Marshal Bass returns to the present

While volume seven of Marshal Bass returned to the origins of this African-American policeman, this new title takes up the classics of the western by a manhunt… or rather to the woman. Discover The Miserable and Lonely Death of Mindy Maguire in this column

Hunt the woman

In 1877, the town of Dryheave, Arizona was shocked: a man had been killed in the local brothel. River Bass is hired to find the culprit who is actually a woman. Professional Mindy Maguire murdered a client before fleeing to Indian territory. If Bass wants to find her it is also to save her. Indeed, the murder of a man by a woman (especially a prostitute) provokes a feeling of rage on the part of men, especially when this anger is stimulated by whiskey.

This eighth volume of Marshal Bass also shows conflicts of authority between the sheriff (white) and the deputy marshal (black). In the city, River Bass cannot act, but the situation changes as he leaves the last houses. This series presents the reader with a fresh vision of the western by focusing on the African-American community experiencing racism. Even River Bass has to enter through the back of the brothel to investigate. In front of him, Sheriff Lawrence organizes the beating but he seeks revenge rather than justice. His expedition to the Native Americans becomes a spree of drunk and sex-thirsty brutes. Quickly, it turns to picaresque comedy.

A feminist episode

Contrary to what the title of the series suggests, Marshal Bass is not a solitary tale. Women are present and diverse. Cheeky and allergic to convention, Mindy is a woman in search of freedom. Violence against women is a common thread of the series in Mexico against the wife Bathsheba or in the slave past. Again, in Mindy Maguire's Miserable and Lonely Death, it is Bathsheba who pushes River to act. She is indeed touched by Mindy's situation which illustrates the sexism of society. This wife acts in solidarity with the African-American boss of the brothel. This subtlety is perfectly imaged. The cartoonist Igor Kordey is still impressive. Through close-ups on the faces, he shows the animality of men wishing to hunt Mindy. Conversely, a double page around a landscape dazzles the reader. Even if the colorists change – with Len O'Grady on the first pages and Anubis – we find the art of contrast that makes the quality of the series.

A unique series

Links are woven between the different volumes of Marshal Bass. We meet the brother of a central family in Bass's past. As the albums progress, the hero is darker and darker. This darkness was explained in the previous volume. While he has a large family, the anti-hero is alone. He became angry with his daughter and his wife had fled to Mexico.

The Bass family is at the center of each volume, but screenwriter Darko Macan shows the social inequality and internal diversity of this community. Bathsheba, Bass's wife, represents the petty bourgeoisie through her small business. Cleopatra imitates whites and despises poor blacks like this tramp appearing at the beginning of the volume. Darko Macan's script is also very clever because one could believe that this tramp is useless in the story but the final cliffhanger changes everything.

Published by Delcourt, this new volume is further proof of the quality of the series. Marshal Bass offers entertaining adventures using the codes of the western but not only. The series is profound by the complex characters. It is committed to minority representation. Finally, the conclusions are often very surprising and volume eight is no exception to the rule.

You can find chronicles to the first volume of the series and to Colt & Pepper by the same artists.