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Timothy Truman's Scout #2
Scout, Volume II
Scout, originally published in 1987 and created by Timothy Truman, features the Native American hero, Emanuel Santana, and his one-man war against oppressive governmental forces in a post-apocalyptic United States. Now, this revered and powerful series is re-mastered and presented to a new generation This volume features issues #7-15 of the series, remastered and recolored for this volume, and features a new, original cover by Truman, plus a bonus gallery of original covers.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Timothy Truman
540 books55 followersTimothy Truman is an American writer, artist and musician. He is best known for his stories and Wild West-style comic book art, and in particular, for his work on Grimjack (with John Ostrander), Scout, and the reinvention of Jonah Hex, with Joe R. Lansdale. Truman is currently writing Conan and is an instructor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
Truman's first professional comics work was Grimjack with writer John Ostrander, for the independent comics company First Comics. Grimjack first appeared in Starslayer #10 in November 1983, before moving to his own series after issue #18 in 1984, and continued for 81 issues. Along with being a fan favorite and often imitated character, Grimjack almost single-handedly defined the "grim and gritty" action comic character archetype.
Truman has been continuously creative for more than 20 years, displaying his pulp sensitivities in his writing. In 1985, he created Scout, which was followed by Scout: War Shaman, a futuristic western. A year later, he relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics. He also developed The Prowler, a Shadow type character, and adapted The Spider for Eclipse. In 1991, at DC Comics he created Hawkworld, a reinvention of Hawkman. With author Joe R. Lansdale, he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a complaint from musician Edgar Winter. With his son, Benjamin Truman, he created A Man Named Hawken.
Truman was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book. He also wrote virtually the entire run of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Valiant Comics, after David Michelinie launched the book with its first three-issue story arc and subsequently departed the series. For the defunct SF imprint of DC, Helix, he created The Black Lamb. He also worked on a typical pulp adventure Guns of the Dragon, featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash; and wrote Star Wars at Dark Horse Comics. While at Dark Horse Comics, he took over the writing of Conan from Kurt Busiek in 2006, and after that series ended he started Conan The Cimmerian.
Truman's startling work, Simon Girty, Renegade was a two-volume black and white graphic novel that translated the horrors and triumphs of the American settler's western frontier in a fresh, interesting light. In bold, black and white use of positive and negative space, Truman appealed to both young and old audiences in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was especially important for West Virginians that had been struggling against novelist Zane Grey's portrayal of Lewis Wetzel in an overly romanticized, florid light. Truman himself is an avid historian who dislikes nothing more than to see a drawing of a war using the wrong weaponry, and the second volume of his two-volume series on Simon Girty was devoted to the errors caught in his first volume.
Tecumseh! a graphic novel based on the West Virginia Outdoor Theater, is a colored graphic novel that shows the play from beginning to end. It renewed interest in the warrior in Appalachia. When asked why he used "Tecumseh" instead of "Tecumtheh" he explained he didn't want to explain to the mainstream audience the variance in spelling — the movement on pronunciation began with General William Tecumseh Sherman who came from a family that wanted to commemorate the warrior, but felt the lisping "Tecumtheh" would be unmanly.
Truman's first professional comics work was Grimjack with writer John Ostrander, for the independent comics company First Comics. Grimjack first appeared in Starslayer #10 in November 1983, before moving to his own series after issue #18 in 1984, and continued for 81 issues. Along with being a fan favorite and often imitated character, Grimjack almost single-handedly defined the "grim and gritty" action comic character archetype.
Truman has been continuously creative for more than 20 years, displaying his pulp sensitivities in his writing. In 1985, he created Scout, which was followed by Scout: War Shaman, a futuristic western. A year later, he relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics. He also developed The Prowler, a Shadow type character, and adapted The Spider for Eclipse. In 1991, at DC Comics he created Hawkworld, a reinvention of Hawkman. With author Joe R. Lansdale, he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a complaint from musician Edgar Winter. With his son, Benjamin Truman, he created A Man Named Hawken.
Truman was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book. He also wrote virtually the entire run of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Valiant Comics, after David Michelinie launched the book with its first three-issue story arc and subsequently departed the series. For the defunct SF imprint of DC, Helix, he created The Black Lamb. He also worked on a typical pulp adventure Guns of the Dragon, featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash; and wrote Star Wars at Dark Horse Comics. While at Dark Horse Comics, he took over the writing of Conan from Kurt Busiek in 2006, and after that series ended he started Conan The Cimmerian.
