100 Bullets: Book One 


By Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso & various (Vertigo/DC Comics) 
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3201-6 (Deluxe HB) 978-1-4012-5056-0 (TPB/Digital edition) 

What’s your favourite crime movie? TV Show? Novel? Chances are it isn’t 100 Bullets, but trust me, it should be… 

Now that there’s a little distance and the initial furore has died down, it’s time to review one of the most hyped comic sensations of the early 21st century. This initial compilation collects 100 Bullets #1-19 (August 1999- February 2001) and includes a brief tale that first appeared in seasonal anthology Vertigo: Winter’s Edge #3.  

It all begins with eponymous revenge yarn ‘100 Bullets’… 

Isabelle “Dizzy” Cordova is released from prison but isn’t happy. She’s returning to the crime-infested, poverty-wracked streets she came from, dead inside since while she was there her man and her baby boy were killed in a drive-by shooting. 

On the ride back, an old man gets on the train. He looks like a spy from a 1960s movie. Sharp black suit, sunglasses, thin black tie, shiny attaché case: He says he’s Agent Graves. He says he knows all about Dizzy Cordova. He says Hector and Santiago weren’t killed by accident. He says that if she wants to make it right, he has a gun and one hundred rounds of ammunition that will never – EVER – show up in a police investigation. If she wants revenge she can have it free and clear… 

And so begins one of the best crime comics of all time, but this premise, which would surely be enough for five hit seasons on any TV channel, is merely the beginning of a decade-long conspiracy thriller that is dark, engrossing and, after nearly 23 years, still a phenomenal achievement and tribute to the abilities of writer Brian Azzarello and illustrator Eduardo Risso and their loyal accomplices colourists Grant Goleash & Patricia Mulvihill, and letterer Clem Robins. 

After practically constant re-reading, I’m still finding nuggets and gems that confirm its brilliance and the creators’ gift for forward planning and attention to detail. 

Following on from Dizzy’s seemingly self-contained moment of epiphany comes ‘Shot, Water Back’ as we meet a down-on-his-luck barman whose entire life was destroyed by a rich girl’s petty whim. When she walks into his bar one night though, Agent Graves has just walked out, leaving behind him another gleaming attaché case… 

Next follows an 8-page seasonal delight set in a police station. ‘Merry Christmas, Bitches’ is funny and chilling, proving that the short story form is not yet dead, and panel for panel is the best thing in this wonderful, terrifying so-very-adult book. More importantly, the apparent throwaway nature of this brief encounter will have crushing repercussions later on… 

The fascinating proposition of what you would you do with a grudge, a gun, one hundred untraceable bullets and an ironclad guarantee of no comeback is more deeply explored through further seemingly unconnected interactions, consequently but so slowly unravelling the mystery of 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 would drag your drunken ass out of the passenger seat and behind the steering wheel before the cops show up…  and never tell you? 

In ‘Day, Hour, Minute… Man’ we gain some insight into the manipulative Graves’ long-term goals as he engineers 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 – operating as “The Trust” – after contact is made with brutal mob enforcer Lono and someone wonders out loud if somebody is reviving something called “the Minutemen”… 

‘The Right Ear, Left in the Cold’ then finds ice-cream vendor Cole Burns - who sells more than popsicles from his van – shocked to discover that his current boss torched an old folks’ home where Cole’s grandmother died. That’s just the start of a vicious round of revelations before 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’… 

Dizzy Cordova resurfaces next: bundled off to Paris to meet American ex-pat Mr. Branch: a reporter who once dug too deep and uncovered the greatest secret in US history. ‘Parlez Kung Vous’ begins unpicking 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. In the meantime though, Dizzy learns some secrets and gets on the job training to die for… 

The best crime comic in decades oh-so-slowly begins transforming itself into the best conspiracy thriller in the business with ‘Hang Up on the Hang Low’ as further hints about The Trust and their unique police squad The Minutemen slip out during the dark, bleak story of Louis “Loop” Hughes, a young street tough swiftly going the way of most of his kind in the streets of Philadelphia… at least until impeccable Agent Graves turns up. He knows exactly where Loop’s father has been for the embittered kid’s entire life, but he’s only telling about the last few years… 

Curtis Hughes collects debts for one of the nastiest old loan-sharks in Philly. The broken down old leg-breaker has been around and seen it all, but wasn’t expecting a street punk to stick one of those guns in his face – and certainly not the son he abandoned all those years ago. Against all odds, he reconciles with his son and starts teaching him business and life; but once family duty and work allegiances come into conflict, there’s only ever one outcome. And just how does Curtis know about Graves and the Minutemen? As always, where Graves has been, lives change, bodies drop and more undisclosed secrets are uncovered… 

The story portion of this book concludes with some scene-setting character portraits as ‘Epilogue for a Road Dog’ sees Loop reconnect with Agent Graves whilst wild card Lono discovers an unsuspected connection with the young gangbangers cousin Carlos. As Graves moves his pieces in a vast but still undeclared game unlikely alliances are forged in anticipation of a coming conflict… 

Rounding out this extremely adult entertainment is ‘Dossier’: a sketchbook by Eduardo Risso offering early character designs of the broad and diverse castoff reprobates thus far embroiled in the unfolding saga… 

These tense, bleak opening dramas have the generational grandeur of The Godfather trilogy, as much febrile resonance as The Wire and more punch than Goodfellas: weaving a tragic tapestry of family, disillusionment and overwhelming necessity, and although readers of the original comic books didn’t know it, laid much of the groundwork for the “Big Reveals” to come.  

Astoundingly accessible and readable in its own right, this gripping tome is just step one on a path of intricate mystery and intrigue: one no fiction-fan (grown-up, paid-up and immune to harsh language and rude behaviour) could resist… nor should you. 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. 
© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2014 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso and DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. 

100 Bullets: Once Upon a Crime


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-594-X

Originating as merely the best crime comic in decades, 100 Bullets grew into a terrifyingly imaginative conspiracy thriller of vast scope and intricate, intimate detail. With this eleventh volume (collecting issues #76-83 of the breathtakingly adult comic book) creators Azzarello & Risso apparently had all their ducks in position and began to earnestly reveal a few long-hidden secrets as they counted down to the inevitable big finish.

However, as always there’s far, far more going on than you might think, and there are still a few surprise twists in store…

Not long after Columbus landed in America, thirteen ancient European crime-families migrated to the New World and clandestinely carved up the continent in perpetuity between them. As the country grew cultured and a new nation was born The Trust embedded itself within every aspect.

To prevent their own greed and ambition from destroying the sweetest deal in history, the Families created an extraordinary police force to mediate and act when any Trust member or faction acted against the unity and best interests of the whole.

They were called the Minutemen and were always led by the kind of peacekeeper needed to keep them honest and actively cooperating – a man uniquely honest, dedicated, smart and remorseless.

Not too long ago though, some of The Trust’s current leaders decided they no longer needed overseers and acted with characteristic ruthlessness to remove them.

Minutemen leader Agent Graves didn’t take this lying down and has been gradually enacting a plan to rectify that casual injustice. For years he has been appearing to various betrayed and defeated people as a “Court of Last Resort” offering answers, secrets, an untraceable handgun and 100 Bullets …

Some of those tragic beneficiaries have been revealed as Minutemen with their personalities hypnotically submerged in cover identities to hide and protect them from The Trust. Reawakened by Graves as he confidently proceeds with his long range strategy no-one really knows what the end-game and ultimate goals are…

Now the situation has spun completely out of control. Trust Fix-it man Mr. Shepherd is dead, killed by his most trusted agent Dizzy Cordova and the Minutemen are as divided, confused and fractionated as their erstwhile employers.

Moreover, Dizzy might have been the gun but it was Graves who pulled the trigger…

As always, pay attention when perusing: the uncompromising co-creators have never sugar-coated their work nor spoon-fed their audience and these stories need to be carefully studied: both the hypnotically spartan story and stunningly stylish visuals…

After an introduction and appreciation from groundbreaking TV innovator Tom Fontana the complex psycho-drama resumes with ‘Punch Line’ as Mr. Branch and Wylie Times baby-sit Dizzy and errant Trust heir Benito Medici in the desert whilst new Trust warlord Lono, prison buddy Loop Hughes and Minuteman Victor Ray decompress in typically sordid and anti-social style…

Graves keeps his distance and his plans from those most loyal to him but Remi Rome and Cole Burns know something is breaking when Wylie informs Graves that he will keep Dizzy from returning to him at all costs.

