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pmileham's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Vomit, Drug use, Gore, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Violence
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
2.0
This is looking like my tap out point.
I keep feeling like this book is the late 2000's version of comics that tried to be "dark" in the 90's. And the late 2000's version of dark comics is gritty comics.
So much grit you could polish and entire mountain's worth of stones!
Every character is a bad man who does bad things. "I know I've done bad things. Walked a dark road. And it seems like, with every hill, maybe when I crest it, I'll be out of the darkness, see the sun on the horizon. But then it's just another hill. Another stretch of blood-soaked asphalt."
Ha, that's fun!
"You wonder about the darkness in a man's heart. But what you gotta look for is the darkness in his balls. Because that's where the real darkness lives. The man who can gut another man and be balls deep in a whore the same night--that man's got a darkness deep in his balls, and he'll never fuck it out."
Too easy.
"I ever tell you how I got this scar? Most people see it, think I probably got it doing a dime in Florence, maybe from my time in the sandbox. Boy, I got this scar tripping in the bathroom in the shithole of a trailer I live in. Got it from my mom after she died. Overdose. Her boyfriend was squatting there when I found him, passed out in a pile of his own shit and piss. I put an end to that, got the place cleaned up. Even put in a tile floor. Probably the only trailer in the park with a tile bathroom floor. What they don't tell you, though, is how slick that new tile is. You know, after I slipped, and I tasted the blood in my mouth, I laughed. I laughed because after all the shit I been through, it was a slick tile floor that almost done me in. Pride cometh before the fall, son."
I keep feeling like this book is the late 2000's version of comics that tried to be "dark" in the 90's. And the late 2000's version of dark comics is gritty comics.
So much grit you could polish and entire mountain's worth of stones!
Every character is a bad man who does bad things. "I know I've done bad things. Walked a dark road. And it seems like, with every hill, maybe when I crest it, I'll be out of the darkness, see the sun on the horizon. But then it's just another hill. Another stretch of blood-soaked asphalt."
Ha, that's fun!
"You wonder about the darkness in a man's heart. But what you gotta look for is the darkness in his balls. Because that's where the real darkness lives. The man who can gut another man and be balls deep in a whore the same night--that man's got a darkness deep in his balls, and he'll never fuck it out."
Too easy.
"I ever tell you how I got this scar? Most people see it, think I probably got it doing a dime in Florence, maybe from my time in the sandbox. Boy, I got this scar tripping in the bathroom in the shithole of a trailer I live in. Got it from my mom after she died. Overdose. Her boyfriend was squatting there when I found him, passed out in a pile of his own shit and piss. I put an end to that, got the place cleaned up. Even put in a tile floor. Probably the only trailer in the park with a tile bathroom floor. What they don't tell you, though, is how slick that new tile is. You know, after I slipped, and I tasted the blood in my mouth, I laughed. I laughed because after all the shit I been through, it was a slick tile floor that almost done me in. Pride cometh before the fall, son."
some_okie_dude27's review against another edition
I had friends who swore by this series, as well as my local comic shop guy, and Youtubers that I watch who like to talk about comics, so I was quite excited to get into this series. In fact, some of the first reviews that I read on this site before I myself starting using it were of this series. Then I found a certain review of this series that so shocked me by its forceful use of its voice and language that, for one, I had to go out and find this guy and befriend him, as I was quite impressed with this review, and two, ruining a lot of chances for me to enjoy this series, as I couldn't get his opinions out of my head. So for that, I thank you Keely.
I've grown quite fond of Aaron through my readings of him, some of his works have given me a lot of joy and fun over these last few years. Though it's quite interesting to see him at an earlier point of his career, still finding himself as a writer, sadly I find that Scalped represents some of the lesser aspects of a debut, rather than the more stronger aspects of one.
Scalped seems unsteady, unpolished, and unsure of itself. Aaron hasn't quite come into his own voice here, and seems to be borrowing (quite liberally I might add) from some of his inspirations. At once we see Ennis' influence on this series, and then Miller's and yet, we don't see the strengths of those two's most celebrated work. Aaron shares Ennis' penchant for over the top extremes, though Aaron can't quite match Ennis' skill for merging his extremes with his storytelling in a natural way until later on in the series.
Scalped seems jarring to read at times with its chaotic pacing and constantly switching around from scene A to scene B. It's one of those cases where I find that if he had a good editor on his side, assuaging his more wild tendencies and focusing him in the right direction, then the series would've had a much stronger outing when it first began. Luckily, this jarred pacing does lighten up as the series moves along, and Aaron gains some more confidence in his voice.
The central idea of Scalped is strong, and the set ups of these characters was also strong, so I suppose it's why I kept with it, to see if this potential paid off in any way and in some ways it does. I was particularly fond of the one off stories focusing on the many characters who live in 'The Rez' as it's known, getting inside their heads and seeing their motivations as to why they are the way that they are. I was particularly intrigued by the story of Red Crow, the Native activist turned crime lord, I was fascinated by the internal conflict that he struggles through as the series goes on, and I was compelled as his story went on. It shows the Aaron that I've come to know, the one who likes to muddy the waters about who is good and evil in his stories and often makes who you root for much more complicated in the process.
The series continues to improve as Aaron continues to find his stride, though its still flawed in several ways. The pacing ends up becoming more streamlined as Aaron continues to roll along, finding his voice. But he never quite gets to the heights that he would eventually when he would go to write Southern Bastards, yet we do see the signs of the later Aaron as we go along, leading to an ending that left me melancholic, but also empty. Yet, it was an ending that was rather fitting to this series: not quite at its peak, but almost.
Guera's art is also intriguing, it has the classic 'Vertigo look' in terms of its color palate and texture, but it also is rather fitting for the series, having a style that's moody while also being ugly and decadent, much like the Rez that the series takes place in. But like with Aaron's writing, I find that the art never quite reaches its full potential, I often found it off-putting and shoddy as much as it was evocative and occasionally rich.
As said before, it is quite curious to see Aaron at the beginning of his career, still in the cusp of finding his voice, still finding his way through the Rez, and seeing where the journey takes him along the way. Scalped is an incomplete work (thematically). But it does show Aaron slowly coming to his own, and giving us a hint of the greatness that Aaron would eventually prove himself to be capable of.
mrpink44's review against another edition
5.0
Deserves more stars than are possible to give. One of the best series in comic history.
honguan's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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