Speaking of hardboiled comics at the beginning of the year a
fantastic crime comic book made its debut. Its called Scalped
by Jason Aaron. Its getting great reviews in comic circles
but I think that readers of different types of crime fiction
would LOVE this title too. Plus the protag has the coolest
name ever.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a review of the trade paperback
that collects the first 5 issues of Scalped, here it is
re-printed.
Plot Synopsis:
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 to find nothing much has changed on "The
Rez" …quot; short of a glimmering new casino, and a
once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized
crime.
At the center of the storm is Tribal leader Lincoln Red Crow,
a former
"Red Power" activist turned burgeoning crime boss who figures
that after 100 years of the Lakota being robbed and murdered
by the white man, its time to return the favor.
Now, armed with nothing but a set of nunchuks, a
hell-bent-for-leather attitude and (at least) one dark
secret, Dash must survive a world of gambling, gunfights,
G-men, Dawg Soldierz, massacres, meth labs, trashy sex, fry
bread, Indian pride, Thunder Beings, the rugged beauty of the
Badlands…and even a brutal scalping or two.
Review:
Indian Country collects the first five issues of the monthly
series Scalped.
The art in Scalped is very good. Offering up shadows with
hidden depths at times and bright, clear and detailed panel
at others that may represent the duality of the story.
Perhaps indicative of the pervasive skin tones of the
characters or just a reflection of the sandy deserts where
the story takes place there are a lot of red tones and shades
in the art of Scalped. Just about every issue ends in a great
cliffhanger moment that compels you to read further and the
art accompanies these tense moments becomes fraught with
peril and potential destruction.
Scalped is a great crime fiction story told in a medium that
many crime fiction fans may not typically read, comics. They
will unfortunately have missed out on what, when all is said
and done, might just come out of left field to be one of best
crime fiction novels of the year. But its much more then just
a crime fiction story, it's a bit of a hybrid that combines
elements of action and crime stories bundled up neatly
together with strong noir elements.
The action is unmistakable from the opening bar fight, where
we first meet Red Horse, when, right before the action
starts, he proclaims
"Whicha you motherfuckers is gonna be the first to cry to
Jesus." From that point on fights will be started, weapons
will be pulled, guns will blaze and the action will be
relentless. The crime elements will feel familiar to some but
only at the most superficial levels as it will only take a
light scratch to reveal the depths of these characters that
are anything but simple clichés. From the simple synopsis of
the story these two elements can be surmised but the
pervasive noir story was a pleasant surprise. Red Horse may
be a tough guy but we quickly understand that he is an
every-man that we can relate to in a lot of ways. He finds
himself compelled, by forces largely beyond his control, to
enter into a situation where he becomes little more then a
pawn. With all these outside forces working against him the
urge for his individuality to assert itself becomes stronger
and stronger; but as these forces become practically
insurmountable this simple task becomes harder and harder.
Before long a complex mousetrap has been set for Red
Horse.
At the end of the first issue there is a major revelation
about one of the characters that changes the face of the
entire story; enough to make you want to go back and re-read
the first issue again before continuing on to the others.
I'll not go into specifics here about it but I do want to say
that I think Aaron made a great decision to have the
revelation happen so early on. A lesser writer would have
been tempted to wait until much later in the series for the
reveal, savoring the build up and trying to cleverly keep it
hidden from the reader. Except that at some point it would
have become guessable and the impact would have been
lessened. As it is since it happens so early on the reader
isn't given time to try and figure such things out because we
are becoming familiar with this new world, so its approach
isn't seen and the impact is greater. This was a great
decision and really illustrates the care and attention paid
to the construction of the story.
Readers entering this vivid and gripping world will be
introduced to some of the most complex characters, loyalties
and relationships in recent years. Not only are they created
with three dimensions but their personalities, and again
their relationships, have multi facets. There is a lot of
depth and material to be explored here. Red Crow has a
confusing sense of identity. An activist mother with strong
ideals and beliefs raised him. But then he left everything
behind, now all these years later he is both insider and
outsider. Red Crow, of all the characters here, might just be
the most lost, not knowing, at times, even which way is up.
His mother Gina, trying always to stay true to her youthful
ideals has become an anachronistic annoyance on The Rez,
causing a lot of problems for the new power structure. She
runs into problems trying to recruit member for the cause
from the younger generation, who would much rather use a gun
to win. Does Gina love her son more, or the cause? Then there
is Lincoln Red Crow. What happens to a Red Power activist to
make him betray the cause? Has he betrayed the cause? Or, is
he furthering it by gaining some measure of economic power
for his people? As these complex characters and their complex
relationships, histories and loyalties intertwine it will
become hard to know whom to root for, whom to root against
and who will survive.
Through all of these characters, and this story, a lot of
tough questions about America, race, class, vice, identity,
history, cultural identity, loyalty, youthful ideals and
their potential corruption will be asked. Some answers will
be given but none of the questions and their potential
answers are easy or neat and pretty.
This is a book that both entertains and makes you
think.
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