While many people have strong opinions on Jim Shooter, David Lapham owes his career to him. Shooter burned bridges almost everywhere he went, but he always had an eye for talent.  After he blazed his way out at Marvel, he resurfaced a few years later and led Valiant to a number of high profile series including Harbinger, Solar, XO Manowar and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (which later became a popular video game). Along with some industry veterans, Shooter discovered some promising new artists including David Lapham, who did the art on the popular Harbinger series. When Shooter was forced out at Valiant, he went on to help found Defiant comics and Lapham followed him over and helped him create Warriors of Plasm. Unfortunately a legal fight with Marvel comics and a dropoff in sales over the entire comic book business killed Defiant.

Lapham, sick of the getting shafted by companies left and right, decided to self-publish and came out with Stray Bullets. The initial storyline (named Innocence of Nihilism) was published to rave reviews, not only for the art, but also for the wonderful storytelling. The story follows a cast of losers and small time hoods and does an amazing job capturing the characters and the atmosphere. So, what is Stray Bullets?

The seven stories that make up volume one of Stray Bullets,  are not really one story, but a series of stories that share characters and situations. The characters includes Harry a mob/crime boss (who was brought in by Lonnie in the late 70s but Lonnie’s never seen), Spanish Scott and Monster who are hitman/enforcers for Lonnie , Joey who’s a little confused about a hiding the dead body mission in 1997 and whose mom partied with Spanish Scott and Monster in 1980.  Then there is Virginia (Ginnie) Applegate who has an active imagination and is is seeing her favorite movie in 1977, Star Wars. Ginnie’s lives with her father (who travels a lot), her step mother (who she hates and who hates her) and her older sister who regards Ginnie as an excuse to get out of the house and see her boyfriend. Ginnie is a very troubled young girl and we see her adventures and a story about her alter ego Amy Racecar.

The first story follows Joey as he and his partner are dumping a body for Harry in 1997. The body was one of Harry’s women and Harry let the pair have their way with her before he killed her. Joey (who’s never been with a woman before) starts getting confused about death and sex and that leads to a much bigger problem then they started with.

Then we jump back to 1977 where Ginnie is coming out of watching Star Wars again. Her sister had dumped her at the theater so she could go off with her boyfriend. While Ginnie was waiting for her sister to come back, she saw Spanish Scott and his partner take care of someone. The shock of seeing that leads to problems at school, which leads to a truly horrifying Halloween.

Next we jump forward a few years to a party in 1980 where Joey’s Mom (who brought Joey with her to the party) is being the huge party girl. A new guy was getting into the mob thanks to Spanish Scott putting in a word for him with Harry. Spanish Scott has been tasked with watching Harry’s girlfriend (shades of Pulp Fiction), but his eyes wander and a mistake happens.

Going back to 1978, Ginnie is running away from home. She gets picked up hitchhiking by a traveling salesman who has a gun and robs stores. He brings Ginnie in on the robberies until Ginnie is disappointed with life once again.

Forward to 1981 and Orson sees a man get hit by a truck and ends up meeting up with Joey’s mom (Rose) who invites him to a part where Spanish Scott and Monster are. The whole situation and sex and drugs mess with Orson’s mind so much that he finally snaps.

Then we meet Amy Racecar (Ginnie’s alter ego) who goes into and comes out of a coma (after meeting her creator — literally) and goes on an interstellar crime spree. When we come back to reality, it’s 1982 and Ginnie’s father is sick. Ginnie loves her father and hates her step-mother. The only thing they have in common is Ginnie’s father. But when he gets sick, what does that do to the family and the daughter/step-mother relationship.

As you can see, the stories are not really straight forward, but the same characters keep showing up again and again. It’s almost as if we are circling around and around getting closer and closer to the end. The slogan for Stray Bullets is “They Never Saw It Coming – They Never Had a Chance” and that sums it up. Innocents are put into dangerous situations with dangerous people and they never come out of it unscathed. The writing and art are amazing. Lapham jumps around in time and with characters, but you never feel lost and you always believe that there is a bigger story that you are just seeing pieces of. The art is equally amazing.

Lapham sticks with a 2 x 4 grid to put the emphasis on what’s happening within the panels, not the design of the page. He also has a great mix of realistic characters (none of people look like superheroes or buxom bimbos) and some iconic images to show emotion (such as the swirls and lines in the first panel above). The art really serves the storyline and is well done without calling attention to itself.

Lapham has finished 40 issues of Stray Bullets, but has put it on hold for work with the major publishers recently. Since the pay is much better, he can’t really afford to take the time to go back to self-publishing any time soon. But when he does, I’ll be there waiting for him because he has shown that he is a master story teller and Stray Bullets is his best work. Highly Recommended.