Scalped Series Discussion (Spoilers and Speculation) Thread

Other than me, are Doom and Agamemnomnomnom the only people who read this series? I was a little behind but just picked up 9 whole issues at the LCS.

I've been picking this series up since the first issue hit stands. I thought the cover looked cool, and decided to give it a shot since it was the first issue. The early scene with Dashiel kicking *** in the bar had me sold. The repeated awesomeness of this series has kept me coming back every month for two years.

I'd love to see it adapted (very, very close to the source material) as an HBO series. Sort of a Sopranos on the Reservation, and way the **** more interesting (Sopranos is over-rated anyway).

Has anyone ever done a Dreamcast for Scalped? I'd love to see some of your casting choices for this book.
 
Has anyone ever done a Dreamcast for Scalped? I'd love to see some of your casting choices for this book.
Doom and I have talked about it repeatedly before and the annoying thing is, and its a real difficult book to cast.

There are few Europeans, Asians, blacks and white Americans in the book that you'd really have to research for actors to have the believably seeming Amerindian features --- alongside whether or not they suit a character part.

Beyond ACTUAL Native American actors, that pretty much limits you to Latinos, Filipinos and even then that's a little stretching it.
 
Doom and I have talked about it repeatedly before and the annoying thing is, and its a real difficult book to cast.

There are few Europeans, Asians, blacks and white Americans in the book that you'd really have to research for actors to have the believably seeming Amerindian features --- alongside whether or not they suit a character part.

Beyond ACTUAL Native American actors, that pretty much limits you to Latinos, Filipinos and even then that's a little stretching it.


I think were it to be adapted, it might be greatly served by casting actual Native Americans in the roles as opposed to other "passable" racial make-ups. Besides the inherent physical appearance, the other positives are obvious. An entire cast of unknowns, ideally.


Of course, for Dreamcasting purposes, unknowns are an impossibility, really. Still, I figured between you and Doom you'd have had even this difficult casting round all cleaned up already.
 
Last edited:
I think were it to be adapted, it might be greatly served by casting actual Native Americans in the roles as opposed to other "passable" racial make-ups. Besides the inherent physical appearance, the other positives are obvious. An entire cast of unknowns, ideally.


Of course, for Dreamcasting purposes, unknowns are an impossibility, really. Still, I figured between you and Doom you'd have had even this difficult casting round all cleaned up already.


Ourchair has hit this point right on the head. You NEED actual Native Americans cast for this story to really drive home the authenticity of the story. And the known casting pool is incredibly small and unknown.

Trust me....this has not cast due to lack of not trying.

And never mention comics for possible HBO series to ourchair. It's FX and Showtime only for him. I'm also inclined to agree.
 
Last edited:
Okay, Casino Boogie was a much better arc. I'm actually interested in this series now.
 
A comprehensive discussion and critique of Scalped manned mostly by Rob Schmidt.

Schmidt has mostly negative things to say, but I think he asks all the right questions and even if he rarely agrees with the answers given to him that contradict him, he does stimulate a lot of great comments.

I particularly liked this one:
I can understand your criticism that there is nothing ennobling about [Scalped], but do all stories dealing with native peoples need to be ennobling?

I mean, coming from my own ethnic background, that's like saying stories depicting African Americans need to show us living some version of the Cosby show, instead of the cracked out narratives of life some of us live in in South Central or the south side of Chicago. Are those stories of urban, inner city life ennobling or uplifting? No. Could they be used by those who enjoy racial and cultural privilege to justify further discrimination and disenfranchisement? Maybe, sure. And does reading those stories make me think that all my brown brother and sisters live like they're in an episode of The Wire? Of course not.

Dark and cynical as it was, The Wire was awesome and frank and complicated and hopeless - just like some black lives are. And it was written by a white man. Or is that really the issue here? Is the issue that Scalped could be read as an act of cultural co-optation?

That, in a long line of white men stealing from the brown man, this here is another white man 'stealing' from the already stolen-from native community. If that's at the heart of your issue with the book, then I think that speaks to a larger question of representation of native people and demands an answer: Who has the right to represent native communities? And how should native communities be represented? Is it the writer's intent to coopt this culture or is co-optation an unintended impact of his writing?

