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Southern Bastards #1

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    Ian Jane
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  • Southern Bastards #1



    Southern Bastards #1
    Released by: Image Comics
    Released on: April 30th, 2014.

    Written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Jason Latour, the first page of this hardboiled crime series published by Image Comics is a full page illustration of a worn down old hound dog taking a sizeable dump on the side of the highway in front of some roadside signs pointing out some local churches down the road. It's heavy on grey, on a splash of orange in the dusk sky adding any real color. A moving truck zips by, the dog sits beside a 'NO DUMPING' sign and barks. The driver, an older grey haired man, ignores him and talks to someone on the other end of a cell phone, telling them he should be done in three days. He loses the signal as he drives past another sign stating 'Welcome To Craw County.' He is in the middle of nowhere and he has come home.

    He drives to the family home, the mailbox reads 'Tubb.' He visits his father's grave and through a flashback we learn he's named Earl. His daddy was the sheriff and he was prone to dishing out justice at the end of a big stick, Bufford Pusser style. The next day Earl heads into town to get some food at the BBQ joint where a loudmouth named Dusty accosts a waitress named Shawna about the location of someone he doesn't name. Shawna knows who he's talking about. Dusty recognizes Earl but he can't figure out why until he realizes he used to date his sister. We learn Earl hasn't been in town for forty years and he's only back to pack up the old house his uncle can no longer take care of. After they catch up, Dusty tells Earl to get out of town as soon as he can. But he doesn't say why… but Earl figures it out on his own when he saves Dusty from a younger thug named Esaw who works for someone named Coach Boss, someone who Dusty stole from.

    There's more to it than that, but let's not spoil the first issue. Before it's over, Earl meets a neighborly kid named Tad, makes another phone call that hints at some of the mystery to come and starts to deal with the tree that's grown out of an interesting location on the property. Oh and that dog? He comes back too. This one is building to something fierce. It's already off to a tense and violent start and the mystery not only behind Earl and his character but the issues that are obviously plaguing the town set their hooks in deep. That's a credit to Aaron's writing, which is pulpy without resorting to clichés and hardboiled without coming across as overdone. At times it almost seems like he's channeling champion mojo storyteller Joe Lansdale, one of the finest writers of southern crime fiction to have ever put pen to paper, but again, the style is his own.

    Jason Latour's artwork is appropriately dark but the humorous touches that are peppered throughout the book are complimented nicely by his knack for drawing facial expressions. There's good detail here and the heavy line work and impressive use of shadow and light effectively portrays not just the action scenes but the more pedestrian scenes of every day human interaction as well. The coloring relies heavily on red but not to the point of sensationalism. The detail underneath indicates it's not an artist taking an easy way out and slathering the page in bold color but instead using the right color to reflect the emotions that can and do run high.

    This is off to a good start. It's probably a safe bet that things are going to get a whole lot worse in Craw County before they get better, but as unpleasant as this ride is likely to get, hot damn, does it make for good reading.




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