Scalped #54 – Review

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

The Story:  Someone dies, Dash still can’t talk and there’s a lot of double-crossing going on at the Prairie Rose Reservation.

Five Things: 

1. Beginning to thin out the supporting characters.  You could think of Scalped as being like a balloon: Jason Aaron has to make it big and expansive, with lots of supporting characters to make in interesting to look at (like blowing up the balloon), but the POP won’t happen without losing something.  We’ve had so many supporting characters in recent issues….almost too many sometimes….but that begins to take care of itself here.  What’s cool is that the deaths aren’t just done for shock value: Each dies in a way that either enhances a central theme of the series or propels another character further along their own arc.

2. You can be either strong or good, but not both.   The single honest man is a pretty common trope in gritty crime fiction.  Throughout the run of Scalped, Officer Falls Down has been the “honest man”, but he’s also kinda weak and knows his place.  It’s a very different scenario with Sheriff Karnow who has gone from being a slime-bag to being “born again”.  And….that’s the problem.  Not only is Karnow now an “honest man”, but he’s attacking his new self-identity with the vigor of the “born again” and that isn’t going to fly in the world of Scalped.

3.  Double crosses!  Of course, Red Crow is smack in the middle of everything as he is playing Shunka and Dash against each other.  There isn’t much more to say about it, but the triangle formed by those three men is pretty explosive.  I’ve always said that I really miss Carol (Red Crow’s daughter) over the last ~10 issues, but she would detract from this trio by reentering right now.

Dean’s Top Picks

Best Of The Past Week: Batman #3 – The goodness just keeps on flowing with this story.  You have to disconnect the part of your brain that wants you to think that Bruce Wayne is the master of Gotham; this is a new Batman and maybe he doesn’t know everything.  The whole owls concept where the Waynes have been funding these architecture students to build buildings with hidden 13th floors serving as secret society hideaways for the last 100 years.. Sheesh… Creepy.  Although one does wonder where they put the building’s mechanicals if the 13th floor is full of steampunk owl armor… Hmm…  Anyhow…  Great stuff and wonderful art from Greg Capullo who is finally getting the props as one of our best sequential storytellers.  Bravo!  Runner-up: I Zombie #19 which had a really strong issue that was about a good of a jumping on point as you’ll get on a series like this one.

Most Anticipated This Week: Fantastic Four #600 – I have a feeling that this will let me down because FF hasn’t been great since the first few issues, so I’m trying to temper my enthusiasm.  So why make it “the pick” when all the comics I’m listing below will probably be better?  Well, it is a milestone issue for Marvel’s “first family” and that alone makes it exciting.  Maybe this issue also will serve to jumpstart this stalled and complex narrative?  We can only hope!

Other Picks: Scalped #54, Vescell #4, Captain America & Bucky #624, Secret Avengers #29, Wolverine & the X-Men #2