Graphic Novel Review - Southern Bastards Volume 1: Here Was A Man - Jason Aaron (Author) & Jason Latour (Illustrator)

Graphic Novel Review - Southern Bastards Volume 1: Here Was A Man - Jason Aaron (Author) & Jason Latour (Illustrator)

Recommended for 18+

I'm in love with Image Comics at the moment. Head over heels in love. They've produced so many fantastic series over the last couple of years that they've moved firmly into the position of 'favourite comic book publisher'. Black Science, Saga, Nailbiter...all fantastic, and if Volume 1 is anything to go by then Southern Bastards is going to sitting right at the top of the pile (alongside Saga, because it's Saga).

It's the story of Earl Tubb, returning home to Craw County, Alabama where he was brought up under the strict rule of his father, the sheriff. Nowadays, high school football coach Euless Boss has the petrified town in his grip, and Earl doesn't take kindly to that. Over the course of the story, we see Earl try to put the memories of his childhood to bed, whilst confronting the new menace of Boss, and holy shit is it fantastically good.

Ask me to put my finger on just what it is that makes the story so utterly readable and I can't do it; it's basically just everything adding up together. The script, the images that go with it, the mystery behind why everyone is so scared of Boss, the desire to see Earl get revenge, and not to mention the HOLY SHIT ending, it's all just mesmerising. Who doesn't love the image of an old guy with a legendary stick beating the crap out of gobby youths?

I'm sure the American South isn't all like the time of Craw County, but I'll certainly be weary of any high school football coaches if I pay a visit!

Could not be any more excited for Volume 2, just to see more of the history of Craw County, and the backstory of Boss. Essential reading for any graphic novel aficionados in 2015.

5/5