Vertigo gets a lot of credit for putting comic books in bookstores and making the medium respectable. Much of the shift towards collected editions can be traced to Vertigo creating perennial sellers like Sandman, Preacher, and Transmetropolitan (and, obviously, books like Watchmen and Dark Knight). That shift in format has led, to some extent, to a shift in style as writers, editors, and artists construct their stories with the inevitable collection in mind. This, in turn, has led to a fair amount of backlash against “writing for the trade”, based on the fairly logical premise that what works well as chapter two of a novel might not stand on its own terribly well as a 22-page periodical. While Vertigo’s publishing model is certainly attractive to many publishers, it’s easy to forget one important factor: While Vertigo may have a history of telling epic long-term stories, its best books have never lost sight of the single issue.
Sandman was full of great one-issue stories like Midsummer Night’s Dream, Calliope, and Three Septembers and a January. Mike Carey followed Neil Gaiman’s lead when writing Lucifer, mixing in some great single-issue stories amidst his biblical epic. Brian K. Vaughan writes some of the best cliffhangers in the industry and knows how to keep the audience coming back every month.
All of which brings us to Scalped. Jason Aaron’s story of crime, corruption, and conspiracy on an Indian reservation is growing increasingly complex, and Aaron has chosen an ambitious structure for the second story arc (technically, this is the third, but I don’t really count the 2-issue story of #4-5): Each issue chronicles the events of the same day from the perspective of a different character. Taken individually, there are several fine stories, and together it’s an impressive accomplishment.
There are two important events to the time period: The first, and most obvious, is the grand opening of the new casino. Chief Red Crow wants everything running smoothly, which means Dash Bad Horse is tasked with rounding up troublemakers like Diesel, the wannabe-indian who’s second in command to Gina Bad Horse in the casino protest movement. Dash can’t do everything, though, so Red Crow has to deal with both Diesel and the mysterious Catcher, who shares a history with Red Crow and Gina and may not be entirely sane. While all this is going on, Gina leaves town to visit an old comrade and try to come to terms with her past, while teenage Dino Poor Bear dreams of a future away from the reservation until his job mopping floors in the casino brings him into contact with some tempting reasons to stay.
It sounds complex – and it is – but Aaron has effectively broken the story into digestible chunks. It’s one big story, but functions quite well as six individual ones, stories that are at least pretty good – and in a couple cases fantastic – when taken on their own, and become even more impressive when their place in the bigger picture is revealed. To be honest, I didn’t even realize what Aaron was doing for the first couple issues, until I had one too many déjà vu moments.
In many ways, this story – or something very similar – should have opened the series, as it does a great job of introducing the characters in depth and the issues that are central to the book. Unfortunately, Aaron repeats an early mistake: He still seems to believe that Dash Bad Horse can be the star of Scalped.
Bad Horse simply isn’t that interesting. It’s no coincidence that my interest in the series picked up after the first three issues, when Dash was relegated to the background where he belongs. In addition to being something of a generic angry young rebel, Dash is pretty clueless: As the other stories in Casino Boogie reveal, Dash probably has the least idea of what’s really going on at the rez, either in terms of history or who’s working for who. At this point in the series, Dash is really only good for hitting people – and the really good fight comes a couple issues later.
Thankfully, Bad Horse is quickly put in his place as Aaron moves on to the biggest fish in the pond: Chief Red Crow. In what is easily the strongest issue of the series so far, and a strong runner for best single issue of the year, Aaron explores the character of the man who runs just about everything on the reservation, legal or otherwise. In the course of keeping the casino running smoothly on opening night, Red Crow deals with thugs, corrupt bureaucrats, and an old friend, and ends up considerably more introspective than usual thanks to a gun in his face and an unpleasant bit of payback.
Aaron doesn’t sugar coat the chief: Red Crow is a vicious, brutal thug who has killed, lied, and manipulated his way to the top. But somehow, Aaron manages to make him sympathetic. Not likeable, not by a longshot, but certainly human and beautifully defined. Red Crow knows what he is and what he’s done, and he’s not necessarily proud of it, but he also sees it as the only way to get ahead for himself and protect his people. He’s not altruistic or noble by any means, but utilitarian: He saw what he thought needed to be done and did it, and hasn’t strayed from the path no matter the consequences. Red Crow is a monster, but he understands why, and hopes that some day he might be able to stop.
