Volume seven of Aaron and Guera's Vertigo series about crime and degradation on an Indian Reservation. There's a hint of redemption here as well, more so than in any of the previous volumes, and hard-won, high-cost, painfully vulnerable redemption at that.

Coming right out of nowhere is the heart-rending opening story about an old couple facing up to some grim realities, living in an isoated spot far from town. This is followed by a two-parter about Shunka, Red Crow's right-hand man, and that takes an amazing turn right from the get-go. After that, we travel to Vietnam 1969, and Dash's father's experiences in the war and after. Then it's back to Dash Bad Horse and Carol, two horribly wounded souls at the bottom of a long fall into utter self-destruction, just beginning to claw their way back to the light, if it's not too late.

Scalped is a dark, twisted, violent series, but in this volume Aaron writes the heart out his story and his characters, leaving them sad and sorry and alone, with darkness ahead and only thin shreds of human dignity to protect them.