David Lapham is best known for his crime comics series STRAY BULLETS, which has been collected in several trade paperbacks, the first of which I own but haven’t read yet. SILVERFISH is the first thing I’ve read by him, and it’s excellent.A stand-alone graphic novel published by DC/Vertigo, SILVERFISH is a dark, very fast-paced crime story about a teenage girl who discovers that her new stepmother has a sinister secret involving a suitcase full of money and a bloody knife. The protagonist and her little sister and a couple of friends set out to discover what it is, which winds up putting all of them in danger, as several people turn out not to be exactly who they seem.
The story isn’t overly complicated, but Lapham’s script moves it along very satisfactorily. In classic noir fashion, once things are in motion they just keep on getting worse and worse for the characters. The art, also by Lapham, is very good and especially effective in making a closed-down amusement park in the middle of winter a truly creepy place.
This is a fine graphic novel that definitely makes me want to read more of Lapham’s work. If you’re a comics and/or hardboiled crime fan, I think you’ll like it, too.
2 comments:
Never read a graphic novel but this looks like a good place to start. Have a great holiday.
I haven't read Silverfish, but I have read some of Lapham's other work and I like it very much.
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