catcher, our modern day seer/crazy monk. drags not only his formative narrative but a heaping helping of literary/religious goodness. Origin myths of both the Occidental and the Primitive are stunning juxtaposed with a landscape so bleak and utterly despondent. The formation of the world is crushingly opposed by a modern day abyss riddled with alcoholism, poverty, and underworld gangsterism. Again the past informs the present. The present informs the present. And a zero-sum conversation is the result.

Vol. 2 is a fiercely churning whirlpool that uncompromisingly engulfs everything in its path. Although clearly more character approached, none are safe from the immutably crushing external historical forces at work here. Not just the people and place get absorbed into this whirling maw, you will too.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

On second read, long after I finished this series, I find myself appropriately blown away by the mad, intricate storytelling in this volume - not to mention how evocative and deadly sharp the edge of reality is on display.

Seeing one night from so many fragmented angles - like looking at the world through a cracked funhouse mirror - is a total trip, something that takes a helluva tightrope walk to pull off (especially trying to cart around the massive balls it took to attempt this book - let alone the series). I'm frankly in awe of Aaron's immense writerly skills as evidenced by this volume.

The Poor Bear episode is especially heart-wrenching to watch - a poem of depression, seething frustration, hopelessness and poverty. Who gets to understand this kind of shit without living it every day of their lives? What is he channeling to make this truth come out from hiding and stare us so soulfully and fearlessly in the haggard face?

I really have a hard time describing the art, you know? It's evocative and emotional, but in no way clean or clear what's going on in many of the scenes. It's like a total right-brain trip, where left brain is trying to steer from the back seat but only barely keeps us from driving into the ditch. So much ink, with such a not-sloppy-but-free hand. Like something you'd see done by Bacon or Pollock if they were in comics.

[J.G. Keely · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better than the first volume, but still has problems. At first, I hoped Aaron had given up on the constantly shifting plot: '2 hours ago', 'the next day', 'six days ago', but he soon starts up with it again. I'm not opposed to playing around with time in a story, but you've got to be good enough not to let it break the flow, and there has to be a good reason for it. So far, it just seems like an affectation. It's something a lot of unusual, conceptual comics have played with, but adopting the modes of good comics does not make a comic good.

The story is straightforward, which is a blessing since it jumps around like an adolescent with ADHD and 500 channels of cable, but the only purpose I can see for the complicated structuring is to try to make a straightforward story seem more complex. I don't see anything that would be lost by just letting the story play out from beginning to end, with a flashback here or there. There are some moments where we get a fun 'Rashomon' look at how other characters see the same event, which would be a perfectly good reason to jump around, but there's no need to cut all of those stories up with one another with little rhyme or reason.

We're still getting a lot of overplayed cliches and very little new insight about Native American life. We've got the old magic mentor who sees visions and lives outside of society (combined with the 'wasted life' drunkard for simplicity's sake), rampant alcoholism, allegorical figure of destructive whiteness within the tribe, crooked casino politics, vague references to spirit animals, and plenty of high-minded ideals. When Aaron pulled out the 'in harmony with nature' bit of Noble Savage silliness, it was almost too much. Conceptually, we're still not getting anything interesting or new.

He harps a lot on how terrible the rez is, and how downtrodden everyone is, which is so expected that you hardly even have to mention it, let alone devote an entire issue to it where you hit all the worst bits in succession. He tries to turn it into a little redemption story, but we never get deep enough into the character for it to matter much.

As usual, the dialogue tends to play out on the surface with a lot of flash and very little subtext. People say just what they mean, with a smattering of slang and curses in place of original voice.

What makes a tragedy is when the character suffering has enough self-recognition and depth to really understand and experience the depth of that suffering. I understand that these characters are poor, downtrodden, and uneducated, but I hardly think that's an excuse to make them so straightforward and predictable.

