Southern Bastards

Summary

Southern Bastards is a comic book series created in 2014 by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour, and published by Image Comics. The series revolves around the culture in a small town in the American South where football is everything and people try to get away with crime. The series won the 2015 Harvey Award for Best New Series and the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series.

Southern Bastards
Cover for Southern Bastards #1. Art by Jason Latour.
Publication information
PublisherImage Comics
FormatOngoing series
Publication date2014–2018
No. of issues21
Creative team
Created byJason Aaron
Jason Latour
Written byJason Aaron
Jason Latour (#12, #18)
Artist(s)Jason Latour
Chris Brunner (#12, #18)
Letterer(s)Jared K. Fletcher
Editor(s)Sebastian Girner
Collected editions
Here was a ManISBN 9781632150165
GridironISBN 9781632152695
HomecomingISBN 9781632156105
Gut CheckISBN 9781534301948

Publication history edit

Two Southerners, writer Jason Aaron from Alabama and writer-artist Jason Latour from North Carolina, wanted to write a love letter/hate rant to the South so they created the Southern-focused series.[1]

Story edit

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

Southern Bastards has received generally positive reviews. The review aggregation website Comic Book Roundup reports that the series has an average score of 9.0 out of 10.[2]

The series is the 2015 Harvey Award winner for Best New Series) and the 2016 Eisner Award winner for Best Continuing Series.

The series paused in 2020 when Latour took a leave of absence in light of misconduct allegations.[3]


Awards edit

Southern Bastards won Best Continuing Series at the 2016 Eisner Awards.[4]

Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref.
2015 Harvey Awards Best New Series Southern Bastards Won
Eisner Awards Best Continuing Series Jason Aaron and Jason Latour Nominated
Best Writer Jason Aaron Nominated
2016 Best Continuing Series Jason Aaron and Jason Latour Won
Best Writer Jason Aaron Won

Issues edit

Issue Arc Release date Story Art Cover
#1 Here was a Man April 30, 2014 Jason Aaron Jason Latour Jason Latour
ᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴᴛs
Jason Latour
R.M. Guéra
James Harren
Chris Bunner & Rico Renzi
#2 May 28, 2014 Jason Latour
#3 July 2, 2014
#4 September 3, 2014
#5 Gridiron October 29, 2014 Jason Aaron Jason Latour Jason Latour
ᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴᴛ
Andrew Robinson
#6 December 10, 2014 Jason Latour
#7 February 11, 2015
#8 April 1, 2015
#9 Homecoming June 17, 2015 Jason Aaron Jason Latour Jason Latour
ᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴᴛ
Tony Moore
#10 July 29, 2015 Jason Latour
#11 October 7, 2015
#12 November 11, 2015 Jason Latour Chris Brunner
#13 January 27, 2016 Jason Aaron Jason Latour
#14 May 11, 2016
#15 Gut Check November 2, 2016 Jason Aaron Jason Latour Jason Latour
ᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴᴛ
Becky Cloonan
#16 January 11, 2017 Jason Latour
ᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴᴛ
Babs Tarr
#17 August 16, 2017 Jason Latour
ᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴᴛ
Cliff Chiang
#18 September 27, 2017 Jason Latour Jason Latour
Chris Brunner
Jason Latour
#19 January 24, 2018 Jason Aaron Jason Latour Jason Latour
ᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴᴛ
Babs Tarr
#20 May 9, 2018 Jason Latour
ᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴᴛ
Jamie McKelvie
#21 Rebs[8] Jason Latour

Collected editions edit

Trade paperbacks edit

Volume Title Release date Material collected ISBN
1 Here Was a Man October 1, 2014 Southern Bastards #1–4 9781632150165
2 Gridiron May 6, 2015 Southern Bastards #5–8 9781632152695
3 Homecoming July 13, 2016 Southern Bastards #9–14 9781632156105
4 Gut Check May 23, 2018 Southern Bastards #15–20 9781534301948

Premiere hardcovers edit

Book # Release date Material collected ISBN
Book One September 30, 2015 Southern Bastards #1–8 9781632154446
Book Two January 11, 2022 Southern Bastards #9–20 9781534303263

References edit

  1. ^ Ching, Albert (30 June 2015). "This beautifully brutal comic gave me a new appreciation of the South". Business Insider. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Southern Bastards Comic Series Reviews". Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Syndicated Comics". 23 June 2020.
  4. ^ Here Are Your 2016 Eisner Award Winners io9 - Gizmodo, July 23, 2016
  5. ^ "The 2015 Harvey Award Winners". Tech Times. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  6. ^ "2015 Eisner Award Winners (Full List)". Newsarama. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  7. ^ "2016 Eisner Award Winners (Full List)". Newsarama. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  8. ^ Aaron, Jason (22 January 2019). "Creator-Owned Update". Jason Aaron's blog. Retrieved August 10, 2019.

External links edit

  • Official website