From Image Comics comes the Stray Bullets trade entitled Sunshine and Roses, Part 1
For new readers, here’s the brief: Stray Bullets is a seamy, steamy series if this collected volume is any indication. Sunshine and Roses Volume 1 (“Kretchmeyer”) collects issues 1-8, and leads to more in the future.
Essentially, it’s a boy meets girl story, except in this case, the boy and girl want to run the drug pushing scene in Baltimore in 1980. Which means that they must befriend, bewitch and bewilder the competition. And then wipe them out.
It’s dark, weird and fascinating. The writing, characters and dialogue are amazing. Writer and artist David Lapham, with Maria Lapham editing and producing, is turning out a stunning, moving saga of twisted people with twisted intentions. There seems to be no limit to the scheming and Machiavellian plotting with these characters! Double crossing, spying, sleeping around, lying, cheating, stealing. Did I forget anything? Oh yeah, killing!
It’s tersely worded, with no padded scenes; everything connects together like a strangely offbeat maze… The artwork is somewhere along the lines of the Hernandez Brothers, with a bit less of the ‘graphic design’ artsy touch. The pages are in black and white, with no half tone. So it’s literally a ‘black and white world’.
Have I said enough? if you are looking for a gutsy, no holds barred journey, this one is for you! But make no mistake, these people play for keeps, and some of the situations and visuals are pretty rough. But I couldn’t put it down and want to read more.
Image, Stray Bullets, $19.99 for 252 pages of content. Rated Mature Readers.
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