“I’m sorry, Dez… But you can’t build a home upon a lie…
One way or another… This is the end of the line.”

David Pepose’s brilliant limited series, Scout’s Honor, comes to its glorious finale with an epic battle that will change the future of the world forever.

After having her secrets exposed and being exiled to the Badlands, Kit leads her new allies back to the Scout Compound to expose the lies that are holding the future back and free the Badlands from the ongoing conflict that keeps the people afraid and docile.

But she’ll also have to confront the crazed megalomania of the Shepherd and the fears and doubts of her own best friend (and the secrets he’s been hiding).

Though only five issues long, Scout’s Honor has gone deeper than one would expect in a limited series like this.  And though set centuries into a dystopian future, like all great works, it touches upon elements that are timely now, from toxic masculinity to unchecked power in leadership to lessons in humanity, even if reflected in the shattered mirror the creators hold up for us.  And though pitched and commenced back in the long-ago pre-Pandemic days of 2019, it’s kept that timeless quality that all great stories have.

Sure, if you’re casually glancing at it, you’re going to be drawn in by Casalanguida’s deft layouts and pencils, and you’re probably going to be impressed with Matt Milla’s coloring and Carlos Mangual’s pitch-perfect lettering (both of whom are cranking it up to 11 and beyond in this issue!).

You’re probably going to see the homages to Mad Max and The Hunger Games and a dozen other apocalyptic tales, but this fully realized and fleshed-out world goes beyond that.  

Because when you sit down to read it, and all the elements come together so easily and organically, from Pepose’s heartfelt story to the insightful artwork and coloring and lettering, Kit’s heroic journey becomes your own.  It touches on the humanity of hope and the need for authenticity in your beliefs.  The value of courage, and the plain power of a good stay well-told.  

Pepose and company have that all… in spades.  It’s the type of storytelling we need now.  And though it’s over, this is one of those series I’ll definitely go back and read again.

You should, too.

Dez: “[My father] said a long time ago, the world looked completely different — But when the boys fell, nothing was the same again…
Except if you looked up. Orion’s Belt, the Big Dipper…
No matter how much the Earth shook and cracked, the stars stayed the same —- stayed together.
And that’s why Doctor Hancock founded the Ranger Scouts — because together, we’ll always be able to finder way home.”

VERDICT: FIVE out of FIVE stars

Creative Team: David Pepose (writer), Luca Casalanguida (artist), Matt Milla (colorist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer)
Publisher:    Aftershock Comics
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