Wylie’s next call is to barely under control psychotic Lono, an angry man hungry to kill Graves and get his hands on the bitch who shot his buddy Shepherd…

With all factions on a collision course, mercenary bandit Coochie and his gang pick exactly the wrong moment to try and impress Graves by “rescuing” Dizzy and when Victor apparently switches to Wylie’s team the stage is set for the brutal removal of one more major player…

‘Split Decision’ records yet another shifting of alliances as, after still more mayhem and Machiavellian machinations, Dizzy returns to Grave’s team with everybody aware that she’s only there to kill the man who messed up her life and her mind…

The book concludes with ‘Tarantula’ as, thousands of miles away, the mysterious painting “La Morte dil Cesar” – which has tantalised and tempted assorted antagonists since The Counterfifth Detective – rises to prominence again when Remi’s brother Ronnie is dispatched to Rome to obtain it for Graves.

Once there the retired mob leg-breaker is swiftly enveloped in a tangled web of sex, double-crosses, murder, sex, art-fraud, triple-crosses and sex with deadly wild card Echo Memoria, who has been playing her own game at the edges of the action since she first seduced the hapless Mr. Branch in A Foregone Tomorrow, thereby setting up a catastrophic confrontation in the days to come.

This final story-arc blends the contemporary tale of Ronnie’s Roman holiday with Graves’ intimate revelations to Dizzy of how he first recruited Shepherd to his squad and the lousy reason his own mentor, veteran Minuteman Curtis Hughes, never got to lead the peacekeeping cadre…

Laced with telling flashbacks to the days when Graves’ team still acted for The Trust and packed with the kind of gratuitous smut and atrocity that we’ve come to expect and adore, Once Upon a Crime cranks up the action and tension to an almost unbearable degree as the grand denouement looms large.

Over months and years Azzarello & Risso painstakingly planted many seeds which grew into a tangle of shoots simultaneously entwining and growing off at tangents before coming together into a perfect mosaic of magnificent power and intensity.

These are some of the very best graphic novels ever crafted and demand your utmost attention. You need them all and the very best is still to come…
© 2006, 2007 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso & DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

100 Bullets: Decayed


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-384-8

Not long after Columbus landed in America, thirteen ancient European crime-families migrated to the New World and clandestinely carved up the continent in perpetuity between them. As the country grew cultured and a new nation was born the Trust embedded itself within every aspect of it.

To prevent their own greed and ambition from destroying the sweetest deal in history the Families created an extraordinary police force to mediate and act when any Trust member or faction acted against the unity and best interests of the whole. They were called the Minutemen and were always led by the kind of peacekeeper needed to keep them honest and actively cooperating – a man uniquely honest, dedicated, smart and remorseless.

Not too long ago though, some of The Trust’s current leaders decided they no longer needed overseers and acted with characteristic ruthlessness to remove them.

Betrayed Minutemen captain Agent Graves didn’t take his dismissal well and has been slowly enacting a plan to rectify that casual injustice. For years he has been appearing to various betrayed and defeated people as a “Court of Last Resort” offering answers, secrets, an untraceable handgun and 100 Bullets …

Some of those tragic beneficiaries have been revealed as Minutemen with their personalities hypnotically submerged in cover identities to hide and protect them from the Trust. Gradually they have been reawakened by Graves as he confidentially proceeds with his long range strategy… although no-one really knows what the end-game and ultimate goals are.

With this tenth volume (collecting issues #68-75 of the Vertigo comicbook and the three quarter mark of the stunning adult saga) comes another stunning ratcheting-up of suspense as even more players are removed from the game and the increasingly wary survivors consolidate their positions for the fast approaching apocalyptic finale.