Subversion is best produced by making a character who, despite being beset with the problems we would expect, has a very different view of those problems and approach to life. Aaron seems to recognize this, on some level, and makes his wise 'medicine man' figure versed in Western philosophies, but fails to demonstrate it except in a few out-of-place literary quotes and some assurances by the narrative voice.

It's also not that new of an angle, since every successful modern novel I've read from a Native perspective are steeped in Western literary and philosophical traditions (which is fine unless they pretend they aren't). I certainly don't expect a story that is entirely divorced from European traditions, and this one certainly isn't, but the cliche rez setting over a standard crime story is hardly breaking new ground.

Guera's art shows a great deal of skill, especially in depicting the human form. There is a fineness in many of the lines, showing a thoughtful, deliberate hand, but unfortunately, much of it is obscured by a lot of thick, muddy inking and coloration. The lines show a quick, confident gesture, but the illustrations are often too complicated and detailed to be sustained on such lively, imprecise lines.

The draughtsmanship is also somewhat murky, failing to lead the eye naturally and often creating undifferentiated layers of action. The book owes much to Frank Miller's crime comics, and in comparison, it's easy to see how much a clean, spare style allows a convoluted, action-oriented story to flow uninterrupted.

Despite the somewhat murky visuals and constant cutting through time, the story is still easy to follow, but this is not a sign of precise structure. Aaron apes Moore, particularly evident in the 'lingering dialogue box' which ties scenes together, but unlike Moore, Aaron is not capable of carrying ideas and themes from one scene to the next by this device. Again, it seems to be something used mainly because it is a signifier of 'literary comics', not because it is necessary.

No, despite all the convolution, the story isn't easy to follow because it is expertly assembled, but because it relies on many cliches, resulting in predictable characters and plotlines which even needless story chopping cannot obscure. The Fact that Aaron seems to think himself part of the new wave of revolutionary comic authors just underlines how out-of-touch the insiders in the big companies can be.

[Michael J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

While diving deeper into the troubled past of FBI Special Agent Dashiell Bad Horse the second story arc of SCALPED includes portraits of several supporting characters, and becomes an even more powerful example of captivating story-telling because of it. As soon as I put this down, I felt a strong impulse to pick it up and read it again. Have to delay that for now. There's just too many works on my to-be-read pile waiting for my attention.
Cinema On Paper is the best blurb to describe in succinct terms what's on display here. The best crime comics all have the potential to become great movies or television mini-series,and SCALPED could be good for multiple seasons via your favorite streaming service. The storyline leaves so many possibilities for great visual scenes and the pacing is fluid and seamless. The art is incredible to behold, as if the storyboards were all mapped out already.
It's the opening night of the casino, and there are multiple contrasts between the bright lights, glitz and glitter of the gambling palace and the dark, desolate and depressed areas of the rest of the reservation. Dash has his hands full this arc, and receives enough reasons to turn in his badge to Lincoln Red Crow as well as split from the FBI investigation and head for safer pastures. There are great profiles in this volume of Lincoln Red Crow, Gina Bad Horse, young Dino, the mysterious Catcher, and half-breed Diesel Engine. Their past is revealed and provide reasons to empathize with all of these characters. I'm locked in now.

[Murat Dural · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason Aaron'un "Scalped"ı gittikçe açılıyor, çok enteresan bir hikayenin başında olduğumuzu, henüz hiçbir şey görmediğimizi ortaya koyuyor. Her cilt daha da meraklanıyorum. Amerika'da oranın yerlisi, sahibi olup azınlık haline gelen kızılderili toplumu üzerine yazılmış en etkileyici kurgulardan biri olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Hele o Catcher... Karaktere bağlanmaya başladım. Sevgili Egemen Görçek'in çevirisi öyküyü zorluyor. Nasıl mı? Çünkü gerçekten öykünün içine girmek, göndermeleri, zaman çizgisini anlayabilmek çok güç. İşte bu noktada çevirmenin çizgi romanı daha akışkan hale getirdiğini, diyaloglarda çaba harcadığını söyleyebiliriz. Tebrik etmek gereken kısım bunu kesinlikle başardığı.

