Flashback Friday: Scalped Finale

This was originally posted on my tumblr on 8/24/2012. Seriously, go read this series. 

First and final covers.

Comic of the Week - Scalped Finale

A great beginning that grabs you by the eye lids and drags you into the world of the story, putting you face to face with the characters, making your heart pound as if you were in real danger along with them is a wonderful, rare, thing. It takes a master to do that in an instant (see Brian K. Vaughn’s Saga). Keeping you there, page after page, month after month, year after year, living inside the story, growing, failing, falling, rising, agonizing, plotting, hoping with the characters, living through whatever obstacles may come up, never able to predict what’s next, is a whole other matter that few creators can maintain (see Brian K. Vaughn’s Y: The Last Man). But then, to end it in a way that is both satisfying and true to the characters and world that has been established, well, that’s even more rare, particularly in longer stories. Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera, over 5 years of Scalped demonstrated a mastery of storytelling and character development that is unrivalled, culminating in a final issue that tragically resolves everything the only way it could have gone. 

Now that it’s done, I don’t even know how to properly review this issue, to be honest. It’s a perfect ending and one thing that sticks out is that rather than just focusing on wrapping things up, there a few new details that emerge that shed light on some characters and even some that raise new questions. The edges of the story bleed from the frame, making the series a window into a much more complex world than we could have imagined. And considering the complexity of the series, that’s saying a lot. Comparing this to The Wire is about as accurate as it gets. Much like that show, the resolutions here indicate that while things have changed, much remains the same. Things are just too broken to fix and the best you can hope for is a changing of the players in a game that seems to continue to play itself out over and over again with very minor variations. Our hero, if you can call him that, Bad Horse, has learned his life lesson but it literally cost him everything he grew to love. 

Jason Aaron clearly had this story plotted, at least in his head, from beginning to end the whole time. This is not something that was made up as he went along, and  if it was, then he deserves even more credit. Every character is multidimensional, every moment means something, every line of dialogue moves things forward whether it’s the plot or character development. R.M. Guera made every character distinct from their design to the way they act. He also kept the story flowing even in moments where things were meant to be confusing and harrowing. This is visual storytelling on a level so high you forget you’re reading a comic book sometimes. I’ve said before I have a mixed desire to see this made into a TV series one day, because I’d like more people to see this, but the comic book is so perfectly crafted that I’d rather not spoil it with an adaptation. All I can say at this point is that you should pick up the trades of this series if you’ve never read it. I didn’t start reading it until about 2 years ago, but once I was hooked, it became my favorite book. I’ll miss it and I sincerely hope Aaron gives us another creator owned series soon. 

Comic of the Week - Wolverine and the X-Men

I said I wasn't going to read Avengers vs. X-Men and I meant it. However, there's at least one book I read monthly that ties in and I'm not dropping it, either. The good news is, that Wolverine and The X-Men does not require you to have read any of the AvX books in order to get what's going on here. It also doesn't completely go into dealing with that event and put aside any of the threads that were going on in this book. Instead, what Jason Aaron does is show us characters dealing with tough decisions and changing relationships while dealing with the things that they were already dealing with. Logan is struggling with the reality of having to fight against his fellow mutants since he sided with the Avengers, when Scott and his team show up at the school to talk. He confronts Logan about his choices and, it seems pretty clear to me that only one of them is actually thinking clearly, even though both have good intentions. I still won't read AvX, but this conversation, this tension, was interesting and engaging in the way that the Xavier and Magneto relationship always was. Meanwhile, Angel, whose mind was completely wiped in the pages of Uncanny X-Force is coming to terms with not being a real angel and Genesis/Kid Apocalypse, is coming to terms with who he really is. Also, several of the teachers, including Ice Man and Rachel Summers, decide to join Cyclops, much to Logan's surprise. I can't speak for the rest of the event, but if all the tie ins are handled like this, then they are actually delivering on the promise that you don't have to read everything. This was self contained and had enough hints of the big events that I never worried I was missing anything. AvX seems to be about broad strokes anyway, so all you need to know is that everyone is fighting about the Phoenix force. Coming into the tie in books should really be about specifics, and in this case it's about the ramifications of it all. Hopefully, this doesn't change, since I do enjoy this book and don't want to have to drop it.