Pay attention when perusing: the uncompromising co-creators have never been accused of underestimating their audience’s intelligence – or appetite for blood, sex, intrigue and ultra-violent action – and these stories need to be carefully studied: both the delightfully sparse words and the shockingly slick pictures…

After an introduction from Darwyn Cooke the ongoing drama re-opens with ‘Sleep, Walker’ and a flashback to 1962 as Axel, leader of House Nagel, is informed by young Augustus Medici that the Minuteman leader Neil Walker has died…

To replace him Medici and Javier Vasco favour the coolly capable Philip Graves, but the junior Minuteman is not so certain he will win the position or the Trust’s full acceptance…

In the present Nagel is a tired old man carried along on Medici’s ambitions and sadly realising his own time has, at last, run out…

As new Trust Warlord Lono targets death-obsessed street-fighter Jack Daw and finally reactivates the next hidden sleeper agent by almost beating him to death, another flashback reveals that some Trust members fear Graves’ Holy Grail has always been a House of his own…

The extended saga ‘A Wake’ reintroduces another capable and nefarious character as low-level enforcer Ronnie Rome hunts for the suicidal mook crazy enough to steal from his gangster boss Mimo. If only all the evidence didn’t point to Ronnie’s wild younger brother Remi…

Meanwhile Axel’s funeral points out a minor problem: as the nine remaining Trust Families swear new allegiance and solidarity to each other a contentious point of order crops up.

Lars and Anna, twins with an unhealthy affection for each other, are the heirs to House Nagel, but since there can be only one undisputed head and the twins are reluctant to choose they must be prodded at all costs into making an irrevocable decision…

Elsewhere, with all the angles weighed, Ronnie readies himself to settle with Remi, but the snotty sibling has found the case, gun and 100 bullets Graves left with the older leg-breaker…

Things turn very nasty when the real thieves are exposed, but the horrific bloodbath that results there is as nothing compared to what happens after one of the Rome boys is revealed as another dormant Minuteman…

And at the highest level of society, Lono works things out with the two potential heirs of Axel Nagel. When he’s done there’s one less House in the Trust…

This volume ends with ‘Amorality Play’ as Graves plays his game in San Francisco, offering young grill-chef and washed-up medical student Dustin his usual deal and briefcase while Lono revels in his growing clout with the Trust and messes with assorted street-punks, predators and lowlifes – just to keep his hand in and to prove what really makes humanity tick…

Wicked, clever, blackly funny and gloriously, gratuitously vicarious, this ultra-violent, sex-stuffed, profanity-packed, utterly addictive thrill ride always delivers maximum punch and every beautiful panel on every thrilling page might hold the final clue  to the grand saga unfolding before your eyes. Moreover even whilst playing scrupulously fair the creators are doing their best to shock, mislead and set you up….

Beginning as one of the best crime-comics ever produced, the series developed into a staggeringly plausible and painfully visceral conspiracy thriller of vast scope and dazzling, intricate detail. Over the months and years Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso slowly and carefully planted many seeds which grew into a tangle of disparate shoots simultaneously entwining and growing off at tangents before coming together into a perfect mosaic of mood, mayhem and murder.

If there are still any of you rush-starved story fans – grown-up, paid-up, immured to harsh language and unshaken by nudity, rudity and very violent behaviour – who haven’t seen this compulsive classic yet, get out there and grab every one of these graphic novels at all costs! You need them all and the very best is yet to come…
© 2006 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso & DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

100 Bullets: Strychnine Lives


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-252-5

Beginning as one of the best crime-comics ever produced, 100 Bullets developed into a staggeringly plausible and painfully visceral conspiracy thriller of vast scope and dazzling, intricate detail. Starting from the superb premise “what if you were given an untraceable gun, one hundred bullets and a damned good reason?”, Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso carefully planted seeds which grew into a tangle of disparate shoots simultaneously entwining and growing off at tangents before coming together into a perfect mosaic of mood, mayhem and murder.

