Scalped 60

Trail's End Part 5
By Jason Aaron, R. M. Guéra
Aug 2012

Mostly epilogue. Not a lot to say about this one. The issue begins with a monologue by Catcher. It is all in caption boxes and not spoken aloud. Red Crow is upset that Dash shot him. Nitz shows up and attacks what is left of Catcher. Both men seem to get consumed by the fire that is raging in the casino. That moment was s little too poetic for my taste.

The story flashes forward three months. All the main characters in this arc, who are still alive have gone their separate ways. Glimpses are seen of all of them. The book ends with a focus on Dash as he hitchhikes his way off the reservation after watching the FBI break into Maggie's home looking for him.

I'm glad this series is behind me but I'm not particularly happy that I stuck with it and read the whole thing. Maybe if I reread it at a faster pace I might feel different. The series felt long-winded. It was also a bit of a patchwork of different stories.

Just for the record here's the pace at which I read the trades of this series:

1. Oct-Nov 2011
2. Mar-Apr 2012
3. Jul-Aug 2012
4. Oct-Nov 2012
5. Mar-Apr 2013
6. Sep-Oct 2013
7. Jun-Jul 2015
8. Jan-Mar 2016
9. Oct-Nov 2016
10. Jun-Jul 2017

I read the first 4 trades in about a year, the next 2 trades in the next year, but then it took me almost 4 years to read the last 4 trades. Maybe I should have just given up after Vol. 6, cause clearly my heart wasn't really in it after that point.

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/992078/

Scalped 59

Trail's End Part 4
By Jason Aaron, R. M. Guéra
Jul 2012

Dino Poor Bear and his gang find Red Crow waiting for them at his closed casino. He's got a stack of cash on his desk. They can hear his voice but can't see him. Red Crow attacks before they get a chance to spot him.

Catcher arrives at the casino with Bad Horse. He leaves Dashiell behind and goes looking for Red Crow, the man he aims to kill. There is some sort of a beef between the two. If nothing else Catcher seems to be out to settle old scores.

The dogs that have been shown following Catcher around show up once again and deal with the remnants of Dino's crew. The only one to escape is Poor Bear. He makes off with some of Red Crow's money. On the way out he stops to give Dash a hand and gives him his guns.

Dash goes in guns a blazing. The fight is beautifully illustrated but the visual storytelling is a mess. It is very hard to tell who is fighting with whom.

Nitz shows up at the last minute after learning from one of his men that that they now have evidence that implicates Catcher as the killer of some FBI agents in the late 1970s. This part felt very tacked on.

The chapter ends with Catcher, Red Crow, and Bad Horse being the only three left standing in the casino. They are pointing guns at one another: Catcher at Red Crow, Red Crow at Bad Horse, and Bad Horse at both of Red Crow and Catcher. Just before the chapter ends they all pull triggers.

I'm not thrilled with this chapter. It doesn't give me a lot of hope for the final one. There was just too much action. It isn't the first time this has happened in this book and maybe I shouldn't be surprised considering the overall tone of the book.

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/922467/

Scalped 58

Trail's End Part 3
By Jason Aaron, R. M. Guéra
Jun 2012

Red Crow gets out of jail following the discovery of Diesel's remains. Carol crosses paths with her father at the grocery store. They exchange a glance but no words are spoken between them.

Nitz searches for Bad Horse. He and his men trash Maggie Standing Rock's place looking for Dash. Sheriff Falls Down is present. He notices that one of Maggie's horses is missing but he doesn't share that bit of information with the FBI.

Bad Horse spends some time following Catcher's trail. Catcher is still alive. I'm not sure how. I thought he was killed in the last arc. Obviously not. He sees what Dash is up to and follows him. Catcher is a force of nature in this story. He does not seem quite human. Was he ever human? Has this always been his role in the story? Is that how or why he survived?

Red Crow finds Bad Horse in the graveyard where Gina is buried. Dash tries to talk it over with Lincoln but the older man isn't interested in listening. He makes it very clear that he blames Dash for the abortion that Carol had. Both men have guns drawn. Red Crow shoots after Dash lowers his gun. Dash fires off a few rounds of his own once he gets back up. Red Crow leaves him the graveyard to die.

