If Aaron wanted to jump start Nitz’s storyline, why not just make him a Jedi? It would have been so much better than this issue.

The problem with bad Scalped issues is how low they often go. Aaron’s writing this issue is absolute garbage. None of it is good, not the dialogue, certainly not the narration, definitely not the plotting. It’s laughably bad.

And Furnò’s guest art isn’t any good either. He’s got a new style and it’s terrible.

I’m trying not to give away the idiot plot twist, but it’s clear if Aaron did write an outline of the entire Scalped series, it’s terrible. If he didn’t outline, I suppose there’d be an excuse for issue’s like this one.

It might be the worst issue in the series (after one of the best, as usual). It’s an awful comic.

Why bother hating bad Scalped issues? There are too many.

CREDITS

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down; writer, Jason Aaron; artist, Davide Furnò; colorist, Giulia Brusco; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Mark Doyle and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.

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Contemporaneously…

• Batman, Inc. 2 (February 2011)
• Jennifer Blood 1 (February 2011)
• Detective Comics 872 (February 2011)
• Osborn 2 (February 2011)
• Green Lantern/Plastic Man: Weapons of Mass Deception 1 (February 2011)

Aaron’s full of surprises this issue. Two big ones, both lame. He’s doing a classic noir piece, he’s decided, but hasn’t given it much thought. His surprises are predictable, not because he forecasts them, but because everything else in this issue’s predictable so why shouldn’t they be too.

It’s a waste of Furnò’s art, especially since Aaron’s got him doing the same scene a few times over with nothing but angle changes. When they do get back to the reservation, and Furnò gets to new visual territory, the issue’s over. About halfway through, I just wanted it to end since I realized Aaron wasn’t going anywhere good with it.

Giving each character a focus doesn’t necessarily work. Not everyone is worthy of a story arc. It’s hard to say whether Red Crow’s sidekick deserves one; if he does, this arc certainly isn’t it.

It’s filler. Completely written, beautifully illustrated filler.

CREDITS

A Fine Action of an Honorable and Catholic Spaniard, Conclusion; writer, Jason Aaron; artist, Davide Furnò; colorist, Giulia Brusco; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Mark Doyle and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.

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Contemporaneously…

• Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Battle 4 (June 2010)
• Buzzard 1 (June 2010)
• The Unwritten 12 (June 2010)
• Joe the Barbarian 4 (June 2010)
• Bullet to the Head 1 (June 2010)

I was generally onboard with this issue, even though Furnò’s sex scene is a muted train wreck and even though Aaron seems to be using it to do a combination social message and history lesson. Turns out Red Crow’s top sidekick is closeted. He’s out of town on business and gets busy with a guy.

Of course, since he’s a closeted tough guy he’s rough and afterwards he threatens the other guy’s life if he ever tells. Painfully predictable. Aaron’s scenes aren’t bad, though, just his plotting.

But then, towards the end, Aaron reveals his narration trick (it’s first person from the other guy, but with a twist) and the whole thing gets dumb. And it’d survived the other guy giving Red Crow’s sidekick a history lesson in how American Indians weren’t homophobic until the white man landed.

Still, Furnò’s pictures are pretty enough one can ignore the lame narration.

CREDITS

A Fine Action of an Honorable and Catholic Spaniard, Part One of Two; writer, Jason Aaron; artist, Davide Furnò; colorist, Giulia Brusco; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Mark Doyle and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.

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Contemporaneously…

• Girl Comics 1 (May 2010)
• The Mystic Hands of Dr. Strange 1 (May 2010)
• The Unwritten 11 (May 2010)
• Joe the Barbarian 3 (May 2010)
• Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton 1 (May 2010)

Aaron almost makes Diesel sympathetic, which should be impossible but it’s the second part of the exceptionally misanthropic “High Lonesome” arc and anything’s possible.

He’s also got Furno on the art doing his magic–the first time Scalped has broken up an arc between different artists.

But it falls apart at the end, in that regular Aaron style. He asks the reader to believe the FBI–even the racist, anti-Native American FBI–would actually recruit and promote a kid who killed his fellow kids.

