Any love for Scout and Scout : War Shaman ? 2 2

[Grendel72]

I have around 10000 comics and I have finally started cataloguing them properly. I do have a few valuable books but when there is a tingle in my spine it's for books that resonate with me ( or early signs of a stroke) . One of those is Scout. It really opened my eyes to American Indian culture.  The story and art are just stunning.  They are not pricey by any standard but these are books I probably will never sell. Just wondering if anyone else enjoyed this series. They just added something to my perspective of life and living.  

[Ken Aldred]

Tim Truman’s book? Good series. Also liked his Hawkworld mini-series and, of course, Grimjack, written by John Ostrander.

Great 80s indies.

[shadroch]

I think the "Scout" universe, with it's Swords of Texas spinoffs is some of the finest work done by independant  companies in the 80s. I think it would make a great cable show. I didn't care for the "Monday" character but really liked how they resolved the whole mess at the end of the first series.

I highly recommend this series.

Edited March 29, 2022 by shadroch

[ttfitz]

I read the entire run last year, and thought it was great. I've been a big Tim Truman art fan since the 80s during the GrimJack period, but this was the first time I've read much of his writing.

[ThreeSeas]

I bought those books and remember liking them, but being so many years have passed, I'm going to have to dig them out and re-read as I cannot remember the stories. But I still can visualize the first issue's cover.

[Muno42]

Truman's art was perfect for these books.

[Qalyar]

As far as collecting goes, it's a long series -- 24 issues of Scout, two four-issue spinoff mini-series (Swords of Texas and New America), the Scout Handbook, 16 issues of Scout War Shaman, and one special book discussed below -- so finding copies of everything may take a little while, just because demand is pretty low. Doubly so if you're looking for high grade books. If you're a fan, he's continuing the series with a self-published 100-page Scout: Marauder that will be out... well, someday (originally scheduled for 2020, and not here yet). There are a couple of comic-length preview/ashcan sorts of things you can buy from him if so interested, including Scout: Marauder Sketchbook and Scout: Marauder Zero.

But if you're really serious about collecting Scout, there are at least three things to hunt down besides the obvious:

• Scout #12 First and Second Printing. For several issues, Eclipse switched Scout to what I can only assume was the cheapest cheapo paper that their printer, Web World, offered. Cue muddy panels and blurry text. Eventually, Truman pitched a fit to Eclipse, and they had the paper selection changed back to something that could actually hold a crisp line. Or, rather, they were supposed to. Web World screwed up, and Scout #12 was initially printed on the cheap stuff. The following week, they shipped corrected copies to the distributors. They're pretty easy to tell apart if you have a copy in hand, but the two printings are visually indistinguishable from their outer cover. If the paper quality isn't enough to distinguish them, the 2nd printing has added text to the inside front cover apologizing for the situation. In theory, these should be more or less equally available, but I seem to recall seeing more of the (bad) first printings than the second. Regardless, it's way, way easier to get hold of both printings of this book than it is to find the other two Scout rarities...
• Scout #16 2D. Scout #16 was printed in 3D color. Like all Eclipse 3D books, they also made available copies in standard black and white by mail order at a premium. These were extremely limited runs, generally 50 or 100 copies. Most of the Eclipse "3D in 2D" books are also signed by editor Cat Yronwode on an interior page. Taken collectively, the Eclipse "3D in 2D" books are actually some of the most elusive modern rarities. The best-known of them, the 2D printing of Miracleman 3-D, has all of five copies on the CGC census, and I believe there are currently only one or two additional copies known. This book probably sold fewer copies to begin with and has received approximately zero collector attention, so I don't actually know of ANY confirmed copies at this time. There probably are a few out there, somewhere, perhaps not even recognized for what they are. Good luck!
• Scout: Interlude. Strap in, this one's weird. In addition to being a comic book writer and artist, Truman had a sort of hobby-level blues-rock band called Timothy Truman and the Dixie Pistols. Somehow, he managed to convinced Eclipse to briefly dabble as a record production company, putting out an LP called Marauders. It was the only* thing that "Eclipse Records" ever did. Truman described the LP as the "soundtrack" for Scout. Take that as you will, but it shipped with a 6-page mini comic called Scout: Interlude, that depicts Scout's traditional Apache wedding ceremony. Truman went above and beyond on the art for it; it's a really beautiful little piece. Copies come up every now and then and seem to sell in the $20-30 range, although if you guessed that "black cover mini-comic distributed as a vinyl record pack-in" tends to have condition issues, then you're not wrong.
  • * Eclipse included a flexi-disk record of Truman's music with Scout #19, but that wasn't an official record release, and was labeled as being from "Eclipse Comics" not "Eclipse Records". So I guess there's that. It wasn't affixed to the book in any way, so this isn't a TATOOZ situation. It does mean that a lot of copies of 19 have weird bends.

[shadroch]

 Eclipse did a really nice point of display poster and ran a contest where if customer wrote in and said he saw the poster in a shop, both the shop and the person who wrote in got a smaller matted version of the poster. From what I was told, less than 500 of these were sent out, but that seems pretty low. 

