Scalped Vol 1: Indian Country

Title: Scalped Vol 1: Indian Country

ISBN: 9781401213176

Price: $9.99

Publisher/Year: Vertigo, 2007

Artist: R.M Guera

Writer: Jason Aaron

Rating: 3.5/5

Vertigo will go down in history as one of the greatest comic book imprints of all time, and while it was sad to see it go in January of 2020 (serving as an appetizer to what would turn out to be an incredibly crappy year) it is understandable. Vertigo was originally created in 1993 to create mature comics for adults in a space where that was a new and novel idea, and the sad truth of the matter is that nowadays there are plenty of comic book publishers who are doing just that.

Dashiell Bad Horse has come home to the reservation armed with a set of nunchucks, a hell-bent-for-leather attitude and a dark secret. But nothing has changed-except for the glimmering new casino, and a once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized crime. Includes sketch material by artist R.M. Guera.

“Scalped” is a crime drama set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota, a place that is as harsh and brutal as the landscape and a land that, while technically is its own sovereign nation, is dirt poor and dependent upon an American government that is perfectly content with leaving its residents to waste away and die of alcohol poisoning. Into this mess steps Dashell Bad Horse: a tough as nails, hell for leather, punch first and ask questions later cowboy who was raised on the reservation and hated every minute of it. Unfortunately, he’s dragged back because he’s actually an undercover FBI agent under the thumb of Agent Bayliss Earl Nitz, who has a long standing hatred of the man in charge of the reservation: crime boss Chief Lincoln Red Crow, who is currently working to build and run a casino on reservation land.

“Scalped” comes courtesy of writer Jason Aaron, and if that name sounds familiar to you it’s probably because he’s been kicking a tremendous amount of butt over at Marvel the past decade, along with some fantastic independent comics as well. What makes Aaron’s writing on “Scalped” so good is the moral complexity of each of the characters. Dashell Bad Horse may be a self destructive cowboy who appears to only care for himself, but his rough family life and falling out with his family provide a clear and heartbreaking motivation for his tough as nails exterior. Lincoln Red Crow may be a violent, sadistic, and selfish man who runs a network of meth labs and a private army like an old school Mafia crime lord, but he cares deeply about the well being of his people and wants to construct something positive out of his legacy of blood and murder. Meanwhile, Agent Nitz plays the overbearing boss who has a vendetta against Red Crow and isn’t afraid to sacrifice Bad Horse in order to bring the crime lord down, but it’s later revealed that Nitz and Red Crow have a long standing history that has something to do with the shooting of two FBI agents on the reservation back in the 70’s.

All of this would be fantastic on its own, but Aaron goes even further. We don’t have the time or space to talk about Bad Horse’s activist mother Gina, Red Crow’s drug addled daughter Carol, the one incorruptible cop on the reservation Officer Falls Down, the stern and noble Granny Poor Bear or the countless supporting characters that all blend together in a rich tapestry of violence and betrayal. Suffice to say, “Scalped” is a tangled web of organized crime, family drama, past mistakes, and present desires set in a desperate race where the winner gets to live and the losers either wind up in prison or dead.

A book that is this well written deserves fantastic artwork and artist R.M Guera doesn’t disappoint. The story is set in the Badlands of South Dakota, a place that is boiling hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter, and somehow manages to be completely desolate and hauntingly beautiful at the same time. Guera captures the natural beauty of the setting and mixes it with an atmosphere of poverty and despair that hangs over the reservation like a cloud. It’s the land that God and time forgot, where the only ways to escape are to either cook meth or drown your sorrows in hard drugs and alcohol and the only people with any sense of power and wealth are the corrupt politicians who drive in Mercedes while the people starve and fight amongst themselves.

Also, for an artist who is not American, Guera has a very keen grasp of the Western and American gangster genres. While Dashell’s swagger and hard as nails worldview is brought to life through Aaron’s writing, Guera’s art is incredible at conveying emotions without words. Dashell has a certain swagger with a twinge of self hatred and self destruction to him that makes him feel dangerous and ready to go off at a moment’s notice. In fact, that’s kind of what everyone else in the book feels like as well. Everyone looks so tired and beaten down, ready to snap at a moment’s notice and go out with guns blazing under an unforgiving sun.

“Scalped” is a harsh, ugly, and nasty piece of art that is as violent and at times as painful as the act that gives the book its title. It’s a world where nobody is the good guy, nobody ever makes the right decision, and the only thing anyone ever really wants is some form of justice that will never happen. It’s a world where everyone is at the absolute bottom of the grave and they somehow find new and terrible ways to dig themselves even deeper.

In short, it is a brilliant, beautiful, and haunting book that you owe it to yourself to read.

D&D Beyond

 

As of this writing, I have been playing TTRPG's for just over 40 years. As my loyal readers know, I also prefer physical media over digital media. I think Stan Lee expressed it the best when asked about digital comic books.

My apologies to anyone offended by this.