Aaron loses Diesel’s sympathy vote then. He apparently didn’t watch “The Wire” close enough to see how to pull off these things.

Other than the last three pages, it’s an outstanding issue, nearly one of Scalped‘s best. The Furno art helps. Every scene is a revelation.

But the ending is just dumb.

It should be disappointing, but Aaron’s plotting failings are predictable at this point.

CREDITS

Been Down So Goddamn Long That It Looks Like Up To Me – High Lonesome, Part Two of Five; writer, Jason Aaron; artist, Davide Furnò; colorist, Giulia Brusco; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Mark Doyle and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.

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Contemporaneously…

• Phonogram: The Singles Club 2 (April 2009)
• Supergirl 38 (April 2009)
• The Immortal Iron Fist 23 (April 2009)
• The Invincible Iron Man 10 (April 2009)
• Battlefields: The Tankies 1 (April 2009)

So… any footing Aaron loses by not having creative juxtaposing between Dash and Carol this issue, he makes up when the two bond over smoking meth.

Furnò returns on the art; most of the issue recaps Carol’s history, which is Aaron once again expanding the Scalped ground situation. All Dash does is tread water–he gets into it with the little kid who Diesel shot’s aunt, he gets into it with Diesel, he gets really depressed.

And he smokes some meth with Carol and it’s the most romantic thing in the world.

It’s strange to see Aaron not getting how his structure works, since he clearly thought out Carol’s side of the issue. Dash’s is all willy-nilly until the finish. Carol gets a flashback with Red Crow, not to mention the big action flashback. Aaron’s kick-off event to her decline, however, seems a little convenient.

Still, it succeeds.

CREDITS

The Boudoir Stomp, Conclusion; writer, Jason Aaron; artist, Davide Furnò; colorist, Giulia Brusco; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Casey Seijas and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.

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Contemporaneously…

• The Immortal Iron Fist: The Origin of Danny Rand 1 (October 2008)
• Fantastic Four: True Story 2 (October 2008)
• The Immortal Iron Fist 18 (October 2008)
• Air 1 (October 2008)
• Criminal 6 (October 2008)

With Furnò back on art for another issue, Aaron recovers Scalped. The trick is his humanizing of Dash. The issue juxtaposes Dash and Carol’s “average” day, which isn’t particularly nice all told. But they’re domestic in their way and Scalped becomes a strange couples book but it works.

While Aaron is still dealing with the past–the issue opens and closes on flashbacks–he’s also still expanding the present. He adds more to Dash’s job, but he also reveals Carol’s for the first time. Furnò manages to be constrained–his lines aren’t expansive, but sort of a controlled chaos–while implying all of the newness of the issue.

Aaron even gets away with a totally new approach to his perspective. He emphases the juxtaposing to the point he’s giving the reader insight into both Dash and Carol’s thoughts, almost bouncing them off each other.

It’s a fantastic issue. Scalped‘s back.

CREDITS

The Boudoir Stomp, Part One; writer, Jason Aaron; artist, Davide Furnò; colorist, Giulia Brusco; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Casey Seijas and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.

With the help of guest artist Davide Furnò, Aaron recovers Scalped‘s quality. It probably doesn’t hurt Dash is nowhere in the issue save a mention or two, with Aaron instead concentrating on the honest cop on the reservation and his return to work.

It’s a done-in-one, undoubtedly with some setup for the future (the cop–Falls Down–is investigating Gina’s death), so the issue’s quality doesn’t reassure me Aaron won’t fall off the proverbial writing wagon again.

Furnò is the real star. He brings Scalped into a tonal place, more crime comic sparse than its been the rest of the run. He’s able to handle the mystical aspects too, which is nice.

The issue would be just as outstanding if it followed a great arc too, which says a lot for the work Aaron and Furnò do. It builds the story–Aaron is expanding again instead of contracting.

CREDITS

Falls Down; writer, Jason Aaron; artist, Davide Furnò; colorist, Giulia Brusco; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Casey Seijas and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.