Zeb Larson reviews Southern Bastards #10…
On the eve of the most important game of the season, Esaw Goings is having a hard time juggling his duties as enforcer of Coach Boss’s criminal empire, as well being an assistant coach for the Runnin’ Rebs. Football or murder, blood’s gonna get spilled either way.
Somehow, this issue of Southern Bastards falls a little flat. That makes this one of the first underwhelming issues in the series, and after ten issues, it was likely that we would get a less-than-interesting offering. This issue focuses on Esaw and some of his preparations for the big homecoming game as he conducts some other business for Boss. Yet Esaw does not make for the most interesting character on which to anchor a narrative. Even when he can be unintentionally humorous, he ultimately doesn’t have a whole lot of depth. I will be discussing spoilers in this review, so consider yourself forewarned.
One of the local men of God, Donny Ray, has got it into his head that he isn’t doing enough to minister to the needs of the community. He gets it into his head to talk to some of the real sinners in town, which brings him to Esaw (who is literally mid-coitus when we first see him). Esaw drags him along on a few of his errands around town, and Boss for some reason overlooks Donny’s presence and asks Esaw to draft a defensive plan for the big game. Predictaly though, Esaw sucks at it, and he doesn’t react kindly when people point this out. After picking up a load of guns from the men from Mobile, Esaw beats Donny savagely while screaming about his father.
There are a few moments of humor in this book which sustain it. Watching both Donny and a waitress remind Donny that he needs a safety if he’s going to rush both of his inside linebackers is worth a chuckle, even for somebody who knows nothing about football. Still, everything we see Esaw do in this issue doesn’t really shed a lot of light on the character. The fact that close to a third of his inner-monologue is the word “titties” over and over again says all you need to know about him. The fact that he’s a violent dullard is pretty much in keeping with everything we knew about him, so why are we supposed to care? There’s no big revelation here.
For that matter, given how much the rest of the community knows about Esaw and the ugliness lurking under the cover of the town, it’s hard to believe that Donny could be so naïve about this. Boss beat a man to death in public, and Esaw is one of his known associates. Would Donny really just get so close to this guy knowing all of that? For that matter, why does Boss tolerate Esaw dragging the preacher all over town? Boss might air some of his dirty laundry just to keep people afraid, but letting the preacher witness everything seems like a needlessly reckless act. Maybe Boss’ death is making him act sloppy, but between that and letting an idiot like Esaw draft defensive plans, he’s taking a lot of risks.
So, what really happens here? Not very much, and I’m basically just waiting for the next issue to focus on a different person in town.
Rating: 7.5/10
Zeb Larson
https://youtu.be/IWWtOQOZSTI?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published July 29, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