[ThreeSeas]

On 3/30/2022 at 2:01 PM, Qalyar said:

As far as collecting goes, it's a long series -- 24 issues of Scout, two four-issue spinoff mini-series (Swords of Texas and New America), the Scout Handbook, 16 issues of Scout War Shaman, and one special book discussed below -- so finding copies of everything may take a little while, just because demand is pretty low. Doubly so if you're looking for high grade books. If you're a fan, he's continuing the series with a self-published 100-page Scout: Marauder that will be out... well, someday (originally scheduled for 2020, and not here yet). There are a couple of comic-length preview/ashcan sorts of things you can buy from him if so interested, including Scout: Marauder Sketchbook and Scout: Marauder Zero.

But if you're really serious about collecting Scout, there are at least three things to hunt down besides the obvious:

• Scout #12 First and Second Printing. For several issues, Eclipse switched Scout to what I can only assume was the cheapest cheapo paper that their printer, Web World, offered. Cue muddy panels and blurry text. Eventually, Truman pitched a fit to Eclipse, and they had the paper selection changed back to something that could actually hold a crisp line. Or, rather, they were supposed to. Web World screwed up, and Scout #12 was initially printed on the cheap stuff. The following week, they shipped corrected copies to the distributors. They're pretty easy to tell apart if you have a copy in hand, but the two printings are visually indistinguishable from their outer cover. If the paper quality isn't enough to distinguish them, the 2nd printing has added text to the inside front cover apologizing for the situation. In theory, these should be more or less equally available, but I seem to recall seeing more of the (bad) first printings than the second. Regardless, it's way, way easier to get hold of both printings of this book than it is to find the other two Scout rarities...
• Scout #16 2D. Scout #16 was printed in 3D color. Like all Eclipse 3D books, they also made available copies in standard black and white by mail order at a premium. These were extremely limited runs, generally 50 or 100 copies. Most of the Eclipse "3D in 2D" books are also signed by editor Cat Yronwode on an interior page. Taken collectively, the Eclipse "3D in 2D" books are actually some of the most elusive modern rarities. The best-known of them, the 2D printing of Miracleman 3-D, has all of five copies on the CGC census, and I believe there are currently only one or two additional copies known. This book probably sold fewer copies to begin with and has received approximately zero collector attention, so I don't actually know of ANY confirmed copies at this time. There probably are a few out there, somewhere, perhaps not even recognized for what they are. Good luck!
• Scout: Interlude. Strap in, this one's weird. In addition to being a comic book writer and artist, Truman had a sort of hobby-level blues-rock band called Timothy Truman and the Dixie Pistols. Somehow, he managed to convinced Eclipse to briefly dabble as a record production company, putting out an LP called Marauders. It was the only* thing that "Eclipse Records" ever did. Truman described the LP as the "soundtrack" for Scout. Take that as you will, but it shipped with a 6-page mini comic called Scout: Interlude, that depicts Scout's traditional Apache wedding ceremony. Truman went above and beyond on the art for it; it's a really beautiful little piece. Copies come up every now and then and seem to sell in the $20-30 range, although if you guessed that "black cover mini-comic distributed as a vinyl record pack-in" tends to have condition issues, then you're not wrong.
  • * Eclipse included a flexi-disk record of Truman's music with Scout #19, but that wasn't an official record release, and was labeled as being from "Eclipse Comics" not "Eclipse Records". So I guess there's that. It wasn't affixed to the book in any way, so this isn't a TATOOZ situation. It does mean that a lot of copies of 19 have weird bends.

After you listed all of those I had to go check my old database to see what I have. Scout 1-24...check. Scout War Shaman I have 1-13 & 16, apparently missing 14 & 15. I'll have to pull my boxes out and see if I really did miss those two. Swords of Texas and New America I have four of each of those series. So it looks like I'm only missing two issues.

[Qalyar]

On 3/31/2022 at 11:45 AM, ThreeSeas said:

After you listed all of those I had to go check my old database to see what I have. Scout 1-24...check. Scout War Shaman I have 1-13 & 16, apparently missing 14 & 15. I'll have to pull my boxes out and see if I really did miss those two. Swords of Texas and New America I have four of each of those series. So it looks like I'm only missing two issues.

Nice. Scout Handbook is easy to pick up for cheap if you're looking to finish off the set, although as I mentioned, you may have to put in some effort to chase down a copy of Scout: Interlude.

Out of curiosity, do you know which printing of #12 you have?

[Book Guy]

I really liked SCOUT back in the day. It was one of my favorite Indies along with NEXUS. I had been thinking about digging them up and reading them again last week! Great Minds Think Alike!

[JJ-4]

On 3/31/2022 at 6:53 PM, Book Guy said:

I really liked SCOUT back in the day. It was one of my favorite Indies along with NEXUS. I had been thinking about digging them up and reading them again last week! Great Minds Think Alike!

I couldn't agree more, I remember good stories and really liked the art.  Need to see if I have any holes in my run.

[ThreeSeas]

On 3/31/2022 at 12:53 PM, Qalyar said:

Nice. Scout Handbook is easy to pick up for cheap if you're looking to finish off the set, although as I mentioned, you may have to put in some effort to chase down a copy of Scout: Interlude.

Out of curiosity, do you know which printing of #12 you have?

I'll have to check tonight when I get home from work. I'm thinking that it should be the first printing as my local dealer back then used to get books hot off the presses.