{"id":2132,"date":"2009-05-28T15:59:44","date_gmt":"2009-05-28T22:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/?p=2132"},"modified":"2009-05-28T15:59:44","modified_gmt":"2009-05-28T22:59:44","slug":"what-are-you-waiting-for-scalped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/?p=2132","title":{"rendered":"What Are You Waiting For? Scalped"},"content":{"rendered":"

“You’re reading Scalped<\/em>, right?”<\/p>\n

“Dude, read Scalped<\/em>!”<\/p>\n

“You didn’t pick up Scalped<\/em> this week? What is wrong with you?”<\/p>\n

“I will kill a puppy if you don’t add Scalped<\/em> to your pull list.”<\/p>\n

People overestimate how much I like dogs, which is why it shames me to say that no, I haven’t read Scalped<\/em> yet.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 Lord knows I should.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, I’m a Jason Aaron fan.\u00c2\u00a0 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<\/em>, drawn by Cameron Stewart, is excellent.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

What am I waiting for?<\/p>\n

Well, I’m waiting for Fables<\/em> to end, bascially.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a strange and annoying calculus, but I limit myself to a (completely arbitrary) total of three Vertigo book at any given time.\u00c2\u00a0 Right now, they’re Fables<\/em> (spinoffs count as part of the main title, BTW), Madam Xanadu<\/em> and DMZ<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 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<\/em> stick to my Vertigo limit.\u00c2\u00a0 Except for Jack of Fables<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 But that sort of counts as Fables.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m so alone.<\/p>\n

Except that the Fantastic Fangirls did the What Are You Waiting For?<\/a> thing.\u00c2\u00a0 And the thing I was waiting to read was Scalped.<\/p>\n

So here we are.<\/p>\n

I’ve read the first two trade paperback collections of Scalped<\/em> and, I’ve gotta say, they were awesome.<\/p>\n

Despite having a nunchaku-wielding Jeet Kune Do crooked cop\/brawler as its main character, Scalped<\/em> manages to be a gritty, introspective crime drama that is noir and Western at the same time.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 And did I mention that Jock does the covers?\u00c2\u00a0 I probably shouldn’t, or else I’ll start to crave monthlies.<\/p>\n

I mean, really.\u00c2\u00a0 Just in that last paragraph, we have<\/p>\n