This is a review of Scalped: Book One by Jason Aaron and P.M. Guera. Dashiell Bad Horse is an undercover FBI agent. His mission: take down Lincoln Red Crow, who runs the reservation where he was born. Dash gets into it with Red Crow’s thugs; this is an audition of sorts, and it works. Red Crow is impressed, and takes Dash into his employment. First, he tells Bad Horse about what it was like having sex with his mother. I couldn’t figure out why he’d say something like that, and then realized that this is Red Crow’s way of making small talk. It’s also his way of saying, ‘I own your ass.’
Soon Bad Horse is a cop, busting meth houses, spying on his ex-girlfriend and beating up her boyfriends (she call them fuck buddies, but never mind), and providing security for the soon-to-be opened casino. His single encounter with his mother, who is an activist, does not go well. Conditions at the reservation are depicted as being awful. I do not know how accurate this depiction is. I will say that this book contains multiple triggers – blood, swearing, racial epithets, blood, partial nudity, drug use, blood, gunfights, fistfights, sex, murder, lots and lots of blood. If this offends you, do not read this. I guarantee you will get upset.
Scalped is a well-done graphic novel that reads like an action movie and blends two genres – noir and Westerns. P.M. Guera’s gritty art captures the spirit of the book. Mr. Aaron’s approach is blunt, but there’s lots of stuff going on beneath the surface. Everyone has an agenda, and nobody is exactly who they seem to be.
One can debate whether this is the creators’ story to tell. In this case, I am not the person to ask, but I do feel like I have something to contribute to the discussion. I have genuine OCD. I’m not ‘a little OCD,’ I am diagnosed and it’s really messed with my life. When I see fiction about OCD, my first thought is whether the author has OCD. if the author does have OCD, more power to them! If not, things become murky.
My own viewpoint – I’m speaking for myself here, as I am no gatekeeper – is that if you are writing about OCD and you don’t have it, do your homework and get it right. Otherwise, you will be misrepresenting a devastating mental illness, and perhaps indirectly hurting the people who have it. In fact, there are folks who will get mad even if you do your homework and get it right. That’s because you are profiting off something that has made many lives miserable.
If you are shocked that people might feel this way, whether it be about OCD or daily life on an Indian reservation, think of it this way. What if someone you didn’t know made a movie using the details of your life without your permission, made a million dollars, got some of the details wrong, and then told you they were doing you a favor by raising the public’s awareness of you?
Would you thank them, or sue them?
Abandoned Places 