Undertaker v5: “The White Indian”

Jonas Crow is on his own and, honestly, not doing so good. He’s thrown himself into his work of burying bodies, but a new job comes his way from an old “friend” and things go sideways fast.

Of course.

This is another painful book for Jonas, but at least he doesn’t break any major bones or get stabbed. So that’s an improvement.

Hang on. This one is going to be a bumpy ride.

Bury the Credits Alive

What’s Going On?

A confrontation between Apache Indians and a couple returning home under a two man armed guard turns deadly. The mother of one of the deceased declares that she wants her son’s body back to bury it, but the Indians have taken it already.

Jonas gets the job burying everybody who’s left at the site of the altercation. Point of personality: He’s paid for a mass grave, but insists that everyone get their own grave. Say what you will about Jonas, but he’s got respect for the dead and his job.

Afterwards, he gets drunk and passes out at the nearest town, where an old friend finds him an offers him a job: Go into the Indian territory to get the boy’s body back.

It won’t be easy. There’s a time crunch involved. And is his friend telling the truth about this job? What more is there to it? It’s a heist for a body in enemy territory. What could possibly go wrong, besides everything?

Can he manage to get out of this one with his life, some extra money, and the body?

It won’t be easy.

Ultimately, this is a book about discovery. Jonas is thrown into a crazy situation with only half the information. Along the way, the truth drips out, and each drop makes the situation more dangerous for him. Maybe he’d have been better off not knowing the complete truth?

He also discovers a lot about the feared Apache tribe whose land he’s invading. He may be discovering something about himself, but so far that just seems to be how many alcoholic beverages should be his limit.

The book runs 55 story pages. I’m giving you the vaguest outline here of the story, and almost nothing from the second half of it. There’s a lot of things going on in the book, but I do try to keep these reviews as free from spoilers as possible.So please forgive that vagueness.

Overall Thoughts

There are three thoughts I had when I was done reading this book.

First, it’s a little convoluted. It’s done on purpose to hide a surprise or two, but the misdirection leads to some confusion. It’s a tricky balance to pull off between confusion and the tease. I’m not so sure Dorison was always on the right side of it.

By the end of the book, it all makes sense. I’m curious to go back and reread it all now that I can work out the correct sequence of events and people.

Second, it’s a bleak tale. Jonas has had some bad misadventures in the first four books of the series, but this one is particularly rough on him, up to and including being buried alive. He starts the book off miserable and alone, drunk. When he sobers up, the trouble starts.

Everyone in this book is miserable. They’re mad, they’re in mourning, they’re rightfully holding terrible grudges, or they’re taking an arrow through the chest. It’s just that kind of book. If you’re looking for light-hearted reading, you should avoid this one.

(That said, Jonas’s naturally laid back and plain, matter of fact speaking style neatly undercut that at times with a welcome slice of humor.)

Third, this book feels like a real old fashioned western movie that features a lot of character moments. The book is a series of scenes in which Jonah learns something new or loses his latest fight, whether verbal or physical. It’s not ever that nothing is happening, but it feels a bit slower while we look at the ways Jonas reacts to the situation he finds himself in.

This isn’t your stereotypical Hero’s Journey. Jonah is truly alone. He’s not meeting a mentor, going through trials, and inevitably coming out the other side stronger than his master. No, he’s just trying to live his life and get through these little adventures he gets stuck in along the way. He’s not a big idealist, aside from the ways he works with the dead. Everything else is fair game: survival is key, as is just being left along to do his work.

That’s what makes this book such a character piece. Again and again, you see the one, real Jonah reacting to the situations he finds himself in.

Delving Into Race Relations As Only Jonas Crow Could Do

At a point in the story, Jonah is captured by the Apache. They’re led by a woman, Salvaje, who is strong and a natural leader. She and Jonas have some real sparks in their conversations. I don’t mean the romantic kind. I just mean that they’re very antagonistic, which makes sense given their situations.

She’s out to avenge the wrongs done to her people by the invading Europeans, while also protecting her tribe and fighting off any more potential invaders. She needs to balance those two notions in some way to be successful.

The relations between the American Indians and the white folks are obviously an issue in this story. The whole thing kicks off with a confrontation between the two that leaves a lot of people dead, after all. The natural antagonism is all there and plain to see.

Dorison’s script does a good job in including that in the story without bludgeoning you with it. The sharpest points in the book are made with a snarky comment or a sarcastic aide. It’s not simple cowboys versus Indians. You just can’t do that entirely in this day and age.

