Southern Bastards Volume 1: Here Was a Man Review

A typical sign in the South

 Photo courtesy of Andrew Faulk Photography

“…he better stay off my farm
Cause it was my Daddy’s and his Daddy’s before
And his Daddy’s before and his Daddy’s before
Five generations and an unlocked door and a loaded burglar alarm”

– Drive by Truckers “Sinkhole”

Written by: Jason Aaron

Art by: Jason Latour

Publisher: Image

In 1984, my Mom and Dad drove my brother and I from Loveland, Colorado to Wilmington, North Carolina with everything we owned in tow. We were a family still searching for our identity: my brother and I were both born in Colorado, but had no other ties to the state at all. My parents were both raised in New Jersey, and while my Mother had been there most of her life, she was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Why does this matter and how does it relate to Southern Bastards? I lived in the South for over twenty years, and yet I still always felt like a bit of an outsider. I moved halfway across the world three years ago, and when I visit the South now to see my parents I still feel like a voyeur of sorts. “The Jasons” (Jason Aaron and Jason Latour) have captured this sense of isolation and insulation in a way that few other books on the stands can. Southern Bastards is at once a “redneck” crime noir, a period piece (albeit one set in the present day), a region study, and a complicated family history.

Spoiler alert: he helps

Earl Tubb has returned home to finish up some business that should have been settled decades ago. Earl’s Dad was the sheriff of Craw County, and while not everyone liked him, they sure respected him (and the big stick he carried). Earl left for Vietnam at a time when not many young people were volunteering for that particular war effort, which gives you a pretty good idea of how badly Earl wanted to escape from Alabama. We even get brief vignettes of Earl’s time in Vietnam, and if you’ve read and loved The Other Side like I did, then you’ll be clamoring for more glimpses into Earl’s “tours” through the jungles. Now Earl has returned from the “big city” (outside of Birmingham) to sell his daddy’s house and finally put old matters to rest. Unfortunately, it seems that Craw County has taken up its old bad habits once again in the years since a Tubb has been around to “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Earl doesn’t want to “save” the county necessarily, and he definitely doesn’t want to be his ‘Daddy,’ but it seems that the more you run away from some things, the more you become them. A tough lesson to learn, but Earl’s getting there slowly it seems.

Not an exaggeration

Southern Bastards does what all comics try to do, but often fail at: two creators, working side-by-side, creating a piece of art that cannot be done in any other medium. Aaron and Latour have known each other for years, a fact made more apparent with every turn of the page. I would love to see Aaron’s scripts for these first four issues, but unfortunately, the only extras included in the trade paperback are a few of Latour’s initial designs. I doubt Aaron included every single detail about each scene, which is why it’s so awesome to see Latour’s small details throughout every panel. People still wear fish hooks in their hats in the South. While this has become less common than perhaps twenty years ago, you are still likely to see this phenomenon if you ever travel in the South. Tap Out shirts everywhere. BBQ joints. Confederate flags. Mosquitoes. Church signs. Jack Daniels. Screen doors. Huge old trees covered in Spanish moss. Sweet tea. As I stated above, I don’t live in America currently, but parts of this book remind me that I still miss things about the South. Not all parts, but I’ll be damned if Southern Bastards  didn’t make me just a bit homesick for all of the beautiful parts of the South that I do miss almost daily.

I read and loved Aaron’s series, Scalped, but with that book I had to take Aaron’s word for all of the dialogue and the culture of casinos on the “Rez.” With Southern Bastards, I know what the characters sound like there and Aaron has nailed the dialect. People talk in the comic exactly as they should, with no irony or drawn out vowels for the sake of it, but instead with authenticity. Aaron claims William Faulkner as an influence, and if you’ve ever read As I Lay Dying, I think you’ll find the influences are woven throughout the story. I’d also be remiss if I don’t gush just a bit more over Latour’s artwork and also mention the colors which he is also handling. Throughout this opening arc, the quick flashbacks we see are usually tinged with a dark reddish color, a motif that repeats a number of times. Latour also creates some amazing 9 panel pages that I think few can pull off, but the quick snapshots really do a great job of showing the violence of Craw County and how it permeates almost everything there.

Latour just doing work here

I thoroughly enjoyed this first arc. I’m not sure what will happen next, but let’s just say I don’t think winning the state championships is Coach Boss’ biggest concern anymore. Earl Tubb is back in town and he’s still looking for answers. I’m just happy that Aaron and Latour have invited us to hitchhike along these dirt roads with them. Listen close and you can almost hear the cicadas and their ceaseless but melodic drone—I know I can.