Scalped Book 2: Casino Boogie (#6-11) NSFW

NSFW Warning:  Some nekkid boobies.

"No more Indian country. Not for me" - Dino Poor Bear.

Continuing our look at the Vertigo seres Scalped, a crime noir set on the Prarie Rose reservation of the Lakota Indian tribe the fictional Oglala. Nominally it's about undercover FBI agent Dashiell Bad Horse as he looks for any murders he can pin on tribal leader Lincoln Red Crow to sastisfy the thirty year vendetta of his immediate boss Agent Nitz. Who wants revenge for two FBI agents shot in 1975 by one of the "Dog Soldiers" an Indian militant group which included Red Crow, Dashiell's mum Gina, a man called Catcher (who in the present has discovered Dash is an FBI agent) and the one who ended up in prison for the murders, Lawrence Belcourt.  We don't yet know who pulled the trigger that fateful day, but Nitz doesn't care he wants Red Crow who has is just about to open a new ninety-seven million dollar casino.  At the end of Book 1, we saw that Gina had been murdered, her body yet to be discovered.  Her estranged son Dash had also hooked up with Red Crow's similarly estranged daughter Carol. This volume starts broadening out its look at the wider cast with six individual stories all mostly taking place on the day of the grand casino opening that night brought together in the story "of a day in hell on Earth". The writer is Jason Aaron and the artist is R.M Guera.

THE MAN WHO FIGHTS THE BULL:  We start fifteen years ago and teenage Dash is on a bus about to leave the rez to go and stay with relatives in Arkasas,  His mother Gina waves him goodbye saying to herself that this is for the best.  An angry Dash says to the man sat next to him that now he's leaving the rez, "I ain't never comin' back".

Then it's six weeks ago.  Dash and Nitz are discussing Dash going undercover on the rez.  Dash says he'll do one month then Nitz must cut him loose.  Nitz says he wants murders.  Dash is to gain Red Crow's trust and then "you will give me the bastard with blood on his hands".  Dash says it sounds like he's on some "bullshit personal beef".  Nitz says Dash joined the FBI to show everyone how clever he is and not some "two-bit, trailer trash billy jack raised on gutmeat and government cheese."

Dash is given his orders.

Nine days ago, Dash who is now a member of the tribal police. He is sitting in Red Crow's office and being told Red Crow wants Dash to capture a white man called Diesel who is part of Gina's militant group opposing the casino.   Now Gina is out of town he belives Diesel is going to incite "new heights of civil disobedience."  He doesn't want anything intefering with the casino's grand opening in nine days time.

As Dash leaves Red Crow says if he shows he's reliable Red Crow can give him more responsibilties.  Once Dash is gone, Red Crow asks his right-hand man Shunka what he's found out about Dash's background.  Shunka says everything Dash told them is true, he'd been living a life of petty crime after leaving the army.  Red Crow tells Shunka to keep an eye on Dash anyway.

The night of the grand opening arrives.  Dash and Carol are lying post-coital in bed together, Dash says he can't feel his balls they've had so much sex.  He dresses and leaves Carol who asks if she'll see him tomorrow.  He says not to rely on it.

Dash and Carol.

Later the tribal police have staked out a farmhouse where Diesel is holed up with the protesters.  They storm the place and gunfire is exchanged.  There is a chaotic gun battle in the farmhouse and Diesel escapes.  Once all the protestors have been rounded up officer Falls Down says it was a "piss-ant operation".  Whatever they were planning "it wasn't exactly the Lindbergh kidnapping".   Dash thinks Diesel is still planning something.

Cut to three hours later and Dash is bringing a cuffed Diesel into the open casino and presents him to Red Crow forcing him on his knees.  Red Crow tells Dash to take the rest of the night off, "and try takin' a bath ya smell like a barnyard."  Dash goes to wash up in the toilets grumbling about what a pain it was catching Diesel and Catcher suddenly appears behind him. Dash doesn't know who he is so Catcher introduces himself thus:

Catcher: "Maya Owicha Paka.  Ya know the phrase.  It's loosely translated as 'fate' but more literally means, 'he who pushes ya off a cliff'".

When he had friends her was called Catcher. Dash doesn't follow him. Catcher says the "Thunder Beings" told him to keep an eye on Dash saying he has the makings of a great leader.  He doesn't see it himself but he leaves telling Dash not to trust anyone, "not Red Crow  Not the cops or the council... and sure as hell not the FBI".  Mentioning the FBI startles Dash and he goes looking for Catcher, but he's gone as mysteriously as he appeared.

Catcher surprises Dash.

Dash then makes a phonecall.  He is meeting an informant who was part of the protest group.  He tells the frighened man that he captured Diesel, but after he handed him over to Red Crow he escaped. He needs to find him again, the man is panicking though, and doesn't take Dash's reasurrances very well.   They had no idea what they were going to do hitting the casino, Diesel had everyone terrified, "he's a fuckin' psycho".

The informant starts to break down saying Dash doesn't know what it's like lying to everyone.  Diesel sympathises but says if he was in the same position he'd expect things to get hairy and the "burden of lies might feel like it's gonna crush ya at times."  And after a while you wonder if it even matters.  You could comfort yourself with the thought you're doing wha's right but at the end of the day the only thing that'll give you any peace "... is the simple satisfaction of a job well done."

He's been ignoring his mobile phone during this conversation.  Angrily Nitz says he better be "dead or fuckin' paralysed".  Newsome asks if they should have told Dash he isn't the only undercover agent they have on the rez.  Nitz says he can figure it out for himself. He finishes up saying that if the blood on Red Crow's hands ends up being Dash's it would suit his needs nonetheless and we close out this chapter with Dash finishing his meal alone.

A man alone.

DOWN ON THE KILLIN' FLOOR: Fifty-five years ago and a young Red Crow is being beaten by the Christian's running the school the Indian kids have been forced to attend.  He's being beaten for speaking Lakota, the priest says "we must kill the Indian inside you in order to save the man! When are you going to learn that?"  Defiantly Red Crow says they can beat him all they like but he won't pray to Jesus, will still be Lakota and his name'll still be Red Crow.

Then we're at the opening night of the casino.  Red Crow is posing with some scantily clad dancing girls as he thinks to himself that "the meek will inherit sweet fuck-all.  That's what I learned from them sadistic little shits, the Jesuits".  He's fought for his rights and after sixty years, "tonight I finally get to enjoy a moment of real victory".

Red Crow in his life's work.

But why can't he stop thinking of Wendall Short Bear?  He was the tribal treasurer who Red Crow shot in the face. It wasn't the first life he took and he got no joy from doing so:

Red Crow: "If I hadn't then I wouldn't be where I am right now.  We as a people wouldn't.  And this casino...the casino would still be just a crazy dream".

He thinks that in five years time people will be on their knees thanking him, even the ones who opposed him, "nobody will care about the goddamn cost."

He thinks about how his grandfather survived the massacre at Wounded Knee but was shot dead in a drunken argument.  His grandfather survived the trenches but died shit-facec drunk downed in a three inch puddle of water.  His father drank Thunderbird every day he ever knew him including the last, all this even though alchohol had been prohibited on the rez. He walks into the storeroom for the bar and looks at the boxes of booze and wonders what they would think if they were here right now.

Later he pays a bribe to a man from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a thankyou for all the federal money he channeled Red Crow's way to help pay for the casino.  The man's name is Jigger and he lectures Red Crow saying he spent to long "playin' the part a'the poor, old pissed-off 'skin who wouldn't be caught dead workin' for the man".  He spreads his arms at all the debauchery in the room they are in and says to Red Crow, "welcome to the white man's world."

Back out on the casino floor, things are going somewhat awry. A couple of cheaters were caught and beaten by security and turns out one has a bigwig trial lawyer for a father. Yesterday was the kitchen's first payday so half didn't show up and the other half came in drunk. Eighteen people have food poisoning and the toilets are overflowing.  As for the entertainment, "Merle Haggard's" people are demanding to be paid in cash and don't yet know their bus was stolen.  Red Crow curses then says he's going to his office, they can sort this shit out.  Then Shunka hands him a phone, it's the "Hmongs".

The call is from the leader of a Chinese Triad called Johnny.  His organisation also part funded the casino.  He tells Red Crow that he saw that people were going to be protesting the opening so he's sent someone to help out, "Mr. Brass".  This startles Red Crow, when he says they can handle what's going on, Johnny says he sent Mr. Brass three days ago and he wants him made welcome. The call ends and Red Crow angrily hurls the phone back at Shunka who says he does have some good news, "Bad Horse got the white boy".

Shunka, Diesel and Red Crow.

We cut to Red Crow addressing the kneeling Diesel.   He asks what he was planning to do and Diesel tells him to go fuck himself so Shunka stamps on his head.   Shunka wants him dead, but Red Crow tiredly says to have him arrested.

Red Crow: "Not tonight Shunka.  Goddammit, we're not killin' anybody tonight.  Just get him the hell out of here."

He walks through a door into the toilets and suddenly Catcher has a knife to his throat and warns the bodyguards to stand down.  Diesel takes advantage of the confusion to headbutt Shunka and flee.

Catcher and Red Crow are alone together.  Catcher points a gun at Red Crow and tells him to give him a reason to shoot him saying he's wanted to do it for a long time.  He says he sees the spirits of those Red Crow has killed over the years. So he wants him to beg for his life, Red Crow has had enough people beg him for their life and we see a montage of various people about to be killed by him.

The ghost haunting Red Crow.

Red Crow tells Catcher, "please... not yet... I have... I have to finish what I started.  This is all I have".  Catcher tells him to get up, he didn't come to kill him, he came to ask one question.  We don't here it, we jump to Red Crow's bodyguards bursting in, but Catcher is gone.  Dash comes in and Red Crow tells him Diesel got away.  Irritated Dash gripes that he got shot at, sliced up and almost gored by a bull for nothing.

Red Crow walks into his office and it's been trashed, his dogs have been killed and the words "Diesel Was Here" written in their blood across the window.  He contemplates the dog's corpses sadly.  Dash says at least he's making money from the casino tonight and Red Crow pauses before yelling at him to "get the fuck out."

Over images of people gambling Red Crow thinks that white people came and took everything.  The Black Hills, the sacred paha sapa and a billion dollars in gold that was buried there.  They took the buffalo.  The took the pride and dignity of a once great nation, "giving nothing but misery in return".

Tonight though that ends.  Over images of him killing people he thinks about how they'll take back their reparations one nickel at a time if they have too.  And all the people he killed along the way won't have died in vain.  And for the first time in far too long, "my dreams might again outnumber my regrets". And we finish with the image of him in his wrecked office sat with his head in his hands.

Was it worth it?

THE WAY OF THE INTERCEPTING FIST: Twenty-six years ago and on the Kickapoo Indian reservation the young kids in school are being asked what they want to be when the grow up.  When the teacher reaches a blonde white boy called Britt Fillenworth he says that he wants to be "a badass Indian brave."

Then it's eight days ago, Britt is all grown up and going by the name Diesel.  With Gina away he's taken control of the casino protestors.  He goes into the farm where they have all gathered and starts a speech saying doing things Gina's way hasn't accomplished anything so far.  He has a plan though, they are going to rob the casino.  One of the group says he doesn't like taking orders from "no white boy".  This presses Diesel's beserk button and he physically attacks the man saying "I'm one! Sixteenth! Kickapoo! Ya cocksucker!" Then he spits on the prone man and asks if anyone else wants to question his authority?  No one speaks up.

Later that evening after he escaped the raid he's leaving the casino, he's holding a small bag and speaking on the phone to someone saying he got both of them and "they look pretty real to me". He goes on to say he made it to Red Crow's office easily and even did a little "redecoratin'" while he was there.  Then he ends the call having noticed Dash watching him saying he might be a little late.

He then sneers at Dash saying he heard him coming a mile off.  He asks if this is the "part where you tell me there are two ways we can do this?  The easy way or the hard way?" Dash raises his fists saying no, this is the part where he beats the shit out of him.

Dash and Diesel fight.

Dash throws a punch but Diesel dodges easily.  He aims a kick at Diesel's head but that is also dodged.  Diesel grabs Dash's arm and twists it, saying Dash must have blown out his knee years ago, playing football maybe..  He kicks Dash to the floor and asks "where'd you learn karate?  A correspondence course?"  Dash says nothing, he pulls out his nunchuks and swings them at Diesel.

Diesel dodges again, pulls them out of Dash's hand and tosses them off the roof they are on while punching Dash to the ground. He notes that Dash must have broken his hand a few times, problems with his temper punching too many walls or just brawling? Being a brawler is what is holding him back.  Dash snarls that Diesel talks to much and manages to grab and twist his arm behind his back.  Diesel says that this is fun and all, but he thinks there is something Dash should know before things get out of hand. Dash says, "I can already tell ya.  I won't give a flyin' fuck."  Diesel spits in his eye but he overbalances and falls off the roof.

It's twenty-six years ago again.  Young Diesel, Britt, is kneeling having found an arrowhead which he thinks is Commanche. Some other kids ask him why he cares about shit like that. 

Britt: "'Cause I'm gonna be a great Kickapoo warrior, just like my grandfathers when they rode with Tecumseh and Quanan Parker".

The other kids say "you ain't no Kickapoo.  You ain't no Indian".  They start pushing Britt around as he stammers to them to not say that.  Then they beat him up.

Back in the present, Diesel's fall is broken by some rubbish piles and he steals a nearby horse and takes off.  Dash drops down and gives chase in the Merle Haggard tour bus.  Diesel rides to horse to a arena where bull riding takes place.  With a bull running around, Dash and Diesel pull out their knives and start slashing at each other.

Rodeo battle!

Diesel accuses Dash of having a "straight-up death wish".  Dash says he's tired of hearing Diesel talk.  Diesel still seems to be holding back but when a swipe from Dash's blade cuts his chest he finally decides to fight back properly, yelling "You wanna party for real?  Fuck it, I'll give ya the full-on Bocephus mode."

They dodge and stab with the bull charging them over and over.  Diesel hits Dash in the face with his fist knocking Dash to his knees and says he's a fool if he thinks he can beat him.  Exhausted Dash admits that:

Dash: "You're better'n me at kung fu and knife fighin' and all a' that shit.  Probly got a bigger cock too. But ya know, there is still just one teensy little thing where I know I got a leg up on ya... and there ain't nothin' ya can ever fuckin' do about it.  Ya see me?  I'm a real Indian".

And that distracts Diesel long enough that he doesn't hear the bull charging him and it hits Diesel full on before the rodeo clowns get it back in the pen finally.  Dash cuffs Diesel and brings him to Red Crow.

Twenty-six years ago.  A battered Britt returns home to show his mum the arrowhead he found only to see her crying as two men from the tribal council saying that they have had to reexamine their qualifications for membership, they are making something called "blood quantum" part of the requirement.  She accuses them of wanting to keep more of the new casino money for himself.  They've lived there all their lives and now they aren't welcome. The tribal councilmen just go on to tell her that Britt does't have enough blood to meet the requirement for tribal membership, "he's not an Indian".

Young Diesel hears the awful truth.

Back in the present, it's after Diesel escaped a second time.  He tells the person he's talking to that it was Dash's fault, nearly got him killed.  He asks if he thinks maybe it's time to tell Dash they are on the "same goddamn team out here?"  He hands the bag to a man who comes out of the shadows and reveals himself to be Agent Nitz and he says to Nitz he hopes they were worth the trouble, "just look in that bag and tell me I'm not the baddest fuckin' Injun on the rez". A delighted Nitz checks the bag and replies "well lookie there.  I guess you are at that, Agent Fillenworth".  And on that bombshell this chapter ends.

A THUNDER BEING NATION I AM:  Catcher's story now, he's riding into town contemplating the various creation myths he's heard over the years, "damn shame is two-leggeds had to come along and fuck it all to hell."  Two hours ago he is at the home of the Poor Bears.  The dogs bark and Granny Poor Bear comes out holding a shotgun.  Catcher says it's just him.

Granny Poor Bear.

She curtly asks him what he wants, she doesn't have any money and if she did she wouldn't give him any.  He asks when did he ever ask a Poor Bear for money?  She responds saying only every week for four years when he came around drunk and broke.  He says that was the old him, she asks if he quit drinking, he says he's been meaning to. She tells him to "get the hell offa my porch" at that.

He says doesn't want to stay he's going to the new casino to see Red Crow.  Granny says it sounds like he's finally going to get himself killed. He says he isn't afraid to die and isn't afraid of Red Crow either.  "Then you're a bigger fool than I gave ya credit for" she tells him.  He says he isn't going to tussle with Red Crow "just wanna get reacquainted is all."

We jump to the scene later where Catcher had Red Crow at gunpoint in the casino toilets and we hear the question he wanted to ask him.   It was "where's Gina?" Red Crow dodges the question telling him to have a beer and go home.  Catcher says she's in danger.  Red Crow says he's tried to warn her but she won't listen to him and won't listen to Catcher either. Catcher asks where he can find her.

Red Crow says she left town about a week ago.  Catcher says he needs to talk to her, but Red Crow doesn't thinkt that's a good idea.  He hands Catcher a card with her mobile phone number on it and asks him to let her know what she says. 

Catcher: "If anything happens to her Lincoln, I promise you... I'll come back here... and you and me, we'll be going'up together to meet the great mystery".

Red Crow tells him to never come back. Catcher just stares at him because he is having a vision.  He sees the dead, maggot ridden corpse of a stag lying next to Red Crow.  Then he snaps out of it and leaves saying it was good to see him again.

Catcher's visions.

Back with him and Granny Poor Bear she asks why he is chasing after Gina.  He says he's having visions again, the Thunder Beings told him Gina's going to die unless he does something about it.  Granny says just because he sees things when he is drunk doesn't mean he had a vision, does he still believe he can see people's animal totems?  He says nothing.

She tells him to come and see her when he's on the wagon and then they'll talk. He says he's trying to help an old friend, but she asks if maybe Gina doesn't need his help. Does he know Dash is back on the rez?  Catcher says he knows and wants a chat with him too. And we cut to him leaving after tell Dash he knows about his involvement with the FBI.  He ponders various myths about how humans came into the world as we see Dash looking for him. Hiding he observes Dash making a phonecall and sees a spiderweb coming out of Dash and dragging behind him.

As he walks through the backroom with all the booze in it, he thinks about how he knows that the Seven Tribes of the Sioux Nation are all descended from the spotted eagle, "Wanblee Galeshka.  We are an eagle nation".  Their prayers and spirits were gifts from the Great Spirit.  Only by returning to those ways can they be "at peace with Mother Earth. And at peace with ourselves."  Unfortunately gifts from the white man have messed all that up and he forces himself not to take any of the booze as he leaves the casino.

Talking some more with Granny Poor Bear she asks why he has a gun if he isn't looking for trouble.  He says he doesn't think the thing even works anymore he just carries it to "keep the world honest".  She asks what he is going to say to Gina when he finds her, he doesn't exactly know, "I reckon it'll come to me".

After he leaves the casino he goes to a payphone think on how one of the most important roles in Lakota society is that of the "Heyoka, the Sacred Clown or Thunder Dreamer".   He dials Gina's number.

Catcher: "A person is called to be Heyoka by Wakinyan, the Thunder Being, the one who is many. Wakiyan lies in a lodge at the edge of the world where the sun goes down, his voice is the thunderclap.  The glance of his eye is lightning.  And when a vision comes from Wakinyan.  It comes like a storm".

And when Gina answers the phone he has a full on double-page spread of visions.  Images from the past and possible images of the future all hit him at once.  He falls to his knees and then hangs up the phone.

The vision hits him hard.

We return to his conversation with Granny Poor Bear.  She remembers him and Gina as kids.  Gina was an ornery young thing and he was a "mysterious young 'skin with all the fancy book learnin'".  Gina brought him round to see her to talk about their first Sun Dance. When did he first know that he was in love with her.  Catcher doesn't argue and bids her farewell.

She asks him not to go to the casino. She invites him in for some food and they can discuss his vision.  He says he can't do that.  Granny says she always thought he was the one who could have been a great leader, Gina couldn't even keep her family together and Red Crow was always "lookin' for slaves more than followers", but Catcher could have done some good.

He shouts he was there, he did his part and took a bullet.  She shouts back that it was thirty years ago and all he's done since is live in a trailer drunk and talking to his horse.  He calms down and says he didn't come to argue and asks if maybe she could say a prayer and make some tobacco ties for him.  Mollified she agrees and as he leaves he turns and looks and sees a vision of a giant fierce bear looming behind her.

Badass.

We bring this chapter to an end as he returns home with a crate of beer and starts drinking as he thinks about himself. That this is a story of a man called Catcher, born in 1952 an Oxford graduate, Rhodes scholar, lover of Byron and the British Romantics, acquitted murderer.  It is also the story of a Lakota warrior, descendant of the great spotted eagle and the last remnants of the Great Sioux Nation.  Devoted acolyte of Stone Boy and Grandfather Peyote. Thunder Dreamer.

Catcher: "This is the story of a mighty vision given to a man too weak to use it.  And someday soon, I pray to God... this story might end".

We see a huge owl sitting behind him as he chugs beer and sees it in the mirror then he whips round and fires his gun shattering the glass and finishing this story off.

MY AMBITIONZ AZ A RIDAH:  Dino Poor Bear's turn now, grandson of well, Granny Poor Bear. He is thinking how he going to do it.  He'll take his car onto the highway, take one last look then "gun that motherfucker for all it's worth, leavin' nothing but black marks and burned rubber".  That's how he'll leave the rez. He'll drive and not stop unti he sees the ocean and then lay on the beach and... Then Granny brings him out of his reverie, she wants him to unblock the toilet.  He protests that he's working on his car but she says he can wait five minutes, "that car ain't going nowhere".

Dino Poor Bear.

The rest of Dino's narration takes an interesting turn.  He keeps saying "no more" and then lists something he wants to get away from, "no more Pairie Rose.  No more cleanin' up after my retarded brother. No more rez life for me.  I'm tired a' this shit".  His brother hovers behind him, a caption points out he is a victim of foetal alchohol syndrome.

Dino: "No more living in the ass-end of nowhere in a tiny little piece a' shit house with mice in the attic and black mould on the walls. And eight other people all sharin' the space.  No more livin' without cable TV. Without cell phones.  Without the internet."

He jiggles the TV aerial for his uncle who is a double leg amputee thanks to diabetes. He tells Granny the toilet is unstopped and when he realises they are having something called "Wahampi" for dinner today he complains and Granny says if he doesn't like it he needs to go and fetch their "commodities".

He moans that he's too busy to go into town.  She retorts is he too busy to say hello to his daughter?  So he says hello to the young kid in the pen. He whispers to her that she'll be coming with him when he leaves, he promises. He tells her he loves her, "no more.  No more living like this."

He goes outside to find his heavily pregnant sister smoking crack in the car.  She says it's better for her than meth which she was on before because it's natural "comes from plants and shit."  He just tells her to stay away from his daughter and not to let Granny find out and he starts the long walk into town to get supplies. As he visits the "Nutrition Assistance Centre" he thinks:

Dino: "No more food stamps. No more waiting in line for generic commodities that taste like ass. No more lettin' the government shit on me, in exchange for free cheese."

He meets up with his mates and they do some trading between them of different items.  His friends try to entice him back into selling drugs, but Dino insists he doesn't do that anymore, "no more of these idiots.  No more of this life."

Boozing passes the time.

They go and buy beers and drink it sitting in a yard full of abandoned cars.  One of them tosses an empty can away and it lands on a huge pile of them.   As they walk home, Dino's friends are enthused by the coming of the casino thinking they'll be getting free money from it.  Dino tells them that other casinos are busy because they are in places people go on vacation, "just look around ya, man... who the fuck wanna come out here?"

He goes to his job that evening which is cleaning the casino.  He is brought to Red Crow's office after it had been trashed by Diesel and is told to clean it up.  Red Crow starts talking to him saying he knows Granny.  Dino says she's still alive, Red Crow says he knows but "it's me that's dead to her."

Cleaning Red Crow's office.

He tells Dino his dad used to work for him in "various capacities" and would Dino like to do the same? Dino says he has been in trouble before and has two months left on paper, "I'm not lookin' to make it any worse."  Red Crow asks what he wants from life.  Dino says he wants to fix up his car and then go someplace where he can find a good job.

Red Crow asks him what about his heritage, where is his pride in being Lakota? There is the blood of generations of Poor Bears on the land.  Now the rez is all they have left, "and you just wanna walk away from that?"  Dino stammers that he has a daughter and he wants "her to have more opportunities than my dad ever gave to me!"

Red Crow thinks for a moment, then asks how much it would cost to fix Dino's car.  Dino isn't sure so Red Crow hands him two thousand dollars.  He says he may be right in want to leave this place.  He never could.  But if he wants to go, then take the money, make a better life for his daughter, "just don't ever forget where the fuck you came from."

In the early hours of the morning, Dino is heading out to where his friends are with the two thousand dollars.  He starts to think of all the things he'll miss when he goes.

Not everything about rez life is terrible.

It's not a long list, but it's enough for now and as he decides to treat his mates to pancakes he thinks, "for so long all I've wanted was to get off this rez. And now I know that I will... just not today".  And that brings his chapter to a close.

REQUIEM FOR A DOG SOLDIER:  With the other five stories taking place on the day of the casino opening, this story of Gina bad Horse's last week of life is more of a standalone.  Thirty-one years ago she is in a motel checking a pregancy test, praying it comes up negative.  Then the FBI burst in and arrest her, Agent Nitz picks the test up and sneers, "now ain't that just what the world fuckin' needs.  Another Bad Horse."

In the present Gina is in a motel, in the bath curled in the foetal position silently crying.  The next day she goes to where the people who were working on getting Lawrence Belcourt free were working.  Only Lawrence's sister is left now he's exhausted his final appeal and she is very frosty towards Gina.

Gina says she did everything she could to help. Lora accuses her of bringing him into "your crazy little cult.  You sent him up to take the fall.  And you've spent every moment since then protecting the identity of the real murderer".  So how has she helped get Lawrence free?

Gina gives her a speech about how they were fighting the good fight, but Lora tells her to spare it, she's heard it all before. She just wants to see her brother die in jail.  Gina says she doesn't either but Lora flatly tells her to never come here again and leaves.

Self justification maybe?

Gina dreams about having the two FBI agents at gunpoint as they beg for mercy. She is woken up and goes to speak to Lawrence.  He notes that she is upset and rightly guesses she got into it with his sister, "she just don't get it, and she never will".  Gina admits she's right though she could have got him out of this.  Lawrence says not to think like that:

Lawrence: "Yeah, I was a kid back then.  But look at me now.. I've done more for the movement locked up in here than I ever could've done out there.  Maybe a martyr is what our people need to wake their asses up.  If that's the role the Great Spirit has in mind for me, then so be it."

Gina says it's the FBI that put him in there not the Great Spirit.  It was Nitz, the same bastard that had her back in a holding cell an hour after Dash was born.

Lawrence Belcourt today.

She says things have been so crazy recently.  The casino is opening and she feels like she is the only one left opposing it.  Dash has reappeared and working for Red Crow and he still hates her.  Lawrence says he'll learn the hard way if he thinks Red Crow is going to look out for him.

Gina says Red Crow owns the whole rez now, "he's like Caesar, if Caesar sold meth."  But no one else seems to give a shit so maybe he's right and it's Gina who is crazy. Lawrence says the last time he saw Red Crow was when he came to his sentencing.  He says Red Crow is going to use Dash up and toss him away.

Does Dash ever see his father?  Gina pulls a face and says "no. Hell no.  God... Wade.  What a mistake that was. One of many I've made". 

Gina: "I feel like this... like everything that's happening now, it's all punishment. I should have done things differently.  I should have done everything differently.  This is all my fault Lawrence.  And I don't know how to fix it."

Lawrence says when they first met she told him about how the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers would stand their ground.  Well him and her are the last of the Dog Soldiers and have to keep on fighting.  He tells her to say a little prayer for him every now and then, "but don't worry yourself."  She says she came to comfort him not the other way round.  Their time is up and he puts his hand on the glass separating them saying he'll see her again real soon.

Back in the motel, Gina dreams about that fateful day.  She ordered the agents to tell her what they were doing snooping around the rez.  Lawrence says to her that she is crazy, these guys are FBI.  But she tells him she knows what she's doing.   But one of the agents defiantly tells her to kill them, she'd be helping them do their job which is "putting dangerous assholes like ya'll behind bars." If she pulls the trigger she'll help put an end to "you motherfuckers once and for all."

Red Crow tells her to give him the gun, she doesn't want to do this.  Then Gina stops and says "no.  This ain't right.  This ain't how it happened."  Then she sees visions of people speaking to her.  Dash eggs her on.  Nitz says he'll get her whether she pulls the trigger or not. Diesel also tells her to shoot them and present day Lawrence tells her to walk away. So points the gun and we see her finger on the trigger.  Shots ring out but we don't see who fired.  And she goes and vomits by a tree.  Then she wakes up.

Gina's guilt becomes unbearable.

Driving back to the rez she phones Lawrence and tells him she is going to see him, "the only man alive who can get you out of here."  She tells him she had a dream and it's the only way to save him.  Lawrence begs her not to do this, but she says she must and ends the call as she crosses back into the rez.

We end this chapter and this volume with Dino and his friends discussing what they'll have for breakfast when they find Gina's crashed car. Then they stumble across her blood soaked body and Dino says to call the cops, "... and tell 'em there's been  murder".

So the wider cast is now introduced and we have some interesting people here, Jason Aaron's writing gives us many nuanced chacaters and they are gorgeously realised by Guera's dark and gritty artwork. The way the five stories of the night of the casino opening knit together is brilliant and the writing of Dino's internal monologue in his story is beautiful. Diesel makes for a good comparison with Dash.  He's a man clinging to a mere shred of genetic inheritance and has built his whole identity around being what he thinks is an Indian even though he's still seen as a white man by them like he was as a child.  Whereas Dash is a full-blooded Indian who's done everything to shed the cultural baggage that came with being that. But Diesel is also Dash without the capacity to care about anyone, he's a full on psychopath and it says a lot for agent Nitz's vendetta that he allows such a person to work for him. Catcher remains a mysterious unknown quantity, how much of what he sees and says is real and how much is because he's an alchoholic who has spent three decades living in isolation and lost touch with reality? He does have the balls to confront Red Crow and make him beg, but what will he do now after such an intense vision struck him and what did it mean?  The Poor Bears make for an also interesting comparison with Granny Poor Bear a wise old woman that everyone respects, someone steeped in the old ways while her grandson Dino can't wait to leave the rez and find a better life for himself and his daughter.  Finally Gina and her guilt which seems to have lead directly to her death keeps the mystery of just who killed the FBI agents that day going.  Lawrence is a man now at peace with himself and his situation but she can't bear to have him in prison another day if she knows who can set him free.  With her body now discovered after the chaotic opening night of the casino, the culmination of Red Crow's dream to take back what he thinks he is owed by the white man, it'll be interesting how he and Dash react to her murder which is told in the next volume, Dead Mothers.

Scalped Book 1: Indian Country (#1-5)

"Here we are, still forgotten, still a third world nation in the heart of America" - Lincoln Red Crow

For this month and most of the next I'll be looking at all ten volumes of Scalped, a sixty issue Vertigo series that debuted in 2007 and ended in 2012.  It is a crime noir story that initially has us following the story of American Indian Dashiell Bad Horse as he returns to the Oglala Lakota Prairie Rose tribal reservation in South Dakota a couple of weeks before a new casino opens.  The rez is racked by poverty, politics, alchoholism and drug addiction as the people span two worlds, the ancient Indian culture that some still cling too and the modern world which has abandoned them.  After the initial focus on Dashiell the story opens up, with side characters given their turn in the sun building up a more complex picture of life in and around the rez. With the ongoing investigation of an FBI agent with a grudge into corrupt tribal leader Lincoln Red Crow there is a lot of death and misery portrayed here, but with enough brighter spots to prevent darkness induced audience apathy setting in. The writer is Jason Aaron and the main artist is R. M Guera, with some fill in artists along the way. This is split into two arcs, Indian Country and Hoka Hey. So lets begin.

INDIAN COUNTRY: We begin with a shabby drunken man who we later find out is called "Catcher" talking to his horse "Festus".  He says he can smell it on the wind, "I'll be goddamned if we ain't in for one helluva shitstorm".  Elsewhere a man has come to a Indian drinking establishment and goads them into fighting him, the man Shunka asks if he is trying to commit suicide?  The man has been winning a lot of fights lately, now Boss Red Crow wants a word with him. 

Dashiell Bad Horse.

So they won't kill him "just cripple you a little."   The man gets out his nunchuks and tells them to "skip all this goddamn foreplay ladies." And the fight begins. Outside looking in, Catcher says the man is "Dashiell Bad Horse", and it's been years since he was on the rez.  He leaves on Festus saying "suddenly I'm feelin' a mite fuckin' sober."

Later Dashiell has been dragged, badly beaten into the unfinished casino and handcuffed to a chair in Red Crow's office. Red Crow says he wasn't expecting him back here, and he's impressed with his fighting prowess.  "I'm fair to middlin' I reckon" responds Dashiell.

Red Crow says he though Dash might remember his "uncle Red Crow as someone not to be fucked with".  He makes a crude remark about Dash's mother and that Dash left the rez when he was thirteen on track to become as big as waste of space as his father, then:

Red Crow: "I may be long in winters kid.  But I still know a thing or two about a thing or two.... most important, I know how to take a big knife, make an incision from the forehead to the back of the neck... and tear someone's fucking scalp off."

Dash isn't intimidated.  Red Crow says he's been away from "The People" too long, he has no troubles with the law himself he's the President of the Oglala Tribal Council now.  Also Sheriff of the Tribal Police and chairman of various commitees and finally managing director of this new casino.

Lincoln Red Crow and Dash chat.

Round here he's "I'm the Father, the Son and the Holy fucking Ghost all rolled into one."  He shows Dash his knife saying it's killed more men's lives than typhoid.  Dash asks to be let go saying he's just passing through staying one step ahead of the heat.   Red Crow has a better idea.  He needs more police officers to deal with the people protesting the casino and Dash has the perfect temperament, plus he's a full blooded Indian, he's sick to death of goddamn half-breeds.   He gives Dash no choice in the matter and so Dash becomes a tribal cop.

Three days later, he and the cops and Red Crow's enforcers led by Shunka are gathered outside a house where the protestors meet.  They start to make a plan, but impatiently Dash just kicks the door down.  They get everyone on the floor in there and start making arrests.  Thirty minutes later a woman called Gina shows up, she's one of the protest leaders and she is told there was a stockpile of explosives and unlicensed firearms in there. She asks one of the protestors if that's right and he says that "protest signs ain't winning us shit.  This is a fucking war".

A white man says he's right, Gina tells him to shut the hell up.   She yells at them that they are just givin Red Crow excuses to run them off the rez, "we can only win this fight by staying true to the old ways".  Red Crow wants to corrupt them with gambling but his greed will be his undoing and... then she sees Dash and tails off.

Gina Bad Horse and Diesel.

She then gives him a slap across the face shouting "asshole!"  She tells him he makes her sick and drops into Lakota speak. He grabs her saying she just assaulted an officer of the law and to give him one reason why he shouldn't run her in right now.  The white guy says he has one and holds a knife to Dash's back.  Dash points his gun in the man's face and then everyone pulls out their guns.

Gina calms the situation saying that "this fascist prick isn't worth it."  She calls the white man "Diesel" and says the rest of them should leave now.  They depart and Shunka says Gina must have been a fine lay thirty years ago.  Dash says she seems like a cold hearted bitch to him. Shunka says "you'd know I guess.. she's your mother."

Carol.

Back at the casino, Red Crow tells Dash to come for a drive with him.  They go over the border to White Haven Nebraska a slum where alchohol abuse is rampant.   Red Crow takes Dash in for a beer and they see his daughter Carol.  Red Crow dismisses her as "the type of cooze what drags men down black roads."  She's married to a "wasichu" (White man) if Dash can believe that.

Red Crow: "She's a whore and a liar.  And if you got a lick o' goddamn sense... you'll stay way the hell away from her."

They drive some more and Red Crow tells Dash about a protest group he was part of thirty years ago.  But in 1975 two Federal Agents stumbled onto their land unannounced and got shot, "you'd have thought the fucking world ended." He believes the casino will change things, they'll take back the money the white man took from them.

Dash says he never gave a shit about all this Lakota bullshit before "and I certainly don't care now."  Not the powwow, or the rain dance or stories about the good old, bad old days.  "The Indian wars are over and you guys fuckin' lost.  So you can take your great spirit and you can blow it out your ass."  Red Crow laughs and says "welcome to the world of the disenchanted.  Welcome home."

One week later we meet two FBI agents a younger one called Newsome and his boss Agent Nitz.  Nitz grills Newsome on what he's learned about Lincoln Red Crow.  It's quite a rapsheet, including drug trafficking, illegal arms, prostitution and running his own private army of thugs.  Nothing can be proven though, "welcome to Indian country" says Nitz.

Someone approaches and they kill the car lights.  They secure the perimeter and get ready to shoot whoever is coming their way. The person is expected, he's part of Nitz's new angle on nailing Red Crow.  And the person finally reaches them.

Nitz: "We wanna keep this rendezvous real intimate like.  Just you, me... and FBI Special Agent Dashiell Bad Horse."

Newsome is surprised that "this redskin punk is a Federal Agent?" Nitz introduces them.  They are still pointing guns at each other and Dash says if Newsome pulls the trigger he'll be doing him a favour. "Tough first week on the job" sneers Nitz.

Dash's secret revealed.

Five days ago  we see him in another raid on a meth lab.  One of the tweakers throws some corrosive chemicals at one of the raiders and in the commotion the leader escapes.  But Dashiell chases him down and shoots him in the back.  Another tweaker comes flying out the front into the path of the young man Dino Poor Bear.

Dash approaches him and Dino babbles that he just met them and he isn't a meth dealer or a tweaker.  He was just running errands for them to get money to get his car running.  He begs not to be busted as he still has three months on paper.  Dash fixes him with a hard stare, then lets him go saying he better not see him near a meth lab again.

Dash threatens Dino Poor Bear.

We cut to Red Crow showing off to the press, saying that although they struggle with unemployment, alchoholism and a life expectency fifteen years below the national average they are not a defeated people.  He's called them here to demonstrate the revival of the reservation.  Not just the casino, but all the methamphetamine they've seized is on display.

Then officer Falls Down appears and takes the drugs away saying that whenever evidence is left in his boys hands it tends to disappear. Falls Down is the only tribal cop not on Red Crow's payroll.   Red Crow wasn't overly thrilled about that.  Shunka scowls and Red Crow whispers, "I know what you're thinking.  Just hold that thought."

Four days ago Dash approaches Officer Falls Down who says if he was sent to kill him "I'd say I'm a tad insulted."  Dash says he's not meant to kill him, at least not yet.  They chat for a bit then Dash asks about his name.

Falls Down: "Redskin 101, Officer Bad Horse.  We don't all get cool animal names".

They banter some more then Falls Down advises him to get some sleep, he looks like shit.  It seems like it's not working out how he planned, "playin' Injun" and he walks away from Dash.

Back in the present Dash tells Nitz that it's not going to work, he's been beat to shit, shot at and almost killed.  And he has no idea what he's supposed to be doing, "I got no backup. Nothin' I'm out here all alone." Then we go back to three days ago, Dash is playing pool in a bar and he's approached by Carol, Red Crow's daughter.

She tells him he broke her fucking heart when he left, he says his mum sent him, Carol says it was for a little while but he never came back.  He left his sweetheart alone "on this goddamn pigsty of a rez".  Dash makes the excuse that he was theirteen. Carol says she let him watch her pee isn't that some lasting commitment, "speakin' of which... I'm still waitin' on ya to show me yours."

Carol attempts some seduction.

Dash asks how she can get so "lit in a place that doesn't serve alchohol."  She says come to the bathroom and she'll show you.  Dash says she shouldn't say that to a cop.  She sits seductively on the pinball machine, Dash asks about her where her husband is and she yells "fuck if I know! Why don't ya ask him yourself".

And her husband walks in calling her a "goddamn fuckaholic hussy".  And who the hell is Dash?  She rages at her husband to get off her ass, he yells back "how 'bout you learn to keep your clit in your goddamn pants?"  Dash then gets a call over the radio telling him to come to a drunken brawl in progress and he gladly leaves.

Two days ago, Red Crow is at an emergency council meeting and not happy about it.  The others on the council have concerns, like the hiring of Gina Bad Horse's son to be a tribal cop.  Red Crow says it was for muscle and nothing more.   They think he has a soft spot for the protestors seeing as he used to be one. Red Crow angrily says haven't they more important things to be doing putting their cousins on the tribal payroll?  The others depart saying he's only Chief because they let him and leave as he says to himself, "just keep thinkin' that, you fuckin' dipshits."

When they are gone, Shunka says they are right about Dash, he's "too much of a goddamn cowboy".  He keeps to himself and has a hell-for-leather and a smart-ass attitude.  He respects no one, not him or Red Crow.   He supposed to be shadowing Falls Down but it seems he has eyes for Red Crow's daughter. Red Crow says nothing.

Elsewhere a man with a skull-like burned face has been contacted by someone, a hit is being arranged through him.  He is delighted at the prospect of some violence.  Red Crow on the phone to him says:

Red Crow: "I don't want him 'harmed' Lister.  I want him dead.  And I'd rather you didn't set everything on fire this time."

Back in the present Nitz says Dash is still here isn't he?  Newsome says Red Crow can't be on to him that fast.   Nitz says if Red Crow wanted him dead, he'd be dead he's just lost his nerve.  Dash says he knows a setup when he sees one.

Dash and Officer Falls Down about to raid.

Eighteen hours ago. Officer Falls Down and Dash tool up to raid a meth house.  But it's only the two of them this time. Dash says fuck it lets get it over with.  Falls Down says he'll get his wish one day, the kind that ends in a hail of bullets, "... somewhere out there is a blaze of fuckin' glory.. with your name written all over it." Inside the shed the armed assassins wait for them to enter.

As they get ready to start the raid we get a flashback to a wintry scene from Dash's youth.  The tribe are carrying out an execution on a murderer and Gina forces Dash to keep looking at the bloodstained body telling him to think about that anytime he feels like picking up a gun.

He keeps flashing back as he and Falls Down smash down the door of the supposed meth lab. Inside the armed men open fire on them.   There is chaos but amazingly Dash and Falls Down gain the upper hand. Then Falls Down takes a bullet and drops leaving just Dash, he does some double gun firing while leaping sideways and finally takes the last man out as his guns run out of bullets.

The ambulance comes to collect Falls Down who is still alive despite taking a bullet to the chest. Dash asks if he thinks Red Crow set them up.  Falls Down has no doubt he did, "what're gonna do about it?"  And in the present Nitz asks what Dash did?  Did he attack Red Crow?  Dash says he didn't do nothing to nobody.  He just needed to talk to the motherfucker is all.

Seven hours ago. Dash knocks down the men standing guard outside Red Crow's council room.  Dash comes up behind him and holds a gun to Red Crow's head.  Dash demands to know why they were set up, but Red Crow doesn't admit to that. Dash says not to test him, he's shot unarmed men in the back before.  Red Crow says if he wanted him dead, he would be dead.

Dash tries to threaten Red Crow.

He tells him to look round the room at the members of the Tribal council. They are the ones behind the meth labs "Goddamn Christian fucking sell-outs, every one". Then he says he likes Dash but he's pushing his luck, if he's ever stupid enough to pull a gun on him again he must be quick and "don't fucking miss."

Outside, Gina comes over to Dash and tries to talk to him but he brushes her off and picks up a call to go to a domestic disturbance on Fools Crow Road.  There a Dash arrests a man for hitting his wife.  Dino says he hadn't seen moves like Dash used since Tekken 5 (a fighting videogame).   He asks Dash where he's been all these years and could he teach him some of those kickass moves.  Dash just drives off with the arrested man.

He sees another car and races madly after it getting it to pull over.  Inside is Carol, she has a black eye. Dash demands to know where her husband is, Carol just says he gets crazy jealous "he might hurt you".  She then asks if they can forget her husband for a minute and she stretches out the car window and kisses Dash, then drives off.  Watching over all this is Catcher on Festus.

Catcher is always watching.

Lister is meeting with Red Crow to admit he fucked up with the ambush, he lost three men and another is in a prison hospital.  He says he shot Falls Down three times, but it's not enough, he isn't dead.  Red Crow says he knew Bad Horse would survive but he thought they could at least take out Falls Down.  And for this failure Lister has outlived his usefulness to Red Crow and he orders his death telling his men to "mind the carpet boys."

In the present Nitz asks about Lister, Dash says he never heard of him before.  Nitz thinks they were gunning for Falls Down and Dash just got in the way. Or maybe it was Red Crow testing his mettle.  Or maybe it was a warning about staying away from his daughter.  Dash pretends he's never heard of her, but Nitz sees through the lie.

Dash then says he wants out.  But Nitz threatens him by saying he'll send him back to "bumfuck Alabama" where he'll spend his days rounding up redneck cockfighters and inbred whores.  Dash says yes please.  Nitz yells when he brings him Red Crows "grimy fucking melon on a plate then you can piss off to oblivion for all I care."  But for now he's to stop whining and do his job.

Nitz: "Or have you forgotten what I can do to you... with one fucking phone call?"

He then says he doesn't understand what Dash's problem is, he's going undercover as himself.  Angrily Dash drives off.  Newsome asks how such an arrogant punk got hooked up with the bureau?  Nitz says he's stubborn, reckless, out of control, a borderline sociopath with an unconcious death wish and a definite danger to those around him. "He's fucking perfect" finishes Nitz.

Watching up on a ridge behind them is Catcher and Festus.  Catcher tells Festus he's not as dumb as you think I am. "Them Thunder Beings ain't never yet lied to me yet.  No siree bob."  He contemplates some more then says that he's looking at a "Goddamn shitstorm" and that brings this first arc to an end.

HOKA HEY: We begin in the past, thirty years ago on June 20th 1975.  Two FBI agents lie with bullet wounds in them.  A young man is checking them and tells Gina they are both dead as Gina vomits.  He says the place will be swarming with agents because of this. Gina recovers somewhat and yells that she said "no fucking firing. Goddamit! This is his goddamn fault.."

That fateful day in 1975.

We then jump to the present and Red Crow has come into Gina's house, he picks up the album she was looking at commenting that Dashiell was a cute kid.  She angrily tells him to say what he's come to say and then fuck off.  He says he can't protect her any more.  There is a lot of serious money tied up in the casino and they're starting to think that her and her band of protestors have fucked with their investment long enough, "if it weren't for me, you'd be dead already."

Gina: "My God. Listen to you Lincoln.  You've actually started to buy your own 'noble savage' bullshit, haven't you? Only you're still the same two-bot hustler that you've always been.  You just dress better now is all."

He retorts that she's a blind and bitter old hag.  She's trying to take them back to the 70's when the rez was a shooting gallery.

Gina says she was wondering if he still remembered those days. He tries to reason with her saying she fought a good fight but the casino is opening in nine days and her safety is out of his hands now, "just walk the fuck away."  She angrily asks him what about a man called "Lawrence Belcourt" who is rotting away in prison for two murders he didn't commit. He was the younger guy in the flashback.

She supposes a big shot like Red Crow doesn't remember a little thing like Lawrence or that day in 1975.  Red Crow yells that he remembers everything about that day.  Gina tells him that Lawrence has exhausted his final appeal he's going to spend the rest of his life in jail.  She's going up to Kansas to see him so she won't spoil the opening of the casino.  But she will come back and reclaim everything he has stolen from the rez and from her.  Red Crow says he didn't steal her son from her and if she doesn't believe him, speak to Dash himself.

Gina looks for Dash.

So the next day she tries to do just that, driving round the rez askings where Dash is, never finding him.  He's actually in White Haven spying on Carol as she has sex with a man whose name she doesn't know.    When the man goes to wash himself, Dash gets out of his car with violent intent.

Inside the casino, Dash returns and is told by Dino that his mother was there asking after him.  Dash ignores him and heads for Red Crow's office. Red Crow asks where the hell he's been? Dash says "nowhere".  Red Crow says this "nowhere" wouldn't happen to be anywhere near his daughter Carol? Dash deflects, and Red Crow asks what Dash is doing to help protect his ninety-seven million dollar casino.

