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Timothy Truman's Scout #1
Scout: The four monsters
The Four Monsters, a Timothy Truman's Scout story.
134 pages
First published November 8, 2006
84 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Truman
542 books57 followersTimothy Truman is an American writer, artist and musician. He is best known for his stories and Wild West-style comic book art, and in particular, for his work on Grimjack (with John Ostrander), Scout, and the reinvention of Jonah Hex, with Joe R. Lansdale. Truman is currently writing Conan and is an instructor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
Truman's first professional comics work was Grimjack with writer John Ostrander, for the independent comics company First Comics. Grimjack first appeared in Starslayer #10 in November 1983, before moving to his own series after issue #18 in 1984, and continued for 81 issues. Along with being a fan favorite and often imitated character, Grimjack almost single-handedly defined the "grim and gritty" action comic character archetype.
Truman has been continuously creative for more than 20 years, displaying his pulp sensitivities in his writing. In 1985, he created Scout, which was followed by Scout: War Shaman, a futuristic western. A year later, he relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics. He also developed The Prowler, a Shadow type character, and adapted The Spider for Eclipse. In 1991, at DC Comics he created Hawkworld, a reinvention of Hawkman. With author Joe R. Lansdale, he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a complaint from musician Edgar Winter. With his son, Benjamin Truman, he created A Man Named Hawken.
Truman was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book. He also wrote virtually the entire run of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Valiant Comics, after David Michelinie launched the book with its first three-issue story arc and subsequently departed the series. For the defunct SF imprint of DC, Helix, he created The Black Lamb. He also worked on a typical pulp adventure Guns of the Dragon, featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash; and wrote Star Wars at Dark Horse Comics. While at Dark Horse Comics, he took over the writing of Conan from Kurt Busiek in 2006, and after that series ended he started Conan The Cimmerian.
Truman's startling work, Simon Girty, Renegade was a two-volume black and white graphic novel that translated the horrors and triumphs of the American settler's western frontier in a fresh, interesting light. In bold, black and white use of positive and negative space, Truman appealed to both young and old audiences in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was especially important for West Virginians that had been struggling against novelist Zane Grey's portrayal of Lewis Wetzel in an overly romanticized, florid light. Truman himself is an avid historian who dislikes nothing more than to see a drawing of a war using the wrong weaponry, and the second volume of his two-volume series on Simon Girty was devoted to the errors caught in his first volume.
Tecumseh! a graphic novel based on the West Virginia Outdoor Theater, is a colored graphic novel that shows the play from beginning to end. It renewed interest in the warrior in Appalachia. When asked why he used "Tecumseh" instead of "Tecumtheh" he explained he didn't want to explain to the mainstream audience the variance in spelling — the movement on pronunciation began with General William Tecumseh Sherman who came from a family that wanted to commemorate the warrior, but felt the lisping "Tecumtheh" would be unmanly.
Truman's first professional comics work was Grimjack with writer John Ostrander, for the independent comics company First Comics. Grimjack first appeared in Starslayer #10 in November 1983, before moving to his own series after issue #18 in 1984, and continued for 81 issues. Along with being a fan favorite and often imitated character, Grimjack almost single-handedly defined the "grim and gritty" action comic character archetype.
Truman has been continuously creative for more than 20 years, displaying his pulp sensitivities in his writing. In 1985, he created Scout, which was followed by Scout: War Shaman, a futuristic western. A year later, he relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics. He also developed The Prowler, a Shadow type character, and adapted The Spider for Eclipse. In 1991, at DC Comics he created Hawkworld, a reinvention of Hawkman. With author Joe R. Lansdale, he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a complaint from musician Edgar Winter. With his son, Benjamin Truman, he created A Man Named Hawken.
Truman was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book. He also wrote virtually the entire run of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Valiant Comics, after David Michelinie launched the book with its first three-issue story arc and subsequently departed the series. For the defunct SF imprint of DC, Helix, he created The Black Lamb. He also worked on a typical pulp adventure Guns of the Dragon, featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash; and wrote Star Wars at Dark Horse Comics. While at Dark Horse Comics, he took over the writing of Conan from Kurt Busiek in 2006, and after that series ended he started Conan The Cimmerian.
