There’s something about Scalped that brings out the fanboy in me.  Normally when I read a comic, I’m very aware of the devices being used to make such a beat happen, evoke a particular emotional response, and so forth.  And I have no complaints about that: letting the likes of Grant Morrison and his artist collaborators play with you is a special privilege.  But what Jason Aaron does goes somewhere further than that.  While I could dissect at least some of what he’s doing on a technical level, there is in his work something that takes you beyond technique alone.  What it comes down to is the whole being more than the sum of the parts.  And that’s a salute both to Aaron’s writing chops, and the impeccable prowess of his primary artistic partner, R.M. Guera.

The milieu the two operate in is an American Indian reservation, where Dash Bad Horse has turned up and turns out to be working for the Feds.  He better keep that secret, because he’s living in massive danger, and his natural inclinations drive him further into jeapordy at every crossroads.  For a while, he’s been sleeping with Caroline, the wildfire daughter of his boss, Chief Red Crow, and in The Gravel In Your Guts, the recently released fourth volume of the series he joins her in a penchant for white powder.

Thing is, it’s a choice that makes utter sense.  Dash is under tremendous pressure, what with a conflicted relationship with his mother Gina that wasn’t resolved before she died.  Plus, his agency paymasters are of questionable use, having reservations about reservations and the people who live on them.  Oh, and the badass Red Crow is getting hassle for results from his backer Mr Brass, with brutal consequences for everyone on the rez.  So, if Dash finds relief in drug use, it’s no surprise.  Just don’t expect…well, don’t anticipate things to go the way that a second rate writer would take them, because with Jason Aaron you’re in safe hands.

Aaron has a knack for using devices that could only work in comics, a pleasing indication that he’s someone who really does love the medium.  There are a handful of issues utilising narrative methods that purely function on a comics page, to emotional rather than gimmicky effect: the issue where Dash ends up taking drugs with Caroline spends most of its pages with each revealing the things they’d like to say to the other but never do.  It’s tender, sad, and true, and it makes sense of Dash’s eventual spoken request to share drugs with his lover.

There’s a sense of richness and depth to Scalped, which in part stems from the many aspects his characters have, which itself relates to the rez’s tragic history.  Frequent flashbacks take us back to the seventies, when Dash’s mum was one of a group of radicals holding out for political changes, and Red Crow’s future could have gone many ways…all of them probably involving hurting others.  That era is returned to again and again, like the scab it has become in the memories of its participants, more of the truth eeking out and shedding new light on what’s happening in the here and now.

That sense of history gives Scalped a scope that few stories have, comics in particular.  The fact that it’s rooted in events drawn from real social history, and deliberately not imitated note-perfect, makes it all the more powerful, perhaps explaining why I rate this series so highly.  R.M. Guera’s brilliant art only heightens the effect: you can feel the dust at the back of your throat in the outdoors scenes, hear the purr of the wheel in the casino, and relish the sensuality that oozes from Dash and Caroline when they’re together: over here you can look at the first issue.  Add covers by Jock, and you’ve got a winning package all-round.