Catcher emerges from the shadows. He patches and ties up Bad Horse and loads him in his truck. He tells Dash he's going to kill a man for him. The identity of that man isn't revealed. My first thought is that it is Red Crow. My secret me thought is that it is Nitz.

Dino Poor Bear and a number of Red Crow's former henchmen are convinced that their former boss has got money stashed all over the place. They plan to find Red Crow and force him to hand it over.

Pieces are falling into place but I can't foresee how this story is going to wind down. I'm enjoying the ride but I don't think I love this arc as much as I did some of the earlier ones.

GCD: https://my.comics.org/issue/944778/

Scalped 57

Trail's End Part 2
By Jason Aaron, R. M. Guéra
May 2012

Someone is killing Red Crow's old allies, members of the tribal council. This person looks kind of like Catcher, but he's dead. Maybe it's Dash's father. I'm not sure.

Red Crow continues to wallow in prison. Nothing moves him to give his attorney information on how to take down Bad Horse. His lawyer learns about Carol's abortion and how Dash handled it from Dino Poor Bear. He shares that information with Red Crow over the phone. Red Crow doesn't take it well but it is still unclear what if anything he will do about it. My guess is that he will do something and will later regret what he did.

The body of Diesel surfaces. Sheriff Falls Down finds out about it before the FBI get wind of it. Then someone anonymously drops a box off at the Prairie Rose PD HQ with the gun that killed Diesel and some pictures of the body soon after he was killed. That someone was, once again, Dino Poor Bear. Falls Down goes to see Bad Horse, tells him what he knows and what's probably going to happen soon. As a policeman he shouldn't be doing that but on another level it seems and feels like the right thing to do.

Dino obviously has it out for Dash for some reason. I'm not sure why. Maybe it isn't personal, maybe he is just being loyal to Red Crow. I like how this arc is developing but I still have my doubts about being satisfied with how it will end.

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/933345/

Scalped 56

Trail's End Part 1
By Jason Aaron, R. M. Guéra
Apr 2012

Eight months have elapsed since the end of the previous arc. Red Crow is in jail awaiting trial. His casino has been shut down and is abandoned. His lawyer tells him that he can get him off on the other charges but there isn't much he can do about the charge of murder for killing Shunka. Bad Horse saw it and is going to testify for the prosecution. According to his lawyer, his only hope is to discredit Dash. He asks Red Crow for something on Bad Horse. Red Crow remembers things he could use against Dash but he doesn't tell his lawyer about them.

Dashiell shows up at the dedication for the ground breaking ceremony for the community center to be named after his mother. He donated $80,000 to help with the construction costs. He has left the FBI and let his hair grow out.

Carol Red Crow spots him. She tries approaching him but someone else gets there first, Maggie Standing Rock. She's his girlfriend now. Carol sees them kissing and walks off.

Despite the fact that Red Crow is in jail awaiting prison awaiting trial and Bad Horse has someone in his life now Dash doesn't seem very happy. Something is still gnawing at him.

There are a couple glimpses of other characters in the story (Sheriff Falls Down, Dino Poor Bear, the face of Sheriff Wooster T. Karnow on a poster, FBI Agent Nitz). None of them get very much of a spotlight. This chapter is for the most part about Dashiell Bad Horse and Lincoln Red Crow.

It's s good start to the arc but I remain unconvinced that I will be fully satisfied with the ending. Hopefully I will be proved wrong.

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/924571/

Scalped 55

Knuckle Up - Part 5
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra
Feb 2012

. Intense but confusing and it ends on one hell of a note
. Mostly just a brawl between Dashiell and Shunka; which is confusing and hard to follow in places; confusing as to whom is punching whom, largely because of the way it is illustrated
. Red Crow shows up in the end and kills Shunka when he won't back off and is starting to torture Dash; then Dash breaks his cover and tells Red Crow he's FBI and is arresting him
. Interlude 1: Catcher gets killed by his horse who falls on him after he goes wild and attacks Catcher and Catcher shoots him
. Interlude 2: Nitz shows up with a posse of FBI agents at the casino looking for Red Crow

11/30

Scalped 54

Knuckle Up - Part 4
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra
Dec 2011

. A prisoner breaks loose in the jail where Catcher and Wade Bad Horse are being held; the police officers and the prisoner are all killed in the shootout that ensues after the prisoner gets his hand on a pistol
. Catcher is able to reach the keys and frees himself and Wade; Catcher wasn't hit in the shootout but Wade caught one in his chest; Catcher reveals that he killed Gina, as Wade is dying; Wade tries strangling him and is almost successful but Catcher breaks free and Wade died in the jail
. Nitz' conscience seems to nag at him and he goes after Karnow; by the time Nitz reaches him, Karnow is surrounded and been hit at least a few times; Nitz yells to the assailants that he has backup but his feint doesn't seem to dissuade them; one of the gang shoots Karnow in the back of the head, presumably killing him, it is Dino Poor Bear
. Red Crow comes to collect Shunka from the White Haven jail; Rath, who has taken over the jail, tries putting up some resistance but gives in the end
. Dashiell confronts Red Crow about Shunka, calls him no good and tries to convince him that Shunka is a danger to him; Red Crow brushes off Dashiell's concerns; Shunka was next door listening in on the conversation; after Dash leaves he comes out, says his goodbyes to Red Crow and kisses him on the lips, which shocks the hell out of Red Crow
. Shunka then heads back to White Haven and kills Rath and his men; this part of the story is moving too fast for me; it doesn't all make sense to me; I hope that in the end it will
.  Getting a definite Jacob and Esau vibe off of Dashiell and Shunka in this chapter; I'm not sure why I never noticed it before

11/17

Scalped 53

Knuckle Up - Part 3
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra
Nov 2011

. Bad Horse appears in this chapter but the narrative focus is elsewhere
. My guess was correct; Shunka did not take down Red Crow, instead he shot and killed the two other men that Rath sent after Red Crow
. Things get a little foggy after that, Shunka shows up in White Haven; Karnow plans to arrest him; Shunka has his back to Karnow but still manages to disarm him; he allows Karnow to arrest him after he hears that he plans to throw him in a jail cell with Rath
. Nitz is pissed at Karnow and wants him to release Shunka but Karnow stands his ground; he winds up cutting a deal with Nitz who tells him he knows where Red Crow is hiding but also double crosses him; it looks like Nitz is in league with Rath, at least momentarily, I'm guessing because they both want to take down Red Crow; the enemy of my enemy is my friend; it's very likely that Nitz sent Karnow into a trap and doesn't know Red Crow's whereabouts
. One scene from the last chapter is a little more clear; the two prisoners who met in the back of the squad car are Catcher and Wade Bad Horse, Dash's dad; they have another scene is this one in adjoining jail cells

. It feels like things are coming together, winding down; Red Crow will probably be dead before it is all over; Dashiell should survive but there will be a price to be paid; not sure about the other characters but it wouldn't surprise me if Karnow, Nitz, and Shunka are also KIA before the story ends
. I almost wish it could go on and not have a big dramatic ending like it probably will

11/9

Scalped 52

Knuckle Up - Part 2
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra

. Bad Horse sets off on his quest to find Catcher; Falls Down is with him but seems like more of a sounding board considering how little he does other than make observations; their first stop is Catcher's trailer, which Falls Down believes is where Dash's mother was murdered; after taking a look around Bad Horse burns it to the ground
. Next stop is Nitz' FBI HQ; Bad Horse gets Shunka's FBI file from Nitz who is angry (because he brought Falls Down with him) but unfazed (as if there is some agreement between them that has yet to be revealed) by Dash; their final stop is a pawn shop where Dash picks up a set of nunchucks and then uses them in a fight with some thugs who walk in just after he has finished paying
. Red Crow has a meeting with some of the elder statesmen of the reservation who don't approve of his recent activity, shutting down his own drug operations; they threaten him and he returns the favor; Red Crow also meets with Karnow, who vows he's going to get Red Crow; Red Crow seems unimpressed and unconcerned by Karnow's attitude and says as much
. Once he is back at the casino he gets a visit from Shunka and a few others who come at him with guns blazing; the chapter ends with it unclear as to what the outcome is
. The other interesting development is earlier in the chapter when Shunka can't get it up or keep it up while getting head

. Now that I think about it Shunka may not have been with the others; that may have been misdirection on the part of Aaron and Guéra; it might be that Shunka was shooting at the other gunmen and that he wasn't with them and all; either way Red Crow's fate is unclear
. Not the most compelling chapter but it has some interesting twists and turns and I'm not about to give up on this series just yet