Truman's startling work, Simon Girty, Renegade was a two-volume black and white graphic novel that translated the horrors and triumphs of the American settler's western frontier in a fresh, interesting light. In bold, black and white use of positive and negative space, Truman appealed to both young and old audiences in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was especially important for West Virginians that had been struggling against novelist Zane Grey's portrayal of Lewis Wetzel in an overly romanticized, florid light. Truman himself is an avid historian who dislikes nothing more than to see a drawing of a war using the wrong weaponry, and the second volume of his two-volume series on Simon Girty was devoted to the errors caught in his first volume.
Tecumseh! a graphic novel based on the West Virginia Outdoor Theater, is a colored graphic novel that shows the play from beginning to end. It renewed interest in the warrior in Appalachia. When asked why he used "Tecumseh" instead of "Tecumtheh" he explained he didn't want to explain to the mainstream audience the variance in spelling — the movement on pronunciation began with General William Tecumseh Sherman who came from a family that wanted to commemorate the warrior, but felt the lisping "Tecumtheh" would be unmanly.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 28, 2019
Emmanuel Santana roams the post-apocalyptic United States as Scout!
Timothy Truman's Scout and Grimjack were comics I snapped up whenever I found them in dollar bins as a kid but it was hard to find a block of them at a time. This trade contains #8-16 so I couldn't resist snapping it up for $5.
I read an interview a long time ago that someone asked Truman what he'd like to follow Grimjack up with and he said without thinking "An Apache samurai riding a motorcycle." That eventually became Scout.
Armed with guns, knives, and Apache mystacism, Scout roams post-apocalyptic America, defending the downtrodden and running into trouble wherever he goes, be it a religious cult leader who quotes Tolkien, an Israeli mech, or basic government thuggery.
I thought the story would feel like a relic from the 1980s but it feels sadly timely with shady government types, climate change, PTSD, and other things that haven't seem to have gone out of style in the past few decades.
Since Scout falls between Grimjack and Hawkworld on the Timothy Truman timeline, it feels like a transitional book in some ways. His style isn't quite as gritty as it would later feel on things like Hawkworld or Jonah Hex but it's still greasier than Grimjack. Scout's world feels lived in and run over by a thousand tanks. Scout's no super hero so the fights are violent and bloody. I can't help but think Truman would have done a great Wolverine origin story back in the day if the opportunity had presented itself.
In Scout, Truman does a great job marrying Apache culture with post-apocalyptic America. I'm going to have to track down the other volumes in this series. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Timothy Truman's Scout and Grimjack were comics I snapped up whenever I found them in dollar bins as a kid but it was hard to find a block of them at a time. This trade contains #8-16 so I couldn't resist snapping it up for $5.
I read an interview a long time ago that someone asked Truman what he'd like to follow Grimjack up with and he said without thinking "An Apache samurai riding a motorcycle." That eventually became Scout.
Armed with guns, knives, and Apache mystacism, Scout roams post-apocalyptic America, defending the downtrodden and running into trouble wherever he goes, be it a religious cult leader who quotes Tolkien, an Israeli mech, or basic government thuggery.
I thought the story would feel like a relic from the 1980s but it feels sadly timely with shady government types, climate change, PTSD, and other things that haven't seem to have gone out of style in the past few decades.
Since Scout falls between Grimjack and Hawkworld on the Timothy Truman timeline, it feels like a transitional book in some ways. His style isn't quite as gritty as it would later feel on things like Hawkworld or Jonah Hex but it's still greasier than Grimjack. Scout's world feels lived in and run over by a thousand tanks. Scout's no super hero so the fights are violent and bloody. I can't help but think Truman would have done a great Wolverine origin story back in the day if the opportunity had presented itself.
In Scout, Truman does a great job marrying Apache culture with post-apocalyptic America. I'm going to have to track down the other volumes in this series. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
May 4, 2020
An interesting scenario (the Domino Theory was a success, it seems. Communism everywhere!)
Entertaining story nonetheless. A couple issues were very creative- one in 3D (my copy still had the glasses inside) and a Flexi-disc with instructions when to play the music. (They sounded like that live blues band from Ghost World lol)
Truman did try to focus on Apache culture exclusively but I don't know how accurate he was.
I bought these SO long ago and never touched them. I'll keep going with the follow-up War Shaman.
Entertaining story nonetheless. A couple issues were very creative- one in 3D (my copy still had the glasses inside) and a Flexi-disc with instructions when to play the music. (They sounded like that live blues band from Ghost World lol)
Truman did try to focus on Apache culture exclusively but I don't know how accurate he was.
I bought these SO long ago and never touched them. I'll keep going with the follow-up War Shaman.