[Jedi JC Daquis · Rating 5 out of 5]

While volume 1 just get all the sh*t started, volume 2 piles up all other sh*t and gives them to you in the worst crap plate of all time, but still like a hungry, hungry bad ocelot, you'll eat them all down to the last smudge. Why? Because it is just that good.

Casino Boogie continues to impress as developments (and shocking surprises) continue to happen in Prairie Rose. The characters are as complicated, gray and human and badass all at the same time.

[Sv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hikaye saatli bomba gibi ilerliyor, patlaması için doğru kitabı bekliyorum. Bad Horse odaklı değildi bu kitap. Sonu şaşırtıcı, devamına hemen başlayacağım.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the first one so much, I mitigated my expectations for this one because I didn't want to be disappointed but Wow. F-R-E-A-K-I-N' WOW. That was so cool. Vol. 2 expanded the scope of the story in every possible way, introduced new characters and made both Red Crow and Gina more relevant than ever to the storyline.

If Vol.1 introduces a new paradigm, Vol.2 made it a can't miss.

[Artemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was a bit harder to read than the first one, due to constant jumps in time periods, but great nonetheless. This series really starts to grab me for good.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This continues to be dark and violent and so dang good.

My review of the complete series can be found here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[BookCupid · Rating 4 out of 5]

''We dared to oppose the corporate banks and the uranium miners and the Christian churches. And for that, the feds and some in our own tribal government wanted to see every single one of us either dead or in jail.''

The casino is now opened, and yet everyone in town is frightened about the changes this implies. Despite Red Crow's sad story about how he became such an important leader on the Rez, we cannot forget all the murders and corrupted actions he took to get there. This volume doesn’t contain a lot Dash's presence, and I'm sad to say that women are just as badly portrayed than in the first volume. However, I'm starting to think that perhaps this isn't due to the author, but rather, to the way women are treated on the Indian Reservations as a whole.

Looking forward to volume three.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

...and cultural appropriation and reservation casinos are really complicated...

[Machiavelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A masterclass in crime storytelling.

Casino Boogie peels back the layers of Prairie Rose Reservation through a fractured, character-focused lens—each chapter digging into the twisted pasts and scarred psyches of its central cast. Jason Aaron’s writing is razor-sharp, pulling no punches, and R.M. Guéra’s gritty, expressive art bleeds atmosphere.

This volume is darker, heavier, and more introspective than the first—and even more compelling. A searing exploration of guilt, power, identity, and survival. Noir at its finest.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the first trade of Scalped was just calisthenics — lots of set-up, exposition, character study — then this is a full out marathon. I'm not sure what happened between those issues and these, because Scalped leaped from being a somewhat interesting book to completely compulsive. Jason Aaron is so completely confident in his storytelling abilities this time through and it really shows with fractured and labyrinthian storylines that answer all your questions in its own sweet time and in its own completely assured way. Even the art, which I wasn't nuts about the first time out, seems to have found its rhythm. I'm completely excited about the next trade, something I couldn't say at the end of volume one.

[Kryštof · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so good. The first book was just a warm-up, this is the real deal. It's so engaging and even though the characters are mostly assholes, I still like them and I care about them. My favorite character is Catcher. The art is also really amazing and it fits the story so damn well. 9,5/10

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

And the series picks up

If you can make it through the first one's intensity, you are in for a treat. This one is even better, and begins to humanize the characters, to an extent at least.

[Meepelous · Rating 1 out of 5]

First off, I would like to express my confusion over why anyone thinks this was an improvement over the first one? Maybe marginally, but unless your mind is blown by unnecessary time jumps that don't develop anything then I don't really see where any of these not particularly specific praises are coming from.

