Scalped vol. 9: Knuckle Up

If this volume has any flaw, it’s that it tries to cram too much story into the pages here.  Of course, there are worse flaws to have in this day and age.

Things get rolling with the fallout from Chief Red Crow’s decision to shut down all of the criminal operations he’s been involved with.  This has the side effect of pissing off nearly everyone around him, including his trusted right hand man Shunka.  Meanwhile, Dash Bad Horse has had his jaw wired shut as part of his recovery from the encounter with Catcher in the previous volume, who himself is now sharing a cell next to Wade, Dash’s dad.  This isn’t all, because Agent Nitz is still out there scheming on how to bring down Red Crow for good, and the newly righteous Sheriff Karnow has been cleaning up his town as part of his own personal mission to bring down the corrupt indian chief.

With so much going on, you’d think that some of the conflicts or plot threads would feel underdeveloped or rushed given that they all occur over the space of five issues.  It’s a testament to Jason Aaron’s skill and economy as a writer that a lot of what’s here still feels immensely satisfying.  The sheer amount of incident contained within this arc and the speed at which it happens will likely have you turning the pages as fast as possible to find out what happens next.  Is Shunka going to kill Red Crow?  Will Karnow get himself killed in trying to clean up the county?  What’s Bad Horse going to do now that he knows Catcher killed his mom?  There’s a new development on every page and it builds to a killer finale which delivers the payoff to something that was set up in the very first issue.

As an aside, I’m particularly impressed with Shunka’s portrayal in this volume.  The revelation of his homosexuality a few volumes back almost came off as cliche.  Of course he’s gay!  What other deep dark secret could a man as violent and macho as that have?  To my surprise, that actually gets followed up on here.  His behavior may seem erratic and contradictory, but when you realize that he’s doing this all out of love, then it all makes sense.

“Knuckle Up” also collects the milestone 50th issue of the series, and it’s noteable because this is the first such anniversary issue I’ve read that felt like filler.  The main story isn’t advanced at all, though we do get a look at one of Bad Horse’s ancestors, and most of it is spent on showing two very different interpretations of scalping and visions of the series’ cast from several different artists.  I will say that the “scalping” story is quite good in how it shows how savagery perpetrates itself down family lines, but it feels like something that would’ve been better off as a back-up story in the first issue.  You know, to feature actual scalping in a series called “Scalped” and to give the reader an idea of where things would be going from here.  The “artists gallery” does feature some good work from several talented artists (and I would love to have a poster of the illustration from Steve Dillon), but you could’ve dropped this issue from the collection and not have the main story impacted in the least.

Middling anniversary issue aside, this is a fantastic climax to the story Aaron has been telling, and a great showcase for main artist R.M. Guera.  More so than usual — his characters have an exaggerated, almost comical look to them, but in the context of the story they come off as larger-than-life.  They reflect the extreme nature of their situations and the ideas on display here.  Reading through this volume, I’m glad that things were brought to a head here.  With all of the dramatic tension and dangling plot threads, it’d be impossible to imagine how any of it would be adequately resolved without a full volume to do it in.  After reading this, the final volume can’t arrive in my hands fast enough.