Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses, Part 1: Kretchmeyer

Stray Bullets

by David Lapham

Dark and twisted, funny and heartbreaking, intimate and epic--SUNSHINE & ROSES tells the story of a boy and a girl, how they fell in love and hatched a scheme to blow up the Baltimore underworld. There is no crime book remotely like STRAY BULLETS, and with SUNSHINE & ROSES, the uncompromising EISNER AWARD-WINNING team of DAVID & MARIA LAPHAM take the series to a new high.

Collects STRAY BULLETS: SUNSHINE & ROSES #1-8

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Fiction, Noir, Graphic Novels Comics, Mystery

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story Stray Bullet's have been waiting for, for a decade. Finally the 'What did Orson, Beth and Nina to do Harry and co.! Stray Bullets' fans know that the stories are non-linear, so when the opened up this volume and saw the whole crew from Fingers through to Roses and son, y'all know that this volume is going to be criminally good - and is it? It sure is!

We get to meet Kretch, the key missing ingredient and bigly story wise we get to see how Orson and Beth happened and even more better - we get to return to the party from volume 1. The big question with books like this on their journey is would a newbie reader appreciate this? My answer is Goddamn, why would anyone start a series on volume 7!!!! 9.5 out of 12, flaming Four Stars.

2017, 2019 and 2023 read

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stray Bullets is a tricky series to talk about. The numbering almost seems pointless given how random David Lapham picks up his story - he doesn’t tell things chronologically. For example this first part of Sunshine & Roses (aka Book 7!) takes place between the first and second books (Innocence of Nihilism and Somewhere Out West), both of which came out in the late ‘90s! This is a storyline that’s been going on for 24 YEARS and shows no sign of resolving itself anytime soon.

Not that I’m complaining one bit - Stray Bullets is an unquestionable masterpiece from a genius cartoonist. If you’re a fan of crime comics, this is a must-read series. And the all-over-the-place approach basically means you can pick up any book in the series and start there. You can read them in any order you want and still get the same story, which is amazing in itself.

But I think you’ll get more out of Sunshine & Roses if you’ve read the previous books before. So in Book 2: Somewhere Out West, Beth, Orson and Nina made it out of the city and away from Harry, the gangster who runs the town, having ripped him off for a shitload of cash. Sunshine & Roses, Part 1 takes us to the time before that, showing us how our heroic trio did just that. Or at least the beginnings of that happening which all began when young thug Kretchmeyer almost started a war by recklessly executing a rival mob boss of Harry’s.

In the meantime we get to know the supporting characters better like Monster and Roses. So the subtitle: Sunshine is Joey, the brain-damaged kid, who draws weird suns everywhere, of Roses, the consistently stoned/drunk whore who’s in love with Orson. Why’re these two singled out in the title? No clue. They’ve been around as long as the other characters and aren’t as compelling as the likes of Spanish Scott but maybe we’ll find out why later on in the series (Sunshine & Roses is currently four volumes long).

Lapham’s writing and artwork is as sharp as ever. He was a master 24 years ago and he’s only gotten better since. The Pulp Fiction-style storytelling still works beautifully and it remains interesting to catch the little bits here and there that fill in the blanks of the ever-nebulous story. The characters continue to be enthralling to read about - you never know when one of them’s going to pull out a piece and pop someone in the face - and the menacing dark tone underlying everything and the unpredictable violence makes for a tense read.

The only part of the book that didn’t work for me was the now-obligatory Amy Racecar chapter that appears in every Stray Bullets book. Amy is a futuristic supervillain version of Beth in a wacky parallel/dreamlike/who knows realm, who relives events that are going on in the real world in a cartoonish way. Sometimes these bits are fun and make a nice change from the grimy realism of the main Stray Bullets world and sometimes, like now, it can be a bit tedious and unnecessary.

Otherwise, Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses, Part 1: Kretchmeyer, is yet another cool beans addition to a very underrated and superb series.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this series is now an epic 24 years in the making, and this is now a (so far) four volume “arc” with this first volume focused on nerd Orson and psycho Beth. Part of it fills in a story that Lapham wrote about twenty years ago, but no worries, you can read this at any point and be entertained by the sex, drugs, violence and humor, in unmistakable Tarantino fashion. The central figures are, again, Orson and Beth, but the violent characters you come to love include Monster, The Finger, Spanish Scott (and his strip club), and the new killer in town, Kretchmeyer.