Once again, I was rather turned off by the over hyping introduction. Was this a seriously low point in comics? Do these super hero writers not read anything outside their genre?! I mean, I'm the first one to admit that I can see why this series appeals to people that are not me, but I'm not sure anyone could ever convince me that it's not anywhere above average in the technical department - at least so far, I am trying to keep an open mind.

Digging into the rather jumpy narrative style a little more - the book literally ends at exactly the same point as volume 1. While I have read an enjoyed a couple of other series that jump around to a similar degree, that's usually done to build tension or something. In this case, I almost always felt as if I knew everything that was going to happen already. Maybe there was some tension for the characters, which isn't always bad either - but I certainly didn't have any of the gut wrenching "watching a train wreck in process" feeling I get for Game of Thrones for example. It probably didn't help that I mostly didn't connect with the characters, but that would still not render this genius pros. There's no subtlety or nuance or foreshadowing, there's still just assholes in an asshole world and barely anyone cares about anything but themselves.

Moving on to the characters, I can't help but feel like all the male characters are just way too similar. They all grew up impoverished and abused, trying to escape and make a future for themselves. Sure, they are all in different places now (barely) but there is extremely little character development. Even in Game of Thrones and the little I've read of Preacher so far (and which I enjoy 100% better then this series although that still might not amount to much haha) there assholes in a mostly asshole world, but people change every once in a while at least. Not to mention that they generally have something they really care about, and are actually shown caring about! Because even assholes generally care about something, even if it's just themselves.

The brief moment in the comic that I did enjoy the most was probably Red Crow's back story. It felt like the only time in the entire series thus far that the main male characters aren't just shitting on the Rez. While I can understand why these characters would want to escape abject poverty, the portrayal of everyone as dying alcoholic and drug users (even while pregnant) feed the racist ideas of the settler establishment. I'm not even sure if this really counts as counter cultural or even anti-PC! Believing that all Native Americans are like the ones between these pages, or mystical, or dead, is probably perfectly reasonable to most outsiders even today. Even while America works through its raciest attitudes towards other minorities, I still feel like Native Americans are completely ignored.

The depiction of women in the series continues to mostly be an afterthought. Decorating the pages with their naked boobs as if to make sure that the reader knows they are reading knows that the series is adult and dark and oh so gritty. Poor Bear's Grandmother is a nagging bitch, Poor Bear's ex girlfriend is that crack smoking pregnant woman I mentioned earlier - they both ask him to get something for them from the grocery store - and the only positively portrayed girl in his life is his infant daughter. Because that's how it is in misogynistic comics. Gina shows a few more ounces of agency only to have herself killed (for the second time) and the casino is filled with gold digging whores.

Overall, I think this series could have been vastly improved by at least one person having to struggle with their actions. Either because they are good in a bad world or facing the consequences of evil. Maybe this happens later on, a girl can only hope. For all that the characters seem to struggle to do what they want to do (mostly to escape) the rather static lack of development so far leaves a lot to be desired. As did the fact that, despite the fact that this tribe does not yet fall into the "dead Indian" category yet, Aaron is slowly but surely killing them off. Insinuating that they should assimilate themselves to survive. Poking fun at their religious beliefs.

