100 BULLETS: SPLIT SECOND CHANCE


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-268-4

What would you do if you had a grudge, an untraceable gun, one hundred bullets and an ironclad guarantee of no repercussions?

The second collection (reprinting issues #6-14 of the monthly Vertigo comic) continues to explore that fascinating proposition as it slowly unravels the mystery of the enigmatic Agent Graves – purveyor of both the ordnance and the inquiry.

‘Short Con, Long Odds’ introduces hard luck kid Chucky Spinks, a cheap grifter and ex-con who gets a visit from the cadaverous Man in Black. Chucky’s life was ruined when he got drunk and killed some kids: but at least his friend Pony always looked out for him when he got out of prison. Still, what kind of friend drags your drunken ass out of the passenger seat and behind the wheel before the cops show up?

In ‘Day, Hour, Minute… Man’ we get some insight into the manipulative Graves’ long-term goals as he engineers a gang-war to draw some old comrades back into his game. There are intriguing hints of an old crew and some very high-powered bosses when he contacts the brutal enforcer Lono and claims someone’s reviving something called “the Minutemen”…

‘The Right Ear, Left in the Cold’ finds an ice-cream vendor named Cole Burns selling stronger stuff from his van shocked to discover that his boss torched the old folks home where his grandmother died. Yet that’s just the start as Cole is revealed as another retired Minuteman. It looks like someone’s putting the band back together…

A viscerally satisfying one-off story follows as a waitress gets an unwelcome heads up about her happy home in the chilling ‘Heartbreak, Sunnyside Up’ and this volume concludes with the return of Isabelle “Dizzy” Cordova (see First Shot, Last Call, ISBN: 978-1-84023-298-1). She’s in Paris to meet American ex-pat Mr. Branch, a reporter who dug too deep and uncovered the greatest secret in US history.

‘Parlez Kung Vous’ begins to unravel the mysteries of the Trust, the Minutemen, and especially Agent Graves in a brutal yet delicate manner, engrossing and satisfying: yet manages the magician’s trick of leaving a bigger puzzle and readers hungry for the next instalment.

The slick switch from crime comic to conspiracy thriller is made with superb skill, with no diminution of the extreme violence and seedy sexuality that are hallmarks of this uncompromising series. Savage brilliantly executed and utterly addictive, this is a landmark book in a landmark series.

© 2000 Brian Azzarello and DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.