Comic of the Week - Scalped

In November I started reading Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera's Scalped from the first issue. I'd heard enough praise for it and it was about time to read it. I think it was issue 4 or 5 that I read and realized I was hooked like a crackhead. Throughout November and December, I read the whole series, like a gluttonous junky eating heroin infused cheesecake. I'd take in big chunks and then try to slow down to make it last. Knowing the series is ending soon made me want to hurry up, but also made me want to linger all the more on the issues that were all new to me. Well, now I've caught up and this week, number 55 was the first issue I picked up and read on the day of release. And what an issue.

To try to describe Scalped is not easy, but it's basically a crime story that takes place on an Indian reservation. There's history, family drama, mystery, and pretty much just life mixed in. This issue was the close of the second to last story arc, and really, the climax of the whole series as everything came to a head. What Aaron and Guera have created in this series is something that the best serialized TV dramas of the past few years have done only occasionally. And that's a consistency of tone and characterization that rings true from the first page of the first issue through the last page of the latest issue. And that's not to say characters don't evolve and change. Revelations as to their motivations have come up at various times, illuminating things that came before. But in every case, reading this story has felt like peaking in to events that are just happening.

Every issue I've read, I struggle with wanting to see this as a TV series and also, not wanting that. I'd love for this to be seen by a much larger audience who may have watched and loved shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, etc. But a big part of this world is RM Guera. It's easy to see his mastery of tone and mood in his work. But look deeper and there's real emotion on every character's face. It's like he's a master thespian with his pencil, letting the lines disappear into actual feelings and motivations that show on faces and eyes. That he's working with someone like Aaron, who does not have his characters do anything randomly, is a perfect match.

I finished reading issue 55  and, although I still had about four more books to read this week, I stopped. I wanted to let this sit in my mind. It was a fast paced issue, with barely any dialogue in it. It was harrowing, because knowing we're so close to the end, literally anything can happen. It's dangerous, as the series has been from the start. And, because Aaron and Guera make it impossible not to be invested in the characters, it's also a relief. It's a relief to see things start to wrap up with the possibility of justice and peace. Of course, there's still one more arc, 5 issues, before it's really over, and Aaron has been known to be dark and grim, so where this is going still remains to be seen. I cannot recommend reading this entire series enough. It is firmly in my top series of all time, with it's position to be determined based on how it ends. I have faith it will be pretty high on the list though.

Comics of the Week - A Different Set of #1's

For a while now I've been enjoying Jason Aaron's Wolverine. It's been a great mix of fun and dark, taking full advantage of Logan's complexity as a character. Now that the X-Men have split into two camps with Cyclops leading one team and Logan building a school, the potential for a fresh new take on, not just Wolverine, but the X-Men in general, is ripe. So, does Aaron's Wolverine and The X-Men #1 deliver? Oh, hell yeah, it does. This was an incredibly fun read. It's the first day of class at The Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning and Headmaster Logan and Headmistress Kitty Pryde are giving a tour to representatives of the New York Board of Education. Hilarity ensues. Along the way, we meet several of the young mutants at the school as they attend classes and generally get into trouble. Many intriguing elements are set into play to be explored in the series, such as a young Brood child who Logan has invited to the school, but is instantly and ironically made outcast by the other young mutants. The new school, designed by Beast, is basically a self sustained city of the future. Of course, by the end of the issue, when the Hellfire Club unleashes what appears to be a creature made of the Earth itself, it's unclear how much of the new designs will remain intact. Bachalo's art, I'll be honest, took me a few panels to get into. It's rather cartoony, but once I got into the story, which happened pretty quickly, it made perfect sense. Pick this up, even if you haven't read X-Men in years. It's just good fun.

Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's Spaceman #1 is a hard book to pin down because it is so smartly written. Rather than spending time explaining the, apparently, post-apocalyptic world it takes place in, we are just thrown into it, after a short prologue that also doesn't explain a whole lot. We are introduced to a character that looks like some mix of Neanderthal and gorilla, and we are completely unsure if this is what all the characters will look like. Quickly, we see that the other characters look like normal humans, but the explanation for the appearance of the main character, who we then find out is named Orson, comes across in conversation, almost halfway into the book. These are all good things because you can just watch the story unfold rather than being bogged down by a ton of explanation. By the end of the issue, we start to realize that while this book is set in a Sci-Fi world, the actual story will be more of a classic Noir. And, really, what else would you expect from this team? Once again, Risso sets a mood like few other artists can. Azzarello is working with some interesting dialogue here, as well. In the tradition of A Clockwork Orange, he's developed a future dialect that appears to be a commentary on the dumbing down of our culture. Rather than actually laughing, for example, characters say "LOL." This series should be interesting and I'm very much looking forward to the next issue.

