Scalped! GO READ IT! I’M TYPING IN ALL CAPS! THAT MEANS I’M YELLING! SO GO!
Posted by themasonTo commemorate issue 21 of Scalped by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guera and Giulia Brusco I made a list of the 21 reasons Scalped is awesome. Scalped is, honestly, my favorite book on the shelf and you should go buy it! So, without further adieu…
1. Indians (or Native American’s if you’re not an asshole) are awesome.
2. These Indians have like guns! That makes them almost, like, cowboys. They’re like Indians and cowboys. That’s just mind blowing.
3. There’s lots of breasts in it and if you haven’t realized it yet, I loves me some boobies.
4. It feels like a detective/crime noir.
5. It feels like a western.
6. It feels like a mobster movie.
7. It feels like a spy novel.
8. It feels like an undercover tale.
9. It feels like an FBI yarn.
10. Every Professional in the “biz” loves it, from Ed Brubaker to Brian Michael Bendis. Which brings up the question; why the hell aren’t you reading it?
11. It’s published by Vertigo, which is so like, tragically hip. They published Sandman, remember Sandman? No? Well that must be why all their comics only sell six thousand issues. Apologies to DMZ, the possible (awesome) exception.
12. It’s well researched. Tribal life in America ain’t pretty and it shows in Scalped. Of course, this is a horrible crime story, but we still get a good feel of the real problems that run rampant on reservations.
13. It’s really well researched. We also get a good idea that the author knows a thing or two about Native American heritage and respects it greatly. Clearly Mr. Aaron is familiar with Black Elk and J.E. Brown.
14. The main character, Dashiell, might be named after Dashiell Hammett. Maybe he isn’t… But maybe he is!
15. Dashiell Bad Horse seemed to learn kung-fu from television, and is consequently awesome with nunchucks.
16. Dashiell Bad Horse, the main character, is so bad ass and awesome he doesn’t even need to be in every issue.
17. Three words: Sex, drugs and violence.
18. The side characters are amazingly fleshed out. This is something the author, Jason Aaron doesn’t have to “waste” pages on, but does and because of this the story really flourishes.
19. R.M. Guera doesn’t only draw great breasts, but great everything. You don’t need words to tell these stories, the facial and body expressions alone give you enough to get along, which is something every comic should do.
20. There’s no moral line, no black and white, most of the characters seem to be a good shade of grey. From the corrupt, mobster head of the rez, to our undercover, FBI agent, main character Dashiell to Dashiell’s FBI boss. They’ve all got their good sides and bad sides, and their “good guy/bad guy” roles don’t mean shit.
21. I could use this last reason to rant on and on about the amazing qualities of this book, but I think I’ll just sum ‘em up with “awesome.” This book is awesome.
I’m not kidding when I tell you that Scalped is the best book on the stands right now. The writing and the art are both tremendous and every single character you spot in a panel you want to see more of because of this. Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera have really made something great here, an interesting and captivating crime story with a sad, but real life, back drop of an Indian reservation. Granted, Indian reservations aren’t real life to me, since I’m just some middle class white kid, but I’m still aware that growing up Native American and on a rez isn’t the best way to grow up in America, unless you like being a second class citizen.
Alright, enough of my liberal ranting, let’s get to the meat o’ things kiddies. I don’t have time to dissect the story into little, itty, bitty bits and explain to you every detail, and why exactly it’s awesome. I can tell you two of the things I like best about it though. The art makes everything looks dirty and chaotic (in a good way) and the structure of the story is amazing.
First, the art. Everything seems to be covered in blacks and different shades of brown. There’s an aesthetic with the art and the amount of dark browns and greens used that makes everything just seem dirty, which magnifies all the awful things going on in the story. It’s very clear that either R.M. Guera and Giulia Brusco work very closely together to get the coloring effects, and dark shadows just right to set the mood of the story, or that they share a hive mind.
The story structure has a lot going on and I really want to thank Jason Aaron for this. The crime feel of the story isn’t unlike the feel you might get from a Hammett or a Chandler book. The layout of the book typically follows a simple pattern, you get the main story, and then in between archs you get more of a side story that doesn’t typically even show Dashiell, the main character. The end of each arch typically ends with a fairly large surprise that makes you want all of the story, right then and there. It’s as effective as cliffhangers from pulps in the thirties and forties, but nowhere near as cheap. In fact, I’d say the reveals at the end of each story are beautifully done. Then, in between each part of the main story, we get little segments about characters other than Dashiell. This fleshes out the environment that Dashiell’s story takes place in and makes you care for characters besides the antagonist and the protagonist. Because of how well these side issues are done you don’t mind that Jason Aaron is taking a break from the main topic at hand, you just go along for the ride where ever it takes you and you enjoy it… A lot.
There, I told you to buy it. Then I told you a few reasons you should buy it. Now I’m telling you to stop reading this and to actually go by Scalped by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guera abd Giulia Brusco.
