Scalped

Scalped is a critically acclaimed 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.

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.

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.

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.