ScalpedVol 1: Indian Country
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2007
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
ScalpedVol 2: Casino Boogie
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2008
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
ScalpedVol 3: Dead Mothers
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2008
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
ScalpedVol 4: The Gravel in Your Guts
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2009
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
ScalpedVol 5: High Lonesome
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2009
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
ScalpedVol 6: The Gnawing
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2010
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
ScalpedVol 7: Rez Blues
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Vol 8: You Gotta Sin To Get Saved
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Jason Latour, Davide Furno and R.M. Guera
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Vol 9: Knuckle Up
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2012
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Vol 10: Trail's End
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by R.M. Guera
2012
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
It kinda gets tossed around as a bit of a joke or something: a cliché that's become so commonplace that the actual horror has been somewhat obscured - like giving someone concrete shoes - you know? Ha ha ha: yeah - that's funny. Big laugh. Except if you let yourself imagine what it would feel like - feet enclosed in cement standing on the end of a pier - knowing that you're about to be pushed off into the water and there's not a damn thing you can do about it: then it's much harder to see the funny side.
Because - yeah: scalping: "Take a big knife, make an incision from the forehead to the back of the neck. And... well." It's not nice or pretty - no. It's brutal. Barbaric. And well yeah - even if it doesn't kill you [1]: it's going to leave a mark - you know: you kind that's not going to wash away after a week or so.
Which brings us neatly to this: Jason Aaron's miniature epic of pain, loathing and regret (all wrapped up in a dirty bundle and the dropped from a great height right on top of your squidgy little head) seeing how it's all about the gap between how things look and how things are: you know - like the way that the movies make it seem like killing someone is as 1, 2, 3 while the grim reality of the things has you strangling someone in the dirt for (goodness me) eleven minutes before they finally die (and then: well - "Usually they'll shit their pants. Sometimes you will too."). Mercy me: Scalped is a comic book that is as hard-bitten as concrete teeth and as vicious as a rattlesnake with a swastika tattoo.
Just before I started my big fat all-in-one reread of the entire ten volume run it happened to come up in conversation with one of my friends - "So what are you doing this weekend?" "Me? Oh. I'm gonna read Scalped. It's a comic." "Oh. Cool. What's it about?" - which I'll admit left me a little stumped. I mean - in his introduction to Vol 2 Garth Ennis describes it (and he doesn't leave much out) as "a neo-western / political / historical / Native / ultra-violent / black comedy crime story" [2] but - well: my instant recall isn't that great and so I couldn't quite quote it from memory (sucks to be me I know). Of course the back cover of Vol 1 describes it as "a gripping mix of Sopranos-style organised-crime drama." - but The Sopranos is one of the greatest TV shows of all times and (sorry Jason Aaron) and even Scalped at it's best can't quite compare to it's beautiful multifaceted structure (one of my friends once described The Sopranos as like a beautiful diamond: and every time you hold it up to the light you notice something new).
Nah: Scalped is more like (and yes I mean this as a compliment) one of those modern, strong, solid, kinda B-list American crime / thriller / cop shows like Justified, Sons of Anarchy or The Shield [3]: you know the ones I mean right? Where the story never quits driving on, all the moral lines have been smudged out completely and the hero is every bit as compromised as the people he's fighting against: with flashbacks that constantly leave you wanting more, cliff-hangers that will leave your mouth agape and an emotional heft that will leave you all feeling messed up inside. it's never too obvious, never too dumb but always damn good reading with a great sense of how a comic works (there's some particularly nice bits that start coming in around Vol 4 where two of the characters can't bring themselves to talk to each other that makes very good use of the power of the text box).
Set (mostly) in the present day on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation (aka "The Rez") and dealing with a colourful cast [4] filled with all sorts of bums, cops, thugs, whores, murderers, meth-heads, FBI agents, racketeers and psychopaths: this is a comic book that is will drag down you into a sea of human filth and won't let you up for air until it's done all sorts of dreadful things to your mind.
Starring Dashiell Bad Horse [5]: a macho man tough guy who spends most of his time speaking in the same kind of clipped sentences as Jesse Custer [6] (exhibit number one: "Won't take but a minute.") and is mostly pretty handy with his fists and/or nunchucks [7] (as another character puts it: "I ain't seen moves like that since Tekken 5.") - this is a book that lets you know you're in good hands from the start by the way that the flashbacking starts right from the get-go (which I tend to think is a sign that the author knows exactly how they want to have things play out - you know: either that or they're just completely crazy and devil-may-care): I mean - yeah - it's a little bit much the way that they keep dancing around a major event for a pretty much half it's running time (The whole who-killed-the-people storyline): but I guess that's just the price of entry for this sort of thing (It can't give you all the answers right away now can it? Otherwises what's there to keep you hanging around? [8]).
But as the characters start to come into focus and you learn the intricacies behind their two-dimensional appearances (special mention here to the frankly awesome Red Crow: "If there's one thing I ain't, it's a nice guy" - ok yeah: but - still - I haven't fallen for such a completely self-interested and down-right nasty piece of work since - well - Tony Soprano [9]). The thing that any new reader should keep in mind tho is that - well - you need to give it time to sink it's hooks in before you really start to feel the results. Even tho I knew I enjoyed it the times I read it before I was feeling less than convinced until about midway through Vol 3 when - I don't know - something just kind of snapped into place and instead of just being some-sort of fighting-men-have-bad-time slice of blah it kind of opened up at the bottom into something much deeper and sadder than I guess expected... (and that chapter in Vol 5: "Just don't hit me... Please, just nobody hit me no more, please...." - yeah: that's going to leave a bruise).
Starring Dashiell Bad Horse [5]: a macho man tough guy who spends most of his time speaking in the same kind of clipped sentences as Jesse Custer [6] (exhibit number one: "Won't take but a minute.") and is mostly pretty handy with his fists and/or nunchucks [7] (as another character puts it: "I ain't seen moves like that since Tekken 5.") - this is a book that lets you know you're in good hands from the start by the way that the flashbacking starts right from the get-go (which I tend to think is a sign that the author knows exactly how they want to have things play out - you know: either that or they're just completely crazy and devil-may-care): I mean - yeah - it's a little bit much the way that they keep dancing around a major event for a pretty much half it's running time (The whole who-killed-the-people storyline): but I guess that's just the price of entry for this sort of thing (It can't give you all the answers right away now can it? Otherwises what's there to keep you hanging around? [8]).
But as the characters start to come into focus and you learn the intricacies behind their two-dimensional appearances (special mention here to the frankly awesome Red Crow: "If there's one thing I ain't, it's a nice guy" - ok yeah: but - still - I haven't fallen for such a completely self-interested and down-right nasty piece of work since - well - Tony Soprano [9]). The thing that any new reader should keep in mind tho is that - well - you need to give it time to sink it's hooks in before you really start to feel the results. Even tho I knew I enjoyed it the times I read it before I was feeling less than convinced until about midway through Vol 3 when - I don't know - something just kind of snapped into place and instead of just being some-sort of fighting-men-have-bad-time slice of blah it kind of opened up at the bottom into something much deeper and sadder than I guess expected... (and that chapter in Vol 5: "Just don't hit me... Please, just nobody hit me no more, please...." - yeah: that's going to leave a bruise).
Yeah: it's seedy, grimey and smells like it's had too much to drink: but it knows how to show you a good time.
..................................................................................................................................................
[1] From this yahoo answers page ("Does scalping kill you?"): "Usually, yes, but not always. Modern medical technology would probably even allow most cases of scalping to be treated and recovered from if the victim were found and treated in a timely manner. Though admittedly, many cases where a victim is scalped might also produce more serious injuries like blows to the head or stabbings that are less survivable, a scalping alone is quite possible to live through. Even historically, scalping was not always fatal. I had a female ancestor who lived in the second part of the 1600s, who was scalped by Indians but who survived for decades thereafter. Considering the insanely poor medical technology of the day, it shows how it's perfectly possible to live through even under the worst of conditions."
[2] And then goes on to say: "spread the word. Tell your friends. Talk about it. Blog about it." - which - damnit - seemed like the perfect intro to all this but (oh well) I couldn't find a way to write something without coming across as ridiculously cheesy ("Well... ok then if you insist Mr Ennis sir" or whatever). He also says (and yeah I like this so I'm gonna share it with you): "This is a crime story all right... but it’s not relying on any of the usual props from other genres for its survival. None of the aforementioned super-types, no horror, no fantasy or sci-fi, nothing. Not an elf or an angel in sight. And for an adult-imprint monthly in the current sales climate, that’s both refreshing and pretty bloody brave.” (Indian pun intended on that last word? I'm not sure...).
[3] When I first wrote up that list it included Breaking Bad as well: which I realise is slightly contentious so I've taken it off: but damn it: (as much as I love that show) if anyone ever wants to debate that categorisation with me - then I'd be more than happy to take things outside.
[4] I would make a crack here about how mostly that colour is red: but I don't want to sound like a racist or anything so maybe just ignore this.
[5] Who Brian K. Vaughan rightly calls (in his intro to Vol 1): "The rare film noir protagonist who's actually as cool as his name."
[6] That's the main character in Preacher as opposed to a reference to George Armstrong Custer (the guy with the last stand and all...).
[7] Nunchaku (Japanese: ヌンチャク Hepburn: nunchaku?, often "nunchucks" or "chain sticks" in English) is a traditional Okinawan weapon consisting of two sticks connected at one end with a short chain or rope. In modern times the nunchaku were popularized by Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto in their movies or - if you're of the same generation as me: they're the ones that Michelangelo used to use.
[8] Or as one character puts it (rather pointedly I'd say): "Look, I understand your frustration, but you're just going to have to be patient."
[9] Dagnamit - maybe that back cover was right after all?
[3] When I first wrote up that list it included Breaking Bad as well: which I realise is slightly contentious so I've taken it off: but damn it: (as much as I love that show) if anyone ever wants to debate that categorisation with me - then I'd be more than happy to take things outside.
[4] I would make a crack here about how mostly that colour is red: but I don't want to sound like a racist or anything so maybe just ignore this.
[5] Who Brian K. Vaughan rightly calls (in his intro to Vol 1): "The rare film noir protagonist who's actually as cool as his name."
[6] That's the main character in Preacher as opposed to a reference to George Armstrong Custer (the guy with the last stand and all...).
[7] Nunchaku (Japanese: ヌンチャク Hepburn: nunchaku?, often "nunchucks" or "chain sticks" in English) is a traditional Okinawan weapon consisting of two sticks connected at one end with a short chain or rope. In modern times the nunchaku were popularized by Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto in their movies or - if you're of the same generation as me: they're the ones that Michelangelo used to use.
[8] Or as one character puts it (rather pointedly I'd say): "Look, I understand your frustration, but you're just going to have to be patient."
[9] Dagnamit - maybe that back cover was right after all?
..................................................................................................................................................
Links: The Comics Journal Review of #39-40, Comic Book Resources Jason Aaron Interview, Blue Corn Comics Article: Scalped: Another Comic Book Gets Indians Wrong.
Further reading: 100 Bullets, Criminal, DMZ, Preacher, Goldfish, The Exterminators. Sin City, Desolation Jones, Sleeper, Scene of the Crime: A Little Piece of Goodnight, Ex Machina, The Walking Dead.
All comments welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment