Scalped (comics)

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Scalped is a 60 issue crime/western comic

book series written by Jason Aaron and
illustrated by R. M. Guéra, published
monthly by Vertigo Comics. Issue #1 was
published on January 3, 2007.
 Scalped

Cover to the first trade paperback by Jock

Publication information

Publisher Vertigo

Schedule Monthly

Format Ongoing series

Genre Crime
Publication date March 2007 – August
2012

No. of issues 60

Creative team

Created by Jason Aaron, R. M.

Guéra

Written by Jason Aaron

Artist(s) R. M. Guéra
Davide Furno

Letterer(s) Phil Balsman

Steve Wands

Colorist(s) Lee Loughridge

Giulia Brusco
Editor(s) Will Dennis
Casey Seijas
Collected editions

Indian Country ISBN 1-4012-1317-0

Casino Boogie ISBN 1401216544

Dead Mothers ISBN 1401219195

The Gravel in Your Gut ISBN 1401221793

High Lonesome ISBN 1401224873

The Gnawing ISBN 1401227171

The series focuses on the Oglala Lakota

inhabitants of the fictional Prairie Rose
Indian Reservation in modern-day South
Dakota as they grapple with organized
crime, rampant poverty, drug addiction and
alcoholism, local politics and the
preservation of their cultural identity.

Inspiration
Scalped originally began as a prospective
relaunch of Scalphunter, an older DC
character. As development proceeded,
much of the original concept was
abandoned in favor of the current plot.[1]

Jason Aaron has said the plot of the

comic is partly inspired by Leonard Peltier,
a Native American activist who was
arrested for the murder of two FBI agents
in a reservation shootout in 1975.[2]

Plot

Indian Country …

After fifteen years of absence, Dashiell

Bad Horse returns to the "Rez" and is
promptly arrested and taken to Lincoln
Red Crow, President of the Oglala Tribal
Council and Sheriff of the Tribal Police.
Red Crow, bemoaning the prevalence of
"half-breed" Indians and desiring more
enforcers to counteract the nativists
protesting his new Crazy Horse Casino,
hires Bad Horse onto the Tribal Police
Force. After raiding a number of meth labs
to clean up the Reservations' public image
before the opening of the casino, it would
appear Bad Horse has cemented his
reputation as a ruthless and effective
Tribal officer. In reality, Bad Horse is an
undercover FBI agent, overseen by SAC
Agent Baylis Earl Nitz and ordered to find
evidence linking Red Crow to the murder
of two FBI agents thirty years ago, during
Red Crow's time as a member of Native-
American rights organization, co-run with
Dashiell's estranged mother, Gina Bad
Horse.

Dashiell's initial doubts about the

undercover operation are exacerbated
when he and his partner, Officer Falls
Down, are sent by Red Crow to raid a meth
house without backup. Bursting into the
house, the pair are ambushed by a gang of
gunmen, which succeed in wounding Falls
Down but are all killed by the ruthless
Dashiell. Confronting Nitz at a pre-staged
meeting point, Dashiell angrily argues with
him before breaking away in disgust,
realizing his job is far from over. Declaring
Dashiell an arrogant, reckless, stubborn,
out-of-control "borderline sociopath with
deep-seated anger," Nitz remains
convinced that he's perfect for the
undercover assignment.

Hoka Hey …

In issues 4 and 5, the relationship between

Gina and Red Crow is explored in
flashback as Gina hunts for Dash before
leaving town to visit Lawrence Belcourt,
the man charged with the 1975 murder of
two FBI Agents. Meanwhile, Dash runs off
all of Carol's lovers before sleeping with
her. We learn more about how Dash was
recruited into the FBI, and at the end,
Gina's body is shown scalped and
abandoned in the wilderness. The term
"Hoka Hey" is used by Catcher as a toast
to the Dog Soldiers.

Casino Boogie …

Issues 6 through 11 are each devoted to a

single character, providing information
about their histories and their motivations
in the present: Dash arrests Diesel and has
a strange conversation with Catcher, who
reveals that he knows Dash is FBI. Red
Crow also has an encounter with Catcher,
as a result of which Diesel, who has
ransacked Red Crow's office and murdered
his dogs, escapes; Red Crow also learns
that the Hmong gang whose money
helped build the casino has sent "Mr.
Brass". Diesel's background is explored,
especially his desires to be treated as an
Indian despite his blond hair and white
appearance; at the end, it is revealed that
Diesel is the other FBI agent and that he
has stolen two specific articles from Red
Crow for Nitz. Catcher has a long
conversation with Granny about his need
to speak with Gina. It is also shown that he
can see other people's animal totems,
such as Red Crow's elk totem, Dash's
spider totem, Granny's bear totem and his
own owl totem. Catcher calls Gina, but has
a terrifying vision before he can say
anything to her. Dino's homelife is shown,
along with his desire to leave the
reservation; while cleaning up Diesel's
vandalism at the casino, he gains the
sympathy of Red Crow, who gives him
money. Gina's actions in 1975 are
explored, as well as her conversation with
Belcourt at his prison; at the end of her
issue, her body is discovered by Dino and
his friends.

Dreaming Himself into the Real

World
…

In this single-issue storyline, Dash's daily

life and fears of being discovered as FBI
are explored, culminating in a dream in
which his mother (whom he does not
know has been killed) takes him through
Lakota history in order to get him to face
his Indian heritage.

Dead Mothers …

Issues 13 through 17: after raiding a meth

house, Dash assumes control of a
homicide investigation after discovering
Diesel strangled an addict as her children
slept in the next room. Red Crow, filled
with grief and anger over Gina's murder,
finds his affairs complicated with the
arrival of Mr. Brass, a ruthless enforcer
sent by gang leader Johnny Tongue to
purge the reservation of perceived threats
to the casino.

Dash is informed of his mother's death

and chooses instead to focus on the
deceased addict's homicide case, in the
process playing surrogate father to her
eldest teenage son Shelton, taking him
camping and teaching him to shoot. Mr.
Brass tortures Dash's witness and learns
Diesel's location, which he provides to an
incredulous Dash. Dash canvases White
Haven, Nebraska, where he is rebuffed by
Sheriff Wooster Karnow, the corrupt law
enforcement official ruling over White
Haven.

As the investigation seemingly hits a dead

end, Dash sends Shelton to live with his
relatives in Canada. During a routine traffic
stop, Dash discovers the occupants of the
car have sold Shelton a firearm and
offered directions to Nebraska. Dash
arrives at a trailer park to find Shelton
dead from gunshot wounds, his killer
Diesel already in Sheriff Karnow's custody.
Realizing he is the only person interested
in discovering Gina Bad Horse's murderer,
Red Crow approaches Officer Falls Down
and asks him to conduct an independent
investigation. Burdened by Shelton's death,
Dash instigates a bar fight and drunkenly
stumbles down the road, arriving at his
deceased mother's home. Overwhelmed
by guilt and the loss of his mother, Dash
breaks down, and spends the night in his
old bedroom.

The Gravel in Your Guts …

Dino Poor Bear, finally able to afford the
necessary automotive parts, takes his
partially restored Camaro on the highway
and is promptly pulled over by the corrupt
Reservation Police, who task him with
delivering a package over state lines to a
meth dealer. Upon arriving at his
destination, Dino is surprised when the
dealer offers him a regular job making
illicit deliveries.

Red Crow is approached by Grandma Poor

Bear, who gives him Gina's soul bundle.
Per Lakota tradition, the guardian of the
bundle must maintain a harmonious life
for a year, to properly purify the soul in the
bundle to allow it to travel the spirit path.
This task proves challenging to Red Crow,
prompting him to abstain from his typical
criminal dealings while also forcing him to
remember his turbulent past with Gina and
the sins and evils he's perpetrated on the
journey to opening his casino.

Mr. Brass, classifying the Reservation

occupants as inferior animals, treats them
as such, routinely torturing or murdering
Red Crow's employees for dealing drugs,
weapons, and various other minor crimes
whose prosecution could lead to an
investigation into the casino. One night,
Brass and his bodyguards follow a pair of
corrupt Reservation police into a bar,
killing them and cornering their delivery
boy, Dino Poor Bear, gouging out his eye to
punish him for his crimes. Red Crow, who
refused to deal with Brass because of his
pledge to Gina's soul bundle, whispers a
heartfelt apology to it before entering the
bar, killing both of Brass's bodyguards and
arresting Brass.
With Brass in jail and Dino in the hospital,
Red Crow returns the soul bundle to
Grandma Poor Bear.

High Lonesome …

Wesley Willeford, a career con-artist and

robber, arrives at the Prairie Rose
Reservation to count cards, having
squandered his career earnings and
opportunities following his expulsion from
most major casinos. Bemoaning his lack
of luck and dire financial straits, he
recognizes Dashiel Bad Horse as the FBI
Agent who busted him years ago in
Alabama. Assembling his old crew,
Willeford threatens to reveal Dash's FBI
undercover status to Red Crow unless he
helps them rob the casino. The robbery
goes awry and Dash tracks down and
murders the robbers. Returning to Carol's
apartment and on the verge of a
meltdown, Dash reveals to her that he is
an undercover FBI agent.

Diesel's past is revealed as a childhood of

broken dreams, an absent mother, an
alcoholic father and a constant struggle
with his racial identity, ultimately leading
him to orchestrate his abusive father's
death at the hands of several Indian thugs.
Baylis Earl Nitz's motivations are revealed
as loyalty to the two deceased FBI agents
Bayer and Berntson, both of whom were
shot and scalped on reservation land, and
whom Nitz vowed to avenge by pursuing
and convicting their murderers. Officer
Falls Down continues his investigation into
Gina Bad Horse's homicide, which he
believes is connected to the death of
Bayer and Berntson. In prison, Lawrence
Belcourt, a close friend of Gina convicted
for Bayer and Berntson's murders, reflects
on the events that day, revealing the
murderer of the FBI agents to be Catcher.

At Gina's grave, Catcher apologizes for

murdering her, promising to save her son
and help him lead the Lakota people.

The Gnawing …

In White Haven, Sheriff Karnow refuses to

transfer Diesel into Bad Horse's custody,
instead giving him Catcher, drunk from the
night before. On their ride back to Prairie
Rose, Catcher prophesizes Bad Horse as a
Lakota warrior meant to save the
reservation, and offers his assistance. At
the Tribal Police Station, as Mr. Brass sits
in his cell, Red Crow tasks Bad Horse with
finding the undercover FBI Agent on his
reservation, not realizing it is Bad Horse.
Johnny Tongue, livid with the
imprisonment of Mr. Brass, threatens Red
Crow, who in turn shoots Mr. Brass and
hangs up on Johnny Tongue.
Unbeknownst to Red Crow at the time is
Ben White Elk, a local dealer in the next
cell who witnessed the shooting, a loose
end Shunka vows to fix later.
Johnny Tongue, driven by rage, assembles
his gang and begins the long drive to
Prairie Rose. Hearing about the witness to
Mr. Brass's death, Agent Nitz orders Bad
Horse to keep White Elk alive so Nitz can
take him into custody. In the restroom,
White Elk recognizes Bad Horse as one of
his customers, and threatens to tell Red
Crow about his heroin habit if he doesn't
help him escape. Bad Horse helps White
Elk out of the station, but loses custody of
him when he escapes. The lone witness
now missing, both Nitz and Red Crow call
in reinforcements and begin a statewide
manhunt.

At Nitz's headquarters, Bad Horse learns

from Agent Newsome that Diesel will be
transferred to a mental facility for
imprisonment, a revelation he passes to a
livid Diesel. In White Haven, Bad Horse
finds Catcher and asks a favor. As the FBI
narrows their search to the mountains,
White Elk is horrified when Shunka finds
him first. Held at knifepoint and ready to
reveal who helped him escape, White Elk is
abruptly shot from a distance. The
gunman, Catcher, escapes detection. As
Agent Newsome drives Diesel to his
destination, Diesel kills him and pulls onto
the side of the road to meet Bad Horse in
the brush. At the Tribal Police Station,
Johnny Tongue and his men arrive, as Red
Crow appears, alone and unarmed. He
offers no resistance as Johnny Tongue
fiercely beats him.

As Bad Horse and Diesel travel deeper into

the brush, Bad Horse wounds Diesel with a
gunshot, disarms him and calmly yet
slowly murders him with tens of bullets,
revenge for killing the young boy. At the
Tribal Police Station, Red Crow is
bandaged, his beating over and Johnny
Tongue and his men gone, having inflicted
their punishment for Red Crow's
insubordination. Falls Down enters
Catcher's residence where he discovers
physical evidence confirming him to be
Gina's murderer, just as Catcher knocks
him out. Johnny Tongue returns to his
penthouse to find everyone dead. From the
shadows, Red Crow and Shunka, who rode
their helicopter ahead of Tongue's
motorcade, murder Tongue and his men.
At Prairie Rose, Bad Horse offers Red
Crow photographs of Diesel's corpse and
reveals him as the undercover FBI Agent,
an assertion that Red Crow's intelligence
backs up.

In the hospital, Carol discovers she is

pregnant with Bad Horse's child.

Rez Blues …

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A look is given into the histories of both
Carol Ellroy's history back to when her
mother, Claudine, tried two times self-
abort her and Red Crow convincing her not
to. But after an unknown amount of time
Claudine leaves both Red Crow and Carol.
It is also revealed that Gina Bad Horse,
Dashiell's mother, aborted a child a few
years after Dashiell was born and shows
her leaving Dashiell's father immediately
after leaving the abortion clinic. It also
shows Carol contemplating suicide before
Granny Poor Bear tells her that having a
baby is a good thing and also convinces
her to join a rehabilitation clinic and move
in with her. Carol joins the rehab center
and burns down her own house. Parallel to
these events Dashiell is kidnapped by Red
Crow, wanting to make Dashiell detox,
takes him and leaves him in a tent where
he hallucinates and wanders to his
mother's grave. Before this Dashiell's
father Wade comes to the Rez, apparently
on account of Gina's funeral. Wade
rescues Dashiell from the cold and brings
him to the hospital. Later Wade tells
Dashiell that his real purpose of coming
back was to catch Gina's killer. Carol and
Dashiell meet and both think of revealing
every thing (Dasheill that he is in love with
her and Carol that she is pregnant) but
they don't and agree not to meet up later.
The next day Carol aborts her child while
Dashiell waits where he had agreed with
Wade to meet but on the way there Wade
is stopped by Agent Nitz who doesn't want
Dashiell and Wade to meet. Wade soon
realizes that Dashiell's identity as a Federal
Investigator. Carol reveals to Granny Poor
Bear that she didn't keep the baby and
Granny takes her under her wing and trains
to care for her house after she dies. The
story arc completes with Dashiell sitting
near his mother grave.

You Gotta Sin to Get Saved …

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Knuckle Up …

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Trail's End …

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Characters
Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse (Lakota:
Sunkawakan Sica), a.k.a. Dashiell
Bradford, is a full-blooded Oglala Lakota
who left the Prairie Rose Indian
Reservation at the age of thirteen before
returning with a vengeance in 2007.
Although happy to have left the
reservation, he resents his mother for
sending him away, believing she chose
activist causes over the welfare of her only
child. The fifteen years in between were
spent on contact sports, learning Jeet
Kune Do, and serving with the U.S. military
in the Kosovo War before becoming an FBI
agent. A fiery brawler that taps into his
anger during fights, he has defeated
hordes of enemies at a time, but is not the
sort of man to kill in cold blood. He shaves
his head and wears several earrings. His
cold, withdrawn, anti-social demeanor
contrasts with his propensity to start
fights with little provocation or reason.
Described by FBI Special Agent Baylis Nitz
as a "borderline sociopath," his motivation
for returning to the reservation is at first
unknown, but later revealed to be legal
troubles which Nitz has promised to erase
if Dashiell successfully completes his
mission.

IGN ranked Dashiell Bad Horse as the

62nd greatest comic book hero of all time
stating that Bad Horse shows us how dark
you can go with an anti-hero to still make
us root for him.[3]

Chief Lincoln Red Crow (Lakota: Kangi

Sa), a.k.a. John Rayfield Bustill, a bullish
Lakota elder in his fifties, Red Crow's
professional demeanor conceals a cold
determination to elevate his Reservation
beyond their dire surroundings, no matter
the cost. A "big man" on the reservation
with fingers in many pies, he is President
of the Oglala Tribal Council, Sheriff of the
Tribal Police Force and Managing Director
of the Crazy Horse, his chief project since
leaving the Native American Rights
movement. The need to balance feuding
parties with conflicting interests, as well
as raising the necessary funds, has led
him into a position of a local crime lord,
managing his interests in drugs,
prostitution and arms dealing. Publicly and
privately, Red Crow is not shy about
drawing attention to the overwhelming
problems of the reservation, or his efforts
to reduce them, statements dismissed by
his critics who claim he's merely a mob
boss presiding over a criminal empire
feeding off the reservation.

Red Crow has unresolved romantic

feelings for Gina Bad Horse, with whom he
shares a history during their times as
militant Native American rights activists.
His estranged daughter Carol refuses to
speak to him civilly, and he becomes
concerned with Dashiell's obsession with
her. As the series continues, his attempts
at redemption are met with mixed results,
idealism clashing against the cold reality
of life on the Rez.

Gina Bad Horse: Dashiell's estranged

mother, and a longtime activist pushing for
the rights of Native Americans. With
Lincoln Red Crow and Lawrence Belcourt,
she participated in the ambush and
murder of two FBI agents who entered the
reservation one night in 1975. While she
initially held the wounded agents under the
gun, Red Crow took the pistol from her and
was hinted to have executed them himself
initially, saying that she didn't want to have
the killing on her conscience. In the
present time, she and her band of
protesters now oppose Red Crow's plans
to open the casino. Her murder drives
much of the plot of the series, as it
touches the lives not only of Dash and Red
Crow, but of Belcourt, Catcher, Nitz, and
Wade.

Britt "Diesel" Fillenworth: Gina Bad Horse's

boyfriend/companion, a skilled hand-to-
hand combatant, with a reputation for
violence and erratic, near-sociopathic
behavior. It is often remarked (generally
contemptuously) that he is white, although
he reacts badly to this, claiming to be 1/16
West Texas Kickapoo. In Gina's absence,
he breaks into Red Crow's office at the
casino, steals something critical (which he
later hands off to FBI agent Nitz), trashes
the office and kills Red Crow's dogs. After
a long, drawn-out fight with Dashiell he is
arrested, only to escape before Red Crow
and his men can take any action against
him. He lived with his abusive father until
he decided he wasn't going to take it
anymore and setup his father to be robbed
and killed. The items he stole from Red
Crow have recently been revealed to be the
scalps of the two murdered FBI agents.
Diesel is eventually released from jail by
Nitz, who plans to have him eliminated
under the guise of being taken to a
safehouse. Informed of this plan by Dash,
he kills Nitz's assistant Newsome before
being himself killed by Dash.

FBI SAC Baylis Earl Nitz: A vengeful,

unscrupulous and amoral FBI Agent who
was present at Dashiell's birth and had had
his eye on him for some time, insisting
that he be made an FBI Field Agent when it
seemed his mother's record would prevent
that. He is driven by a desire to see Red
Crow behind bars for murder, something
that has eluded him since the seventies
when Red Crow and Gina got away scot
free from the murder of two FBI Agents.
He will do anything to get what he wants,
even if it means sacrificing Dashiell. He
left the two scalps of the murdered agents
on their graves, rather than using them as
evidence (which may have been
impossible anyway, since he obtained
them illegally). After his agents Newsome
and Diesel are killed, he is relieved of duty,
only to be restored to duty after he
accidentally wipes out an entire gang of
Jordanian terrorists. Given a new set of
team members, he returns to his quest to
take down Red Crow.

Carol Ellroy (née Red Crow): Married to

someone called Ellroy, although she
doesn't much care about the fact. Probably
married him (a non-Indian) just to spite her
father. Pretty much exactly Dashiell's age,
the two shared their first erotic experience
at the age of thirteen, when she let him
watch her urinate. Now that Dashiell has
returned, he is repelled by her promiscuity
yet attracted by her beauty. It is unclear
whether she is a femme fatale or a damsel
in distress. She and Dash become lovers,
and she gets him hooked on drugs. But
when he tells her he is FBI, she kicks him
out. She eventually learns that she is
pregnant with Dash's child, and tries to
start a new life with Granny. But eventually
she decides to abort the baby without ever
telling Dash about the pregnancy. Still,
Granny wants her to take her place as the
reservation healer. She also forms a
friendship with Dino, although her
continued feelings for Dash prevent for
recognizing Dino as a potential love
interest.

Dino Poor Bear: A young man struggling to

make a living on the reservation. He
encounters Dashiell at a meth lab which
Dashiell is shutting down. Poor Bear wants
a better life for himself and his daughter,
and would like to leave the reservation. He
works as a janitor for the Crazy Horse
casino and eventually gets money from
Red Crow to fix up his car. He is eventually
pressed back into a life of crime as a drug-
delivery boy. When Carol moves in with
him and Granny, he begins to think that
she could be his girlfriend; he even turns in
his friends after discovering they are
responsible for the hit-and-run death of a
reservation girl. He uses the reward money
to buy Carol a pair of earrings she liked,
but when she continues to talk about her
feelings for Dash, he tosses the earrings. It
is implied by Catcher that Dino will be
taking a dark and violent path.
Arthur J. "Catcher" Pendergrass, born
1952 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, was a
man of Red Crow's generation; he was
present when the federal agents died, but
he has never said a word about his role in
the murders. Upon seeing Gina, whom he
had loved his entire life, kiss Red Crow
passionately he snaps and kills the two
agents, who were being held at gunpoint.
Years later, when confronted by an angry
Gina, he kills and scalps her, possibly to
prevent being turned in for the crime. He
makes up for it by talking to himself (or,
rather, his horse named Festus) as present
events progress, providing us with a
running commentary. His reactions to
other characters are particularly insightful,
as he believes he can see their spirit
animals. (His own totem is an owl.) When
Officer Falls Down realizes his guilt, he
kidnaps him and puts him through a
tortuous "spiritual" test, which Falls Down
passes with the help of Gina's spirit.
Catcher then visits Dash and gives him the
choice to save Officer Falls Down or find
Gina's killer; Catcher hopes Dash will
choose well, but Dash chooses to find the
killer, and does not realize from Catcher's
words that Catcher is himself the killer.
Catcher shoots at Dash in the truck, but
just at that moment Dash swerves to avoid
hitting Officer Falls Down (still handcuffed
and blindfolded and stumbling through the
woods); Dash and Cather shoot at each
other. Catcher escapes, while Dash and
Officer Falls Down find Festus and get
back to the reservation.

Uday "Shunka" Sartana: Chief Red Crow's

bodyguard and closest associate. In a two-
part arc focusing on Shunka, it is revealed
that he is a closeted homosexual who has
to deal with widespread homophobia in his
line of work, including from Red Crow
himself. Shunka is distrustful of Dash and
their rivalry heats up as the series
progresses. Though he is always referred
to his nickname, which is "dog" in Lakota,
his mostly unknown real name suggests
he was born elsewhere. He is revealed to
be in love with Red Crow when he kisses
him just as Red Crow exiles him from the
Rez. He also almost tells Red Crow he
loves him before he is shot by Red Crow
Officer Franklin Falls Down: The single
straight cop on the rez. He was assigned
to cover Gina's murder and may be getting
more information than he expected as he
begins to investigate. His wife, Sherry, was
killed in a car accident by Parker Louvin, a
notorious alcoholic on the rez. He talks
with Belcourt and eventually finds
Catcher's trailer, where he realizes Catcher
is the killer. Catcher kidnaps him and puts
him through a tortuous trial, which Falls
Down passes with the help of Gina's spirit.
Agnes "Granny" Poor Bear (Iyotiyemato):
The eldest of the Poor Bear family, this old
woman seems to be the only source of
true guidance on the Rez. Skilled in the old
medicine, she offers spiritual counseling
to many of the characters. Though she has
no biological children of her own, she has
fostered several, and continues to take
care of the Poor Bear family. Her totem is
a huge bear, one of the very few "strong"
totems that have been revealed. She has
taken Carol in to her home, and has asked
her to be her successor on the reservation.
Dog Soldier Society: The DSS was a
Native American activist group on the
Oglala Reservation in the 1970s. Named
after the famous warriors of Crazy Horse,
they fought the Federal government for the
rights of the indigenous people of
America. Members included Lincoln Red
Crow, Gina Bad Horse, Catcher, Lawrence
Belcourt, and Reginald Standing Rock.

Reginald Standing Rock: One of the

activists on the rez back in the day, he was
suspected of being an informant for the
FBI. Red Crow confronted him alone and
although Reggie didn't confirm his status,
he didn't deny it. Standing Rock was Red
Crow's first murder victim—he choked
Standing Rock for 11 minutes. Standing
Rock's status as an informant is debated
still by members of the Rez, including his
wife, who denies it. It is later revealed that
Gina's husband (Dash's father) Wade was
the FBI agent, although no one else in the
story knows this.

Lawrence Belcourt: A Dog Soldier who

was present the night the two FBI agents
were murdered. Although Belcourt barely
participated, he was convicted of the
crime when others were acquitted. He is
serving life in a Federal prison, where he is
under the protection of an African-
American prison gang. Red Crow pays for
this service until Belcourt tells him about
his last conversation with Gina and tells
him he no longer needs his protection.
Belcourt physically resemble Leonard
Pelltier.

Phuong Yii Brass: A member of the

Hmong's criminal organization sent by
Johnny Tongue to ensure the security of
his investment, the Crazy Horse Casino.
An older man with visible scars and
missing his left arm, no doubt from his
shady dealings. Does not like to ask
questions twice and punishes his captives
through extreme torture. He is a sadist
who is not a stranger to using murder or
rape to get what he wants. He was
incarcerated by Red Crow as a hostage,
until Red Crow assassinated him as a way
of getting back at the Hmongs.

Johnny Tongue: The leader of a

predominantly Hmong crime syndicate in
Minneapolis/St. Paul who was an illicit
investor in Lincoln Red Crow's business
ventures in Prairie Rose, including the
casino. Johnny sends his most vicious
enforcer, Mr. Brass, to assert dominance
over Red Crow and his operations and
shape up his associates. Bristling at the
interference, and revolted by Mr. Brass'
revealed bloodlust and perversions, Red
Crow eventually murders Brass, starting a
war between his and Johnny Tongue's
crews. After an apparent victory and
assertion of dominance over Red Crow,
Tongue and his crew are ambushed and
murdered by Red Crow and Shunka.

Sheriff Wooster T. Karnow: The sheriff of

neighboring White Haven, Nebraska.
Claims to have played for the Cornhuskers
and been a member of a special forces
group but has a propensity for gross
exaggeration. Doesn't care about the
methamphetamine being run out the rez
so long as it doesn't affect his liquor sales.
After a U.S. Marshal demonstrates
Karnow's incompetence, Karnow begins to
crack down on Red Crow's criminal side
activities.

Wesley Willeford: An African American

con man and card counter who used many
aliases. He was taking down Red Crow's
casino when he was spotted and thrown
out. As he was leaving, he recognized
Dashiell as an FBI agent—Dashiell once
busted him—and blackmailed him into
helping set up the casino for a robbery.
The robbery went bad and Willeford died,
along with the other members of the gang
he put together for the robbery. Before
setting up the robbery, Willeford murdered
an Indian stripper to conceal his identity.
Falls Down is researching that murder, too.
Willeford accidentally dies of an overdose
after being stuck with a needle of
poisoned drugs intended for Dash.

Wade Rouleau: Dash's father, whom Gina

kicked out during Dash's childhood but
who returns when he hears of Gina's
death. Wade is shown to have
miraculously survived numerous deadly
scrapes in Vietnam, and for that reason he
was recruited by two of his war colleagues
to be the FBI's mole in the Dog Soldiers.
Dash brushes off Wade's return to the
reservation, but agrees to work with him to
discover the identity of Gina's murderer;
however, before they can meet, Wade is
picked up by Nitz and imprisoned on false
pretenses in order to keep him away from
Dash.

Reception
Scalped has been met with near universal
praise throughout its run. Comic Book
Resources referred to it as "one of the few
comics capable of evoking real, visceral
emotion from the reader",[4] and
Newsarama called the final issue an "awe
inspiring conclusion" and gave the issue a
score of 10 out of 10.[5]

Collected editions
Scalped has been collected into the
following trade paperbacks:
Scalped trade paperbacks
# Title ISBN Release date Collected material

1 Indian Country ISBN 1-4012-1317-0 August, 2007 Scalped #1–5

2 Casino Boogie ISBN 1-4012-1654-4 February, 2008 Scalped #6–11

3 Dead Mothers ISBN 1-4012-1919-5 October, 2008 Scalped #12–18

4 The Gravel in Your Gut ISBN 1-4012-2179-3 April, 2009 Scalped #19–24

5 High Lonesome ISBN 1-4012-2487-3 October, 2009 Scalped #25–29

6 The Gnawing ISBN 1-4012-2717-1 May, 2010 Scalped #30–34

7 Rez Blues ISBN 1-4012-3019-9 March, 2011 Scalped #35–42

8 You Gotta Sin to Get Saved ISBN 1-4012-3288-4 November, 2011 Scalped #43–49

9 Knuckle Up ISBN 1-4012-3505-0 July, 2012[6] Scalped #50–55

10 Trail's End ISBN 1-7811-6489-4 November, 2012[7] Scalped #56–60

Scalped has also been released in deluxe

editions.
Scalped Deluxe Editions
Collected
# Title Release date Type ISBN
material

ISBN 1-4012-
Feb. 18, 2015 Hardcover
Scalped Deluxe Edition Book 5091-2
1 #1–11
One ISBN 1-4012-
Jul. 19, 2017 Paperback
7126-X

Aug. 26, ISBN 1-4012-

Hardcover
Scalped Deluxe Edition Book 2015 5425-X
2 #12–24
Two Mar. 14, ISBN 1-4012-
Paperback
2018 7786-1

Dec. 23, ISBN 1-4012-

Hardcover
Scalped Deluxe Edition Book 2015 5858-1
3 #25–34
Three Aug. 15, ISBN 1-4012-
Paperback
2018 8156-7

April 13, ISBN 1-4012-

Scalped Deluxe Edition Book Hardcover
4 #35–49 2016 6144-2
Four
Cancelled[8] Paperback

August 3, ISBN 1-4012-
Scalped Deluxe Edition Book Hardcover
5 #50–60 2016 6363-1
Five
Cancelled[8] Paperback

Adaptation
Warner Horizon and DC Entertainment are
developing for WGN America a live action
Scalped TV pilot with Doug Jung writing
and executive producing the series.[9][10]

References
1. Renaud, Jeffrey (March 19th, 2010)
"Jason Aaron Sharpen's "Scalped" ,
Comic Book Resources, retrieved 12
December 2012
2. Rogers, Vaneta (October 17, 2008)
"Jason Aaron – Sticking With
 'Scalped'" Newsarama, retrieved 12
December 2012
3. "Dashiell Bad Horse is number 62" .
IGN. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
4. Liegel, Andy (August 27th, 2012)
"Scalped #60, Comic Book
Resources" , Comic Book Resources,
retrieved September 3rd, 2012
5. Pepose, David (August 27th, 2012)
"Best Shots Comic Reviews: JUSTICE
LEAGUE DARK, SCALPED, More" ,
Newsarama, retrieved September 3rd,
2012
 . "vertigiocomics.com" .
Vertigo.blog.dccomics.com. Retrieved
2016-12-02.
7. "Scalped Vol. 10: Trail's End" ,
Vertigo.com
. "DC Comics Cancels Scalped Book
Four - and Probably Five Too" .
Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.
November 8, 2018.
9. "WGN America Adapting DC Comics'
'Scalped' (Exclusive)" . The Hollywood
Reporter. April 14, 2014. Retrieved
2014-04-14.
10. "WGN America Gives Pilot Orders To
'Roadside Picnic' Strugatsky Bros.
Drama, 'Scalped' DC Comics
Adaptation" . Deadline. March 7, 2016.
Retrieved 2016-03-07.

External links
Scalped at the Grand Comics Database
Scalped at the Comic Book DB
(archived from the original )
GUT CHECK: Jason Aaron Talks
Scalped , Comic Book Resources,
October 9, 2008
 Jason Aaron – Sticking with Scalped ,
Newsarama, October 17, 2008
Scalped Vol. 1: Indian Country ,
OpenLibrary

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title=Scalped_(comics)&oldid=951560354"

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