Well, it’s far from the worst issue of Killers. It’s more with Virginia and her mostly lame boyfriend Eli; Lapham does very little to show why Eli’s any good as a boyfriend other than he’s usually sweet to Virginia.

This issue has him not being sweet for the first time and it’s an awkward scene. Usually outburst scenes in Stray Bullets lead to some kind of murder scene. This time it leads to teenage angst.

It’s also one of the first issues–Killers or regular series–where something turns out not to be the worst possible scenario. Except maybe some of those early Virginia issues where Lapham frequently threatens her to keep the tension high. It’s a Stray Bullets comic without the big finish. Very odd.

The art’s really lazy at times; Lapham rushes through the talking heads sequences and it hurts the comic. Ditto the narratively pointless hallucination subplot.

B- 

CREDITS

99 Percent; writer, artist and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, Image Comics.

I remember when the Amy Racecar issues of Stray Bullets were wildly imaginative, wonderfully constructed black comedy. This issue, the first Killers issue to bring Amy back… is none of those things. Instead, it’s Lapham doing the “Amy Racecar as painfully obvious analog to Virginia’s life” approach.

It’s depressing–not because of the content, but because Lapham jumps all over the place to tie in to the original series (both the Amy issues and a little not) and to the Killers series. While one could argue the unanswered questions in the Amy Racecar stories are because Virginia herself doesn’t know the answers but it’s possible she’s dwelling on these subjects so they’re okay in the issue, I don’t think so.

Lapham wants this story to inform the rest of the work, not do anything else whatsoever. Not even make the reader laugh or cringe. The vague hints barely register a shrug.

C- 

CREDITS

Call Me Gilgamesh or The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face It Was On Your Butt; writer, artist and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, Image Comics.

It's all connected! It's all connected! And why shouldn't Virginia Applejack fall for the kid from the first issue of Killers once he's grown up? It makes everything so neat and tidy, even if Lapham does skip over the actual romance because it'd be too hard to establish it. And even if Lapham does turn the guy's mom into a shrill knock-off of Virginia's evil mom.

There's still a lot of good stuff in the comic, maybe even some great stuff; the connections almost seem added later. Lapham really tries hard to make Killers, save Virginia, its own interconnected thing.

Why?

Because he still hasn't realized interconnected stories don't necessarily make something good.

It's a fine issue, but more of what I expected from Killers than Lapham has been doing. Until now, the nostalgia has been subtle. Here, it's forced. It's still above average until the desperate third act.

B 

CREDITS

Sorry; writer, artist and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, Image Comics.

This issue is about eight years late. Maybe eight years and a month.

Is it the comic Lapham always intended to tell? Who knows. Who cares.

It ends with Virginia okay and heading out into the world because she can’t lead a regular life. I don’t care if I spoiled it. I won’t spoil how the whole kidnapping thing comes to a conclusion because it’s not worth talking about. Lapham has his chance a few times in that scene to do something good and he doesn’t.

But at the end, and here’s another spoiler, Virginia gets it on with Leon. She loves the kid, he loves her. Lapham’s spent this series showing women getting beaten, raped, murdered. It’s the first time there’s some romantic love in this comic in many issues and more years.

And he skips it.

He tries some earnest sentimentality at the end, but he’s faking it.

D+ 

CREDITS

Hi-Jinks!; writer, artist, and letterer, David Lapham; editor, Maria Lapham; publisher, Image Comics.

Silly me, how did I forget Lapham always follows up hard cliffhangers with Amy Racecar stories. Sadly, not even Amy Racecar is safe from Lapham’s laziness.

It isn’t a story about Amy–her sidekick, William, returns, because apparently Virginia and Amy both always need sidekicks now. She doesn’t narrate, which is good, because it’s a terrible story and I wouldn’t have wanted to read Lapham write bad Amy Racecar narration. It would have made me sadder.

The issue has her in feudal Japan because someone–probably Lapham, not Virginia–was on a Kurosawa kick. Lots of visual references to some of Kurosawa’s most famous samurai movies. Not to mention a direct homage to Yojimbo. It’s too bad Lapham didn’t spend the time on the actual content of this issue.

Also, there are a lot of bad puns.

Lapham’s awful output’s confusing. He’s not trying with story or art; it’s terrible.

D- 

CREDITS

Hatukaraki!!!!; writer, artist, and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, El Capitán Books.

Seriously? Seriously? Okay, so the bad guy who’s secretly gay and can’t accept it so he rapes other guys is named Huss. He’s the villain. I wonder why Lapham wanted to do this story arc. Bullets always had some kind of point, the way it revolved around a certain group of criminals. And then Virginia’s story too, of course.

But Lapham has now set Virginia up as a superhero against this villain kid. There’s no attempt at understanding this kid, which is strange since Lapham was always sympathetic to the kid who shot up the first issue. One might have thought Bullets would be about him and Virginia.

Instead of Virginia coming up against villains to defeat. Ones who are number one murder suspects who then just get away with it.

I think the art is a little better than last issue but not by much.

Lousy hard cliffhanger too.

D 

CREDITS

Poppycock; writer, artist, and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, El Capitán Books.

Okay, so the high school arc is apparently all about Virginia going up against that kid who went insane because he had a gay encounter. Actually, it’s rather homophobic. Not just that event and the outcome, but the series overall. This issue has the guy raping another kid (another guy).

Lapham’s nothing if he isn’t cheap. And vaguely homophobic. And really lazy on the art. It’s the worst art in the series ever.

But he’s also got Virginia stirring the pot and investigating and it’s hard not to appreciate having her around. Even if all the high school stuff is idiotic and somehow getting worse. This Bullets arc is set in the early eighties so maybe you didn’t go to jail as a teenager if you murdered someone, which is the implication with the villain.

And why does the comic now have (another) shallow villain? Because Lapham’s given up entirely.

C 

CREDITS

Fiddlesticks; writer, artist, and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, El Capitán Books.

Some of Lapham’s problem is the lack of restraint. He’s let Bullets go all over the place, he’s let his art go to pot and he’s gone too far. Maybe he hyper-extended his narrative muscles too many times and they’re just damaged.

This issue has Virginia bonding with her awful mother’s new boyfriend, who’s not a good boyfriend but isn’t a terrible guy. And there’s some stuff with her sister. If it had been the first in the “Virginia goes home” arc, it might have been a little better because some of it wouldn’t seem so forced, like the Leon references.

Oh, right–Lapham does it all from Virginia’s diary. Just like he used to do when the comic was frequently fantastic. It hasn’t even been good lately and the return to the device seems a tad desperate.

At least this time, Virginia carries the issue to moderate success.

B- 

CREDITS

Monkey Business; writer, artist, and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, El Capitán Books.

Lapham is really enjoying his high school arc. It’s not as violent anymore because of Virginia getting the cops involved with the brawl. Or so Leon, who’s around to explain everything to Virginia because she’s become a caricature, says.

Leon and Virginia sit around and comment on the events in the issue, a jock-related love triangle. Because everyone reading Stray Bullets wants to read a misanthropic, X-rated version of “Friday Night Lights.” It should be better, for Lapham to take the traditional lionizing of high school athletes and show the realistic side of it but… it’s not. It’s terrible. It’s a dumb idea for a story and Lapham is incompetent at executing it.

From the first couple pages, I could tell he was slacking on the art and I kept hoping he wouldn’t slack on the writing too. I kept waiting for a point. There isn’t any point.

D- 

CREDITS

Bamboozled; writer, artist, and letterer, David Lapham; editors, Renee Miller and Maria Lapham; publisher, El Capitán Books.