The return of David Lapham’s Stray Bullets gets the fanfare it deserves
Each week, Big Issues focuses on newly released comic-book issues of significance. This week, they are Stray Bullets #41 and Stray Bullets: Killers #1. Written and drawn by David Lapham (The Strain, Juice Squeezers), these two issues are part of an ambitious publishing initiative bringing the classic crime noir series to a wider audience for its return after nine years off the racks.
Nearly a decade ago, teenager Virginia “Ginny” Applejack cut herself free and escaped the shed behind Kevin Leeds’ house where she was held captive, taking with her the cocaine that Kevin’s father was stashing for a local crime boss. It’s a brutal cliffhanger to leave dangling for nine years, but this week, David Lapham finally returns to his creator-owned crime noir masterwork Stray Bullets to resolve it, telling the final chapter of his “Hijinks And Derring-Do” storyline with the same unflinching brutality he exhibited in the 40 preceding issues.
Stray Bullets #41 alone is a momentous event, but Image Comics has turned the release into a massive celebration of Lapham’s work, publishing the first issue of a new Stray Bullets story and a huge collection of the original run’s 40 issues on the same day. This is after Image put all the Stray Bullets back issues on Comixology at the end of last year, offering the first four chapters for free so that new readers have no excuse not to try them out. (Assuming they are adults. This is most definitely not an all-ages series, although teenage readers could benefit from its stark depiction of violence and the way it impacts individuals and larger society.)
Offering 1,200 pages for $60, Stray Bullets: The Über Alles Edition is the type of book that could be used as a weapon in one of Lapham’s stories, or perhaps to block actual stray bullets in real life. It’s a heavy book, both in size and story, and the bleak black-and-white contents may not seem like binge-reading material, but it doesn’t take long to fall under the spell of Lapham’s storytelling. Presenting tense, character-driven crime stories with an art style that balances detailed naturalism and cartoonish expression, each chapter pulls the reader into an immersive environment populated by people that are recognizable and relatable.
Perhaps the best thing about Stray Bullets is that each issue is new reader friendly, telling a complete story that is often, but not always, part of a larger narrative. As the last issue in a 10-part arc, #41 isn’t the perfect entry point, but Lapham still makes sure the story is fully accessible by providing all necessary exposition in the opening scene. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Lapham outlines his philosophy for making each issue of Stray Bullets an appropriate first issue for newcomers:
I’ve designed Stray Bullets for the kind of reader that I am. I don’t go into comic-book shops regularly, so when I go in, I don’t want to pick up stuff that I’m going to be confused by when I’m reading. If I get stuck with my life and come back to something three months later, I want to come back to a series and just pick up the story. One of the elements about Stray Bullets is that every issue is new-reader friendly. When you start getting up into 30, 40 issues, people see the number and feel alienated, like they have to go back and read the previous stuff. I think people could jump in on Killers #4, but seeing the #1 makes it easy for new readers to jump in.