11/2

Scalped 51

Knuckle Up Part 1
By Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra
Sep 2011

. Red Crow starts purging his operations by having the drug operations on the reservation shut down and the men, who run them and who work for him, arrested; Shunka does not approve or understand
. In White Haven Sheriff Karnow starts a similar purge; he catches Dino Poor Bear and looks as though he is going to arrest him but has a change of heart; this has to relate back to that incident with the US Marshall a couple arcs back
. Dashiell Bad Horse is in the hospital and can't speak from all the damage to his jaw and face; his mouth is wired shut; Nitz wants to interrogate him but then Red Crow shows up and after a confrontation he shows Nitz the door; for a moment there it looked like Red Crow was going to find out about Dash's ties to Nitz
. The chapter has three endings: (1) Dash gets a visit from Officer Falls Down who is also a patient in the hospital, they leave the hospital to look for Catcher, (2) a couple of strangers meet in the back of a police car, one claims to have been Gina Bad Horse's husband, (3) Shunka gets a call from one of the men who was arrested for cooking meth early in the chapter

. I don't have trouble buying the changes of heart experienced by Red Crow and Karnow, they seem like honest believable reactions to what they have been through and experienced

10/24

Scalped 50

The Art of Scalping
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra
Aug 2011

. A one-off which for the most part is drawn by Guéra but includes a number splash pages each drawn by a different artist (Tim Truman, Jill Thompson, Jordi Bernet, Denys Cowan, Dean Haspiel, Brendan McCarthy, Steve Dillon)
. Opens in 1876 on a raiding party of white men, so-called Indian fighters; a man teaching his son how to scalp a man and then gives himself history lesson in all the places he and his ancestors have fought Indians over the past hundred plus years
. this segment ends when a raiding party of Indians strikes; an Indian shows his son how to scalp a man, using the exact same technique as was demonstrated a few pages earlier on the same man who did the demonstrating earlier in the chapter
. 13 years later the son is now a man and is being dragged by US Army soldiers to the newly established Prairie Rose Reservation; he fights back and gets a bayonet in his stomach; before he dies he sees visions of what will become of his people; these visions are the splash pages mentioned above; his name is Bad Horse, presumably Dashiell's ancestor

. The contrast and similarities are the major takeaways from this chapter; the way both sides use violence and yet come from solid fervent places, both seem to take pride in their actions, both are aware of their histories
. It is also a historic piece that goes back much further than any other chapter has

10/17

Scalped 49

You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
Conclusion
By Jason Aaron and RM Guéra

- Catcher tries to kill Bad Horse but fate in the form of Officer Falls Down, intervenes and saves his life
- After getting shot in the face by Catcher BH shoots back, this is all while they are riding together in a pickup truck; Catcher promised to lead BH to the man who killed his mother
- just as Catcher is about to shoot BH OFD emerges from the mist and instead of getting shot in the back of the head BH gets shot through both cheeks when he slams on the brakes to avoid hitting FD
- Catcher gets shot in the gut by BH
- BH helps FD using Catcher's horse
- Catcher winds up in the hospital next to Lawrence Belcourt (?)
- Red Crow shows his true colors as he lets Hassel Rock Meficine almost die from a heart attack and seems to have found a new blood lust by the end of the chapter
- magnificent art by Guera, especially some of the panels of Catcher trying to escape

Scalped 48

You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
Part 4: Are You Honest Enough to Live Outside the Law?
By Jason Aaron and RM Guéra

- Pulls together bits from the previous chapters as Bad Horse meets with Red Crow, Nitz, and Catcher, individually
- Red Crow opens up, promises to tell him anything
- Bad Horse seems ready to abuse this trust later, when talking to Nitz
- Catcher tells him about the fate of Officer Falls Down and the role he can play in savings him or that he can kill the man who killed his mother, Bad Horse chooses the latter path
- it all seems to revolve around BH and RC at the sweat lodge
- RC admits his love for BH's mother
- BH has a hallucinogenic nightmare about Diesel whom he killed a few arcs back, possibly for good cause
- Nitz has a new found level of confidence since inadvertently taking down a terrorist cell
- definite inbetweener chapter, lots laid out on the ground but no real resolution

