The start of the book deals with Earl return to his family home and remembering how much of a bad ass his father was while standing at his grave. Latour does a great job showing Earl's anguish while looking at his fathers grave. After this Earl bumps into a good ol'boy named Dusty and starts to notice a nasty side to the town. During his altercation with some of the nasty side, we see that Earl is a bad ass like his old man and knows how to swing a fry basket. Aaron and Latour use the Base bat wielded by Earls daddy to hit a home run with this book. Image has a lot of stellar books on the market at the moment and I think this tops the lot of them. I have never been to the Deep South but this is how I picture it. One of the top books of this year, everyone should buy it. Read Full Review

So Southern Bastards is totally worthy of insane hype. This is a book crafted with care on every level. Its poignant and brutal. Its over the top in all the right ways and completely subdued at the same time. Its a beautiful dance in pacing that effortlessly shows how comics should be and need to be done. Its more delicious than fried chicken but still manages to hit you like a pickup truck to the head. It needs to be on your pull list ASAP because by the end of April you need to be part of the conversation. Read Full Review

Southern Bastards isn't an overly violent or stereotypical "southern" book. Instead, the comic presents a broken down town with some hard men causing trouble but where they see it all as normal everyday life. When you toss in someone that has seen it all before and has been away from it for a while then you have yourself a potential returning hero. This is a great issue and it looks to be a great series. Read Full Review

Southern Bastards is a book and creative team operating on another level. From the opening pages to the last panel Southern Bastards feels cinematic in its scope and presentation. Both Aaron and Latour are both well respected comic book creators and together as a team have produced one of most real and unique experiences in a comic book this year. It is hard after reading issue one to not get the sense that this is the start of a series we will be saying a lot of great things about for a very long time. Read Full Review

Grit, grizzle, and Dixie justice make SOUTHERN BASTARDS the next book you'll be lining up for seconds of. Its debut is a well-crafted blend of groundwork-laying, pawn-setting, and good old-fashioned violence. Aaron and LaTour spin up a setting that's remarkably different from anything else on stands, and they do it with impeccable attention to tone and detail. And sweet tea. Read Full Review

I really can't recommend this book highly enough. It is most definitely situated in the South but anyone who has experienced the cloying sense of claustrophobic familiarity that accompanies small-town life, will find something to relate to in here. With some weighty themes such as loss, remembrance, duty and how does where we come from inform who we become, this isn't just entertainment, but a wonderful piece of contemplative fiction. Incorporating noirish tones, nods to the Western and an indictment of what plagues the place they grew up in, Jasons Aaron and Latour have delivered a moody, atmospheric story that radiates a brutal authenticity of the milieu in which it is set. Read Full Review

Southern Bastards might just be Aaron's best work since Scalped. This first issue is one of my favorites of the year. It hits all the right notes and sets up what is sure to be a great sort of Southern noir. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Read Full Review

Regardless, this is a rich world, full of characters who are disgusting, and haunted, and thoroughly compelling. Pick this book up. Read Full Review

Aaron and Latour have a story here that would probably make Faulkner hide in his closet, clutching his medal and lamenting the death of Southern gentility. Good for them. Too much Southern literature gets overly sentimental about the Old Days. Sometimes the past is ugly, and confronting that ugliness leads to a lot of even uglier revelations. Southern Bastards doesnt shy from confrontation, which makes it a bold, worthwhile read. Read Full Review

I knew SOUTHERN BASTARDS was going to be good–after all, with this kind of talent involved, it's to be expected. What surprised me is just how drawn into its world I was, feeling as though Aaron and Latour have dragged us kicking and scream into a world that frightens us, intrigues us, and even compels us to love it in some twisted way that we will soon to come to understand. Certainly being from the South themselves, Aaron and Latour look to have another great series for us and I can't wait to get deeper and deeper into the story of the Southern Bastards. Read Full Review

Southern Bastards is going places. Its first issue is a raw, harsh, unflinching glimpse into the heart of a small Southern town and a man who is forced to return to it, even if it's the last thing he wants to do. And it's about as close to perfect as comics get. Read Full Review

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. Read Full Review

One of the most pleasing elements of "Southern Bastards #1" is that it doesn't push for too much, too fast. The darkness, the grit, the violence, it's all a few layers beneath the surface, clearly there, but only rearing its head in selective spurts in the opening salvo. Not only does this world already feel fleshed out and real through one issue, but the pacing makes it clear Aaron and Latour have a long-term plan. Read Full Review

There are a number of different things a good first issue can do to really sell the series. The most common (and easiest) are to just dive right into the story or main character, introducing the premise or taking us deep inside the head of someone interesting. While Aaron teases us with both, neither gets very fleshed out in this particular issue. Ultimately, Southern Bastards #1 creates a world worth exploring, regardless of anything else. It is through a strong evocation of place that we can see what kind of book we'll be reading, common themes that will likely pop up. Aaron does a great job at bringing us to the edge there, but a series like this lives and dies on its artist's ability to craft a place that feels real and lived-in, and Jason Latour absolutely knocks it out of the park. Southern Bastards is one to watch. Read Full Review

Southern Bastards is just beginning but so far it has all the makings of a riveting crime-noir. By using the American South as their setting, Aaron and Latour are firmly in "write what you know" territory and it's working for them. This issue makes it evident that hey have an excellent grasp of where they want to take this story and what they want to accomplish. As Earl gets sucked deeper and deeper back into Craw County, we'll learn more about the town and how the places that you grow up can grow to define you. Southern Bastards is a country-fried gem of a comic book dripping in blood and BBQ Sauce. Can I get a hell yeah? Read Full Review

Thanks to the great characterisations on show this is a great read and shows that a well crafted character piece can be every bit as appealing as a high concept sci-fi piece. Southern Bastards is a gritty tale and with the two Jason’s in charge it looks like no punch will be pulled as they delve into the heart of the south. Read Full Review

That last bit is part of the cynicism that I actually really like in the book and ties into what Southern Bastards really reminds me of: The X-Files, specifically mid-90s X-files. Specifically those mid-90s episodes of The X-Files (and also Millennium) which exuded an atmosphere of oncoming dread and disaster but not from an external force but from the new generation, a generation more violent and deadly then you would like to admit, and becoming so more and more violent earlier and earlier. It's similar to the themes of No Country For Old Men only with the added focus of this new wave of horrors infesting the nostalgic concepts of the past such as the perfect small town, and making you question if those places ever really existed or were just a fairy tale we tell ourselves at night, Southern Bastards is highly recommended. Read Full Review

Absolutely. I'll definitely be reading the next issue, and probably several more after that. Read Full Review

This was a fine beginning to what promises to be a great new series, one that already has the industry abuzz with praise. With a second printing already scheduled, this is sure to be a book to jump on immediately, and one that will no doubt be a talk of the comics community throughout the year. Read Full Review

Southern Bastards #1 is yet another impressively strong debut from Image Comics, a publisher who has been unveiling promising new series over the past few years like its nothing. The note from Aaron and Latour at the end of the issue promises a lot of future mayhem and unsavory characters. I have a feeling Earl, who says the first words of the series, three days, his expectation of how long hell be in town is going to be here for much longer and will face a whole heaping pile of unfriendly sorts. Read Full Review

This story speaks to the culture of the south. It is an intimate setting of small towns where everyone knows everyone. More importantly, everyone knows everyone's secrets. Southern Bastards looks to showcase a world where the rules work a bit differently and violence is always waiting. Read Full Review

B #1's got everything to fill your bible belt hollowed-bellied needs, slab of JD ribs and tater salad included. Read Full Review

Aaron and Latour completely, and wisely, stay away from any racial topics, as their story isn't about race or social issues; it's about attitudes, and how the wrong ones on both the part of the observed and the observers can unfairly and negatively impact an entire region. "Southern Bastards" #1 beautifully shows how ugly such broad and misguided assumptions can be, and it's an increasingly tense and captivating lesson. Read Full Review

My criteria for a good book has always been, “Do I want to read more?” Yes, I do. I want more of this, and even more telling is, since more is a month away, I'm likely to read what I have a few more times. Easily my favorite new book in the last few months. Read Full Review

Southern Bastards seems like the kind of book that you'd read just to make yourself feel a little bit uncomfortable. Because you like how it feels, and because you know this kind of stuff is probably happening in some backwater county right now. Aaron seems to know his source material and it's got an air of authenticity about it. Southern Bastards is off to a solid start and is looking like another great Image book in the works. Read Full Review

Jason Aaron does an admirable job with the first issue of this new southern series. He makes the protagonist's goals clear, shows who's standing between the protagonist and his goal, and sets up the culture of the environment through the reactions of the town to the casual, violent actions taken by the townsfolk. Unfortunately, he and artist Jason Latour don't fully realize the potential of the narrative. Read Full Review

What a concept!!

Wow!! I am so glad I left this on my to read pile for a couple weeks, only because it means I'm closer to the next issue. The art and dialogue were both spot on and the ending had a cinematic beauty about it. Loved the explanations Aaron and Latour gave in the final page because it made the story relatable to those who find some areas and characters of the South to be extremely disturbing.

I've never been to the south nor I have paid much attention to southern culture (I'm from the other side of the pacific) -- but WOW, this book is just full of that unique flavor and copious amounts of violence that got me truly interested.

Wow! Feels like home.

The new creator-owned work by Jason Aaron and Latour gets a very intense and character driven premiere issue, with all the rawness you'd expect from the cover title and a few emotional moments. I hope to see it develop in a beautiful and savage way as we dive deeper in the story.

Great first issue. I loved the back and forth sequence towards the end where the man is being beaten and Earl is chopping the tree down. Looking forward to reading this for the next 4-5 months at least.

Dig it

Violento, sporco, volgare, dannatamente aggressivo! Il primo capitolo ti fa venir voglia di continuare la lettura! Viene presentato il protagonista e con chi dovrà vedersela.
Lo stile del disegno non è proprio di mio gradimento, ma vista la storia così rude ci sta bene!

Everyone loves this. I thought it was well-written, but ok

On a pure storytelling level, this is on par with Aaron's previous work, which taken as a whole is pretty great. However, despite the "we're from the South so we're allowed to write this" attitude, I find the depiction of "the South" both in the story and in the back-matter to be full of harmful, inaccurate caricatures. They speak of "the South" as some monolithic, homogeneous "other" when that depiction can't be further from the truth. And having grown up in, essentially, the same place as Latour (Charlotte, one of the largest metropolitan cities in the country), I can assure you that I never once encountered a barefoot-crooked-tooth-tree-climbing-bad-haircut-4-wheeler-riding kid with a "Sweet Tea" t-shirt whose grandma thinks the TV is the devil. COME ON GUYS. I found Aaron's flowery description of "the South" as "more peaceful, primal, timeless, haunted, spiritual, hateful, beautiful, and scarred" to be utterly facile. I've lived in different parts of the "South" as well as the "North" and "Midwest." Despite being raised there and speaking with a drawl, I have no particular love of the South and am not some Southern apologist. I'm politically liberal, and my great-great-grandfather fought for the Union Navy during the Civil War. The reality is that Southern states have their various problems just like everywhere else. Southern Bastards does not depict this nuanced reality, it only reinforces unrealistic stereotypes and exploits the harmful fear some people have of "the South." more