Making it fifty issues in today’s comics industry is no small feat, so I guess one can forgive Aaron and company for just wanting a breather with the fiftieth issue of Scalped.
It’s basically a pin-up issue, besides some slightly weak framing content, and there are some great artists on it. Oddly, Brendan McCarthy’s page is the only disappointing one. It’s obvious and tame. Igor Kordey does a few beautiful pages. Steve Dillon’s pin-up page is probably the best.
The story, which Guera illustrates, involves a couple white scalp-hunters in the 1800s and Aaron juxtaposes it against how the Natives see the whites. Unsurprisingly, they see each other the same. Aaron’s history lesson, however, is rife with problems and he goes far in demonizing the white man instead of doing something interesting.
Even though the juxtaposition, at the end, suggests Aaron was going for something more thoughtful.
CREDITS
The Art of Scalping – The Art of Surviving; writer, Jason Aaron; artists, R.M. Guera, Igor Kordey, Timothy Truman, Jill Thompson, Jordi Bernet, Denys Cowan, Dean Haspiel, Brendan McCarthy and Steve Dillon; colorists, Giulia Brusco, Thompson and McCarthy; letterers, Guera and Sal Cipriano; editors, Mark Doyle and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.
Comics Fondle 