Baltimore mob boss Harry killed Nina’s boyfriend and made her his coked-up mistress. Now, with her best friend Beth, Beth’s boyfriend Orson, and the questionable young enforcer Kretchmeyer, Nina’s gonna make Harry pay. The plan: obliterate Harry’s deal with the Bolivians, rip him off for millions in cash and drugs and skip town. Except the gang are all fucked up on various substances - what could go wrong??
The first Sunshine & Roses book was good - the second is an undeniable masterpiece! Orson and Beth getting fucked up on pills and vodka while planning the heist was hilarious, and Beth going shopping on speed was so damn funny as was Orson trying to keep up his fake love for Roses.
David Lapham is such a good writer that he can turn on a dime from comedy to the blackest drama without it seeming forced or unconvincing. In the same issue Beth on speed goes hunting for supplies, there’s an absolutely brutal fight scene between her and Kretch and a tragic look at how dark Nina’s life has gotten.
And as much as Stray Bullets has always been a blend of comedy and drama, it’s always been heavily weighted towards the dramatic side. Roses is a clownish character for the most part but there’s also a really sad human side to her - there’s a reason she’s always getting fucked up and sleeping around. And she’s a vision of who Nina is going to be in ten years, if she makes it that far.
The title is a bitterly ironic one - there’s nothing happy or pretty about Sunshine & Roses. Every character’s relationship is a warped, sick version of love: Beth’s for Nina, Kretch’s for Beth, Nina’s for Kretch. One of the most moving scenes is Orson writing a goodbye letter to his younger sister, knowing that going ahead with this crazy heist means death for him - but doing it anyway. His love for Beth - despite meaning certain doom for him - precludes everything, even though he has a shot at a real life and Beth doesn’t. That’s what love is in Stray Bullets: intense pain and death.
Once the Cock’s Crow heist kicks off though - wow, that’s the very definition of an unputdownable read! The only predictable part of it was that Orson and Beth would fuck it up somehow, and, even though I knew they were going to pull it off - this is a prequel story - it’s still gripping seeing how they do it. It’s such a rollercoaster sequence with so many nutty things happening along the way - such imaginative, clever and completely entertaining storytelling.
The Monkey Boy issue was arguably the best single issue comic of the last few years. Joey and Kimberley go to help Kimberley’s junkie mother and Joey’s got a gun without bullets - or is it? Just brilliant. A masterclass in cartooning.
And even after all that - which at this point easily makes this book a masterpiece - there’s still more great stuff in the motel. There’s the black comedy - Orson on coke, the slow-witted motel worker thinking he’s a pedo - and the even blacker drama as we see how the group gets rid of its most troublesome member.
The Amy Racecar issue was again the only part of the book I didn’t completely love. I thought these issues were cute once, and I get that they’re as distinctive of Stray Bullets as “cool beans”, but they feel played out and unnecessary. I could do without them now.
Despite that, there’s no way I could give Change of Plans anything but the highest rating - everything else about it is too good to say it’s deserving of anything less. Effortlessly compelling entertainment by a master writer and artist, Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses, Part 2: Change of Plans is another superb addition in this remarkable series. Crime comics as high art - I couldn’t recommend Stray Bullets more.
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