Scalped #49 – Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer), R.M. Guera (artist), Giulia Brusco (colors), Sal Cipriano (letters), Mark Doyle (associate editor) & Will Dennis (editor)

The Story: Things come to a head between Dash and Catcher.

What’s Good: It isn’t really going to be possible to discuss this issue in a coherent way without getting into SPOILERS, so you’ve been warned.

Part of the greatness of Scalped is that it pays off in a pretty predictable fashion.  Once Aaron starts to establish a conflict between characters, there will be a climax.  It may not happen for a number of issues, but it’ll happen, and when it does, there will be blood splattering everywhere.

When we last left our characters, Catcher was taking our protagonist Dash on a ride to “find the killer” of Dash’s mother.  The only sneaky thing is that long time readers know that Catcher killed Gina Bad Horse, so the whole opening scene is just priceless for its tension.  You’ve got Catcher playing spider who calmly knows that his prey is in the web and Dash being so eager to confront the killer than he can’t read between the lines and see that the killer is right beside him.  Guera really sells this scene with his art: Catcher is the old cowboy, calmly lounged in the passenger seat (he’s along for the ride) whereas Dash is the young buck with the shaved head and earring who is hunched over the wheel in his anticipation to find the killer (he’s driving and thinks that means he’s in control).  You can’t see Dash’s hands, but you just know that he’s white knuckling the wheel.  Great example of writer and artist working together to do something that you can’t do with words or pictures alone!

Of course, it being Scalped, we get a pay off and what could be grittier than a shoot-out inside the cab of a beat up old pick-up on a dirt road on an Indian Reservation?  There’s no John Woo, double-pistol action, diving, trenchcoats swirling in the breeze (or pigeons), just two guys in tight quarters trying to kill each other.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Criminal: Last of the Innocent #1 – Score one for comics for grown ups!  I love reading superheroes and because they are the best paying gigs in comics, they tend to get top talent and produce good stories, but I still love it when a comic written purely for grown ass men comes along and blows their doors off.  This was the first chapter of a new Criminal story that features a 30-something man who has some organized crime leg-breakers after him, but has to return to his small hometown to settle his ill father’s affairs.  Toss in a cheating wife, him running into his old high school crush and an ex-druggie buddy, and you’ve got some awesome noirish possibilities.  Sean Phillips is one of my favorite artists and he does a GREAT job on this issue.

Most Anticipated: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1 – How can this spin off from the main AV series possibly go wrong?  Writer Scott Snyder hasn’t written an issue of AV that could even be described as “pretty good”.  They’ve all been tremendous.  The main AV series is currently in the middle of a World War II – Pacific Theater series, so it makes all kinds of sense to bookend with AV: SotF being set in Nazi Germany.  THEN you get the incredibly talented Sean Gordon Murphy to draw the issue.  This issue has “A” written all over it.

Other Picks: Scalped #49, The Unwritten #26, Morning Glories #10, Incredible Hulks #630, Screamland #1

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Secret Six #34 – While it may very well turn out to be Gail Simone’s farewell tour on the title, this was one hell of an issue.  It was the sort of issue that showed Secret Six to be a comic with a big heart despite all the violence and ugliness.  Unfortunately, it’s also a book that made me feel very sad that we’re likely heading towards the end.

Most Anticipated: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1 – Between Birds of Prey, PunisherMAX, and Wolverine, this seems to be a week for books that have really managed to pull their act together again.But I’m giving it to the new American Vampire mini simply because American Vampire is among the very best books on the stands right now, Scott Snyder is the hottest new writer in mainstream comics, and we are promised Nazis in this book…possibly vampire Nazis.  Oh, and there’s this guy named Sean Murphy drawing it.

Other Picks: Journey into Mystery #624, New Avengers #13, Wolverine #10, PunisherMAX #14, Morning Glories #10, Scalped #49, Birds of Prey #13, Flashpoint: Frankenstein & the Creatures of the Unknown #1