Over the past couple of years, I have been playing in a face-to-face Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition game. We are using the free D&D Beyond accounts for our character sheets, and one of our former players shared his entire collection of books he had available through D&D Beyond as well. This has been an invaluable resource, but I still prefer the physical books and have most of them in my collection.

I have been toying with the idea of running my own campaign after several years of not being a DM/GM/ST because of burn-out. I see all the digital advancements that make our D&D sessions enjoyable, and I would like to be able to provide that for my future players.

However... while I have purchased all the books physically, I only have access to them in D&D Beyond through the collection that was shared with me. I don't have the kind of extra money to be able to purchase all the books digitally, and was hoping that I might be able to still access the books that were shared with me, and also share them with my future players.

Of course this means that I would be upgrading my current subscription from the free version to the Master Tier.

Does anyone happen to know if this would be possible? Like I said, I can't afford to re-purchase all the books digitally, but I want to be able to give my players the same type of enjoyment that I'm experiencing in the game that I am a player in. Also, having the VTT and digital tokens would be a wonderful addition as well as I have never invested in a large quantity of physical miniatures. I do have a sizeable collection of Heroclix, but they're not the fantasy story of minis that I would want for a D&D game. I have been collecting a few of the pre-painted minis from WizKids, but not nearly enough to support running an entire campaign with.

I would love to hear your thoughts, experiences and opinions on what I can do to bring my hopes of getting back into running a D&D campaign to life.

Declined for ECCC

 

Yesterday, I unfortunately got word that my application for a press pass at Emerald City Comic Con was declined.

While being rejected is disappointing, this week is actually becoming fairly packed with other obligations and I had forgotten that I was already planning on attending the Washington State Toy Show on that Saturday.

MtG Decklist - Arabella (Hare Apparent)

 

Duskmorn gave us Arabella and Foundations gave us Hare Apparent. Combine them both in this interesting deck.

Inspired to Create - The Shady Lane (D&D)

Back in the 90's, I was part of the LARP organization known as The Camarilla. We were all fans of Vampire: The Masquerade. Before that, I was storytelling a TT game for Mage: The Ascension that was based in my hometown. In the TT game, I created a nightclub known as The Shady Lane. During my LARPING days, this setting was used for many of our games; which is why I mentioned it.

In the LARP, the club was owned by my first vampire character; but in the TT version, it was owned and operated by my female Hollow One mage name Rose Addams. She was designed to be a goth girl who was a fan of the Addams Family movies of the time (Addams Family & Addams Family Values). She was a huge fan of the Wednesday character that she took that as her nickname.

Picture of the TT character version

The other morning, I woke-up to a hit of inspiration to develop The Shady Lane as a fantasy location for D&D. I began thinking of ways to make it more than just the simple nightclub from my TT and LARP games to help make it enticing as a setting other people might want to use in their games. I was thinking of iconic places like The Succubus Club from Vampire: The Masquerade or the Yawning Portal and The Shady Dragon Inn from Dungeons & Dragons.

AI generated sign

I know that the finished product will be more than just your standard inn. It will include several different features that will not only insure it generates a certain level of revenue, but also would become a cornerstone for any location it was added to. A place where not only the locals would go to enjoy a pint and a meal, but travelers would stop and stay the night and adventurers would come to in search of new opportunities.

As much as I am inspired to create this location, I'm hindered by my lack of artistic skills and also the fact that I'm not certain that some of the more iconic aspects that I would like to include are even possible by the written rules of D&D. I know that as a DM and creator, those rules can be bent to a degree.

For instance, I want to be able to help protect the people that come inside with rune of protection or wards on the doors and windows. I'm not that experienced with the current 5th edition rules to know if that is even possible. Another aspect that I wanted to be able to include were areas of the location that weren't entirely on the material plane so that you could enter secreted areas without the need for a huge area of physical space in the town. In Mage: The Ascension, this is accomplished by using the Correspondence sphere in order to create doorways into kind of pocket dimensions.

I hope this idea doesn't go the same way so many of my ideas have gone in the past; my inspiration does not fuel my creativity to completion. I have a laundry list full of ideas I've come up with for a variety of different games and settings, but they have never found a measure of success beyond the initial inspiration. I have written about some of them here in the past, so some of those failures are documented for all time.

Ultimate goal is to be able to create this and put it up on Dungeon Masters Guild.

The Future of CBC4C

Since July 2013, I have been working to raise money for the American Cancer Society. My motives for this are well documented in the former incarnation of this blog (Zanziber's Point of View) and you can read my interview here. As of this writing, we have been able to raise and donate just over $18,500 to the ACS.

While I still have a desire to help, my motivation and resources have been dwindling the past few years.

