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Stray Bullets
Stray Bullets, Vol. 4: Dark Days
An evil babysitter drags a lost boy through a tour of hell. Mental patient Amy Racecar travels the universe in search of a forgotten truth but finds a mean-spirited conspiracy of revenge. And a woman consumed by guilt will commit a desperate act that could prove fatal for two innocent children! This hardcover also contains scripts, sketches, and behind-the-scenes extras
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 19, 2023
Hear that noise? No? That's because it's the silence of being overawed by this volume! Each and every issue in this volume is superb; each comic book issue is superbly and darkly crafted as a series of terrible events further define the characters, as the separate character groups from the first three volumes are bought together when two of the primary three kids in the series fall into the hands of a paedophile!
When you read the Amy Racecar juxtaposition issue, it really becomes clear that this is comic book writing (and drawing) innovation at its height. As is the way the series deals with some of the worse crimes a human can commit. Five Stars? Beyond doubt. Exquisite. 10 out of 12. Alongside The Walking Dead, one of the most brilliant black and white comic book serials.
2013, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023 read
When you read the Amy Racecar juxtaposition issue, it really becomes clear that this is comic book writing (and drawing) innovation at its height. As is the way the series deals with some of the worse crimes a human can commit. Five Stars? Beyond doubt. Exquisite. 10 out of 12. Alongside The Walking Dead, one of the most brilliant black and white comic book serials.
2013, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023 read
August 5, 2019
Okay, my string of three 4-starred volumes of Star Bullets now edges up in the fourth volume to five stars, and I expect when I am done I will have to re-rate all of them. Which is not to say you should run out and pick up volume four and just read it for fun. This is a noir comics series, some of it a bit disturbing. Stray Bullets: Dark Days has a focus on Beth and Amy/Virginia’s time in late eighties LA, when Amy disappears for the second time in the series. The now fourteen-year old Amy develops a friendship with the also criminally neglected young boy Bobby, whose back-story we learn more about, and the two are kidnapped. This volume has more narrative continuity than any other one, focused as it does on the kidnapping, with each of the chapters linked in some ways, though as with the other volumes, each story can stand alone in all of its noir seediness.
One key point is that we learn more about the Amy Racecar chapters, one of which is included here. We learned in the last volume that Amy Racecar is the fictional stand-in for Amy, as a way of working out the details of her messed-up life. And this chapter reveals particularly close connections between her life and her writing. Yep, she tells stories, with a sci-fi dimension to them, as a way of making sense of her life. And now we also learn that Bobby becomes her co-creator, and illustrator. The seventh and last chapter, “Happy Ending,” actually sort of has one, concluding with the two kids collaborating on their comics.
Both Amy and Beth in this volume are crazy, unpredictable, messed-up and yes also very strong women characters. This is very much a classic comics series, long and satisfying, that complicated place between disturbing and fun.
One key point is that we learn more about the Amy Racecar chapters, one of which is included here. We learned in the last volume that Amy Racecar is the fictional stand-in for Amy, as a way of working out the details of her messed-up life. And this chapter reveals particularly close connections between her life and her writing. Yep, she tells stories, with a sci-fi dimension to them, as a way of making sense of her life. And now we also learn that Bobby becomes her co-creator, and illustrator. The seventh and last chapter, “Happy Ending,” actually sort of has one, concluding with the two kids collaborating on their comics.
Both Amy and Beth in this volume are crazy, unpredictable, messed-up and yes also very strong women characters. This is very much a classic comics series, long and satisfying, that complicated place between disturbing and fun.
March 18, 2015
Stray Bullets, Volume 4: Dark Days lives up its title. Wow. This is an extremely dark, twisted story of two children who’re abducted by a madman, held captive for a few weeks, raped and tortured, and finally escape. On the face of it, that kind of story would make me hesitate to pick it up, but David Lapham’s Stray Bullets has been so incredibly good, I knew he would not only present this in a tasteful way but also in a gripping narrative – which he does on both counts!
The kids (who most certainly are not alright) are Amy and Bobby. There’s a whole backstory to this pair that regular readers of the series will know – Amy’s alter ego is Amy Racecar who stars in her own fantastical side stories written by Amy and drawn by Bobby as comics that appear in the books – who met in the last volume, Other People, after Amy decided school wasn’t for her and hid out in Bobby’s parents’ basement.
