Scalped #55 – Review

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

The Story: The big throw-down between Dash and Shunka is here.  Bring it on!

Five things [SPOILER WARNING]:

1. Good lord this is a violent and gritty fight. – Most comic fights are highly stylized like something you’d see in an old Jean Claude Van Damme movie where everything is rippling muscles and beautifully executed roundhouse kicks.  This is something else.  There is shooting, stabbing, biting, eye gouging, penis kneeing, punching, kicking, choking, and scalping!!!!  I mean, this fight goes on for pages and pages and pages.  It is BRUTAL.  You can really hear the grunts and groans.  You can just about smell it.  I also really liked how the fight was resolved.  It was a good ending that was respectful to all of the characters involved.  My only quibble is that I don’t quite understand how the winner of the fight turned the tables with one solid punch after all that back and forth brutality.  Was it a liver punch?

2. Shit gets real at the end. – Here’s the big spoiler.  At the end, Dash announces himself as FBI and arrests Red Crow.  That is kinda the moment that the whole series has been building towards.  Finally, after everything, Dash has eyeball proof of Red Crow committing a murder.  And, making the scene emotionally difficult is that Red Crow had just saved Dash’s life and has started to see Dash as a son, which is highly ironic given the relationship between Red Crow and Dash’s mother.  What should’ve been a “Hell Yeah!” moment leaves you feeling badly for Red Crow.

3. Great moments in the art… – Guera has a really strong issue with the details.  After a few issues of just showing us that Dash has a huge band-aid on the side of his face, in this issue, Guera goes to great length to show us the wires holding his mouth shut.  That becomes a big deal in the fight with Shunka and also in the climactic scene at the end.  And there are lots of other little things, like showing us a framed display of Native American arrowheads a few panels before Shunka picks it up and smashes Dash in the face with it.  The art also does a wonderful job of showing pain during the big fight.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Rachel Rising #4 – This was kinda a “blah” week for comics with Marvel shoveling up a big, fat pile of “okay” and that gives an opportunitiy for some interesting choices like Rachel Rising #4.  Nothing that remarkable happened inside the pages of RR; we didn’t begin a new plotline and there were no “startling revelations”.  But, Terry Moore did start to tie some separate pieces together in this issue and give us glimpses of what his story will be about.  And of course, this creepy story of a girl who rises from the dead is beautifully illustrated.  Not many artists could pull off the intricate and delicate linework that Moore gives us every month.  Trust me: Pick up Rachel Rising now because the next thing you know, it’ll be issue #15 and you’ll feel you’re too far behind.  Runner-up: Vescell #5

Most Anticipated: Scarlet Spider #1 –  You know who is really good at comics?  Ryan Stegman.  The guy is super-talented and improving all the time, yet for some reason Marvel has been putting him on miniseries and things that are doomed to be cancelled early.  This is really annoying considering some of the mediocre art that comes out of some parts of Marvel (ahem….X-office).  FINALLY, he gets a shot at an ongoing that should have some legs.  We got teases of what he could do on a Spidey-themed book in Amazing Spiderman early last summer and he nailed it.  And, it’s being written by Chris Yost who rarely does a bad story.  Personally, I’m not a big fan of all the clone crap in in my Spidey stories, but with these creators Marvel makes it impossible to say “no”.  Check it out.

Other Picks: Batwoman #5, Scalped #55, Unwritten #33, The Activity #2, Severed #6, Amazing Spider-Man #677, Secret Avengers #21, Wolverine and the X-Men #4

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Swamp Thing #5 – Yanick Paquette may have only left for one issue, but man did I miss him!  A gorgeous book with great storytelling from both creators, great monsters, and great character moments.  Oh, and Alec Holland finally kicks some ass.  A great book.  Not just that, but Swamp Thing and Animal Man are really showing the right way to build up to a crossover.

Most Anticipated: PunisherMAX #21 – The penultimate issue of Jason Aaron’s run is here and finally, Frank and Fisk are going to throw down for real and, if the solicitation is right, someone’s going to die.  Readers of PunisherMAX know that this fight has been a LONG time coming.  The build-up has been amazing and it’s gone beyond personal; it’s been brutally inevitable since issue 1 and now, it comes down to this.

Other Picks: Batwoman #5, Demon Knights #5, Frankenstein #5, Green Lantern #5, Wolverine & the X-Men #4, Wolverine #300, Incredible Hulk #4, Journey into Mystery #633, New Avengers #20, Captain America #7, Amazing Spider-Man #677