Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses vol. 3 — The Queen of Palm Court

Who is the Queen of Palm Court and why is she in this volume’s subtitle?  That would be one Annie Chesswick, the “cool mom” of this suburban community who is dedicated to looking as good as she can and isn’t averse to helping the mall cops deal some weed on the side for some extra cash.  She’s definitely not out of place in the world of “Stray Bullets,” but it isn’t until the second issue of this collection that her connection to the misbegotten criminal posse of Beth, Orson, and Nina (with Joey in tow) becomes clear.  Really, once you find out her history seeing Annie in action becomes one of those “This explains so much…” things with regards to one member of the main cast. It’s because of that history that our crew is able to hunker down in Palm Court while Orson recovers from his injuries.  The problem is that this wasn’t really a good place to hide, just the best bad one. That’s because after Annie finds out about the money and drugs our protagonists have been carrying around, she’s going to do everything she can to make them hers.

If this third volume of “Sunshine and Roses” has any weakness, it’s that there’s a bit of wheel-spinning to the overall story.  Circumstances have forced Beth, Orson, and Nina to stick around in Palm Court rather than continue their getaway. If only all instances of narrative wheel-spinning could be as fun as this one.  Annie’s a great character because even though she’s brazenly unlikeable on the surface, everything she does is driven by sadness and desperation. So it becomes impossible to truly hate Annie, particularly at her story’s end when Spanish Scott inflicts the cruelest punishment he can on her.  There’s also plenty of fractures in the relationship between our core trio — particularly once “Derek” shows up — which is sad in its own way, but thoroughly believable given the circumstances. Top it all off with an “Amy Racecar” issue that actually has bearing on the plot in addition to its usual insanity, and you’ve got another great volume of “Stray Bullets” even if it doesn’t advance the plot all that much.