[OmniBen · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review for the first deluxe edition, collecting this arc) 4.5/5
Boy, I don't know how on earth this book doesn't have more buzz about it. It may be almost ten years old, but when people reminisce on some of the greatest Vertigo titles of years gone by, I have never once heard this book brought up. I wouldn't have even heard about it if I hadn't happened to be flicking through a very old single online, and happened to come across an ad for the series, along with a few pages, and was intrigued enough to grab the first book. Admittedly, there are more than a few hallowed titles which grave the Vertigo roster, but this can go toe to toe with the best of them. This was my first foray into the writing of Jason Aaron. He has gone on to write a number of well received superhero runs. If this book was the catalyst to shoot his star up the ranks, I can very much see why. His is a style I found instantly appealing. Gritty, realistic and very, very dark. Like Garth Ennis, although a little more grounded, though no less impactful. ha alone should have you wanting to dive into this series, which runs for a whopping 60 issues in total, across five deluxe collected editions (only 1-3 are currently available unless you hunt down the hardcovers in the wild. I would love for DC to do a big ol' fat omnibus of this series in the near future, although we'll either get nothing, or a bloody compendium, no doubt. Damn you DC, and your ambivalence towards your amazing back catalogue.
The artwork is solid, and grew on me more and more as the series progressed. In earlier issues, I often struggled to discern what was occurring, especially on darker panels, with the linework and inking not doing enough to tell the story, though by the end of the first book, I was sold on the art and its more murky, grungy style. I can't speak for the entire run yet, although R.M Guerra, the artist and co creator ahs so far pencilled every issue, which is always a big plus.
The story is very well told through a series of interesting characters, whom only grew on me as the story unfolded. Aaron isn't afraid to take this to some pretty dark and dispiriting places, and I love that it does, whilst mourning that more comic books aren't afraid to push these boundaries these days. Maybe its good that this series flies under the radar. it would definitely come in for some heavy criticism from those modern progressives whom have ensconced themselves within so much of the entertainment industries.
I am so grateful I found this little gem of a series, and cannot wait to dig deeper into the tumultuous, intoxicating world of Dashiel Bad Horse. Highly recommended. 4.5/5

OmniBen.

[Heath Lowrance · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as the first volume was, this one takes it up more than a few notches. On the opening night of Red Crow's casino, we're taken into the murky lives of most of our main characters, pulled far back into their pasts, and some dark secrets are revealed. I love how everyone is tied together in subtle ways that even they are unaware of sometimes. Really, this is some clever writing here-- Jason Aaron shows us key events that occurred when we weren't looking in volume one, as well as monumentally significant things from decades earlier that are only now coming to fruition. He jumps around the time line expertly, never missing a step and allowing things to become muddled or confusing.

And it all ends at almost the exact point that volume one ends, a full-circle trick that sets us up for the coming devastation. Masterfully done. If this series continues at this level of brilliance (and I hope it does!) I can already say this is one of the greatest graphic novels I've ever read.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not AS strong as volume 1 (That's cause Volume 1 is insanely fucking good) it's still great. This time we get each issue focusing on a different main character. From a young guy with a baby girl, to a old mother trying to figure out how to make things right, to a old Indian who could have done a lot but did very little. They all tell a dark tale, some worse than the last, but all equally shitty lives int his fucked up little town. The world building is second to none and while not every tale was as interesting as the last, they all ranged from good to excellent. A 4 out of 5.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The “Casino Boogie” story arc is much more episodic in nature, and aims to provide background and context to the ending of volume 1. Alternating between the 1970s and the present, volume 2 sheds light on Red Crow, Gina, Catcher, Diesel and Agent Nitz’s past. It also provides a window into Dino Poor Bear’s life on the reservation, which was one of the highlights from the book.

Casino Boogie leaves us at the same place Indian Country did, but we now have a better understanding of the motivations behind some of the key players.

[Tomáš Drako · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dá sa povedať, ze tento diel je poviedkový a venuje sa postavám osobytne. Majiteľovy kasína, Gine, Dashovej matky, mladému holobriatkovy, ktorý túži mať lepší zivot mimo rezervácie a podobne. Tie časové linky sú niekedy matúce, no nie ne to nic nestrávitelné. No druhá kniha je rovnajá atmosferická pecka.

[Edward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Another great volume. This time around the narrative is more focused on other characters than Dash Bad Horse. And we get a little revelation of what happened when Gina and Red Crow were younger. A great book that keeps getting better.

[Kaitlyn (ktxx22) Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars really enjoying this series

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

See review of Book 1 (collecting Vols. 1-2) here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...