Comics of the Week - Three is a Magic Number

It's been a while since I wrote about just one comic. I had every intention of picking only one this week, only the one I really liked best. Then I read book after great book and it was impossible to pick just one. Uncanny X-Men #544 ended the series really well, with nods to the past and an eye towards the future. Supergirl #2 picked up from last issue and delivered good story and character development once again. A lot of potential there for this series. Nightwing #2 had several revelations and several beautiful panels. But at the end of the day, it was these three that took the cake for me.

With the first issue of Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo I was left a little unsure. I'm clearly a Snyder Zombie at this point and with good reason. The dude knows how to tell a story. He hasn't missed a beat yet. But this was a different Batman than what he did on Detective Comics, and the art was screaming just how different it was. Maybe it was just the shock of Capullo's art in that first issue, but I wasn't too enthusiastic, even if I did like it overall. With this issue, I'm all in. Capullo's art works perfectly here, probably because there's a lot more action. Snyder used the first issue as a bit of a re-introduction to the world of Batman, and that's fine, but for me, this is where the story really starts. Batman is up against a secret society that has existed in Gotham for hundreds of years, except he won't accept that they even exist because they are a challenge to his status as a legend. We're going to get Gotham history, which is always interesting, conspiracies, legends and Batman having to come to terms with his status as protector of Gotham. Already, I can tell this will be another legendary run in the making. Right off, we have a new villain in the form of this Society of Owls assassin, that I hope sticks around for a long time. Watching Bruce have to fight this killing machine, as Bruce, was good fun. I can't wait for more.

Speaking of legendary runs, Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang are quite possibly giving us the definitive Wonder Woman story she's never had. It's still a bit early to tell where this is going, but so far, it looks like exactly what the character needed. It's rooted in Greek mythology, but the way it's presented has more of a realistic touch to it in spite of the fantastical elements. The pairing of the story and art style is probably one of the most perfect in the relaunch. The way Chiang draws Wonder Woman is very different than anything I have seen. The emphasis is on her athleticism, though her grace comes through in her posture. She's not oversexualized at all, and as a matter of fact, her costume is quite respectable, but she is still beautiful and sexy. This may not be appropriate for young girls, given the horror elements that have and will be involved, but this is a book I would love to have my daughter read. And yet, the feminist aspect is just an afterthought. I don't believe the creators are consciously trying to do this. Instead, they are doing what good writers and artists are supposed to do, telling a good story. And the story is good. There's action to be sure, but every moment in this book felt natural to me. I even sensed a little Shakespearean touch here and there, when dealing with the Gods and it seemed appropriate and subtle. Working with mythological elements like this sometimes leads to cliche and too much cleverness on the part of the writer. This is likely where most writers have failed with Wonder Woman. Azzarello has, so far, found the right approach, by using the myths, but not being afraid of making them his own.

It's the second page of this book where a reporter asks a cop "Is it true that Kung Fu related deaths are already up 200% over last year?" And that's when I knew this book was going to be a blast. I wasn't wrong. Wolverine is packing up to leave San Francisco after the events in X-Men Schism (he's going back to Westchester to rebuild the Xavier school). Along the way, he winds up teaming up with Gorilla Man from Agents of Atlas. Together, they uncover a heroin ring that is bringing in the heroin though, well, let's just say unexpected and unconventional means. After reading about Wolverine inadvertently killing his children in the last arc, as much as I loved it, and the events in X-Men, this is a great palate cleanser of an issue from Jason Aaron. The humor in this is right on. Ron Garney's art is clean and bright. This series has been great from the beginning, but it's good to see the tone can change without negating anything that came before. With Aaron writing this book and the upcoming Wolverine and The X-Men, I suspect we'll get more consistency in how he's portrayed and in the events that take place. I am hoping that part of the story will be that he quits the Avengers to focus on the school as it's the only thing that would make sense, unless his other mutant power involves time manipulation of some sort. Or maybe in the Marvel U, the days are 40 hours long. Either way, this is still a great series and I can't imagine anyone else writing Wolverine now.

Comic of the Week

Revenge stories are their own genre with certain tropes that we can expect. In many cases, these stories lead to the moral that revenge isn't as satisfying as first thought. In other cases, it's quite the opposite. In the case of Wolverine, the story that Jason Aaron has crafted is much more complicated. This is on par with one of my favorite revenge movies, Oldboy in terms of the layers of vengeance we go through and the exploration of the effects of one's actions.