Scalped 47

You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
Part 3: Hearted
By Jason Aaron and RM Guéra

- so far each chapter in this arc has seemed to have a different central character, this time around it is Dino Poor Bear
- He is in love with Carol, misreads the signs, and thinks she loves him back, even goes so far as to buy her jewelry
- before he can give her the earrings he bought her she inadvertently says how much she likes having him as a brother, not realizing what he was about to do
- there's also a subplot about a little girl killed in a hit and run accident, it is implied that Dino is the one who figured out who did it and tipped off Red Crow who in turn told the tribal police
- the ending wasn't hard to envision but it still difficult to read
- the common thread in this arc, so far, seems to be transformation; in part 1 it is Lincoln Red Crow, in part 2 it is Lawrence (in jail) and Officer Franklin Falls Down (Catcher's captive, who may be dead), and now in part 3 it is Dino Poor Bear
- with 2 chapters to go I'm curious to see where this is all leading, from the looks of it Catcher will likely play an important role in the end of the arc but that's just an educated guess
- I still love the way Guéra draws facial expressions and can't get enough of it, although sometimes I do wish that some of the panels were a little more brightly lit than they are

Scalped 46

Ya Gotta Sin to Get Saved
Part 2: At Her Majesty's Pleasure

- In prison, Lawrence is visited by Red Crow, tells him he doesn't want any more protection, tells him about Gina's phone call just before she died
- something about the conversation tells Red Crow that Catcher is the one responsible for Gina's death, or so it seems when he calls Shunka as he is leaving the prison
- Catcher puts Officer Falls Down through an ordeal which may have killed him, at the end of it Falls Down does just that, face first, in the snow outside the cave where they were; this is after he walks through all sorts of traps blindfolded while talking as if he can hear Gina's spirit speaking to him
- Falls Down was stabbed in the side by Catcher, FD was fed up with being dragged around blindfolded, that's when Catcher stabbed him, whether he planned to do so with or without provocation by FD is unclear
- at the end Catcher leaves FD face down in the snow and goes to visit Bad Horse whom he tells he is going to tell him who killed his mother and help him to kill that person, not sure who that is, himself?
- confusing but artfully done, love the work by R.M. Guera especially the scenes in the cave
- much of the prison scenes after Red Crow leaves are wordless and beautifully done, the tension with Lawrence expecting to get shanked at any moment and ready for it

Scalped 45

Scalped 45
You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
Part 1: Running to Stand Still

- Red Crow is confronted by the man who raised him after his father died, Rock Medicine
- Red Crow tries to give Bad Horse a bigger part in his organization, even tells him that he wants him to take over when he is gone, Dash doesn't seem interested, seems doubtful
- Catcher shows up at the end, dragging Officer Franklin Falls Down behind him, makes a little speech
- Shunka isn't pleased with the direction things seemed to be headed, doesn't trust Bad Horse, wants to stir up some trouble for Rock Medicine and his family but Red Crow says no
- when will Shunka grow tired of Red Crow's attitude and jump ship and what will he do when he does so?
- brief moment of Carol and Dino Poor Bear, him lying down with her when she is asleep, what is that all about? He is interested in her?
- red crow centric story, so far
- what is Catcher's agenda?

Scalped 44

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
by Jason Aaron and Davide Furno
Feb 2011

- Nitz
- walking through the snow; suicidal; flashback to earlier that day
- desperate because the investigation of Red Crow seems to be falling apart
- confronts Red Crow at the casino; gets beat up by Red Crow's body guards; wants to kill himself but can't pull the trigger
- desperate to die he does the next best thing and takes on a room full of armed gangsters
- kills them; terrorists; Al Qaeda
- he's a hero; his reputation is saved

- can't remember what preceded this for Nitz
- seemed a bit of an odd turn; hopefully will pay off somewhere down the road

Scalped 43

A Come to Jesus
by Jason Aaron, Jason LaTour

- Sherriff Wooster T Karnow of White Haven, NE; previous appearnaces: #16 Dead Mothers (Part 4) (Vol 3); #30 The Gnawing (Part 1) (Vol 6)
- US  Marshall Virgil Drum
- fugitive Eugene Evers
- impotence
- did Karnow really change? according to Comic Book DB he will be back in Vol 9