• In 2021, my mother passed away. She was the initial reason for me even creating Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer. I'm thankful that she is no longer in any type of pain. This live threw several curve balls her way, and yet she managed. I'm very thankful that I was there before she passed so we can have time to talk before she passed.
• In 2022, my father joined my mother. After she died, his health took a rapid decline. The last time I saw him, he was non-verbal and didn't seemed to even recognize me. This hit me very hard and I still have a missing part of me that was never able to have the same type of last conversation that I did with my mother.
• In 2024, Tony Grove passed away. He was a my LCS owner, a wonderful supporter of CBC4C, and someone I would happily call a friend. Though I know he struggled through some physical issues, he always made sure to help with donating blank cover comic books on a regular basis. If it weren't for all of Tony's support through the years, I don't think CBC4C would have become as successful as it has been. His passing not only had a huge effect on me personally, but it also had a great impact on our local community as Tony was someone who would always help with local charities in need. Tony's passing had the unfortunate effect to CBC4C as we now don't have a steady source of new blank covers to provide to artists. 

Since Tony's passing, I have tried to get new blanks available, but I hit financial barriers as well as not knowing when new blanks will be available. On top of this, it seems as though interest in artists donating has also diminished. I can't blame them because the economy has been a rollercoaster for so long... and I am not that optimistic for upcoming few years.

Because of all of this, I have decided to make some big changes going forward for CBC4C:

• In 2025, we will no longer be having 4 series of auctions. Instead, I will run 2 auctions; May for Free Comic Book Day, and November. These auctions will be held on our Facebook page like the December 2024 auctions were.
• I'm planning on reaching-out to artists who will be attending specific local comic events to see if they would be willing to donate their artwork to help us. This has been successful in the past, although the past few years it has been difficult for some events because the announcements of artists are being made too soon before the events.
• Since we have a nominal collection of blanks, not only will I be asking artists to donate their art on them, but I will be working to liquidate them for extra $$ to be donated to the American Cancer Society.
• We also have a large collection of covers that didn't sell during their original series of auctions. I'm planning on adding a new Album on our FB page to include many of these available for sale with the $$ going to the American Cancer Society.
• After 2025, Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer will be closing.

I want to thank all the various artists who have helped to make CBC4C successful. Also, thank you to all our supporters who have helped us over the past 11+ years.

Inspiration for D&D

I recently came across this video in my FB Reels feed, and it gave me a swell of inspiration to star DMing again after I'm not sure how many years after feeling the burn-out.

Reel from @dianaoftherose on IG

This video speaks to the option of what to do when you TPK your group. I have never experienced this issue in my 40 years of role playing, but a few years ago I was almost part of a TPK in a D&D game that was being run virtually during the Covid pandemic.

To give some perspective, I have been primarily gaming in White Wolf's classic World of Darkness. I started playing Vampire: The Masquerade when the 2nd edition was first coming out back in the 90's. I did manage to play some Dungeons & Dragons again when Wizards of the Coast published 3rd edition. I always enjoyed playing in the high fantasy world of D&D, but the fact that I spent the better part of almost 30 years in a more modern setting with the World of Darkness really caused a drain on my imagination for D&D.

I never really got into 4th edition, but when 5th edition came out, my interest was peaked again to try and get back into high fantasy. My biggest problems were:

• As much as I appreciate the published materials/adventures, I have a few ideas of some homebrew locations that I would like to incorporate into my campaign. I know that I can work to adapt things to suit my needs, but I don't think I've ever actually settled on an actual end goal.
• Though I have had over 40 years of experience roleplaying, I still have a great deal of anxiety of running a game again. When I was in my 20's, I would regularly run both tabletop and LARP games as a DM/ST. I enjoyed this, but it again has been many years since I've been able to do this for a high fantasy setting.
• Like many role-players, I have social anxiety that really inhibits me from socializing with people. This creates a huge issue when considering a play ground. I have 2 close friends that I am comfortable gaming with, but 2 people do not make a decent sized adventuring group for a game like D&D.
• In past games, I have always run them in Theatre of the Mind as opposed to using miniatures and maps. While this has been alright when playing in the World of Darkness, the past couple of years playing in a 5E game has shown me the wonders of using minis and maps; especially using tools like D&D Beyond and Roll20. I want to be able to provide a fun time for my players so my desire is wanting to be able to use minis and maps, but my anxiety makes me feel that if I don't have all the right resources that my attempt will fall flat. Ginny Di recently posted a video regarding the debate between Theatre of the mind and using minis and maps. It was a good watch but also helped to feed into my anxiety. While I have been working to build a collection of minis and resources, the back of my mind keeps telling me that it's not enough.
• Several years ago, I thought about designing a new RPG system that would incorporate a multiverse experience similar to Paladium's Megaverse settings, but my motivation became overwhelmed when I saw all the prospective systems being designed and published through the likes of Kickstarter. Right now, at age 50, I don't feel like I should spend my remaining time on this word attempting to recreate/redesign the wheel.

Going back to the beginning of this whole thing, the video gave me a hit of inspiration to put aside my anxiety and try to focus on just trying to run a campaign with the big hope to kill off some of the characters so that I can run a side game to bring them back from whatever afterlife they may have fallen into. I'm starting to feel hopeful for the possibility to giving some friends an entertaining time in the high fantasy world of D&D again. We shall see what comes of this hope and perhaps this will be a new focus of writings here.