Truman's startling work, Simon Girty, Renegade was a two-volume black and white graphic novel that translated the horrors and triumphs of the American settler's western frontier in a fresh, interesting light. In bold, black and white use of positive and negative space, Truman appealed to both young and old audiences in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was especially important for West Virginians that had been struggling against novelist Zane Grey's portrayal of Lewis Wetzel in an overly romanticized, florid light. Truman himself is an avid historian who dislikes nothing more than to see a drawing of a war using the wrong weaponry, and the second volume of his two-volume series on Simon Girty was devoted to the errors caught in his first volume.
Tecumseh! a graphic novel based on the West Virginia Outdoor Theater, is a colored graphic novel that shows the play from beginning to end. It renewed interest in the warrior in Appalachia. When asked why he used "Tecumseh" instead of "Tecumtheh" he explained he didn't want to explain to the mainstream audience the variance in spelling — the movement on pronunciation began with General William Tecumseh Sherman who came from a family that wanted to commemorate the warrior, but felt the lisping "Tecumtheh" would be unmanly.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 27, 2023
Excellent story and art in this early independent series. Very recommended
December 17, 2024
I really enjoy Truman's artwork and his work on Darkhorse's Conan so wanted to check out this creator owned 80s work by him. It's good at times but the writing can be a bit painful and bogs down what could have been a fun plot. Scout is an aboriginal freedom fighter in post-war USA in the far off future of 1999. He goes around gunning down corrupt members of the government.
The one cool thing was he sees these people as the beasts they are - so instead of him getting into a fight with a person he's fighting an enormous bear etc. I think it's a clever way of using the comics medium to your advantage.
The one cool thing was he sees these people as the beasts they are - so instead of him getting into a fight with a person he's fighting an enormous bear etc. I think it's a clever way of using the comics medium to your advantage.
January 23, 2021
I wanted to re-read the first story arc of Emmanuel Santana (a.k.a. Scout), an Apache commando in a dystopian future western United States. I have the single issues that comprised this new edition, so I dug them out of my comics inventory of boxes.
Lancaster, PA area artist/writer Tim Truman has a distinct pencil and ink style that no matter what type of story he is illustrating it will evoke rugged images of the Wild West.
In this first story arc, the United States is now a third world country with a corrupt government riddled with monsters in human guise. Scout wipes them out, one by one, but not without suffering some wounds and hardship on the journey. Turns out The President of The United States wasn’t the biggest threat. It was the media manager pulling the strings, who now that Scout has eliminated his puppet he’ll just put a new one in place.
Tim Truman is a music buff, and often titles his stories with song references as well as planting musical items within the story. Issue #7 is a flashback that reveals the origins of Scout, how the country turned as he and other native Americans were taken to military testing and training grounds, his meeting and relationship with Rosa Winter, and eventual escape. Rosa ends up being a Ranger with the government, charged with protecting the new POTUS, Laura Carver. The despotic media manager Bill Loper, who thinks Carver is his drugged puppet, doesn’t know that she’s dumping the drugs and working with Rosa for a better government.
Truman builds a lot into his characterizations. There's a lot of depth here that you typically didn't see in comics of the 1980's. My favorite work of his, right there with his amazing collaborations with writer on Joe R. Lansdale on DC's Jonah Hex character.
Lancaster, PA area artist/writer Tim Truman has a distinct pencil and ink style that no matter what type of story he is illustrating it will evoke rugged images of the Wild West.
In this first story arc, the United States is now a third world country with a corrupt government riddled with monsters in human guise. Scout wipes them out, one by one, but not without suffering some wounds and hardship on the journey. Turns out The President of The United States wasn’t the biggest threat. It was the media manager pulling the strings, who now that Scout has eliminated his puppet he’ll just put a new one in place.
