Scalped #35

Jesus, there hasn't been anything here in a month. I keep thinking I should write something and never do it. The next Marathon is in my head, but it's somehow not making the transition to the screen. It's too massive and I haven't been able to sit down with nothing distracting me and writing it. It's about home and not being at home. My version? It's about home home, the United States as home and Allegheny as home.

But, this one is about a single issue of Scalped that goes against what you expect from the pitiless series. Also, Blogger's no longer going to be powering the site, because we're the one percent affected by their changes. Don't worry. We're looking into migrating the content on a different platform. Same URL.

I've never read Scalped before, but I found number 35, a one-shot, to be painful and surprising. The sum of my Scalped knowledge is this: noir set on a Native American reservation. Because this is a noir, crime is organized, and because crime is organized, the FBI is involved. To quote Blacklisted, that ain't real much.

For 35, though, I don't have to know anything about the main characters in the story. It's about an older couple (Mance and Hazel) who love each other who live reasonably close to an Air Force base, within driving distance of the town where the main arc takes place. By the end of the issue, one person dies, there is an explosion and the house is destroyed. But it's not what you think. The first page is the couple walking in the desolate, unforgiving snow, wrapped up in blankets. It's unclear if they're going to make it to the destination and it sets the mood.

Past here are spoilers.

The couple is running out of food and money. Quickly. The man is the first to say that he's going to have to go into town. This is important because what is meant by that is they're picking up food by acknowledging the couple's poverty and inability to survive without help from the government.

They get food. Things are good. Then, the wife, Hazel falls to the ground, her kidney trouble finally catching up to her. Mance puts Hazel in bed, saying he's going into town to get her medicine. She doesn't want to die in the bed, so she goes with him. They go into town again. She gets her medicine and they go back to their house. In the middle of the drive, far enough from town, the car breaks down.

#35 plays on your expectations of Scalped. One person dies. There is a house-destroying explosion. There is no intrigue. Yes, there is compromise and pride in an arithmetic, but not in the noir conceit. There is no femme fatale. There is no evil businessman/mob kingpin, at least not one that's relevant to their story. Yes, there is the casino that is one of the focal points of the main story, which is passed in two panels and used as the difference between the old couple and the rest of the characters in the narrative. The only emotional hurdle or land mine between them is the acknowledgment of their plight, which is dealt with in...a page. They decide they're going to ask for assistance and the scene ends with Hazel and Mance holding each other in bed.

It is because their lifestyle is not one built on glamour or a desire for more wealth. They require each other and that fills their cup. I don't want to be reciting a virtuous poverty/savage story, but instead noting that their life is not caught in the web of deceit, lies and crime that the series is known for. Hell, I don't think a single law is broken in the issue.

It's a heart-warming issue. That's the surprise. Things just keep going wrong and because the characters have the spine to acknowledge the bad things that happen to them and admit they need help (government assistance and Hazel not staying in bed while her husband gets the medicine), things work out. The explosion in house is an Air Force jet crashing into it and the person who died is the pilot. The Air Force covers the cost of their medicine and pays for the rebuilding of their house. It's not happily ever after, they're still older and have health problems, they probably have a construction crew to build them a new house and friends that are invested in seeing them happy.

Above here are spoilers.

Yes, I understand that the issue rewards the idea of a heterosexual monogamous relationship in the key of true love since the teenage years and that's a uniquely Western romantic thing, but it's a rare ray of sunshine in a series that's bleak enough to rival Battlestar Galactica or the Wire.

I hope you buy it.