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Stray Bullets Killers #2
Released by: Image Comics
Released on: April 15th, 2014.
This second issue of David Lapham's Stray Bullets: Killers takes things in a different direction, though you just know that sooner or later it's going to tie into where the debut issue left off.
Entitled “Sweet Jane†the story brings us back in time to Maryland in 1986 where Virginia shows up on the door step of her Aunt Jane. The make some potato salad and Jane notes how thin Virginia is looking. This inspires the younger woman to tell that there's 'a funny story about that' but they don't go there, they instead talk about Virginia's mom and how she's not been doing so well since her husband, Jane's brother, passed away. Jane wants to call Virginia's mom, as no one has seen the younger woman in a while, but Virginia protests. She has a bath and the two call it a night, but Uncle Jack is nowhere to be seen. Jane tells Virginia he's in the garage working late, but that night when the sun goes down Virginia sleeps under the bed, not on it. Something is wrong. Virginia looks out the window and hears Jane and Jack fighting about something in the garage. She climbs down the window and sees Jack watching TV in a trance like state.
The next morning Jane makes Virginia a nice breakfast but they don't really talk, at least not about whatever it was that Virginia witnessed that night. Before they can go there a young man named Eli from the neighborhood shows up, he's to pick something up for his mother. Jane basically forces Eli to take her niece to the boardwalk to show her a good time, and we learn that Eli has a prosthetic leg thanks to a car accident some time ago, an accident that took his father's life. The two get to know one another and she coaxes him into breaking into a nearby arcade. Since she's been on her own it seems she does stuff like this a lot and we learn that she once knew a guy who pulled people's fingers off for a living. That night they go home and Virginia spies her aunt, in bed alone sans Uncle Jack, moaning in her sleep and calling Eli's name. Jack's awake though, and he's spying in on Virginia through the window. Morning comes and Virginia hands out with Eli and some friends. The friend makes a crack and she pulls a knife but Eli talks her down. Virginia and Eli drop the others off and go hang out alone with a bottle of rum. He shows her his leg, an act of tenderness in a strange way, and so it goes. One thing leads to another. Young love. Eli opens up about what he knows about her aunt and uncle and Virginia, with the best of intentions, decides to do something about their situation.
This issue is about seventy-five percent character development. There's no real action here, but by letting us get to know Virginia and through her both Jane and Eli, it's obvious that Lapham is going somewhere with all of this. We're not there yet, and that's okay, the pacing in Stray Bullets has always been deliberate and all the better for it but know going in that the action and crime elements of the inaugural offering of this run take a back seat to the exploits of a troubled teenage girl. This is all written so well that you probably won't mind, however, particularly because the story drops little hints about what's to come along the way, all of which serve to make this an interesting read. The artwork is once again up to Lapham's standards and fans of the series will know what to expect - stark black and white work with an emphasis on facial expressions to draw out all of the emotion and drama that the story entails. Where's it going from here? We'll find out in May, and it can't come soon enough…