These are questions I've asked myself when I'm confronted with yet another badly written novel of 'thug life' in Borders. Do we need another story of thug life? Is my community uplifted through stories of thug life? Do our stories really have to act like guided tours of the ghetto?

But I also ask myself if all stories about my community need to reflect some bourgeois utopian fantasy in order to make some white people more comfortable with their privilege?

Or should I just suck it up and face it that, in order to satisfy generic requirements (as well as the demands of the market), perhaps a crime story about the inner working of a social service clinic staffed by a scrappy group of socially conscious black vegans just wouldn't be quite as gripping?

Anyway, these are just some of my rambling thoughts while I avoid work. I don't really think this book approaches hate literature and perhaps your criticism underestimates the intelligence of the people who read Scalped.
 
All I'm gonna say is, if you ever heard of the Kickapoo in Eagle Pass, Texas...those people lived under the border bridge over 40 years ago. about 10/15 years ago they built a casino and none of them live under it anymore.

Actually I'll say more.

Ray Goldfield's complaint is that it doesn't even scratch the surface of native american culture. Culture being the key word because it wasn't Aaron's intent to reflect the culture, rather the life on the rez. Granted sometimes it's a package deal but there is so much more going on in the story that I can't help but feel he didn't read any further than the first trade.

You know, at least give a little ****ing credit when the story is still in it's infancy but none of that is taken into contrast.

MWOF, who im positive is the same one here. I don't get how one story is a reflective depiction of an entire population, but the sad part is that it's true in some parts. Like i said above. Kickapoo's lived under the bridge between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico. Not a sadder sight of drunks and bums who lived in pitch tents and shanty houses. But one of them gets the idea to put up a casino and they've all been saved. It's almost reflective of the story itself as the basic goal goes. I'm not even sure the post could be considered as a bad statement since it's said twice that he's debating it with himself.

To be so narrow minded that this doesn't happen i think is the real crime. I mean you see the same thing in the family guy episode (minus cursing and blood) but do we get mad that indians seem to be depicted as casino owners? Oh but the very real aspect that all this seedy business could be a possibility just to open a casino, and oh no let's call it a crap story with **** art and racist tones that try to paint a black picture over a race and culture of a people. No, you know what? That **** happens. Grow up, wake up, enjoy the story.

And whatever Rob's review is, I'm not entirely up to taking his opinion on what he 'thinks' the odds are for a tribal chief to know how to scalp. Even if the odds are vanishingly small, the guy apparently knows. I mean the other day Mythbusters tried disproving the one inch punch and because no experts could accomplish this feat, it was disproved....oh except for the fact Bruce Lee does it on video. Go figure. Point being, someone else will always know how to do something you don't, accept it.

And casino's not being a source of major crime? Really? What do you think mobster accountants get paid to do? There isn't a better venue to funnel money through unless you own your own bank. There are just so many other flaws in the man's logic it's frustrating to point them all out and it's almost 5am here so that's all im gonna say for now.
 
All I'm gonna say is, if you ever heard of the Kickapoo in Eagle Pass, Texas...those people lived under the border bridge over 40 years ago. about 10/15 years ago they built a casino and none of them live under it anymore.

Actually I'll say more.

Ray Goldfield's complaint is that it doesn't even scratch the surface of native american culture. Culture being the key word because it wasn't Aaron's intent to reflect the culture, rather the life on the rez. Granted sometimes it's a package deal but there is so much more going on in the story that I can't help but feel he didn't read any further than the first trade.

You know, at least give a little ****ing credit when the story is still in it's infancy but none of that is taken into contrast.

MWOF, who im positive is the same one here. I don't get how one story is a reflective depiction of an entire population, but the sad part is that it's true in some parts. Like i said above. Kickapoo's lived under the bridge between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico. Not a sadder sight of drunks and bums who lived in pitch tents and shanty houses. But one of them gets the idea to put up a casino and they've all been saved. It's almost reflective of the story itself as the basic goal goes. I'm not even sure the post could be considered as a bad statement since it's said twice that he's debating it with himself.

