Evil Eye Comics Review: Southern Bastards #8

Southern Bastards #8 Review

By: Chris, Evil Eye Comics

In Southern Bastards #8, the climactic finish to the “Gridiron” story arc, we are thrown right back into Euless Boss’ messy, bloody past where we have slowly been learning all about his early life growing up in Craw County, Alabama. By telling the story of his deadbeat father, his pathetic lack of athletic ability, and intense love for football, Jason Aaron has done a remarkable job of taking a one-dimensional, purely evil villain from the first story arc and turning him upside-down, into someone that readers can empathize and identify with. It was only through his pure grit, drive, and determination that Euless realized his dream of becoming a real Runnin’ Reb. That’s something we can all relate to.

Having been lulled to sleep by the sense that we finally understood the mind of Euless Boss, Aaron rudely brought us back to reality in this issue by showing how Euless’ father helped him finally become the Head Football Coach of the Runnin’ Rebs. Guess what? It wasn’t pretty. The Boss name carries quite a hefty reputation and as hard as Euless tries to fight against it, he eventually gives in to the pressure and lives up to the despicable name his daddy gave him. This issue more than makes up for the general lack of action in the earlier issues of this arc, as we finally dive head first into the depths of Coach Boss’ depravity.

Jason Latour’s art in this issue is as powerful as ever. His use of a largely red color palette makes it impossible to forget that this is a story bathed in blood, much like Euless Boss himself, and as you see the amazing final panel of this issue, you can’t help but be excited for the continuation of this amazing story. By the end of Southern Bastards #8, everything from the first arc comes full circle. Your hatred of Euless Boss fully restored, the arc ends much the same way as the first, with a scene involving Earl Tubbs’ daughter who has presumably learned the unfortunate news about her father, to set the hook for the next issue.

Issue number nine of Southern Bastards isn’t due to be released until June. Yes, I know, that’s a whole two months from now. But think about it this way, this gives you two months to fully digest this amazing issue and the entire arc as a whole! Now get to it!  

If you’d like to see more of my reviews, check out my YouTube channel where I do weekly comic book hauls and reviews. You can also follow me on Twitter to chat and see what I’m reading on a daily basis.

Related Links:

• Evil Eye Comics' Channel
• Evil Eye Comics' Twitter

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