But, like all of the Stray Bullets books, you can pick up any volume, read it as a standalone story, and still completely understand what’s happening. It’s just that fans who’ve been following since the start will see recurring characters develop richly as their backgrounds become more textured with their experiences. It’s a little extra flavour to know what’s gone before and seeing what happens next and I think if you read this first, you’re definitely going to want to go back and read the others too.
Amy meeting Ron (the abductor/paedo-psycho), Amy and Bobby getting taken, their horrific stay in Ron’s home in the Hollywood hills, their eventual escape, and the other stories surrounding it, are told with enormous skill and imagination by Lapham. His approach is to tell the scenes out of chronological sequence and from the perspectives of different characters which is ingenious – we get Amy’s perspective up until Ron tells her and Bobby they can’t leave, then, to keep up the tension, we switch to Amy’s pretend sister Beth, who’s drinking herself stupid because she’s worried for Amy. Beth enlists the help of mob enforcer Monster, who has his own designs on Amy, then we get the first-hand experience of Amy and Bobby’s ordeal in Ron’s house via Roger, the cop we met in the last book who’s also connected to Beth in this book when...
I’ll stop there because it’s too insanely, perfectly intertwined a story and I don’t want to spoil the reading experience. But know that Lapham is at the top of his game with Stray Bullets – you know exactly what you need to, at the right time, in the most memorable way. This is his masterpiece and it’s breathtaking to see a comic like this when its creator is telling a story this compelling and doing so in wonderfully creative and inspired ways. Black and white, eight panel grid pages: the most basic approach to comics and look at the quality of work!
I read Dark Days in one go without blinking (alright, that’s not true but it was a riveting book) and I’m stunned once again to see how few people have actually read Stray Bullets. This series deserves to be as widely-read as Frank Miller’s Sin City, another title by a creator who was firing on all cylinders when he was making it. There’s an energy below the surface of this book that builds in such a powerful way, you can’t stop reading until it’s carried you all the way to the end.
No part of the book feels weak, unnecessary, or boring - it’s as lean as it needs to be and as sleek a story as possible. Even though the Amy/Bobby/Ron storyline is the core, the other stories, from Spanish Scott and his disturbed nephew Joey’s unfortunate day out, to another strange but brilliant Amy Racecar strip, and Beth’s continued, totally unpredictable arc from drunk to saviour to something else entirely - all of it is an absolute treat to read. In the same way that the Marvel/DC Universes are populated with recurring characters, so too is the Stray Bullets Universe, and it’s just as exciting to see a familiar face pop up out of nowhere even without a costume or superpowers.
The subject matter is grim but its telling is exuberant. Light or dark, tone doesn’t matter so long as a story is told well, and Dark Days is definitely that. It’s another first class addition to the truly remarkable Stray Bullets series. Somehow it keeps getting better. Bravo, David Lapham!
The kids (who most certainly are not alright) are Amy and Bobby. There’s a whole backstory to this pair that regular readers of the series will know – Amy’s alter ego is Amy Racecar who stars in her own fantastical side stories written by Amy and drawn by Bobby as comics that appear in the books – who met in the last volume, Other People, after Amy decided school wasn’t for her and hid out in Bobby’s parents’ basement.
But, like all of the Stray Bullets books, you can pick up any volume, read it as a standalone story, and still completely understand what’s happening. It’s just that fans who’ve been following since the start will see recurring characters develop richly as their backgrounds become more textured with their experiences. It’s a little extra flavour to know what’s gone before and seeing what happens next and I think if you read this first, you’re definitely going to want to go back and read the others too.
Amy meeting Ron (the abductor/paedo-psycho), Amy and Bobby getting taken, their horrific stay in Ron’s home in the Hollywood hills, their eventual escape, and the other stories surrounding it, are told with enormous skill and imagination by Lapham. His approach is to tell the scenes out of chronological sequence and from the perspectives of different characters which is ingenious – we get Amy’s perspective up until Ron tells her and Bobby they can’t leave, then, to keep up the tension, we switch to Amy’s pretend sister Beth, who’s drinking herself stupid because she’s worried for Amy. Beth enlists the help of mob enforcer Monster, who has his own designs on Amy, then we get the first-hand experience of Amy and Bobby’s ordeal in Ron’s house via Roger, the cop we met in the last book who’s also connected to Beth in this book when...
I’ll stop there because it’s too insanely, perfectly intertwined a story and I don’t want to spoil the reading experience. But know that Lapham is at the top of his game with Stray Bullets – you know exactly what you need to, at the right time, in the most memorable way. This is his masterpiece and it’s breathtaking to see a comic like this when its creator is telling a story this compelling and doing so in wonderfully creative and inspired ways. Black and white, eight panel grid pages: the most basic approach to comics and look at the quality of work!
I read Dark Days in one go without blinking (alright, that’s not true but it was a riveting book) and I’m stunned once again to see how few people have actually read Stray Bullets. This series deserves to be as widely-read as Frank Miller’s Sin City, another title by a creator who was firing on all cylinders when he was making it. There’s an energy below the surface of this book that builds in such a powerful way, you can’t stop reading until it’s carried you all the way to the end.
No part of the book feels weak, unnecessary, or boring - it’s as lean as it needs to be and as sleek a story as possible. Even though the Amy/Bobby/Ron storyline is the core, the other stories, from Spanish Scott and his disturbed nephew Joey’s unfortunate day out, to another strange but brilliant Amy Racecar strip, and Beth’s continued, totally unpredictable arc from drunk to saviour to something else entirely - all of it is an absolute treat to read. In the same way that the Marvel/DC Universes are populated with recurring characters, so too is the Stray Bullets Universe, and it’s just as exciting to see a familiar face pop up out of nowhere even without a costume or superpowers.
The subject matter is grim but its telling is exuberant. Light or dark, tone doesn’t matter so long as a story is told well, and Dark Days is definitely that. It’s another first class addition to the truly remarkable Stray Bullets series. Somehow it keeps getting better. Bravo, David Lapham!
September 24, 2023
A fantastic longer story featuring Beth and Virginia (Amy). Amy and her friend, a young boy, get abducted. Beth tries to find her but gets tangled up with police and Monster.
June 9, 2018
Much as in Somewhere Out West (v2), we get a tighter story here, this time focusing on Beth and Ginny's time in California, but a more mature Lapham gives it more depth by mixing things up with a few bits of interesting chronology, including a visit to Joey's youth and a flashback that offers the perfect capstone to this volume.
The result is the strongest volume of Stray Bullets since the original. There are great characters here and (more importantly) great tension. It's lovely (and leaves many of our characters in states where we want to know more about what happens to them!). I think I'm particularly won over by Ginny here. After this second cataclysm, I really want to know what comes next.
The result is the strongest volume of Stray Bullets since the original. There are great characters here and (more importantly) great tension. It's lovely (and leaves many of our characters in states where we want to know more about what happens to them!). I think I'm particularly won over by Ginny here. After this second cataclysm, I really want to know what comes next.
June 1, 2017
This was a birthday present to myself, and it was gorgeous.
Four stars only because five stars is my shorthand for everyone should read this, and this is not a book for people who don't read crime stories.
Four stars only because five stars is my shorthand for everyone should read this, and this is not a book for people who don't read crime stories.
July 16, 2019
When you read a book about the (ugh) rape of children and your utter horror is outstripped by your admiration for the material, you know you've found something special.
This is the best Stray Bullets yet. But it is gods damned hard to read.
This is the best Stray Bullets yet. But it is gods damned hard to read.
February 24, 2024
"Dark Days" contains some of my absolute favorite stories in the entirety of David Lapham's crime epic, Stray Bullets. The opening story, "The Secret Box", featuring Spanish Scott is easily one of the strongest issues in the run thus far. Scott is asked to babysit his nephew Joey but instead takes him out to inappropriate places in order to "make him a man". The day gets progressively darker for the thirteen-year-old Joey, ending in perhaps one of the most traumatizing possible ways. It's a violent and tasteless tale, but Lapham's expert plotting makes this a brilliantly executed look into the dark underbelly of crime.
The majority of the stories in "Dark Days" take place in LA in the mid '80s, a suitable time and location for the grimy nature of Stray Bullets stories. The longer story here features Beth and Virginia being pursued by Monster, a hitter sent by the mysterious mobster, Harry, who is seeking out his stolen cocaine. Beth and Ginny both manage to navigate the sticky situation well, but Lapham has a way of compounding tension as needed such that the main characters never truly seem safe. An Amy Racecar adventure is included here as well, but this time around it serves towards understanding the character of Ginny much better than before.
The writing here is the sharpest it has ever been, and Lapham's rigid use of six panel layouts seems even more engaging here. There is palpable tension with each page turn here, and it's around here that the series is catapulted into the discussion of being one of the best crime comics ever made.