Tim Truman is a music buff, and often titles his stories with song references as well as planting musical items within the story. Issue #7 is a flashback that reveals the origins of Scout, how the country turned as he and other native Americans were taken to military testing and training grounds, his meeting and relationship with Rosa Winter, and eventual escape. Rosa ends up being a Ranger with the government, charged with protecting the new POTUS, Laura Carver. The despotic media manager Bill Loper, who thinks Carver is his drugged puppet, doesn’t know that she’s dumping the drugs and working with Rosa for a better government.
Truman builds a lot into his characterizations. There's a lot of depth here that you typically didn't see in comics of the 1980's. My favorite work of his, right there with his amazing collaborations with writer on Joe R. Lansdale on DC's Jonah Hex character.
April 18, 2020
I bought the back issues many, many years ago. Finally got around to reading them.
Can't think of many Downfall of the American Empire stories that DON'T include nuclear war (esp written in the 80s) - Truman's writing seemed to improve along with his art with each issue.
Scout is a badass for sure, but he's more than a Punisher/Deadshot killing machine. The other characters were also interesting and had good arcs themselves.
Can't think of many Downfall of the American Empire stories that DON'T include nuclear war (esp written in the 80s) - Truman's writing seemed to improve along with his art with each issue.
Scout is a badass for sure, but he's more than a Punisher/Deadshot killing machine. The other characters were also interesting and had good arcs themselves.
February 5, 2023
I read the single issues, not this volume.
I am a sucker for Tim Truman art. He draws old west style stories as I imagine the old west, not necessarily how it really was.
The bad, its a little disjointed, does not read as smooth as it could have. It’s one epic story but single issue heavy, the connections do not flow well.
The good, this is one big epic story. This hits all the right buttons for an apocalyptic western. Action packed, with a hero you can really get behind and support. A hero you also question a little bit, is his war real or is he crazy. By the end of issue 7 you really do not know an answer
I am a sucker for Tim Truman art. He draws old west style stories as I imagine the old west, not necessarily how it really was.
The bad, its a little disjointed, does not read as smooth as it could have. It’s one epic story but single issue heavy, the connections do not flow well.
The good, this is one big epic story. This hits all the right buttons for an apocalyptic western. Action packed, with a hero you can really get behind and support. A hero you also question a little bit, is his war real or is he crazy. By the end of issue 7 you really do not know an answer
August 8, 2013
Yes, I am a sucker for a good dystopian tale.
Tim Truman delivers with his view of the near-future seen thru the eyes of an American-Indian. The story uses some indian folk tales of monsters and Scout is the Shaman out to destroy them.
Overall, it's a good mix of "science-"fiction meets old time legend.
The art is pretty rough, I don't know how long Truman had been an artist by this time, but some of his characters are pretty rough-looking... BUT you can see the improvement from one issue to the other.
Tim Truman delivers with his view of the near-future seen thru the eyes of an American-Indian. The story uses some indian folk tales of monsters and Scout is the Shaman out to destroy them.
Overall, it's a good mix of "science-"fiction meets old time legend.
The art is pretty rough, I don't know how long Truman had been an artist by this time, but some of his characters are pretty rough-looking... BUT you can see the improvement from one issue to the other.
September 8, 2020
Scout is set in the dystopian future of 1999 - our old future- where, in a similar vein to Solyent Green, the problems inflicted on modern American society are due to overfishing and exhaustion of the soil from overproduction. Most of the rest of the world seems to be under the grip of a Soviet Pact and have leveled trade embargos on the United States and allied countries, forcing us to fend for ourselves. Into this the four monsters of Apache legend have snuck into power - presumably guided by other forces not revealed in the first book. Mass upheavals followed, with many losing their land, unemployment skyrocketing, defunding of police, and force conscription of the young into the armed forces.
This leads to our hero, Emmanuel Satana aka Scout, a former drafted soldier who has gone AWOL to retreat into his Apache roots. While on a peyote bender, he is contacted by a spirit guide named Gahn, who first appears as cricket, then as a squirrel. He directs Scout to take on these four monsters which have seized control of the country and to destroy them. The last being none other than the president of the United States. Thus begins a violent road.
This volume collects the first seven issues of the comic (a more recent reprint by Dynamite Comics has the 1 - 8), and you can see the nascent artist coming out. The art isn’t the greatest, yet you can see the talent just about to bloom into full maturity. Some of the story pacing, some of the dialogue could be improved, but you can easily see the talent behind it. And judging from issue 7 - drawn by Tom Yeats- it is just on the cusp of becoming itself. Remember, the weakest story in the Sandman series was the first one, then it became something amazing. I have a feeling it will here as well.
This leads to our hero, Emmanuel Satana aka Scout, a former drafted soldier who has gone AWOL to retreat into his Apache roots. While on a peyote bender, he is contacted by a spirit guide named Gahn, who first appears as cricket, then as a squirrel. He directs Scout to take on these four monsters which have seized control of the country and to destroy them. The last being none other than the president of the United States. Thus begins a violent road.
This volume collects the first seven issues of the comic (a more recent reprint by Dynamite Comics has the 1 - 8), and you can see the nascent artist coming out. The art isn’t the greatest, yet you can see the talent just about to bloom into full maturity. Some of the story pacing, some of the dialogue could be improved, but you can easily see the talent behind it. And judging from issue 7 - drawn by Tom Yeats- it is just on the cusp of becoming itself. Remember, the weakest story in the Sandman series was the first one, then it became something amazing. I have a feeling it will here as well.
May 13, 2025
A really hard-to-find gem from the 80s that has a little bit of everything: it's a post-apocalyptic sci-fi western with shades of Conan the Barbarian. And since it's superb and drawn by Tim Truman (who has some fairly iconic runs on Conan and Jonah Hex), all of these elements coalesce wonderfully. I might quibble a bit with the obvious editing flaws, but this book never had the funding for it that could be found at DC or Marvel, but otherwise this is really terrific.
September 22, 2017
I like bed this as a kid and was a little nervous to read it as an adult, expecting it to be cringe inducing. I was very pleasantly surprised to find it held up. It's remarkably prescient and treats it's subjects with a level of dignity and sensitivity I found surprising, considering it was a gritty action comic from the 80s.
October 26, 2017
A near future America has fallen into theocracy. Former soldier Santana, an Apache orphan, gets a dream vision he should hunt down the four monsters of Apache myth, who are behind the corruption of the country. While I've enjoyed a number of Eclipse Comics series from the 1980s, this one didn't click with me. I don't think it's a bad book, it just left me cold.
August 23, 2009
Having read a few issues of Scout back in the day, I bought the first two graphic novels a while back. I like Timothy Truman (Hawkworld miniseries, Grimjack) art and style a lot. In this story, he tells about Scout, an apache in a near-future apocalyptic world. (It was set in the far-off year of 1999!!!) This isn't just your standard Mad Max story, though. It has a shamanistic story as Scout is led by a spirit guide to fight the Four Monsters, whom seem like they are just bad people to most, but Scout sees them for what they really are....monsters.
The art is rough and the story is pretty dated, (It is pure 80's) but if you like Timothy Truman, it is worth looking at...even if it isn't his best art. (It is better than his early Grimjack art, though.)
The art is rough and the story is pretty dated, (It is pure 80's) but if you like Timothy Truman, it is worth looking at...even if it isn't his best art. (It is better than his early Grimjack art, though.)
May 23, 2013
Thoughtful And Action Packed
The more I go back, the more I find myself loving the independent comics of the 80s. This one is definitely a standout. Well-written, thoughtful and full of action. Bonus points for defying the noble savage stereotype and creating a Native American character that draws from history and tradition without turning it into a gimmick.
The more I go back, the more I find myself loving the independent comics of the 80s. This one is definitely a standout. Well-written, thoughtful and full of action. Bonus points for defying the noble savage stereotype and creating a Native American character that draws from history and tradition without turning it into a gimmick.
July 30, 2011
Excelent work, Early artwork of Timothy Truman is rough, but the stoyline was pretty deep for a comic book. Back in the 80's, Scout was one of the comics I had always wanted to read. Now, I'm lucky enough to have the collected trade of issues 1-7.
May 12, 2024
Nueva edición que recopila el SCOUT de Truman en dos volúmenes. Libro I de II.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews