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Stray Bullets: Sunshine And Roses #4
Released by: Image Comics
Released on: May 20th, 2015.
Written & Illustrated by: David Lapham
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When issue three of the best damn crime comic out there left off, Beth was on the outs with Dez which leads to an altercation with Orson that ends poorly. She owes Dez ten grand and he wants it. She has a day to get it. Orson gets left with a very stoned Rose and they talk about her kid, the dad and the issues around that predicament. Beth walks out with ten pounds of weed and they're in business. But it doesn't work. So Orson decides to outdo Dez 'The Finger' by taking on the name of Mr. Sunshine. And in a roundabout way, it works, bring that story to a fairly cool conclusion.
This fourth issue, a self contained story that will no doubt fit in nicely in the greater continuity of the series, starts in Baltimore, the summer of 1980. A man has a gun to another man's head at a party. Jump ahead a year and Nina's doing lines and fucking her bodyguard, Gomez, on the side. Bad things happen to men who fuck Nina. Back in 1980, Beth runs into Sonny. He's trashed, complaining how Spanish Scott and Harry pushed him out of Led's room. There's a scream, Beth heads to the room and interrupts Scott who is roughing Nina up in a bad way.
1981 - Sonny's stoned, Nina shows up looking for Beth but she and Orson aren't home. Sonny drives Nina out to the farm where they're hanging out, though the conversation in the car ride over is… awkward. Nina's choice to sleep with Led once was a bad move. He breaks down and cries but she bitches him out, she's got to be back by eight because Harry is going to take her out. They make it to the farm, Sonny shows off his pot farm and then he shows her his harpoon gun. The topic of revenge comes up, but there's no sign of Beth. Nina knows she's in for a beating when she gets back, Sonny takes her back to the apartment for one last try to find Beth and… Scott's there, with Kretch. They want Nina but she splits and fast, eventually getting her ass saved by Gomez. They leave Sonny alone with the two psychos but pass Beth and Orson on their way out. Beth sees her, convinces Orson to turn around and she springs Nina but Scott and Kretchmeyer aren't far behind. With only minutes to spare, Nina tells Beth what she knows about Harry's plans and how they can use that to get out of this mess, unaware of the mess she herself has created and will soon witness.
This is some dark, twisted, nasty stuff. The story does a great job of expanding on the tragedy behind Nina's character but really, it's all about Sonny: his motivations (or in some ways his lack thereof), his edge and most importantly, his big heart. Yeah, he's a smelly pot head who just wants to cop a feel but Lapham does a great job of fleshing out the character in this issue. It's touching in its own way. But then there's the harpoon gun. Not a good idea. This series is crazy in its complexity and in how multi-layered it is and this issue definitely ties into events from the run's past and will have to have implications in its future but it does tie things up, to a certain extent, by the time you hit the last page - as messy as it all gets. And it gets messy. Really messy.
All the things that make Stray Bullets work are here. Great dialogue, interesting and believable characters of varying degrees of both intelligence and ballsiness. Strong violence, gritty locations and scenarios. It's great stuff, if you dig crime fiction this is both hard boiled and completely plausible. Lapham knows what he's doing. The writing is top notch and the artwork just as good. If you're not reading this series you obviously don't know what you're missing but what you're missing is a masterpiece of comic book storytelling.