It’s finally here! The ultimate, southern gothic team-up between Jason Aaron and Jason Latour, the incredibly named “Southern Bastards”, has dropped it’s first issue and I’m here to take a look at whether the hype was worth it.
Written by Jason Aaron
Illustrated by Jason Latour
Welcome to Craw County, Alabama, home of Boss BBQ, the state champion Runnin’ Rebs football team…and more bastards than you’ve ever seen. When you’re an angry old man like Earl Tubb, the only way to survive a place like this…is to carry a really big stick. From the acclaimed team of JASON AARON and JASON LATOUR, the same bastards who brought you Scalped and Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted, comes a southern fried crime series that’s like the Dukes of Hazzard meets the Coen Brothers…on meth.
I love the South. I love BBQ, I love the sun, I love the sweet, lilting tunes of Lynyrd Skynyrd playing over a busted, old radio. I’ve also never been to the South. I am as far away as you could possibly get from the South without leaving the planet’s atmosphere. That makes a book like “Southern Bastards” a lot more interesting as the immediate feeling is not that it was created by someone in the big city as they reminisce about how simple life was back in the old day. No, “Southern Bastards” was created by two men entrenched in South, surrounded by the kind of people that make them hate the place they love, and this is their seething, brutal ‘screw you’ to them. This is the kind of comic book that opens with a dog defecating in front of crowded roadside signs for Baptist churches. And it is glorious.
“Southern Bastards” is one of those books that, despite having a separately credited writer and artist, feels like the creation of one creative mind. Jason Aaron and Jason Latour feel so creatively synced when reading this issue that they might as well be piloting a Jaeger. From the writing through to the art even to the letters at the end by each creator it is clear that they were both on the completely same page when creating this book and that’s why it works. Normally when you get a #1 it could feel rocky or disjointed or even sparse in story as it tries to set up the world and character and only tells enough story to hook the reader for a second issue. This isn’t one of those issues. “Southern Bastards” tells more than enough story in it’s first issue to be fulfilling as it follows the return of Earl Tubbs back to his hometown and finds a dark, underlying violence in the town.
Jason Aaron really taps into the idea of hard boiled, southern gothic revenge thrillers here which is not only something you don’t see a lot in comics, but has created a story from it that I don’t think we’ve ever seen in comics. From the main character on down, this is a story that feels wholly unique in comics and Aaron has used that fact to write to calibre higher than anything he’s written. Yes, even the character defining “Thor: God Of Thunder”. This one issue is full of emotional nuance and action and humour and a little bit of horror and it’s only the first issue. The writing of this issue alone is stellar, but still leaves it open for the story to go on to even bigger and better thing.
Yet, like I said, this isn’t the kind of comic book that has a clearly defined cut between writer and artist. Just as Jason Aaron has put his all into this issue, so to has Jason Latour put his best work into this issue. Dripping the pages of this issue with atmosphere that feels rival to the green and gold hues of True Detective with a stark red/yellow wash over his harsh lines, Latour pumps this issue to the brim with pure atmosphere. Not only that, but just as Jason Aaron’s writing fills this with both the emotional nuance of a old man coming back to his hometown and seeing it gone to hell and brutal, hard boiled action, Latour hits those beats, both emotional and brutal, perfectly. The highlight of the entire issue (no spoilers!) comes at the end of the issue as Latour cuts between two emotionally matched and brutal scenes in a way that feels reminiscent of a Coen Brothers movie. This issue does feel truly cinematic in a way that feels like a southern-tinged Death Wish, but not in a way that sacrifices how well Latour can tell a story as a comic.
Overall, this is the inception of yet another feather in the cap of Image Comics’ dominance thanks to Jasons Aaron and Latour. These two creators are perfectly in line with each other, merging into one creative mind to put on the page a passion project that is fuelled by the fire of seeing something they love ruined. From that fire springs a comic that takes the stark brutality of a film like No Country For Old Men and puts that on the page with some of the best work each creator has put out to date. This is not one to miss.
Final Verdict: 9.4 – Don’t you dare pass this up
