Scout: The four monsters [Paperback]

Timothy Truman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Eclipse Books (1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0913035335
• ISBN-13: 978-0913035337
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #641,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars You can't go back, December 8, 2011

By 

Oliver Staley (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scout: The four monsters (Paperback)

I loved Scout as a high school comic book collector 25 years ago. In a world of spandex-clad superheroes, there was a appealing grittiness to Tim Truman's tale of Emmanuel Santana, an Indian marksman pursuing a quest to slay four great "monsters," who also happen to be prominent Americans, including the president of the US. Part of Scout's appeal was never quite knowing if Santana's visions were true, or if he was half crazed and was killing metaphorical monsters. Truman uses Scout as a vehicle for his passions, evidenced by the many references to blues (one character is named after Stevie Ray Vaughn) and the long discussions about the merits of various 19th century rifles. I loved Truman's zany vision of the future, where Australia makes the best beer and Israel is a superpower.

I bought the trade paperback decades later and while it's mostly as I remembered, my tastes had changed. The gee-whiz qualities that hooked a teenager (look at those cool guns!) seem a bit juvenile to an adult, and the writing a bit hokey. And as much as it pains me to write this, Truman is not a gifted artist. He's great at drawing machinery and has an eye for detail, but he struggles with anatomy and faces.

Still, considering how many comics have traveled the crowded post-apocalyptic genre, Scout still seems to offer a fresh perspective and Truman's enthusiasm for his passions is contagious.

5.0 out of 5 stars Ground Breaking work from Tim Truman, August 7, 2009

By 

Joseph Coolidge Shaw "where_is_it" (Mamaroneck, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scout: The four monsters (Paperback)

"Its 1999- and if you're not dead, you're crazy" is how Tim Truman starts off his amazing science fiction adventure comic of a young Indian fighting the US Calvary in the Southwest of the future. This graphic novel "The Four Monsters" is a collection of issues 1-7 of Scout, winner of numerous comic awards and one of the best new comic series of 1985. Its 1999 and the US is a crumbling toxic waste trash heap. The population is starving and a second Civil War is being plotted. Out on the lonesome prairie, mutant buffalo roam and Emanuel Santana - Scout - a lone Apache warrior is trying to survive in the future's explosive mix of political intrigue and religious turmoil. The art is exquisite and the story telling peerless.

Scout is a blend of South West Indian tradition and legends along with sterling adventure in the mode of John Carpenters "Escape from New York". The future was almost 15 years from 1985 when the stories were written, with a new world order, and monsters from Indian lore haunting our hero as he travels through the South West cleaning up the territory. This edition makes a great starting point for Scout, coupled with the sequel Scout: Mount Fire, which collects issues 8-14, to be found elsewhere on Amazon.