Underheist #1 [Review]
Eisner-winning team Maria and David Lapham (Stray Bullets) have created an all-new series, Underheist. I love Stray Bullets, so I was excited to read a new crime story from the team. This one’s got a supernatural twist, which makes it even more interesting.
From David Lapham:
“If you know our work then you know that we traditionally come at the crime genre from a very non-traditional angle with very non-traditional noir protagonists. I often call them “domestic noirs”. But with Underheist, we had this idea for a more straightforward story, centered around maybe the most traditional crime trope—the heist. Of course, we can’t do anything straightforward for more than five minutes, and very quickly all these twisted, nightmarish ideas started to flood in…”
Image: Boom! Studios
Image: Boom! Studios
David, who works in the NYC subway tunnels, is down on his luck, in debt from a past gambling addiction. He learns of a heist, where the thieves will escape through the subway tunnels. David gathers a team of friends to steal the money when the thieves aren’t looking, and of course things don’t go as planned.
The Laphams’ writing is sharp as always, pulling you into the lives and emotions of the book’s relatable, down-on-their luck characters. I’m not sure how long Underheist is planned to be; Stray Bullets was ultimately a yarn of epic proportions, weaving together the lives and fates of a large cast of characters. I wonder if Underheist will be a smaller, more isolated story.
Unlike Stray Bullets, this series is in full color. I’m loving seeing David Lapham’s bold lines and shadows given more depth by color.
I’m very excited to keep reading Underheist. I highly recommend this one.
BOOM! Studios’ Underheist #1 is available in stores today, December 13, 2023.