The cycle of revenge started in this series when Wolverine was sent to Hell by the Red Right Hand, a group seeking revenge on him for killing their loved ones. There, he had to face many of his dead  victims. Meanwhile, his loved ones were being targeted back on Earth. Wolverine escapes and goes after the ones that put him in Hell, to get his revenge. He finally finds them and in the process has to kill 5 "warriors" they send after him. He kills these warriors easily and arrives in a room where all the members of the Red Right Hand lay dead after drinking poison. They did not want to give him the satisfaction of killing them himself. Besides, the real act of vengeance is about to be revealed. They want Wolverine to feel what they felt, and they got him. They got him good. I'd rather not go into spoilers of this issue because it's a good one. Please seek out this entire run if you have not read it.

Wolverine may accept that he's a killer, but that does not mean he is at peace with his demons. This arc has given him some new demons to wrestle with. I'm sure this will be referred to for years to come, but even if it isn't, it's one hell of a story. Complexity, emotion and action all rolled up in a vengeance wrapper. The art by Guedes is exactly right for Wolverine in general, but this story specifically. There were many times I felt as if the images were alive and moving. This has easily become one of my favorite titles right now and I look forward to seeing how Wolverine deals with this and what Jason Aaron has up next for him.

Comics of the Week

Uncanny X-Men #542, written by Kieron Gillen, may be a Fear Itself tie in, but at the end of the day, it was just a good X-Men story. Picking up where the last issue left off, the X-Men are still trying to figure out how to stop the amped up Fear Itself Juggernaut, who is on his way to destroy San Francisco, unless the humans destroy Utopia, the X-Men's home, first. Scott's leadership is on display here and we see many of his numbered plans tried and pretty much fail. Meanwhile, he's got his real last ditch plan in motion. He's recruited Magik to go talk to the demon Cytorak with Colossus and Kitty. The twist at the end of the issue is one I didn't know was coming. I'm sure it had been spoiled, but I had managed to avoid the articles about it and I like that. I hope this is a twist that stays for a while.

X-Men Schism #3 seems to be the moment that Wolverine and Scott are going to refer to as the straw that broke the camels back. Wolverine understands guilt. Being a killing machine is a hard burden for him to carry. He may the best there is at what he does, but he takes no joy in it. He will do anything to protect kids, not just from harm, but from this guilt. Scott, on the other hand, has come to believe that mutants can't afford the luxury of innocence. Jason Aaron showcases these two viewpoints, without speeches, to great effect. The tension is high as Wolverine races to the museum to save Oya from the new Hellfire Club as well as what Scott is asking her to do. By the time he arrives, it's worse than he thought. But before he can really get into it with Scott, the real nature of the bomb the Hellfire Club set up is revealed. Schism is turning out to be a great set up for the new X-Men status quo. I'm in.

Comics of the Week

Boy, what a let down. Detective Comics 880, by Scott Snyder and Jock missed every chance it had at being a great comic.  Here we have the next escalation in the ever increasing tension of the story of James Gordon's son, which, last issue, hinted at crossing over with what could be the creepiest Joker in recent memory. Well, here, the ball is dropped. The art, it just, insists on itself. Just look at that cover. It says it all. The writing . . . I can't do it. This was AWESOME, from the cover to the last panel! I just can't figure out a way to write about just how fantastic it is anymore. Every issue in this run has been better than the previous one, tightening the tension to almost unbearable levels. The revelations in this issue amp up the creep factor and instead of releasing the tension, it just takes it further. This run will go down as being among the classic runs in any comic, not to mention one of the best Batman runs ever.

Cobra #3 is the closest the relaunched IDW books have gotten to what they had going before they killed Cobra Commander. Mike Costa shows us just how powerful Tomax is. He knows he won't be the new Commander, but I'm not sure it matters to him. He only cares about vengeance at this point and he certainly has the means to take down G.I. Joe with or without Cobra. He's cool and calculating, but underneath that is the pain of losing his brother. It will be interesting to see if he winds up at odds with Cobra. As it was before the relaunch, this title is the best of the Joe books.









In X-Men Schism #2 the mutants continue to stand firm against the increasing distrust from the rest of the world. Scott is making some very Magneto-like choices, while Wolverine is showing his softer side here. I like this reversal quite a bit. What holds it all together is the obvious respect the two characters have for each other. This would be a run of the mill event if not for the deep character and relationship work going on here. Jason Aaron writes a great Wolverine, but here we see he can write Scott just as well. The art in this book, by Frank Cho, is just gorgeous. The lines may be clean, but the details are many in each facial expression. Cho's Wolverine, in particular, is a story in itself. Much like Trick Daddy, Logan loves the kids.