To be so narrow minded that this doesn't happen i think is the real crime. I mean you see the same thing in the family guy episode (minus cursing and blood) but do we get mad that indians seem to be depicted as casino owners? Oh but the very real aspect that all this seedy business could be a possibility just to open a casino, and oh no let's call it a crap story with **** art and racist tones that try to paint a black picture over a race and culture of a people. No, you know what? That **** happens. Grow up, wake up, enjoy the story.

And whatever Rob's review is, I'm not entirely up to taking his opinion on what he 'thinks' the odds are for a tribal chief to know how to scalp. Even if the odds are vanishingly small, the guy apparently knows. I mean the other day Mythbusters tried disproving the one inch punch and because no experts could accomplish this feat, it was disproved....oh except for the fact Bruce Lee does it on video. Go figure. Point being, someone else will always know how to do something you don't, accept it.

And casino's not being a source of major crime? Really? What do you think mobster accountants get paid to do? There isn't a better venue to funnel money through unless you own your own bank. There are just so many other flaws in the man's logic it's frustrating to point them all out and it's almost 5am here so that's all im gonna say for now.

Word.

I'm in complete agreement. Nicely said, J.
 
Today I decided to catch up on Scalped after seeing how many times it was mentioned in various best of lists this year. I just finished #29. This is a great comic. It does take a while to get into but now I'm hooked. I think the second half of the series helped with that a lot, because it seemed Aaron realized he needed to focus on other characters just as much as Bad Horse. I like how everything seems to be connecting. Now I've just got The Gnawing left and I'm all caught up.

I'm still not a fan of the art. It fits the tone of the comic but I think the guest artists like John Paul Leon and Davide Furno would be better. They have a cartoony style that is also dark and I think that would make a nice contrast.

Still a great comic though. I like a lot of the characters, especially Bad Horse, Red Crow, Dino and Diesel. Jason Aaron is definitely one of my favourite writers.
 
All I'm gonna say is, if you ever heard of the Kickapoo in Eagle Pass, Texas...those people lived under the border bridge over 40 years ago. about 10/15 years ago they built a casino and none of them live under it anymore.

Actually I'll say more.

Ray Goldfield's complaint is that it doesn't even scratch the surface of native american culture. Culture being the key word because it wasn't Aaron's intent to reflect the culture, rather the life on the rez. Granted sometimes it's a package deal but there is so much more going on in the story that I can't help but feel he didn't read any further than the first trade.

You know, at least give a little ****ing credit when the story is still in it's infancy but none of that is taken into contrast.

MWOF, who im positive is the same one here. I don't get how one story is a reflective depiction of an entire population, but the sad part is that it's true in some parts. Like i said above. Kickapoo's lived under the bridge between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico. Not a sadder sight of drunks and bums who lived in pitch tents and shanty houses. But one of them gets the idea to put up a casino and they've all been saved. It's almost reflective of the story itself as the basic goal goes. I'm not even sure the post could be considered as a bad statement since it's said twice that he's debating it with himself.

To be so narrow minded that this doesn't happen i think is the real crime. I mean you see the same thing in the family guy episode (minus cursing and blood) but do we get mad that indians seem to be depicted as casino owners? Oh but the very real aspect that all this seedy business could be a possibility just to open a casino, and oh no let's call it a crap story with **** art and racist tones that try to paint a black picture over a race and culture of a people. No, you know what? That **** happens. Grow up, wake up, enjoy the story.

And whatever Rob's review is, I'm not entirely up to taking his opinion on what he 'thinks' the odds are for a tribal chief to know how to scalp. Even if the odds are vanishingly small, the guy apparently knows. I mean the other day Mythbusters tried disproving the one inch punch and because no experts could accomplish this feat, it was disproved....oh except for the fact Bruce Lee does it on video. Go figure. Point being, someone else will always know how to do something you don't, accept it.

And casino's not being a source of major crime? Really? What do you think mobster accountants get paid to do? There isn't a better venue to funnel money through unless you own your own bank. There are just so many other flaws in the man's logic it's frustrating to point them all out and it's almost 5am here so that's all im gonna say for now.

Gay marry me please.
 
HAH! don't tease my emotions.



damn, I don't think i've made a compelling argument like that in a while. I need that passionate fire again.
 
There are only nine issues left. I bet every one of them is going to be amazing.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top