The majority of the stories in "Dark Days" take place in LA in the mid '80s, a suitable time and location for the grimy nature of Stray Bullets stories. The longer story here features Beth and Virginia being pursued by Monster, a hitter sent by the mysterious mobster, Harry, who is seeking out his stolen cocaine. Beth and Ginny both manage to navigate the sticky situation well, but Lapham has a way of compounding tension as needed such that the main characters never truly seem safe. An Amy Racecar adventure is included here as well, but this time around it serves towards understanding the character of Ginny much better than before.
The writing here is the sharpest it has ever been, and Lapham's rigid use of six panel layouts seems even more engaging here. There is palpable tension with each page turn here, and it's around here that the series is catapulted into the discussion of being one of the best crime comics ever made.
October 11, 2016
Man, it is really hard to like these stories. There's just so much horrible stuff happening. And such a bleak view of humanity. It would be much easier to stop reading, but i'm going to continue to the end because there seems to be something worth pursuing.
February 28, 2021
(Zero spoiler review) See previous S reviews for additional context.
The opening issue for this collection is one of the greatest single issues I have ever read. Fact! I mean, talk about starting off on the right foot. With this ongoing collection, and the fourth volume in a row that somehow manages to build on what has come before, whilst simultaneously getting better in basically every way as well. I am more than willing to crown Lapham the king of the noir genre, placing him above even the great Ed Brubaker. Maybe my praise is a wee bit premature, as I still have a number of Brubaker stories to read, including some of his greatest runs. But the sheer consistency across a long run, which still has a ways to go, especially if you count spin offs, just can't be underestimated. I'm kind of running out of superlatives for this very special series. Writing four reviews within twenty four hours certainly doesn't make it any easier, as I'm painfully aware of trying not to repeat myself, nor verge into spoiler territory. And you don't need a long review, you just need to go out and start reading this series. I really don't want this to end. 5/5
OmniBen.
The opening issue for this collection is one of the greatest single issues I have ever read. Fact! I mean, talk about starting off on the right foot. With this ongoing collection, and the fourth volume in a row that somehow manages to build on what has come before, whilst simultaneously getting better in basically every way as well. I am more than willing to crown Lapham the king of the noir genre, placing him above even the great Ed Brubaker. Maybe my praise is a wee bit premature, as I still have a number of Brubaker stories to read, including some of his greatest runs. But the sheer consistency across a long run, which still has a ways to go, especially if you count spin offs, just can't be underestimated. I'm kind of running out of superlatives for this very special series. Writing four reviews within twenty four hours certainly doesn't make it any easier, as I'm painfully aware of trying not to repeat myself, nor verge into spoiler territory. And you don't need a long review, you just need to go out and start reading this series. I really don't want this to end. 5/5
OmniBen.
March 19, 2019
What always surprises me about Stray Bullets is how in the middle of all this darkness (and this book goes dark), Lapham still has a cheeky sense of humor. It comes out in the Amy Racecar sequences, obviously, but also in the absurdist look at how these characters relate to one another. Anyway, the series continues to be a twisted, entertaining rollercoaster. Check it out.
March 7, 2020
This indie titles deep dive into depravity takes a dark turn - even by its own standards - when our anti-hero Virginia runs afoul of a psychopath who gets off on kidnapping children. The story is up to the usual high standard, but even this time it can be a little hard to proceed, for fear of what comes next.
October 21, 2025
Dark days indeed. There is one story of a crazy psycho kidnapping two kids and abusing them, and the story ends in all kinds of violence. I also loved the experiences of Amy and the kid before the dark experience which was a sweet time.
March 3, 2020
One of the best crime stories I’ve read in any medium. The storytelling in this volume is unflinching yet empathetic, and rich with characters rendered in a way that makes it all feel so real.
July 7, 2020
Very dark and amazingly good. Has a flavor like "True Detective" and a Jim Thompson novel, but more creative in its pacing and weaving than Thompson.
Recommended
Recommended
April 28, 2022
They weren’t kidding about it being dark! Sheesh.
March 19, 2019
What always surprises me about Stray Bullets is how in the middle of all this darkness (and this book goes dark), Lapham still has a cheeky sense of humor. It comes out in the Amy Racecar sequences, obviously, but also in the absurdist look at how these characters relate to one another. Anyway, the series continues to be a twisted, entertaining rollercoaster. Check it out.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews