I absolutely love Jason Aaron. He's amazing, one of the best writers in comics today.
Seriously, if he just wrote Scalped and nothing else, that above statement would still apply. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, my pick for the best comic on the shelves today, and it has been for the last couple of years at least, consistently, month in and month out. It's a shame more people don't read it, as with a bit more recognition, I think Scalped would join the canon of the all-time great stories of the comics medium. The characterisation and depth of storytelling is leaps and bounds ahead of pretty much everything else out there. The art - particularly by R.M. Guera - is incredible, but above all Jason Aaron shows he is a master writer. The Great American Novel is graphic.
But even before Scalped, with his first full-length comics project, The Other Side, Aaron shows signs of being a great. Yes, he further refined his style with Scalped, but The Other Side - and again, remember issue #1 of this was the first full-length comic script he wrote - has dialogue and narration that's just a cut above your typical comic book writing.
I'll admit, I'm not so much into his Marvel work. But that's less to do with any shortcoming on Aaron's part and more to do with the projects he's working on. I joke that Aaron has chosen the trifecta of characters I otherwise would never have bothered reading monthly comics with: The Punisher, Wolverine, The Hulk. But here's the thing: Aaron HAS made me read them. Though I dropped it on both occasions, Aaron made Wolverine: Weapon X and Wolverine good enough that I bought each for several months and enjoyed what I was reading, which I would never have imagined doing with Wolverine. And after picking up The Incredible Hulk #1, I think I'm going to actually try picking that up monthly, too. Incredible, indeed.
PunisherMAX is a book I've been wanting to drop for ages, due to my inherent disinterest in The Punisher. But though I desperately look for an excuse to drop it, the slightest dip in quality, I just can't, as each month the story just gets better and better, and it remains one of the more compelling titles on my pull list. The Punisher has never been more interesting or readable for me. Damn you, Aaron, for being so GOOD!
I can also confirm Jason Aaron is a great human being, too. He publicised the Studying Scalped articles I wrote on his blog, which got me a bunch of hits. And when I said on Twitter that I'd be looking for Scalped #1, #3, #15 and #16 at NYCC to complete my collection, Jason replied on Twitter saying he could bring copies of all of those apart from #1 with him to the show. Sure enough, when I found him at Artist's Alley, he produced the signed comics from his backpack, and when I asked how much they were, he told me they were free. Then when I went back to his table on Sunday, he was just giving out free Scalped trades to passers-by to "encourage them to give it a try." He might look scary with his beard, but he's actually a really cool, nice guy.