Aaron’s not all about introspection, though, as he devotes most of the next issue to Diesel and Bad Horse kicking the crap out of each other. Though he does explore some of Diesel’s past and attempt to explain why the white boy is making a pest of himself on the Indian reservation – one reason has to do with his past, the other with his present – it’s all about fighting. After spending a couple issues glowering at each other, Diesel and Bad Horse finally get some of their aggression out: With fists, nunchuks, knives, a horse, a bus, and a bull. It’s a great sequence, and it’s at this point you really start to notice that artist R.M. Guera is pretty darn good.
I’ve been increasingly impressed by his work on the series – after a so-so start, he really seems to be in synch with Aaron (and vice versa), and he’s got a great handle on the ugly world and characters of Scalped. But while mood is one thing, action is another, and many artists – particularly those employed by Vertigo, it seems – have a hard time switching from mood to movement. Guera may not be the best action artist around, but his stylized attention to detail – particularly facial expressions and backgrounds – make everything worth watching.
Guera gets to switch gears with the next story, focusing on the mysterious Catcher. Catcher has been hanging around the periphery of Scalped so far: He’s involved with Red Crow and Gina, and he may know more a
bout what’s going on on the rez better than anyone. He seems to have put his shady past behind him – he’s trying to, anyway – but there’s just one problem: He might not be entirely sane. Unless he really is possessed by visions from the spirits. At any rate, it makes for an interesting, if not terribly coherent, story, as Catcher has a conversation with an old lady, confronts Red Crow, and tries to track down Gina Bad Horse. It’s an interesting story that definitely require some follow-up, and Guera adapts to the tone nicely, integrating Catcher’s visions and/or hallucinations without abandoning the overall style of the book.
The next story opens with a vision of another kind, as Dino Poor Bear dreams of getting away from the rez he’s known for his entire life. Guera impresses yet again here, though it’s not quite as obvious as drawing a 10-page fight sequence or a series of mystic visions. Poor Bear’s dream sequence is just a little prettier than Guera’s usual art, and his harsh return to reality is just a little extra uglier. It’s a great touch for the story, which mostly features Dino’s boring life on the rez he so badly wants to escape. Dino’s not particularly interesting on his own – he’s a bit of a cliché in many respects, the idealistic teenager who wants to get away from his squalid roots – but he’s an effective vehicle for exploring the state of affairs on the reservation. It also ties in to Red Crow’s story, as Poor Bear’s janitorial job brings him into the casino’s opening night chaos and a face-to-face meeting with Red Crow himself. Dino is the face Red Crow can put on his idealism, the poor young Indian who dreams of a better life.
Finally, in a roundabout fashion, Aaron comes back to Gina Bad Horse, who in many ways is at the centre of Scalped: Dash’s mother, Red Crow and Catcher’s old comrade, Diesel’s fellow protestor. Interestingly, Gina isn’t around for the grand opening of the casino. Instead, she’s in Kansas City visiting Lawrence Belcourt, an old friend who’s waiting on death row for a crime Gina knows more about than she’s told. This issue brings us back to one of the central issues of Scalped: The murder of two FBI agents 31 years ago. In many ways, Scalped is about escaping the past, or at least coming to terms with it, even though it’s not letting go. At the same time, this issue is obviously the starting point for future stories to come, ending as it does with a fairly significant event and a fair bit of mystery.
Casino Boogie is an impressive achievement for both Aaron and Guera. It’s ambitious and complex, but easily digestible and structured in a way that doesn’t draw attention to its scope. Each issue is part of a bigger picture, but stands alone well enough to be enjoyed by a complete newcomer to the series. (If you were to sample just one issue, I’d recommend #7, the story of Red Crow) It develops characters, displays some serious violence, answers some mysteries and raises others. After a slightly shaky start, Scalped is quickly becoming one of my favourite books, and nearly every issue shows off why.
(The trade of Casino Boogie is scheduled for February.)