Title: Scalped Vol 1: Indian Country
ISBN: 9781401213176
Price: $9.99
Publisher/Year: Vertigo, 2007
Artist: R.M Guera
Writer: Jason Aaron
Rating: 3.5/5
Vertigo will go down in history as one of the greatest comic book imprints of all time, and while it was sad to see it go in January of 2020 (serving as an appetizer to what would turn out to be an incredibly crappy year) it is understandable. Vertigo was originally created in 1993 to create mature comics for adults in a space where that was a new and novel idea, and the sad truth of the matter is that nowadays there are plenty of comic book publishers who are doing just that.
Dashiell Bad Horse has come home to the reservation armed with a set of nunchucks, a hell-bent-for-leather attitude and a dark secret. But nothing has changed-except for the glimmering new casino, and a once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized crime. Includes sketch material by artist R.M. Guera.
“Scalped” is a crime drama set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota, a place that is as harsh and brutal as the landscape and a land that, while technically is its own sovereign nation, is dirt poor and dependent upon an American government that is perfectly content with leaving its residents to waste away and die of alcohol poisoning. Into this mess steps Dashell Bad Horse: a tough as nails, hell for leather, punch first and ask questions later cowboy who was raised on the reservation and hated every minute of it. Unfortunately, he’s dragged back because he’s actually an undercover FBI agent under the thumb of Agent Bayliss Earl Nitz, who has a long standing hatred of the man in charge of the reservation: crime boss Chief Lincoln Red Crow, who is currently working to build and run a casino on reservation land.
“Scalped” comes courtesy of writer Jason Aaron, and if that name sounds familiar to you it’s probably because he’s been kicking a tremendous amount of butt over at Marvel the past decade, along with some fantastic independent comics as well. What makes Aaron’s writing on “Scalped” so good is the moral complexity of each of the characters. Dashell Bad Horse may be a self destructive cowboy who appears to only care for himself, but his rough family life and falling out with his family provide a clear and heartbreaking motivation for his tough as nails exterior. Lincoln Red Crow may be a violent, sadistic, and selfish man who runs a network of meth labs and a private army like an old school Mafia crime lord, but he cares deeply about the well being of his people and wants to construct something positive out of his legacy of blood and murder. Meanwhile, Agent Nitz plays the overbearing boss who has a vendetta against Red Crow and isn’t afraid to sacrifice Bad Horse in order to bring the crime lord down, but it’s later revealed that Nitz and Red Crow have a long standing history that has something to do with the shooting of two FBI agents on the reservation back in the 70’s.
All of this would be fantastic on its own, but Aaron goes even further. We don’t have the time or space to talk about Bad Horse’s activist mother Gina, Red Crow’s drug addled daughter Carol, the one incorruptible cop on the reservation Officer Falls Down, the stern and noble Granny Poor Bear or the countless supporting characters that all blend together in a rich tapestry of violence and betrayal. Suffice to say, “Scalped” is a tangled web of organized crime, family drama, past mistakes, and present desires set in a desperate race where the winner gets to live and the losers either wind up in prison or dead.
A book that is this well written deserves fantastic artwork and artist R.M Guera doesn’t disappoint. The story is set in the Badlands of South Dakota, a place that is boiling hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter, and somehow manages to be completely desolate and hauntingly beautiful at the same time. Guera captures the natural beauty of the setting and mixes it with an atmosphere of poverty and despair that hangs over the reservation like a cloud. It’s the land that God and time forgot, where the only ways to escape are to either cook meth or drown your sorrows in hard drugs and alcohol and the only people with any sense of power and wealth are the corrupt politicians who drive in Mercedes while the people starve and fight amongst themselves.
Also, for an artist who is not American, Guera has a very keen grasp of the Western and American gangster genres. While Dashell’s swagger and hard as nails worldview is brought to life through Aaron’s writing, Guera’s art is incredible at conveying emotions without words. Dashell has a certain swagger with a twinge of self hatred and self destruction to him that makes him feel dangerous and ready to go off at a moment’s notice. In fact, that’s kind of what everyone else in the book feels like as well. Everyone looks so tired and beaten down, ready to snap at a moment’s notice and go out with guns blazing under an unforgiving sun.
“Scalped” is a harsh, ugly, and nasty piece of art that is as violent and at times as painful as the act that gives the book its title. It’s a world where nobody is the good guy, nobody ever makes the right decision, and the only thing anyone ever really wants is some form of justice that will never happen. It’s a world where everyone is at the absolute bottom of the grave and they somehow find new and terrible ways to dig themselves even deeper.
In short, it is a brilliant, beautiful, and haunting book that you owe it to yourself to read.
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