by Randy Lander

MURDER ME DEAD #9 Recommended (8/10) El Capitan Books Writer/Artist: David Lapham Editor: Deborah Dragovic Price: $4.95 US At this point, this may be a bit of a superfluous review, because you're either buying the series or you're not going to bother picking up the last issue. But in one last attempt to convince folks that the upcoming hardcover or trade is worth their hard-earned dollars, I will press on. Issue nine is a extra-sized book (at extra cost), and therein lies it's only weakness. Lapham sets up the big shock (or at least, it shocked me) and then spends several pages explaining it in unnecessary detail. However, while I felt the pacing was a bit off, I can't deny the expertise of storytelling or the dead-on noir style that Lapham has captured here and in Stray Bullets. Throughout the series, the biggest mystery to me has been what to make of Steven and Tara, our two protagonists. Each has had a dark side, and hints that they may not be who they seem. However, each has also at times seemed to be the vulnerable one, the sympathetic one, the one that the reader can connect with. Surprisingly, Lapham manages to convey both sides of the characters in this final issue, and to leave us with a sad but satisfying conclusion to their twisted and difficult love affair. Tara's attempts to drive Steven away have been many and varied, and I could never quite tell if she was sincerely self-interested or was so full of self-loathing that she didn't think she deserved him. The latter seems to be more the case, but her tirade against Steven this issue is convincing and mean, all the more so for his gentle responses to it. I also love how naturally their conversation builds, with anger or understanding on either side and then a blow-out that winds down to real talking. It felt like a real argument, like relatively normal interaction, which makes the strange goings-on of crime and murder easier to relate to as a result. The big moment of the issue, though, is the solution to the big mystery from the first issue. Did Steven kill his wife? Was it a suicide? I won't give away the answer in the review, but the answer is that while it was perfectly obvious in retrospect, I never saw it coming. The reveal was done in stages, as we put together clues from the character's dialogue throughout the early part of the story until something just hits you. The only problem was that the story then went on, constructing in almost real-time how the death took place, and it almost takes the shock away by the time its over. As always, Lapham's artwork shines. He's got realism down, with effective and detailed settings and incredible detail on the faces and bodies of his characters. At the same time, he deftly manages the unreal, whether it's Tara's drug-haze reminiscences or the surreal scene of a gun and knife fight taking place in an apartment. Way back when, I was a fan of Lapham's work on Harbinger and other Valiant and Defiant titles, but his work took a swift departure from the super-hero mainstream with Stray Bullets and has never returned. That's fortunate for us, because while Lapham's artwork has always been a treat, his vision of crime comics shown in long-form stories like Stray Bullets or self-contained mini-series like Murder Me Dead are a fascinating and unique part of the comics medium. Email Randy Lander comments about this review.