What Are You Waiting For? Scalped

What Are You Waiting For? Scalped

May 28

“You’re reading Scalped, right?”

“Dude, read Scalped!”

“You didn’t pick up Scalped this week? What is wrong with you?”

“I will kill a puppy if you don’t add Scalped to your pull list.”

People overestimate how much I like dogs, which is why it shames me to say that no, I haven’t read Scalped yet.  I’m asked frequently, by the online crowd, by my friends, by my comic shop employees; they all want to know if I’m reading it.  Lord knows I should.  Yes, I’m a Jason Aaron fan.  He’s rescued the ongoing solo titles of two Marvel characters who rarely ever have entertaining, well-written ongoing solo books (Wolverine and Ghost Rider), and his breakout work The Other Side, drawn by Cameron Stewart, is excellent.  I pick up what Aaron throws down over and over and over again, but have not read the critically acclaimed OMGawesome book that established him as a voice with real staying power in comics.

What am I waiting for?

Well, I’m waiting for Fables to end, bascially.  It’s a strange and annoying calculus, but I limit myself to a (completely arbitrary) total of three Vertigo book at any given time.  Right now, they’re Fables (spinoffs count as part of the main title, BTW), Madam Xanadu and DMZ.  I cling to it stubbornly, because I can’t start a diet, I can’t drink less, and I can’t find freaking love, but I can stick to my Vertigo limit.  Except for Jack of Fables.  But that sort of counts as Fables.  I’m so alone.

Except that the Fantastic Fangirls did the What Are You Waiting For? thing.  And the thing I was waiting to read was Scalped.

So here we are.

I’ve read the first two trade paperback collections of Scalped and, I’ve gotta say, they were awesome.

Despite having a nunchaku-wielding Jeet Kune Do crooked cop/brawler as its main character, Scalped manages to be a gritty, introspective crime drama that is noir and Western at the same time.  Jason Aaron’s straightforward plot and cynical, self-destructive characters are incredibly engaging, thanks in part to R.M. Guera’s bleak sepia-toned art.  And did I mention that Jock does the covers?  I probably shouldn’t, or else I’ll start to crave monthlies.

I mean, really.  Just in that last paragraph, we have

  • nunchaku
  • Jeet Kune Do
  • Noir
  • Western
  • self-destructive

All of which are things that I love.  So, thank you, Jason Aaron.  I’ll be catching up with Scalped as soon as I can, and then adding the book to my pull list.  Thanks for ruining my life.

6 comments

  1. A

    I tried Scalped in issues but its soo much better in trade. Anything by Brian Wood is also a trade only thing as well as any stuff from Vertigo. 🙂

  2. Matt

    What A said…I’m a Scalped trades guy myself, although I’m currently behind. I started it in floppies and switched to trades.

    Veritgo books complicate my life as well. Whenever they launch a new ongoing, I get excited and want to try it…then quickly realize I will probably prefer reading it in trades. I should start some kind of “first arc” policy or something, and then try to trade/sell the floppies.

  3. I went to issues on SCALPED after reading the first four trades in a day (I had read 1-3 before, I just reread them on the day #4 came out.) Then I went and bought all the issues. I’ll probably revert to trade after this arc — hoping the book stays around a while longer.

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