September 10, 2020
Scout is set in the dystopian future of 1999 - our old future- where, in a similar vein to Solyent Green, the problems inflicted on modern American society are due to overfishing and exhaustion of the soil from overproduction. Most of the rest of the world seems to be under the grip of a Soviet Pact and have leveled trade embargos on the United States and allied countries, forcing us to fend for ourselves. A power struggle is occurring between the new president of the United States, a former junkie, and the former advisor to the previous president, who summoned up the four beasts.
Here a religious movement has taken over a decommissioned nuclear missile silo, which mistakenly had a few nukes left. Half the government wants the group to fire off the bombs, so they can take tighter control of the country, while the other attempts to stop the missile launch. Scout is caught in the middle. He makes new friends - if a man like him can be said to ever make friends - and loses a few as well. This story arc is the tipping point, in my ever humble opinion, the series. The issues where it really begins to sit up and cook.
Here a religious movement has taken over a decommissioned nuclear missile silo, which mistakenly had a few nukes left. Half the government wants the group to fire off the bombs, so they can take tighter control of the country, while the other attempts to stop the missile launch. Scout is caught in the middle. He makes new friends - if a man like him can be said to ever make friends - and loses a few as well. This story arc is the tipping point, in my ever humble opinion, the series. The issues where it really begins to sit up and cook.
March 16, 2013
Yes, I am a sucker for a good dystopian tale.
Tim Truman delivers with his view of the near-future seen thru the eyes of an American-Indian. The story uses some indian folk tales of monsters and Scout is the Shaman out to destroy them.
Overall, it's a good mix of "science-"fiction meets old time legend.
The art is pretty rough, I don't know how long Truman had been an artist by this time, but some of his characters are pretty rough-looking... BUT you can see the improvement from one issue to the other.
Tim Truman delivers with his view of the near-future seen thru the eyes of an American-Indian. The story uses some indian folk tales of monsters and Scout is the Shaman out to destroy them.
Overall, it's a good mix of "science-"fiction meets old time legend.
The art is pretty rough, I don't know how long Truman had been an artist by this time, but some of his characters are pretty rough-looking... BUT you can see the improvement from one issue to the other.
January 24, 2021
I read these in the original single issues.
By Issue #8, Scout is a lone wanderer, confronting more monsters/demons from Apache lore. His companion squirrel, a mystical “gahn” lets him know “that monster is next to die, Scout . . . the monster within yourself.” Scout meets up with Doody, his mentally challenged friend who after being brutally tortured, blinded, and mutilated in the first story arc has become a robed prophet of sorts. His bible is The Lord Of The RIngs trilogy, and he’s gathered quite a following.
The backup feature, FASHION IN ACTION wraps up this issue and moves on to its’ own one-shot issue. It’s noteworthy for being one of the first works by artist/writer John K. Snyder, and an early look at how his style and skills would evolve in later years. This isn’t that good, somewhat cliched and rambling, best described as a cross between Charlie’s Angels and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In Issues #9 & #10, Scout meets Beauregard La Duke, a cow rancher whose land and cattle are soon to be conscripted by the federal government’s forces, the S.A. (Salvation Army). They really want the land to mine it for the uranium underground, and Scout helps La Duke fight back. By Issue #11, Doody’s flock keeps growing and he’s identified as a threat by an Israeli informer to President Carver. She dispatches Rosa in a huge armored walker to round up Scout, seen as the only solution to getting Doody under control.
Issue #11 begins the back-up story, MONDAY: THE ELIMINATOR written by Truman with art by Flint Henry. He’s a Punisher-type vigilante investigating who is murdering former members of his Vietnam squad.
The story arc in Issues #12-14 deals with Doody the prophet leading his cult to inhabit the former government mountain fortress where nuclear weapons were stored, with three rockets still armed and in their silos. Rosa Winter tries to recruit Scout to infiltrate the compound and kill Doody. Scout helps Rosa and Israeli adviser Glanzman sneak in but he insists he’s there because of friendship and obligation.
President Carver is dependent on Rosa in more ways than one. Now that Bill Loper has become vice president he’s trying to influence things, especially the situation at the missile site. Doody discovers some divine power, and dispatches a group of soldiers in explosive fashion. Scout gets shot and falls, as he takes two deadly arrows in his back.
In a side story, the blues guitar band from the first story arc is playing gigs in Las Vegas, being hustled by a promoter, which is seen as threatening to a competing crime boss who has a finger in the music business. I love the title for Issue #14’s story: “Nobody Loves Me But My Mother (And She Could Be Jiving Me, Too)”. Doody uses his magical abilities to heal Scout, and then makes the ultimate sacrifice. Scout gets transported to a government hospital as the story wraps up.
In MONDAY: THE ELIMINATOR back-up story it is revealed that one of the former Vietnam squad members witnessed an incident during the war and has been keeping it secret. An organization wants that secret buried, and they have been eliminating the former soldiers. Only three squad members left (including Monday) and the secret is known by Shorty, who screams every night from the nightmares induced by chemicals sent to him by a veterans hospital. Monday manages to extricate him from his apartment just before the hitmen arrive, and he shows how quick he is with a gun. Monday heads back to Vietnam, and finds a hidden Buddhist temple concealed by the jungle. He arrives just in time to stop a crooked general (funded by the “organization, now referred to as The Legion Of Man) from removing the gold stored there. End of story.
I'm really enjoying reading these again. The trade paperback collection is the best way to go if you're new to this title.
By Issue #8, Scout is a lone wanderer, confronting more monsters/demons from Apache lore. His companion squirrel, a mystical “gahn” lets him know “that monster is next to die, Scout . . . the monster within yourself.” Scout meets up with Doody, his mentally challenged friend who after being brutally tortured, blinded, and mutilated in the first story arc has become a robed prophet of sorts. His bible is The Lord Of The RIngs trilogy, and he’s gathered quite a following.
The backup feature, FASHION IN ACTION wraps up this issue and moves on to its’ own one-shot issue. It’s noteworthy for being one of the first works by artist/writer John K. Snyder, and an early look at how his style and skills would evolve in later years. This isn’t that good, somewhat cliched and rambling, best described as a cross between Charlie’s Angels and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In Issues #9 & #10, Scout meets Beauregard La Duke, a cow rancher whose land and cattle are soon to be conscripted by the federal government’s forces, the S.A. (Salvation Army). They really want the land to mine it for the uranium underground, and Scout helps La Duke fight back. By Issue #11, Doody’s flock keeps growing and he’s identified as a threat by an Israeli informer to President Carver. She dispatches Rosa in a huge armored walker to round up Scout, seen as the only solution to getting Doody under control.
Issue #11 begins the back-up story, MONDAY: THE ELIMINATOR written by Truman with art by Flint Henry. He’s a Punisher-type vigilante investigating who is murdering former members of his Vietnam squad.
The story arc in Issues #12-14 deals with Doody the prophet leading his cult to inhabit the former government mountain fortress where nuclear weapons were stored, with three rockets still armed and in their silos. Rosa Winter tries to recruit Scout to infiltrate the compound and kill Doody. Scout helps Rosa and Israeli adviser Glanzman sneak in but he insists he’s there because of friendship and obligation.
President Carver is dependent on Rosa in more ways than one. Now that Bill Loper has become vice president he’s trying to influence things, especially the situation at the missile site. Doody discovers some divine power, and dispatches a group of soldiers in explosive fashion. Scout gets shot and falls, as he takes two deadly arrows in his back.
In a side story, the blues guitar band from the first story arc is playing gigs in Las Vegas, being hustled by a promoter, which is seen as threatening to a competing crime boss who has a finger in the music business. I love the title for Issue #14’s story: “Nobody Loves Me But My Mother (And She Could Be Jiving Me, Too)”. Doody uses his magical abilities to heal Scout, and then makes the ultimate sacrifice. Scout gets transported to a government hospital as the story wraps up.
In MONDAY: THE ELIMINATOR back-up story it is revealed that one of the former Vietnam squad members witnessed an incident during the war and has been keeping it secret. An organization wants that secret buried, and they have been eliminating the former soldiers. Only three squad members left (including Monday) and the secret is known by Shorty, who screams every night from the nightmares induced by chemicals sent to him by a veterans hospital. Monday manages to extricate him from his apartment just before the hitmen arrive, and he shows how quick he is with a gun. Monday heads back to Vietnam, and finds a hidden Buddhist temple concealed by the jungle. He arrives just in time to stop a crooked general (funded by the “organization, now referred to as The Legion Of Man) from removing the gold stored there. End of story.
I'm really enjoying reading these again. The trade paperback collection is the best way to go if you're new to this title.
November 20, 2019
Segundo tomo de la reedición del Scout de Truman a cargo de Dynamite. Además de los números 7-16, incluye galerías de imágenes exclusivas.
May 28, 2017
Maybe 4.5
May 12, 2024
Nueva edición que recopila el SCOUT de Truman en dos volúmenes. Libro II de II.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews