What's Actually Good (In Comics)

What's Actually Good (In Comics) #3

There is a certain allure to the mystery men of past, and Straczynski has captured them perfectly in what looks to be party mystery and part adventure. The book will probably take the same path as his Supreme Power did and question the role of the hero under the government and in today's modern society. But this time he has some genuinely old fashioned ideals to play with, and that's where the drama will develop. It's a classic tale of the man out of time, except there are 12 of them.

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An up and coming book worth mentioning comes from a creator whose origin is firmly based in a fantastic indie book, and who more recently has found himself taking on the mainstream market for both DC and Marvel. The writer is David Lapham of Stray Bullets fame, and his new book is called Young Liars.

It mightn't be prudent of me to look forward to the new book based on Lapham's old work, but Stray Bullets is just so goddamned good. One part crime series, another part character study, Stray Bullets is a complex look at many different (generally criminal) characters over a period of three decades. The crimes themselves take a backseat to the effect they have on the perpetrators and victims. Despite the huge cast and long timeline, everything is connected in both large and small ways, and chances are you will notice a casual reference to a character or event in another story. The series is self-published under the indie label El Capitan Books and has achieved an almost cult following. Sadly the book had to be put on hold so Lapham could pick up some mainstream work to, well, feed his family, but the good news is his patience and ours has paid off in the form of the new ongoing Young Liars. Cool beans!

Young Liars tells the story of Sadie Dawkins, who due to having a bullet being lodged in her brain is an adrenalin junky accompanied by guitarist and compulsive liar Danny Noonan. They travel across Europe with their friends in search of a painting, all the while being hunted by contract killers sent by Sadie's father. It's going to be action-packed and insane, hopefully containing the complexities of character that made all of Lapham's previous work so strong. Lapham himself in an earlier interview said, "Originally, this was supposed to be my 'action book.' No thinking, just a crazy girl with lots of bullets flying. Like Amy Racecar [a character from Stray Bullets] but more real world. Of course, since then I've added in midgets and castration, so the book's gotten way more sophisticated." I agree: Midgets make every book more sophisticated, and it sounds like fun for the whole family to me. Look for it on the shelves around March 5.