Speak softly, and carry a big stick. That’s Earl Tubb’s philosophy.
Southern Bastards takes place in the deep south and it’s umm…pretty deep. Written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Jason Latour, the story forces old Earl Tubb back into Craw County, Alabama. Home of Runnin’ Rebs high school football team, Earl use to be a football player along side bullied Euless Boss. But that was 40 years ago. And now Coach Boss controls the Runnin’ Rebs along with most of the town. And not in a good way. With several other delinquents working for him, they run the town, the Sherrif’s office, the whole nine yards. The town was already a terrible place when Earl left for Nam some 40 years ago, but he couldn’t conceive it has gotten just that much worse. With crime, drugs and corruption rampant, Eurl Tubb never wanted to come back if it wasn’t for his father’s unresolved re-estate issues. But he did. And soon after dining at Boss BBQ he immediately quarrels with Coach Boss’ henchmen after an old friend got into some trouble. The Coach notices, and he doesn’t take too kindly to outsiders.
Earl Tubb quite obviously tormented by his past life in this town. And his relationship with his dead father is the crux of it, being the primary reason why he left in the first place. Though Tubb still has unresolved emotions with his father, he seems to care more then he could admit. Talking to himself, asking his for his dead father’s advice or help. Though he did get some help. In the form of a stick, a really BIG stick. In which he proceeds to put a beat down on Coach Boss’ crew.
It’s violent, crude and dark. It starts off a bit slow but writer, Jason Aron is able to get readers to really feel for Earl Tubb. The dialog is brilliant and perfectly captures the feel of a southern town. Artist, Jason Latour is able to capture the the dirty and gritty reality of Craw County, Alabama, with dark red, orange, grey and black colors as it’s theme. And Earl’s deep facial expressions and dumbfounded looks of all the henchmen after a beating.
The first volume was just released which covers issues 1-4. Which leaves quite a bit of a cliff hanger. And issue 5 just came up so you don’t have to wait to see how it all ends up. But the story gets a bit deeper, bigger. With more characters to focus on, the future of Craw County is on the fritz. Who can fix it? You’ll have to pick it up to find out.
Does this get Shortboxed?
This story is still developing. The first 4 issues were able to capture my attention and leaves a nice little cliff hanger in which any reader would want to satisfy. Though at this point, I’d like to see where the future of Craw County, Alabama leads to first. With a very strong first character in issues 1-4, I’d like to see how other characters mold into town. So for now it’s a wait and see. But it has a lot of potential.
Where to get it
You can still get first issues for 1-5 or the first volume at many LCS. Or you can buy it at imagecomics.com
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