I know that the subtitle says “sunshine” but that’s, like ironic: Roses’ disabled son Joey, draws suns everywhere. And then Orson decides the thing that they need to give themselves an edge is a nickname and he takes one, announcing it to the bodyguard as he robs Finger’s house:

“The Mr. Sunshine Gang is moving in on Finger’s territory!”

“Mr. Sunshine? Is that some kind of joke?”

“It’s ironic, moron. What’s your name?”

“None of your business. Asshole.”

“I like mine better.”

Kretchmeyer, trying to earn his way into the Most Violent Employee of Spanish Scott of the Month Club, is a sub-focus of the volume. And if you look at the last image of the last issue, you just might agree he earns his right to the honor, yikes. The only issue I was impatient to read through was the Amy Racecar part, which I am usually amused by.

This remains an ESSENTIAL crime comics series in the history of comics. Period. Great (though at times admittedly gruesome) storytelling.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The new series of Stray Bullets goes right back to the start of the series. Here we get a ton more information about the characters who make up Vol 2 which is building up to the cocaine and cash theft that was a "in medias res" in Vol 2.

Unlike most prequels, this doesn't suck. I was really sad when most of the characters got killed off in Vol 2, so it's great to see them here while they are still alive!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Orson, Beth, and Nina were first introduced in Stray Bullets, they were hiding out in a small town, living off a stash of stolen money. Apparently, Sunshine & Roses is the tale of how they got that money and this was the first installment.

The Laphams have not lost a step since the original Stray Bullets. This was more of the same: sex, drugs, and people getting shot, sometimes with a harpoon gun. Kretchmeyer, the character of the subtitle, pretends to be a hippie into meditation but seems to be a sociopath. Spanish Scott, Monster, Beth, and Orson are just how I remembered them.

I think this deal might take a long time to go down but I'm in for the long hall. Four out of five bullets.

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems like decades since I last read an issue of Stray Bullets, and I was worried I wouldn't like it after so long, but this new volume was rockin' and pulled me right back into Lapham's world. I love the Tarantinoesque mix of humor and violence. I could have done without the nonsensical Amy Racecar chapter, but the rest was great. I need to go back and reread the initial run sometime soon.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunshine and Roses is the latest story arc in Latham's award-winning Stray Bullets series, one of the top graphic novel series out there. It covers all the dark gritty crime themes without ever really feeling dark or dreary. Although the cover is full cover, the interior pages are black and white and really terrific artwork. There's lots of dialogue for the storyline which centers around a young couple caught up in a world of loan sharks, drug pushers, skanks, lowlifes, and guns. The plot does meander a bit towards the end, but for these graphic novels, it is pretty solid plot wise. Most of all, it's got punch, verve, and attitude. This is a series worth paying some attention to.

[Suzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Stray Bullets' is a well-known GN series, having been in production for almost three decades. This was my first read from the franchise, and I wasn't initially concerned about picking up 'somewhere in the middle' (from what I could gather). Reason being that Lapham doesn't seem to favour chronology in his storytelling anyway, and this particular edition is an 'arc' story relating to several of the main characters seen throughout the series as a whole. Many reviews note that you can read this as a standalone without being familiar with the remainder of the series, and whilst this is true - I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't picked it up first.

I personally wasn't a huge fan of the art style and the aforementioned lack of scruples when it comes to timelines made this difficult to follow in places. There was also a weird sci-fi-esque detour part-way through which came out of absolutely nowhere and didn't jam with me (Note: this could be me showing my ignorance of the series and characters as a whole, and perhaps this would have made more sense if this wasn't my first pick from the series. That sort of proves my earlier point about this being the wrong place to pick it up, though).

The characters seemed well developed, if a bit cliché in places, and the storyline had promise. I liked the mob elements to the story and it's true what many people say - this is very Tarantino in it's style and storytelling. If you like that sort of vibe, I'm sure you'll dig this. I'm less of a fan and so it was probably a given that this series wouldn't be for me, but it's fun to get out of your comfort zone sometimes.

I don't think I'll be continuing on with the series but that is most likely due to personal taste and isn't necessarily a fair reflection of the work. If you're interested in it, I'd still recommend giving it a go on that basis.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another dark and twisted book with plenty of fucked up situations and deaths.

The main focus is Beth and ORson but we also get some great moments with Nina, Rose, and even Kretchmeyer. From Beth plan to fuck everyone over after what happened to Nina and the love interest. To Monster showing his true feelings. Orson trying to be a decent boyfriend to a mostly horrible person. Rose's psycho ass. So much happens and the very last issue which gives huge focus to Kretchmeyer is GREAT. This is intense volume even if most of these characters we know their fate.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Lapham’s gritty, off-kilter “Stray Bullets” is one of the first comic series I remember really going wild over waaaay back in the late-‘90s. From the very first issue - a twisted tale about a dim-witted killer who convinces himself that he once had a romantic relationship with the dead body in his trunk - Lapham locked down the kind of warped storytelling that would make “Stray Bullets” not one of but THE best crime comic of all time. His loosely connected tales of lowlifes, victims, murderers, and patsies in 1980s Baltimore (along with the occasional metaphysical diversion into fever dreams and fantasies) were the type of comics that never ended where you thought they would, in the best possible way. Fully fleshed-out characters, incredible art, and razor-sharp writing made “Stray Bullets” an essential read. Now, two decades later, Lapham has returned to his magnum opus and it’s just as spectacular as it’s always been.

“Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses, Vol. 1: Kretchmeyer” fills in a major gap from the first series, namely how milquetoast Orson and his hotheaded sorta-girlfriend Beth were able to help her friend Nina rip off her abusive boyfriend, the crime kingpin Harry, and run off to start a new life out West. That description makes the story sound very linear and straightforward but, if you’ve ever read any of “Stray Bullets” before, you know that’s not Lapham’s style. In a somewhat Tarantino-esque way, Lapham has always jumped around, time-wise and character-wise, in “Stray Bullets,” picking up threads of a story here and filling in a little backstory there, allowing the overall plot to slowly get clearer and clearer. It’s a testament to his genius that, all these years later, he’s still finding nooks and crannies within the story’s framework to excavate for compelling tales. His art also shows absolutely no drop off from the previous comics; his nuanced facial expressions, clearly-differentiated characters (which is much rarer in comic than most people give credit for), and explosive moments of poetic ultra-violence are, if anything, even better now. Time has just made Lapham’s skills even tighter.

I can’t say enough good things about “Stray Bullets” and how perfectly “Sunshine & Roses, Vol. 1: Kretchmeyer” continues the series. To paraphrase a running gag from the book, “Stray Bullets” is cool beans. The COOLEST of beans, I’d say.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things that makes Lapham's Stray Bullets so readable (and rereadable) is his unconventional storytelling, as he jumps back and forth in the narrative, telling us stories fractally, where each new arc suddenly reveals new dimensions to the overall story.

So here we are back in 1981 (primarily), learning about what was going on with Beth (and Nina) between the cataclysmic events of Stray Bullets #3 and their return in the "Somewhere Out West" arc. As usual, it's an arc dominated by characters and peppered by violence. As usual we learn vast amounts about people who were lightly touched upon before. The storytelling is entirely wonderful on its own, but also makes me want to drop back and read volumes 1 and 2.

One warning: as is often the case in Stray Bullets, this story doesn't have an ending, but it looks like it should continue right in to Sunshine & Roses Volume 2, out in just a few months.

[Zedsdead · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm honestly not sure why the new title and restarted numbering, Sunshine & Roses picks up with familiar characters in the same period and location as before.

In any case, v1 begins to fill in a big gap in the original run's achronological timeline: how Beth, Nina, and Orson wound up hiding out in a rural town with suitcases full of Harry's stolen blow and cash. The Laphams are as sharp as ever. Virginia Applejack does not put in an appearance, unfortunately.

Plot points:
--We're introduced to Kretchmeyer, the free agent who offed Lonnie, essentially putting Harry in charge, and became one of Spanish Scott's top enforcers.

--Orson keeps getting drunk and robbing liquor stores to keep Beth interested.

--Orson and Beth fake a rival gang to rob Finger and repay his loan with his own money.

--Rose is desperately in love with Orson for some reason. She chafes under the thumb of her brother Spanish Scott.

--Nina, depressed and traumatized from Harry murdering Led in front of her way back in Stray Bullets v1, embarks on an odyssey with Led's stoner friend Sonny. Sonny confronts Scott and Kretchmayer and dies badly, along with Nina's bodyguard in the crossfire. Nina is re-traumatized.

--Orson, Beth, Nina and Kretchmeyer plan to steal the cash from Harry's deal with his coke supplier and skip town. They fake a convoluted murder plot to trick Rose into keeping quiet.

--Monster beats up Finger at Harry's club. (Good god a lot goes on in this volume.)

