Scalped Changed the Game for Crime Comics Forever

In 2007, Jason Aaron broke into Vertigo comics with his crime series set on a Native American Reservation titled Scalped. Riddled with crime and corruption by the casino businessman Lincoln Red Crow, the FBI send agent Dashiell “Dash” Bad Horse came back to his hometown to get intel on Red Crow to put him behind bars for good. With drug connections seeping back into the Reservation as well as hitmen from rival groups, and facing prejudice for being Native American, Dash has his greatest challenges before him. From the name alone Scalped is by no means an easy read but it is a book that draws you in for an experience unlike any other. Wrapped up in an ever changing mystery, Scalped was a huge hit for audiences and still holds up to this day.

Acting as the big break for Aaron, the title changed the game for crime comics going forward. Keeping the cast relatively small and just to the Reservation, Aaron built a tight knit story with many connected layers. The way the story was crafted made him an all-star and shows how much dedication he gives to story. Aaron can make any cast work with any story including the likes of even the Ninja Turtles, and Scalped is no different.

Cast and Crimes on the Rez

When the story begins, Dash has come back to the Reservation with the goal of fixing it up to be a better place to live by taking down Lincoln Red Crow, but it’s not that easy. Dash is not welcomed home as expected. Red Crow is very untrusting of him due to having a past relationship with his daughter. Red Crow also majorly distrusts Dash’s mother, Gina, and Dash has issues with her on top of that. About to open his own casino, Red Crow wanted to use it as a cover to hide all of his business deals. With a unique settling and a cast with all sorts of secrets over one another we get one of the best crime comics ever.

The way Aaron crafts the tone for the series is what makes it stand up above most crime comics. Instead of the usual settings of a city or good-sized towns, the Reservation is completely different. Placing it in a drier, desert-like environment with a ton of focus on heritage isn’t something you see a ton of in other books. Sure, you get other books where you have race and ethnicity play a huge part but almost every member of Scalped’s cast is Native American. All of the cast, whether they’re protagonists or antagonists, are always under scrutiny by the white people outside of the Reservation. Dash deals with the FBI looking down on him for being Native American and the same is said for Red Crow on the crime scene. All of the characters are fighting for the respect they deserve in their respective fields.

The series is also not afraid to show our lead, Dash, have personal struggles outside of Red Crow’s influence over the Rez. A big component of the story is showing Dash try to take down all these huge drug deals and then fall into addiction himself. Showing how much our lead can struggle instead of being an unrelatable action hero is a huge shift from many crime comics and it’s refreshing. Combine that with how Aaron gives you enough details on the past with each character, it’s a vortex that pulls you in. This is particularly true for the story’s second arc, “Casino Boogie.”

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Casino Boogie

“Casino Boogie” is the first of many highs for Scalped. It may be the second volume but don’t let it fool you: it’s the best arc in the series. Spread over the span of seven issues all taking place on the night Red Crow’s casino opens, we get a Rashomon style story exploring what every main character was doing the night of the opening to piece together the overall narrative of the night. Not a lot of books would go through the detail of leaving you with a cliffhanger and then following it with seven issues showing what happened during the murder. Aaron’s mastery of writing and balancing many characters is on full display here and it’s unique.

After that arc the game is set for an all around epic. That’s where we learn each character’s personal stake in the story in a creative way and how they all balance each other out. Taking everything that’s come before in the story including the smallest details, there’s never a moment of rest for us the readers or the characters. So much of this story is so specific to Scalped and hasn’t been replicated anywhere else. While most crime books are over glorified for the sake of doing something gritty, it’s all baked in Scalped from the start. Everything in this story is organic and it’s something that raises the bar for every crime comic after it.

Have you read Scalped? If so what do you think about it? Let us know down in the comments.