Scalped #40 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), R.M. Guera (art), Giulia Brusco (colors), and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: Dash and Carol begin two very different kinds of drug rehab.

What’s Good: It’s always enjoyable when a writer is able to bring together to plots that are dramatically opposite into a single, coherent issue and that’s pretty much what Jason Aaron does this month in Scalped.  Carol and Dash’s portions could not be more different in style, content, and tone and yet it feels only natural that the two occupy the same issue.  They essentially grapple with similar issues of family and addiction, and this allows for interesting parallels to be drawn between two very different stories that conjure very different feelings.

Aaron continues to reinvent Carol, as the character reinvents herself.  I expected this after last month’s fantastic issue, but the character only grows in likability and relatability.  She grows more empathetic still this month, as, for the first time, she finds herself standing on the periphery of a family environment, though a chaotic one.  It’s not a family without problems, nor is it ideal, but Aaron elegantly makes Carol’s trepidation, want, pain, and awkwardness clear as she stands on the outside, looking in, pondering to what extent to accept the subliminal invitation.  It’s muted, but fascinating stuff.  Much of this is due to just how subtly Aaron writes the Poor Bear family; Granny is the anchor that links together these disparate individuals, whether they realize it or not.  Aaron’s writing of their breakfast conversation is a thing of beauty; all the characters seem intent on their own, individual topics of conversation, and the result is oddly dissonant.

Dash’s drug withdrawal is the completely opposite of this warm environment, as Shunka essentially has him go cold turkey in the wilderness.  The result ends up feeling like a Native American, Hunter S. Thompson styled drug trip.  It’s brutal and nasty stuff as Dash goes out of his mind, completely isolated, but, like Thompson’s Fear and Loathing, there’s also a kind of humour to it as well, of a kind that mixes absurdity with schadenfreude.

Scalped #32 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), R.M. Guera (art), Giulia Brusco (colors), and Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: Dash tries to save a murder witness from Red Crow and Carol’s life continues its tailspin.

What’s Good: The high-paced chase sequence that results from the conclusion of last month’s issue was certainly a lot of fun.  Aaron has successfully made the murder witness a ridiculously irritating character.   It’s a great in a stressful sort of way, as most of Dash’s FBI-related actions are.  The whole scene also shows just how easily Aaron is able to toy with his readers.  How many times has he made us despise Nitz and like Red Crow?  Yet in this issue, it’s hard not to root for Nitz and pray that Red Crow gets caught out, if only for Dash’s sake.  The ease and speed with which Aaron is able to turn the tables is astounding.

Meanwhile, Catcher continues to be an interesting character in as much as he’s always so damned ominous.  This month definitely makes him seem even darker .  There’s a strong sense of foreboding and danger whenever he appears on the page.

The best thing about this issue by far, however, is the traditional, noir tone the book takes on in its latter half.  These are miserable conversations/monologues with miserable people.  The sadness is palpable, powerful, and brooding.  Guera’s artwork certainly helps in that regard.  While the first half of the book is that rough, dusty look we’ve gotten used to, these later scenes make expert use of darkness, shadow, and negative space.  The character positioning is also fantastic.  You really get that combined feeling of smoky mystery and tragedy that you’d normally only find in classic noir.

What’s Not So Good: The biggest problem with this issue is that it’s pretty much all set-up.  As such, there’s really only so high a grade I can give it.  Everything is a prelude, a lead-in, or a glimpse of danger on the horizon.  We are dead centre in the middle of the story-arc, and it definitely feels that way.  This is an almost purely transitional issue that often is intent merely to provide updates or consolidate.

I also didn’t like how Aaron acts as though last month’s massive cliffhanger never even happened.  At the end of that issue, it looked as though Carol may very well be dead.  This month, the very first time we see Carol, she’s up and about as though this collapse never occurred.  Sure she’s sick, and these blackouts will be regular occurrences, but Aaron could at least have provided a couple of images of her getting up off the floor from where we last saw her.  Perhaps page count was an issue here, but it was very strange and a bit irritating to see the high drama of her collapse last issue be completely written off and disregarded.

Conclusion: While it isn’t the most earth-shattering installment of the series, Scalped has never had a bad issue and this month doesn’t see a buck in that trend.

Grade: B

–Alex Evans