--There's a puzzling, irrelevant Amy Racecar story. Weak point of the volume.

--Kretchmeyer tortures to death a strip club patron that he'd thrown out a while back for 'touching', apparently because he needed someone to talk to. Kretchmeyer is as psychotic and dangerous as Scott and Monster.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

You would think that Lapham would lose his edge after writing these stories for the past 25 years. But that's not the case. A really compelling story that actually takes place in the middle of other stories written in a previous volume and done years ago. I did have to do a little refresher and remind myself why Beth is cool with people that were trying to kill her last time I read about them, but it doesn't really matter.

One misstep in this volume is the Amy Racecar issue. Maybe I have to reevaluate what I thought I knew, but I thought Amy Racecar was a product of Virginia's imagination, not Beth's. Shows what i know. Anyway, nothing in that story really makes any sense beyond the superficial level. Normally this would lose points for me in rating this, but the rest of the book is so good, it doesn't really matter.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant fun!

[AlvarinSanchezV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stray Bullets is best comic ever

[Alexander Lisovsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sunshine & Roses — вбоквел к гениальному Stray Bullets ещё на четыре тома, но чтобы понять, почему так получилось, нужно обратиться к истории издания комикса.

Stray Bullets выходил с 1995 по 2005 в семейном издательстве, и чета Лафамов в какой-то момент поняла, что так жить больше нельзя (с кошмарными переработками и т.д.). После этого Дэвид Лафам работал по найму, но все эти годы его незаконченный магнум опус где-то свербил в подсознании, и в 2014-м он к нему вернулся, написал финальный выпуск пятого тома и ещё шестой напоследок (его иногда называют отдельным вбоквелом Killers).

Одной из мощных, отличительных особенностей повествования всегда было то, как легко автор избавлялся от ярких, ключевых героев — прямо как в реальном преступном мире, они регулярно гибли, и на смену им приходили другие. Но десять лет спустя у автора то ли иссякла фантазия, то ли замучила ностальгия, но вместо того чтобы продолжать свой сериал в том же ключе, автор принимает решение вернуться в золотые годы и вписать новую историю между старыми сюжетами.

Из этого принципиального решения на мой взгляд и вытекают все проблемы Sunshine & Roses — мы помним, кто в оригинальном комиксе жив, кто мёртв, чем заканчивается то или иное дело, и написанная на полях история теряет в факторе неожиданности. Автор прикладывает усилия, чтобы с этим бороться, но это всё равно уже не то. К тому же то тут, то там автору приходится ретконить героев раньше, чем они появились в оригинальной истории, а местами так и вовсе вносить откровенные противоречия.

При этом визуальный и повествовательный скилл у автора с годами явно прокачался и было жаль, что он не нашёл им лучшего применения. В целом вышло окей, но по сравнению с поистине ураганной базовой частью вбоквел, конечно, заметно проигрывает. Я бы даже вовсе не стал его рекомендовать (хотя новый персонаж безумного Кретчмайера удивительно сложен и многогранен).

Про оригинальную же серию лучше всего написал Джейсон Аарон: If you don’t read Stray Bullets, I don’t know why you bother having eyes!

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stray Bullets is a crime comic series, perhaps the longest running one of its kind. Certainly the longest running one using the same cast of characters, which makes the events more poignant. Most such comics, the characters are there then blown away, or in prison, or running with the cash. You never get to really know them. Except in this series, you will spend ten to twenty issues with a character and their departure will be meaningful. People keep calling it a crime noir, but that’s redundant. Have you ever read a noir that wasn’t crime?

Sunshine and Roses is really the second title of the series, the first one being simply called Stray Bullets. You don’t need to have read the first series at all to understand what is happening in this second one. Though if you have, then it adds some extra weight to the events. A lot of familiar characters are about, Orson and Beth, skanky Rose, Monster, and Spanish Scott. Now added into the mix is a new boy, the titular Kretchmeyer. Another stone cold killer with his own agenda.

Again, for those who read the first series, you will recognize that the events here happen before many of the stories in the first book. They take place between the first and second arcs, and considering that we know the ultimate fates of many of these characters, it adds some gravity and a hint of tragedy to the events.

This book collects the first 8 issues of the series - really a bargain for the price. The story stays primarily with Beth and Orson and doesn’t skip around in time and place as the originals did. So far things have been fairly linear.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Laphams are back with a fresh volume of their saga of crime, poor impulse control and depravity: Stray Bullets. This time, the story largely focuses on a big chunk of narrative that happens between some of the volumes of the original Stray Bullets run, and answers the very big question of how Orson, Beth and Nina ended up in a nowhere desert town with a few million bucks in cash and a suitcase of cocaine. We know already they will get there, but with this story, the journey matters more than the destination, and what follows is one of the more enjoyable and expansive middle chapters inserted into a pre-existing story you’re likely to see. The characters are largely familiar but the continued deep dive into their motivations and their hang ups is really compelling, even if you feel like you need a fresh shot of hand sanitizer after every issue.

[Jake Nap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stray Bullets continues to break ground as one of the most intricately plotted and finely cartooned comics of all time. David Lapham’s draftsmanship in this volume is Incredible. His art is more refined than ever and his sense of storytelling within his art is so damn good it makes me want to scream.

I love how Sunshine and Roses explores the Baltimore characters even further than the original series and Killers did. Even though I think everything prior to this has been near perfect, the lack of these Baltimore characters in the last 3 volumes has been disappointing. They’ve always been the strongest personality wise out of the whole cast and deciding to focus on them in a pre-somewhere our west Stray Bullets world is incredible.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Laphams are back and they are delivering! He's gone back to the book's original cast, digging deeper into the history of Beth, Orson and the gang before Somewhere Out West - which has a lot of positives (more insight into the characters, more background into what drove Beth, Nina, and Orson to run) and maybe a few (small) negatives, such as we know where most of these characters end up and we're missing the depth of the first series' brilliant character pieces spotlighting ancillary players. But I'm enjoying the ride and look forward to seeing what wrinkles come up in subsequent volumes.

[nn · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked this more than i thought i would. the characters, their relationships, especially rose and the friendship between beth and nina, really did it for me. you can tell from the outset the world is an already fleshed out planet just waiting for you to step in. orson’s character is a little archetypical and cringy, and that one childhood-styled chapter didn’t sit great with me but this comic is so good at being violent and sweet which is what i love in everything, and so its all good. might read on in the future.

[Drak0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though we are in dire need of a continuation of killers 8. S&R Part 1 is still fucking immaculate. We start to get the bits and pieces that show us how Beth, Orsen, & Nina got out of Baltimore while getting more information on Kretchmeyer and Joey. Even though we know how things end up for all three of them it's nice to see them one more time. It feels like so long ago when you do see their faces. Things start to heat up again towards the end of this book so it's only a matter of time before we get back to where it is.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly good crime comic collection - monochrome

This comic series revolves around a collection of characters , all involved, one way or another, in criminal activity. Drug-dealing, gun-running, murder, bloodshed, lots of sex all feature prominently. Most of the main characters are manipulative and untrustworthy, exploiting others as much as possible, sometimes with good intentions.
I'm not sure how I feel about this series as it's repetitive and gets a bit boring after a while.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the first dive into Lapham's crime epic. Disappointed that the Seattle Public Library doesn't have any of the older portions of this series.

Lots of violence, lots of sex. It's an action packed and, generally, fun time. Even the comic within the comic wasn't as off-putting as they typically are for me.

[Stuart]

Enjoyed this a lot when I picked it up, but took me forever to read because I so rarely felt like picking it up. It's set in 80s Baltimore, and is chaotic and gang based and Orson is the poor bastard getting dragged into it all. Fun enough, in no hurry to get v2 despite the cliffhanger-y ending

[Burton Olivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool stuff and I like that we're gonna get the story of how Beth and friends got out of Baltimore but I was hoping this would be a continuation of the end of the Uber Alles book. But hey, maybe that's still coming.

[Django Cassidy]

Word

I don't want to spoil anything so after read Killers let's just say this isn't exactly the story you wanted but if you've been following since the beginning itsthe story you need...oh and the story you wanted way back when. It's cool beans.

[Scotty F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic crime story that throws you right into the mix. The art is phenomenal, but the dialogue can be a bit immature. Lots of language, lots of blood, lots of sex. The characters take some time to develop, but the read is worth it!

[UnemployedGamer138 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Stray Bullets was amazing! I really reminded me of a Quentin Tarantino movie and sometimes felt it was his graphic novel. It also reminded me of "The wolf among Us" without the fairytale characters of course.

I loved every minute of it and cannot wait for volume 2 to come out.

[Brian Dassero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. I can appreciate it for what it is, but it didn’t grab me in any way.