Tweet
Stray Bullets: Killers #8
Released by: Image Comics
Released on: October 22nd, 2014.
Written & Illustrated by: David Lapham
Purchase From Amazon
The last issue of David Lapham's Stray Bullets: Killers did not end on a happy note. Not at all. Young love birds Eli and Virginia had reunited with some of the criminal element from Virginia's past with dire results. People got shot and they wound up at Dez's house where he assumed she was arriving to babysit. Dez tells Virginia that 'this shit with Kretchmeyer's just getting started' and tells her to get out while she still can and to take Eli with her.
Flashback to the beach house at Ocean City three weeks later and Virginia is upset, missing her boyfriend and still fearing for her life. She sees a car outside and knows she's being watched so she flees. The next day Eli is practicing what he's going to say to Virginia, obviously planning to take her back, but his obnoxious cousin Adam shows up and insists on taking him out to take his mind off of things. They talk and Eli tells him about his art school plans and Adam, flush with cash, hands Eli a thousand dollars. No strings attached, until Adam tells Eli he wants him to take his girlfriend Jane to the doctor's because she's pregnant. And by doctor, Adam means an abortion clinic. Begrudgingly, and without much of a choice after accepting the money, Eli agrees. Adam throws Jane in the back of the car, hands Eli a map and takes off but then hops in another car with a friend and covertly follows them. When Eli realizes how scared she is, he tries to stall but a confrontation with Adam goes bad quickly. They force Eli to take her, holding his leg hostage.
Meanwhile, Virginia is back with her Aunt Jane. When Adam realizes Eli and Jane have split, he heads to Virginia to find out what she knows. She tells him the truth - he's not there. Adam splits but Virginia knows there's trouble brewing. Eli and Jane, meanwhile, hold up at Dez's beach house, the same one that Virginia just split from with the gun. They talk, one things leads to another and they screw on the couch completely unaware that they're being watched by two of Kretchmeyer's thugs, Kobby and Blue Ed, who mistake Jane for Dez's daughter. They move in on the house, just as Virginia shows up…
This eight issue concludes the Killers story arc but the into to the letters pages from Lapham lets us rest assured that there's more Stray Bullets coming in January in the form of Sunshine And Roses. And that's a very good thing because the way that this issue ends… damn. If you thought it hit the fan in issue #7, this one turns up the head in a big way and it ends on one Hell of a cliffhanger. Right now January seems like an awfully long way away, but the plus side is that this issue actually contains thirty-five pages of story, making it considerably longer than your average comic.
Stray Bullets, however, is anything but your average comic. Lapham's multi-layered crime epic is so well written and so rewards those with good attention to detail that there's really nothing else like it out there on the racks these days. Eli and Virginia were and remain the focus but some of these fascinating supporting players are suddenly much more important than they were and you can't help but wonder how he'll explore their stories in the next arc. Until then, enjoy having your fucking mind blown by the big finish that Lapham goes for here. The artwork continues to be perfect. The dialogue all too real but not without its trademark black humor. The main characters a mix of genuinely bad ass and loveable white trash assholes that could very well live right next door to you. Awww…. Stray Bullets. There's nothing else out there like it.
January really does seem like its years away right now. Damn you, David Lapham, you and your loving wife Maria have crafted with this issue the PERFECT comic book. If you skip this series for whatever reason, you're a fool. Do not miss this. Everyone should be reading Stray Bullets because of issues like this one.