Scalped #42 – Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer), R.M. Guera (art), Giulia Brusco (colors) & Steve Wands (letters)

The Story: The finale of the Unwanted story arc.  Will Dash & Carol get back together?  Will Carol keep the baby?  Can Dash and his father unite against a common enemy?   Yeesh, it sounds like a soap opera.

What’s Good: The first 2/3 of this comic are about as tight as it gets.  The set up is incredibly simple: Dash and Carol standing on a snow-covered road.  They haven’t seen each other in months and now that they’re both clean and sober, they have a LOT to say to each other.  But the wizardry in this scene is that Aaron uses the same dialog device he used several issues ago with the elderly couple.  Dash and Gina are speaking to each other, but it is just chit chat little stuff.  The really big thoughts all confined to the narrative text boxes and run as a counterpoint to the entire conversation.  It is almost hard to describe how effectively Aaron pulls this off.  You may have heard of someone like Alex Baldwin having perfect comedic timing?  Well, this is the written, dramatic comic book form of expert comedic timing.  Aaron is really a gifted writer.

Guera also shines.  Scalped is such a nuanced book and it doesn’t lend itself to flashy splash pages, so it can be easy to overlook the art, but the way that Guera captures Dash and Carol as they verbally evade each other is just really something because the facial expressions and body language are as much of a counterpoint to the conversation as the narration boxes.  But, Guera’s real chance to shine is on a silent multi page run where [SPOILER ALERT] Dash is shown cleaning up his drug-trashed home as Carol is at the abortion clinic.  It is crystal clear that these two are turning a page in their lives and Guera sells the hell out of it.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Hulk #26 – This title now has the championship belt for “best Marvel ongoing” IMO.  Jeff Parker isn’t screwing around and milking a simple story across 6 issues….he’s just cramming and entire trade’s worth of story into a single issue.  And Gabriel Hardman’s art is just incredibly good.  Start reading this one now.

Most Anticipated: Scalped #42 – This could be ‘pick of the week’ every time it comes out, but after a lot of table setting, I get the feeling that things are going to start boiling over sooner rather than later in Jason Aaron’s excellent Native American crime drama.

Other Picks: Bulletproof Coffin #5, Amazing Spider-Man #646, Incorruptible #11, Incognito Bad Influences #1, Avengers #6

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Fables #99 – A really fantastic issue of Fables that did everything right and made #100 one of the most exciting prospects for next month.  Big powers, tension you could cut with a knife, and fantastic artwork that I couldn’t get enough of makes this a treat for Fables fans.

Most Anticipated: Action Comics #894 – Paul Cornell’s Action Comics is my favourite DCU title right now.  It’s energetic and witty and has awesome artwork.  This month, it sees the addition of one my favourite comics characters of all time, and a Vertigo one at that.  Now, putting aside how awesome this collision of DCU with Vertigo is, I have to admit I’m also biased; Vertigo was really how got into comics so this really does have a special appeal for me.  Either, this is a landmark, it’s a guaranteed hit, and I highly recommend picking this up even if you’ve never picked up Action before.  BUY THIS.

Other Picks: Fantastic Four #584, Avengers #6, Secret Avengers #6, Scalped #42, Captain America #611, Secret Warriors #21, Madame Xanadu #28, Wonder Woman #604, Superman #704