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10. Earl Tubb

(Southern Bastards, Image Comics)

The first volume of Southern Bastards plays a pretty solid trick on the audience.

It presents a basic story of a man coming back to his hometown to find it decrepit and crime ridden. So he tried to clean it up and…was beaten to death, because he wasn't the real main character. Earl Tubb was the fake-out protagonist who lulled readers into a false sense of security before the big blow.

When he first returned to Craw County, he saved the deadbeat Dusty Tutwiler from Esaw Goings. This aroused the ire of Coach Euless Boss, the town’s de facto crime lord.  Boss had Dusty killed, and also had Tubb's friend Tad beaten extremely badly. So Tubb got down his daddy's beatin' stick, and marched straight into town to take care of business. Coach Boss beat him to death in the middle of town, surrounded by witnesses who didn't do a thing.

Chilling.