Stray Bullets: Uber Alles Edition by David LaphamMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Stray Bullets: Uber Alles Edition collects issues 1-41 of Stray Bullets.
I've read a few hundred crime books and a few thousand comics but somehow I've read less than 100 crime comics all told prior to this. I wasn't reading many comics when Stray Bullets was coming out but I remember how favorably people in the know looked upon it and I was already a fan of David Lapham through his Valiant and Defiant work. Anyway, I found this for $35 not very long ago and it was worth every damned penny.
Told out of chronological order, Stray Bullets features a lot of lowlifes like Joey, The Finger, Spanish Scott, Monster, and some people who are lowlife adjacent like Beth, Nina, and Orson. When the smoke clears, though, the book is really about the life of Virginia Applejack and those whose lives she intersects with.
The stark black and white artwork is a far crime from the superhero stuff Lapham did at Valiant and Defiant. It's moody as hell and is more akin to Jaime Hernandez or Alex Toth. His use of black perfectly sets the mood. Even the sunny days are dark in Stray Bullets.
I don't want to give too much away about the various plots packed into this almost 1200 page kitten squisher. Little Virgina Applejack runs away from home and winds up in a web of drug, money, and murder, meeting shitheels and lowlifes at every turn. There's weird shit, sick shit, dark shit, twisted shit and violent shit in this. There are homages to crime movies and detective stories but a lot of the book is about the violence and betrayal hiding just around the corner. No one is safe and no one can be trusted completely.
By the end of the book, I was sad that it was over but also kind of relieved. This wasn't an easy read but I still couldn't put it down for long.
Stray Bullets. Five out of five stars. Go buy the son of a bitch.
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