''Southern Bastards'' was a 2014

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series created by

Jason Aaron Jason Aaron (born January 28, 1973) is an American comic book writer, known for his creator-owned series '' Scalped'' and '' Southern Bastards'', as well as his work on Marvel series ''Ghost Rider'', ''Wolverine'', ''PunisherMAX'', ''Thor'', and ' ...

and

Jason Latour David Jason Latour (born 1977) is an American comic book artist and writer known for his work for Image, Dark Horse, Marvel and DC comics on titles such as ''Wolverine (comic book), Wolverine'', ''Bucky Barnes, Winter Soldier'', ''Southern Basta ...

, and published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

. The series revolves around the culture in a small town in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

where

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

is everything and people try to get away with crime. The series won the 2015

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

for Best New Series and the 2016

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

for Best Continuing Series.

Publication history

Two Southerners, writer

from

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and artist

from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, wanted to write a love letter/hate rant to the South so they created the Southern-focused series.

Story

Craw County, Alabama is home of Boss BBQ and the state football champion ''Runnin’ Rebs''; most residents adore

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

football. Coach Euless Boss is the high school football coach with no more room in his office for trophies and is a crime lord that buries bodies underneath the bleachers. The former sheriff's son Earl Tubb is an angry man that has grievances with Coach Boss over how his father died. Coach Boss holds power over Craw County for one reason – he wins football games. But, after the ugliest loss of his career, the coach must become more of a criminal to keep ahead of his enemies, including new enemies like Roberta Tubb, who's come to town with a machine gun and her own questions about how her father died.

Reception

''Southern Bastards'' has received generally positive reviews. The

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website Comic Book Roundup reports that the series has an average score of 9.0 out of 10. The series is the 2015 Harvey Award winner for Best New Series) and the 2016 Eisner Award winner for Best Continuing Series. The series ended without being properly concluded after sexual misconduct and harassment allegations against artist/writer Latour became public in 2020, accusing Latour of using his position in the comics industry as leverage to harass multiple women through various means, including sexual assault.

Awards

''Southern Bastards'' won Best Continuing Series at the 2016

Eisner Awards The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

.Here Are Your 2016 Eisner Award Winners
io9 - Gizmodo, July 23, 2016

Issues

Collected editions

Trade paperbacks

Premiere hardcovers

References

External links

Official website
{{Jason Aaron Image Comics titles 2014 comics debuts Comics by Jason Aaron American football comics