Later Dash is back watching Carol having sex with another man.  Over the radio he is told his mother called again.  We then return to the casino, Gina is asking after Dash again. The bartender says they don't open for another week, but he can take a message for him.  She starts to say something and is overwhelmed by memories of him briefly, then just says to tell him she was here, "just tell him I wanted to see him".  We then see Dash heading for the man Carol was having sex with.

Dash spying on Carol.

Red Crow is in bed with a woman, she asks him who Gina is because he's called her that five times now.  We then flashback to 1975.  Lawrence is panicking, Gina tries to reassure him, Red Crow says they have to run as fast as they can for the "fuckin' hills."  Gina calls him a "motherfucker", the men are dead and she points a shaking gun at him saying they could have worked things out.  He grabs and hugs her then kisses her.  The chapter ends with Red Crow brooding on his balcony, Gina brooding on the drive to Kansas and Dash brooding in his car on the edge of the rez.

The last chapter begins in a pub in the past again.  It's 1975 and Red Crow, Gina (with a very small Dash) and Catcher are celebrating beating the rap on a double murder. Red Crow gleefully says that there were no murder weapons, no eye witness testimony, the only chance the FBI had was turning them against each other.  But "we stayed true.  We beat the motherfuckers."

Red Crow: "So here's to the Dog Soldiers, now and forever.  The sewage of Europe does not flow in these veins!"

Gina is less than enthused and says she and Dash are leaving as soon as her boyfriend Wade, Dash's dad, comes back from the bathroom.  Catcher doesn't drink either so Red Crow imbibes alone.

Back in '75, a vendetta begins.

However also in the same bar is a young Nitz who makes a sarcastic toast to the "faggot-ass Judge and the twelve shit-for-brains jurors" that let the three of them off.  He also toasts the two dead FBI agents, the finest he ever knew, worth "ten times more'n y'all... or a hundred other no-account redskin fucks just like ya." And throws drink on Red Crow. At that Red Crow grabs him, but the others stop him throwing a punch.

Then Nitz tells them that they picked up Lawrence Belcourt and after todays events they are going to charge him with both murders.  Gina says that's bullshit, Lawrence is just a kid who never fired a shot that day.  Nitz says he knows that but when he is done, Lawrence will "look like the biggest goddamn criminal mastermind since Nixon".  And it's all on their heads.   He leaves telling them that this isn't finished until he finds a way to finish it and trust him, he'll find a way, no matter how long it takes. And we cut to the present with him pissing on an advert for the new casino saying to himself, "I'm still the one gonna finish it".

It's opening day for the casino, Red Crow is meeting the press who are asking how he justifies a casino on a rez where the average yearly income is three thousand dollars a year, and overturning prohibition on a rez which has the highest rate of alchoholism in the nation, and also that he's been accused of embezzling funds to line his own pockets. Before Red Crow can answer, Carol comes raging up and yells "go fuck yourself!"

She slaps him saying he has no say in who she fucks and that sending his goons to beat up whoever he has sex with isn't going to make her his daughter again.  She screams to call off whoever is following her around and get him off her fucking ass.  Red Crow tells his flunkies to get her out of her then find him Dash.

Dash drowns his sorrows.

Who is sitting in the empty casino bar, when he mentions his name the bartender says his mother was in there about a week ago asking after him.   He says she seemed desperate to speak to him.  Dash says she had all the chances in the world to talk to him. He then gives a list of important moments in his life that she wasn't present at because she was off protesting, such as watching her on TV getting arrested on his thirteenth birthday protesting a Redskins game.

He says he was thirteen when he left this shithole rez behind and he never looked back.  The bartender says well he's here now isn't he? Maybe it was a woman who brought him back.  "Not quite" responds Dash.  And that sends us into another flashback.  Nitz is at the FBI academy.  He's being told that Dash isn't fit to be an FBI field agent but he says if he doesn't get him, Nitz will resign effective immediately.

He says that if it's his mother being a member of a domestic terrorist group that's the problem, he hasn't seen her in ten years.  Since she sent him away, he's kept himself busy.  Playing football, training in Jeet Kune Do, taking part in unlicensed boxing tournaments and finally in the military stationed in Kosovo.  Nitz says he's come to the FBI because he belongs home on the range not marking targets for Tomahawk missiles.

They'll start him off in the Deep South "then when he's ready, when he's got a little gravel in his guts.... ya give him to me" says Nitz.  One of the others there asks Nitz if he is still trying to settle old scores and Nitz says he is. It is noted that Dash changed his second name to Bradford and said he absolutely did not want to work on an Indian rez.

Nitz: "He'll do it, because deep down, he can't wait to do it. 'Cause waht's this all for if he can't go home to show his mother just exactly what he's become? So let him talk all he wants about how he hates being an Indian, because deep down, I'm tellin' ya... Dashiell Bad Horse is dyin' to get back to that rez."

And we return to the present and Dash is in Carol's house where she is in bed with two men.  He pulls a gun and tells them to get out and Carol realises that it's been Dash following her around all this time.

He asks where her husband is and she says out of town and does her dad know he's doing this? She sneers that's she's touched by his personal campaign to make her monogamous.  Then she tells him to get the hell out.  He grabs her and slams her against the wall.  She says does he wanna hit her, how original.  He says he wants her out of his face.  She says he's the one who broke into her house.

Sexy times!

They break apart.  She asks what he's doing back here and what a coincidence it is that he returns right before the casino opens, "you're playing an angle." She then takes her bra off and tells him is this what he's after.  He says she has nothing to offer him, but she presses against him "why are you following me?  Why'd you come here tonight?  And why's your dick so fuckin' hard?" And they start having wild sex while elsewhere Red Crow officially opens the casino.

We finish with Catcher, completely naked, coming out of a sweat lodge speaking to the Thunder Beings. He asks for his strength to be restored to walk the soft earth and stride the black road once again.  He goes into his trailer and his wall of newspaper clippings about his friends from long ago.  Asking what hope they have now they are all so far apart. And the final image is of Gina Bad Horse's dead body lying in a huge pool of blood.

Gina, murdered.

This is an excellent introductory volume, quickly setting up the various important characters and their relationships.  With Nitz's vendetta being the thread that will run through the whole of the series.  The characters shown so far are all very flawed people and so far there are no heroes to cheer along.  Dash might nominally be the main character but he's an angry, bitter, shell of a man.  With good reasons, and he'll gain some nuance as the series progresses as do all the major characters, but so far he's a man with a barely concealed deathwish and something of a deconstruction of the "Badass" archetype. The death of Gina Bad Horse is secondary plot mystery that'll also run through several volumes and like so much of what is going on in the present day it is bound up tightly with what happened in the past.  Jason Aaron's writing and plotting likes to play around with time, bouncing backwards and forwards between past and present as we see what happened and the reasons for what happened play out side by side.  R. M Guera's artwork is wonderful.  Darkly gritty with shots of great beauty interspersed amongst the grime.  All-in-all this is a superb start to the series and I hope you'll return in a few days for some Casino Boogie.