Jonas has his own code of conduct that’s hard to describe. He’s very pragmatic. He’s capable of hearing what other people say, but he tries to stay away from it all as much as possible. He just wants to do his thing and get away from everyone else. But other people often have plans for him. He’s naturally caught in a middle in this one. He’s not trying to roust anyone from their lands or kill anyone for being different. He’s just tending to the dead and trying to get out. He’s not inciting riots or bringing hell down upon anyone, in particular.

That makes him as much a victim in the story as anyone else. He gets kicked around pretty good, and it’s not all well-deserved.

A Little About Story Structure and Character Conflicts

Life after Rose and Lin is not just tough for Jonas, but also for his writer. Dorison lacks that guiding arrow of morality in Jonas’ life. The two woman from the first four books often drove him in better directions than he might have gone. They were often the voices of the readers, trying to set him right even when his stubborn nature drove him in another direction.

There is no shining beacon of light in this book. You don’t know who you can really trust. The people Jonas is working with are obviously slimy from the moment we meet them. We know they’re using him but the question is to what degree.

As their adventures stretch deeper into Indian territory, the question of trust becomes a two way street. Jonas isn’t going to trust the Apache, and the Apache certainly aren’t going to trust him. Everyone, to one degree or other, is using everybody else in their best interests. Those interests often come to a dramatic confrontation.

That’s a bit about why I’m writing so much about Jonas’ character in this volume. It’s pure, undiluted him. Dorison needs to find new ways to push him around, and I believe he’s doing that by putting Jonas in a bad position where he’s treated as the enemy, even if he isn’t. It’s an interesting internal battle for him.

I also can’t help but wonder if the second part of this story in Book 6 isn’t going to feature the return of a character to help set him straight in some way.

The Art of Ralph Meyer

What kind of “Undertaker” review would this be if I didn’t take a moment to fawn over Meyer’s art. It’s still beautiful. There aren’t quite as many jaw-dropping vistas in this book than the previous ones, I don’t think, but you still get plenty.

I was impressed mostly in this book with the way Meyer handles the character bits. There’s a lot of talking heads in this book, but they act in interesting ways. There are very subtle looks that Jonas gives during conversations. All of the characters feel more nuanced in this book, though that might be a natural progression after the slight mania of the last two books.

It also feels like there’s a bit of adjustment in Meyer’s art style. There are more fine lines and details in certain segments. There’s more crosshatching or thin lines being used to indicate shaded areas. Previous books reminded me so much of the brush work of the Marvel bullpen in the later 1960s or into the 1970s. This book feels like it added a little more pen work.

The only thing that really feels weird, artistically, in this book is Jonas’ friend, Sid Beauchamp. He stands out a bit too much for looking like a caricature of a real person. There’s just something off about the way he looks. He’s not the rough and ready cowboy type that dominates so many of these stories. He’s a lawyer and a touch flamboyant with his big fur coat and fancy clean cowboy hat.

But, mostly, he looks like a likeness of someone I don’t know. It’s a little weird.

An Asterix Homage?!?

Here’s the back cover of the print edition, which was released the same week as Asterix’s 60th anniversary.

Yeah, that can’t be a coincidence. The visual similarities are too perfect! Who knew how much a casket could look like a menhir?

Recommended?

Yes, though it feels incomplete. By definition, it IS incomplete. That’s the nature of series like this which are told in diptych form. Each story spans two books, much like “Largo Winch” does.

The trick is, does this book entertain enough to be considered a satisfying read on its own? Or is it merely good enough until we get the second book and can see how the whole story comes together?

By the end of this book, it all makes sense and it feels like the sides are clearly chosen. Dorison has set it up now that the second book could be the more freewheeling half of the story.

It feels like a lot of this book is dealing with the discovery and the attitudes. It’s about revealing the truth so that everyone is free to act with confidence. It’s about the events of this book leading to some uneasy alliances in the next one, or some surprising betrayals.

I can’t help but think that’s what this book is setting up for the next one. I’ll be interested in re-examining this story once I’ve read the sixth volume and can read the whole thing in one weekend.

There’s a lot in this book that’s entertaining, clever, and interesting. It’s not as exciting a tale as volume 3 was, but that feels like it was also an entirely different kind of story. It’s a bit of apples and oranges.

I recommend this series in general. If you’ve read the first four, you’ll definitely want to read this one. If you’ve never read “Undertaker” before, I’d strongly recommend starting at volume one, anyway, and work your way up to this one. It does stand alone on its own, having disconnected from all the characters in the first four books (so far), but I think volume one is a better introduction to the series.

— 2020.002 —

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