Well, Aaron definitely surprised me. Dash does not become George Clooney. Sadly, Aaron’s only way of making the arc surprising was to change Dash’s character entirely. He’s about thirty issues late for the development he’s doing now. It comes off as contrived. Intricate, unexpected, but contrived.
And how has the reader known (or guessed) for three issues about Carol’s pregnancy but it’s a big surprise to her. It makes absolutely no sense.
The issue’s pretty good–except when Aaron writes Dash’s internal monologue. You can just feel Aaron straining to do tough pulp writer. It stale.
As for resolving the street fight cliffhanger, Aaron actually follows through very well. Sure, he’s been hiding an integral factoid to the Hmong behavior in regards to Lincoln so he could surprise the reader… but Scalped is all about the cheap narrative tricks, bad cliffhangers and occasionally profound character developments.
So, there you go.
CREDITS
The Gnawing, Conclusion; writer, Jason Aaron; artist, R.M. Guera; colorist, Giulia Brusco; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Mark Doyle and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.
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