In the heartland of America lies its biggest shame, a smattering of places that are the equivalent of Third World nations, full of murder, suicide, alcoholism, rampant drug use and extreme poverty. One of these places is the Prairie Rose Reservation in South Dakota, home to members of the Lakota tribe and the setting for Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera’s crime epic Scalped. Dashiell Bad Horse’s return to his boyhood home, a place he wished to never see again, begins a chain of events that weaves in and out of the lives of the other people of the Rez, from the crime boss and tribal chief Lincoln Red Crow, to the lowly janitor and sometimes pot-dealer Dino Poor Bear. If you were to take a television show full of complex and morally grey characters like The Sopranos and set it on an Indian Reservation, you’d have this book. The characters are rich and complex, despicable yet fascinating to watch. Pair that with the style of Spanish artist R.M. Guera, whose work is a combination of realistic and hyper-exaggerated, full of dark shadows and pools of blood, and this book jumps off the page with a sickening beauty that will stick with you. Certainly not for the faint of heart, but if you are looking for the next utterly engrossing crime drama that isn’t an AMC show, this is it. Hoka hey!