Scalped, one of my absolute favorite comic series of the last decade, wrapped up its sixty-issue run this past Wednesday, and as planned I spent this weekend rereading the first 45 or so issues before taking in for the first time the climactic 15 installments. Naturally I have a lot to say about this brilliant, gut-churning series, but I’m going to do my best to keep the discussion as spoiler free as possible while still attempting to pinpoint why I think Jason Aaron and company created one of the best, most badass crime stories you’ll find in any medium. Keep in mind that at this early juncture, the modest but loyal readership of this blog seems to be made up of equal parts casual comics readers and diehard, longtime enthusiasts, so I want to do my best to service both parties’ interests moving forward. Without further ado, after the jump is my thoughts on Scalped, a series I really can’t recommend highly enough:
Reading Scalped a second time gave me a far greater appreciation for the complexity of the story’s structure and construction, which is made even more impressive when you consider this was Jason Aaron’s first attempt at long form storytelling after making a name for himself with his strong Vietnam miniseries The Other Side. Far from resting on the laurels of his series’ immensely strong hook and fascinating cast, which lord knows by themselves could have made for a worthwhile read, Aaron comes out of the box taking incredibly bold chances with structure, perspective and narrative timelines. That he’s able to pull off the many early shifts in point of view and time with such precision is pretty staggering, and it’s clear from the onset that this particular crime writer has a set of balls on him almost as big as his protagonist’s.
When looking back on the series as a whole, it really is amazing to see how many narrative and thematic tasks Aaron takes on from the very beginning of his story, and the fact that he delivers on nearly all of them in a satisfying fashion is a large reason why the series’ is so damn impressive and entertaining. Again, the series’ central noir plot has plenty of legs to stand on its own in a straightforward narrative, with FBI agent Dashiell Bad Horse returning undercover to the ravaged, insanely impoverished and crime ridden reservation he once called home in an attempt to take down tribal leader and criminal kingpin Lincoln Red Crow, only to find himself, like so many noir protagonists, in way over his head in the proverbial shit.
Aaron doesn’t stop there, though, and immediately sets out to flesh out the story’s reservation setting in a lush and vibrant way reminiscent of The Wire’s Baltimore, Ellroy’s Los Angeles, Pelecanos’ D.C. and the best of the genre’s iconic settings. Between the intrigue of the series’ back story involving Red Crow, Gina Bad Horse (Dash’s mom) and company’s politically-charged murder of two FBI Agents in the 1970s, the day-to-day life and operations of the Rez glimpsed from the peripheral character’s points of view and the evocative, atmospheric art of RM Guerra, ‘The Rez’ almost immediately springs to life as a living, breathing place. Like the settings of so many classic crime stories, it rises to become a central character in the narrative almost from the very beginning.
And like all of the previously mentioned noir classics that are home to some of the most memorable environments in all of fiction, a large part of Scalped’s power comes from its epic scope. Aaron breathes life into the story’s environment by populating it with a sprawling cast of brilliantly realized characters, from Dino Poor Bear as the young father struggling to escape doomed life on the reservation, to Shunka as the deadly right-hand man to Red Crow with a potentially deadly secret, to Carol as the drug addicted daughter of the Chief and lover to Dash. There’s also Diesel, the insane, violent white man desperate to prove himself as the baddest injun on the rez; Bayliss Nitz, the revenge-hungry FBI Agent driven to depraved lengths in his quest to solve the one case that’s haunted him since that one fateful day in the 70s; Granny Poor Bear, the spiritual leader and matriarch of the reservation; and Sheriff Karnow; the bumbling Nebraska lawman humiliated into proving himself the real deal. And that’s not even mentioning Dash or Red Crow, two of the coolest, most badass adversaries ever to grace a comics page. That you often find yourself torn over which side to root for is testament to how wonderfully the two opposing forces are realized. In total, Aaron does such a brilliant job bringing all of his characters to life, the series never once loses steam when its takes the focus off the Dash, Red Crow or the plot's central struggle to focus on an ancillary player.
And again, many of Scalped’s lofty narrative and thematic achievements are made possible primarily by Aaron’s willingness to take bold chances with the story’s construction, as he veers from one character’s POV to the next and shifts backwards and forwards in time while surveying each corner of this setting and story. Most importantly, Aaron accomplishes all of this while never once losing site of the chief objective of any great noir story, which is to place the cast of characters on a one-way trajectory towards their individual and collective downfalls. The sense of tragic inevitability so essential to the genre is never once lost over the course of the series, and as Ed Brubaker points out in his introduction to one the series collections, much of the series’ visceral power comes from watching all of these characters circle the drain despite their best efforts. Like all great crime fiction, Scalped will have you pulling for its characters to prevail even though you know full well they are entirely incapable of saving themselves from their own bad decisions.
As much as I’d like to dive into the specifics of the story’s conclusion and how wonderfully Aaron is able to pay off all the narrative arcs he sets into motion in the story’s early chapters, I’ll leave that for other blogs and other writers. Like I said before, this blog is going to try its hardest to maintain a spoiler free environment so casual readers can experience my recommendations for themselves. Suffice it to say I thought the story’s climax fulfilled all the promise and potential of its first fifty issues and then some, leaving us readers off on a appropriately heart-wrenching note.
So go ahead, please, pick up the first collection of Scalped and experience this incredible series for yourself. I guarantee you wont be able to stop with the first book, and like me will find yourself wrapped up in a marathon reading session. All of the series' collections are available on Amazon and at any book store or comic specialty shop worth a damn
That's it for now, as always, if you dig it please pass along word of this article and blog to friends and like-minded readers.
No comments:
Post a Comment