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Stray Bullets (Single Issues) #22-28
The Collected Stray Bullets, Vol. 7
This seventh volume trade paperback reprints issues twenty-five through twenty-eight of the critically acclaimed and Eisner Award winning series - Stray Bullets Truly horrifying The kidnapping and nightmarish search for Virginia Applejack The Collected Stray Bullets Series is a perfect introduction for new readers, a great way for fans to complete the series.
152 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 29, 2018
Like an unexpected curveball, Lapham’s 7th volume is filled with an unusually odd level of twists and turns. However, what makes these new twists and turns (idiosyncratic enough of the series) so interesting is that they’re all built up into a far more fuller and cohesive vision in this collection. Waymarks, déjà vu, and strong use of overlaps forge a far more connective offering which includes issues #22-28.
Even with the all whiplash due to its cyclonic approach, most of us readers will have been able to tease out the major characters: Amy RaceCar, Virginia Appleseed, Spanish Sam, Monster and so-on-and so-forth who are all present here. However, instead of micro-tales, and limited perspectives, due to high levels of overlap, more or less all our well-known known-knowns are all blended here. The chronometric compression works to fantastic effect, allowing something a little evolved more than a thumbtacks-yarn-and-newspaper-clippings splashed on a corkboard frame approach.
For the first time in ~20 issues, there is a reasonably coherent tale with each jot and tittle contributing in their own ways. Whether bridging the past or grasping toward the future, the present becomes increasingly pregnant with meaning. Past happenings become far more grounded in their complex tapestry of narrative when they’re seen from a different perspective. Additionally, other arbitrary happenstances throughout the series, in many ways (but certainly not all) have found their connecting others at this post-half-way-point of a junction.
Yet for all the artistic growth and maturity within, once the come down to the high starts to happen, volume 7 seems more a flash in the pan than anything. After all the stuff that makes sense occurs, we return back to our slipshod stream of action and dialogue that deluges any further attempts at comprehensibility.
Even with the all whiplash due to its cyclonic approach, most of us readers will have been able to tease out the major characters: Amy RaceCar, Virginia Appleseed, Spanish Sam, Monster and so-on-and so-forth who are all present here. However, instead of micro-tales, and limited perspectives, due to high levels of overlap, more or less all our well-known known-knowns are all blended here. The chronometric compression works to fantastic effect, allowing something a little evolved more than a thumbtacks-yarn-and-newspaper-clippings splashed on a corkboard frame approach.
For the first time in ~20 issues, there is a reasonably coherent tale with each jot and tittle contributing in their own ways. Whether bridging the past or grasping toward the future, the present becomes increasingly pregnant with meaning. Past happenings become far more grounded in their complex tapestry of narrative when they’re seen from a different perspective. Additionally, other arbitrary happenstances throughout the series, in many ways (but certainly not all) have found their connecting others at this post-half-way-point of a junction.
Yet for all the artistic growth and maturity within, once the come down to the high starts to happen, volume 7 seems more a flash in the pan than anything. After all the stuff that makes sense occurs, we return back to our slipshod stream of action and dialogue that deluges any further attempts at comprehensibility.
December 9, 2025
This one is after a hiatus and boy it disappointed me. There is no badass character like Virginia and feels like populated with losers.
January 23, 2014
This is the first volume of Stray Bullets where I noticed that the stories would not be nearly as entertaining without knowing the whole storyline. One of the nice aspects about Lapham’s series is you can pick up anywhere and enjoy the story, but having already come to know the depth of these characters over several volumes made this story much more enjoyable than reading out of order.
The first issue of this volume focuses on Virginia Applejack who is trying to elude the police because of truancy issues. She sleeps in the alleyway and wanders around the city all day while waiting for Beth to return so she can figure out what to do. When she takes refuge with a stranger she meets at the record store, she and her friend Michael fall victim to a predator.
Lapham slowly reveals what becomes of the two children by telling the story entirely implicitly. The actions of the predator are alluded to in Virginia’s alter ego’s (Amy Racecar) issue. Racecar’s issue is the sequel to her first appearance, which takes place in outer space. Over the course of the issue, Racecar’s narrative breaks down almost entirely, as she confusedly comes to grips with the trauma she is blocking from her psyche—trauma the reader comes to understand as Virginia’s trauma.
The third story returns to the town of Seaside, where Virginia and Beth decide to make a new life together after Olsen’s death earlier in the series. It’s a nice bridge between the then and now and helps emphasize the bond between the two characters before separating them once again in the fourth story, which deals with Beth desperately trying to find Virginia after her abduction. Lapham presents Beth at rock-bottom, at first afraid she has driven her young companion away, then terrified that something horrific has befallen her.
I’ve read volumes 1—7 (8 are available), and they keep getting better and better. Lapham’s ability to make the smallest of crimes stick with you (see the last panel of the last page of this book) is laudable. Volume 7 contains one of the darkest turns the series has taken thus far and it is far from concluded in the last issue.
The first issue of this volume focuses on Virginia Applejack who is trying to elude the police because of truancy issues. She sleeps in the alleyway and wanders around the city all day while waiting for Beth to return so she can figure out what to do. When she takes refuge with a stranger she meets at the record store, she and her friend Michael fall victim to a predator.
Lapham slowly reveals what becomes of the two children by telling the story entirely implicitly. The actions of the predator are alluded to in Virginia’s alter ego’s (Amy Racecar) issue. Racecar’s issue is the sequel to her first appearance, which takes place in outer space. Over the course of the issue, Racecar’s narrative breaks down almost entirely, as she confusedly comes to grips with the trauma she is blocking from her psyche—trauma the reader comes to understand as Virginia’s trauma.
The third story returns to the town of Seaside, where Virginia and Beth decide to make a new life together after Olsen’s death earlier in the series. It’s a nice bridge between the then and now and helps emphasize the bond between the two characters before separating them once again in the fourth story, which deals with Beth desperately trying to find Virginia after her abduction. Lapham presents Beth at rock-bottom, at first afraid she has driven her young companion away, then terrified that something horrific has befallen her.
I’ve read volumes 1—7 (8 are available), and they keep getting better and better. Lapham’s ability to make the smallest of crimes stick with you (see the last panel of the last page of this book) is laudable. Volume 7 contains one of the darkest turns the series has taken thus far and it is far from concluded in the last issue.
April 17, 2016
The more this series goes on the easier it becomes to see the interconnecting stories, and the more I admire the creative mind behind it that weaves them all together.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews