SCALPED thoughts

SCALPED#35
Working on SCALPED #35 today, which will have this cover when it comes out in January. It'll be a good way to start the year off. Our big current arc, "The Gnawing," will end in December, and then with this single issue tale in #35 we'll take a deep breath, cleanse the palate a bit. This issue will focus on a couple of characters we've never seen before, and I'm working on finding a voice for them as we speak. I'm trying to decide what kind of records they listen to. Maddox Brothers and Rose? Sons of the Pioneers? Or maybe blues?

Next year, look for SCALPED to go places you probably weren't expecting. We're actually going a couple of places that I wasn't expecting, but once I thought of them, I knew there was no other way it could go. That's one of the most exciting parts of storytelling. When you put all the pieces together and suddenly they line up in a way you hadn't imagined. That'll be 2010 for SCALPED.

Got the document the other day that I sign to extend my SCALPED contract for another 12 issues, and this one will take us up through issue #48. Just seeing that number got me all excited, thinking about a fiftieth issue, thinking of how far the series had come, despite the odds being stacked against it. Makes me wanna say "thank you" once again to all the people out here who pick this book up, whether in issues or trades, to all the people who blog about it, to the retailers who hand-sell it, to all the people who bring their friends to see me at cons and talk them into buying the book. You people are awesome. SCALPED wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for you all going the extra mile.

Thanks again.

16 comments :

Joshua at: 8:16 PM said...

For my part you have made it incredibly easy. It's the best damn book on Vertigo (in my humble opinion). It makes convincing a friend or two to pick it up much easier.

AlphaTau37 at: 10:50 PM said...

Best book on the stands, hands down. Thanks immensely, Mr. Aaron.

Kulture at: 1:11 AM said...

First: Yeah, the book is great. Seriously - one of my favorites.

Second, and more dickishly: You want to be saying "palate". That's the word that goes in that phrase, "cleanse the palate". "Pallet" is a different word that means something else, and doesn't go in that phrase.

Ah, helpfulness.

Tom Fitzpatrick at: 9:42 AM said...

Well, if you have to end SCALPED sometime, then # 50 is a good number to end a series on.

Better believe I'm gonna be there when it ends.

Hugues Derolez at: 10:04 AM said...

Thanks to you Mr. Aaron.

Jason Aaron at: 11:42 AM said...

I never said I planned on ending the series at #50.

Jason Aaron at: 12:05 PM said...

Second, and more dickishly: You want to be saying "palate". That's the word that goes in that phrase, "cleanse the palate". "Pallet" is a different word that means something else, and doesn't go in that phrase.

Thank you. Spelling is not my strong point.

Jason Quinones at: 4:11 PM said...

love your book. that's all i wanted to say.

Anonymous at: 9:51 PM said...

Love your book.
I follow it on TPB.

Kulture at: 3:03 AM said...

Thank you. Spelling is not my strong point.

Fo sho. Oh, and sorry 'bout the dickishness. I'm sort of... whatever the spelling-based equivalent of a grammar nazi is. Spelling nazi, I guess? Except it wasn't actually misspelled, it was just the wrong word. Whatever.

Tom Fitzpatrick at: 10:41 PM said...

I did say "if", not that you're going to end it on # 50. ;-)

Besides, the actual question should be, what issue would you "like" to end the series on, if you had a choice in the matter?

Jason Aaron at: 12:56 AM said...

I've never thrown out a specific issue number. I know where the story is headed, I just don't know exactly how long it'll take us to get there.

Wayne at: 1:59 PM said...

Somewhere around issue 3, I got the feeling that this series was written in a way that really capitalized on the comic book medium. I've been a floppy reader for the life of the series, and will continue to be for as long as it keeps coming out. The last book that kept me this enthralled was Y. Do us a favor, Mr. Aaron, and don't abandon us the way BKV did!

benjamin storm at: 3:36 AM said...

do you even know the true story of indian life, buddy?

ever lived on a rez? or what i call an open-air prison.

seen the horrific statistic suffered by the majority of native "americans" under 400 bloody years colonial land-robbing genocide?

why don't you write about who's to REALLY blame- your people.

but you can't do that. so you'll write the next best thing. the lowest denominator.

a colonial american writing about the indigenous american struggle- no, glamourizing the struggle in to some gritty modern crime-western where indians are killing each other in some tragic spiral.

utter bullshit. but hey, i'm a minority, literally. and the western majority loooves it.

and hey, it's only fiction. crap fiction.

but it sells. and that's the main thing.

Jason Aaron at: 10:22 AM said...

Yes, SCALPED is most definitely a "gritty modern crime-western" where, yes, Indians do sometimes kill each other, and yes, much of the series is about characters caught in up a "tragic spiral." But I would completely disagree with the idea that I've failed to indite "my people" for their "400 bloody years (of) colonial land-robbing genocide." Just look at the opening of issue #25 or the back story for Red Crow or virtually every single appearance of a white character in the series, particularly Agent Nitz. If you've read SCALPED and feel this way, fair enough. But I hope you're not bashing the book without having even read it.

ORN9 at: 12:19 AM said...

Here's a fan all the way from Singapore. I'm buying Scalped in trades and i just got Vol 5 the other day and by god i swear this book is nuckin futs! Fav book ever since ever since!

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