Southern Bastards

What does old Earl Tubb do when he returns home to Craw County, Ala., only to find the place a veritable criminal fiefdom run by Euless Boss, the local high school football coach? Why, pick up the stick helpfully cleaved by lightning from a tree growing out of his daddy’s grave and start meting out justice just like his father, the old sheriff, did. In the cleaning-up-the-dirty-old-town Southern-fried pulper, writer Aaron (Scalped) and artist Jason Latour (Django Unchained) spread around no more story than is absolutely necessary, and most of it involves people being at the wrong end of a stick, baseball bat, or even (in an early fight scene) a deep-fryer basket. Both Jasons hail from the South, as they discuss in a particularly bighearted introduction, and so likely feel unencumbered by concerns about overdosing on clichés. Thus, the high-impact pages are strewn with bruising high school football, sweet tea, barbecue, trucker caps, and snarling rednecks. The story, in which Tubb clobbers his way through throngs of underlings to get at Boss, is no more complicated than a redo of Walking Tall. But there’s a thread of something deeper, bloodier, and more resonant that often transcends the usual psychotic-redneck shtick, aided in no small part by Latour’s spare, elegant art. (Oct.)