What we know so far…

Soon after Columbus stumbled upon America, thirteen European crime-families migrated to his New World and carved up the continent between them. Establishing themselves in all aspects of the chaotic influx, they swiftly disappeared into the burgeoning masses flocking to the New World. When the new nation was born The Trust was embedded into the roots of everything and secretly controlled all the decision-makers…

To forestall their own greed and ambition screwing up the sweetest deal in history, The Families created an extraordinary taskforce to mediate and police any Trust members or splinter factions acting against the best interests of the whole. “The Minutemen” were always led by the only kind of peacekeeper capable of enforcing the rule of law on men of infinite power and unsurpassed ambition – a man uniquely honest, dedicated, smart and remorseless.

Some years ago Trust leaders decided they no longer needed overseers and acted with characteristic ruthlessness to remove them at a stroke. Betrayed Minutemen commander Agent Graves didn’t take his dismissal lying down and has been manipulating events and people to rectify that injustice ever since.

For years he has been appearing to various betrayed and defeated people as a “Court of Last Resort” offering answers, proofs, an untraceable handgun and 100 Bullets…

More recently The Trust has come under sustained attack from within and without. House leaders have been assassinated and as surviving members and newly promoted house-heads constantly politic to rewrite their 400 year old accord, scattered members of Graves’ old team gather in the wings.

But even the returned Minutemen all seem to have their own agendas now… or is Graves simply a far more subtle Machiavelli than anybody ever suspected?

With this ninth volume (collecting issues #59- 67of the 100 Bullets comicbook) comes a stunning ramping-up of suspense as even more players are removed from the game and the wary survivors consolidate their positions for the fast approaching apocalyptic finale. Pay attention: Azzarello & Risso have never been accused of underestimating their audience’s intelligence – or appetite for blood, sex, intrigue and ultra-violent action – and these stories need to be carefully studied: both the delightfully sparse words and the shockingly slick pictures…

The cataclysmic carnage and torturous tension begins with ‘The Calm’ as maniac former-Minuteman Lono and his jail-bird apprentice Loop Hughes (see 100 Bullets: Hang Up on the Hang Low and 100 Bullets: Samurai) meet up with Victor Ray, first member of the old crew to be reactivated by Graves and off the grid for a suspiciously long time. In that time Victor has been lying low with Christine, but now her abandoned, lovesick husband has tracked them down…

Meanwhile in ‘Staring At the Son’ recently ascended House-leader Megan Dietrich pays a visit to de facto Trust leader Augustus Medici – himself only recently reconciled with his out-of-control heir Benito – to discuss new alliances, but she is, as usual, playing her own game. Why else would she compel terrified rogue reporter Mr. Branch to return to America for a clandestine conference decades after he first uncovered the secret of The Trust and went on the run?

At the same glitzy hotel where Megan is confronted by cool killer Cole Burns, bellboy Tino makes the wrong connection and becomes embroiled in a drug-fuelled domestic tragedy provoked by an insane misunderstanding between major bad-ass gang-bosses Spain and Bosco.

As Graves and Augustus thrash out a few differences, Cole and Branch discover they have somebody else in common; sexy, enigmatic Echo Memoria – who seems to be playing all sides in the ongoing struggle – and has stolen a painting crucial to the very survival of the Trust. Everybody wants that damn picture and now Cole expects the ineffectual Branch to track down both her and it…

‘The Dive’ sees Graves further provoke recovering addict Jack Daw – now devolved into a troubled street-fighting brute immune to pain but wracked by indecision – who tries to make the manipulative Minuteman take back his untraceable briefcase of ordnance and tainted promise – with typical lack of success. As Victor Ray points Loop towards some unwholesome facts of his new life, Lono auditions for the role of Trust facilitator by making a stomach-churning example of one of Augustus Medici’s last rivals and the psychotic force of nature reveals the calibre of tactical brain hiding beneath his brutish sadistic exterior in ‘New Tricks’…

With another major player falling to a Minuteman-engineered hit – but perpetrated by which faction of the relentlessly shifting rogue team? – this captivating chronicle concludes with an apparent sidebar tale when ‘Love Let Her’ finds Benito Medici, Mr. Branch and conflicted Minuteman Wylie Times stumbling all over each other in the Mexican desert whilst searching for freshly de-programmed – or is she? – Dizzy Cordova, Graves’ prime agent and secret weapon. Trading booze, bon mots and bullets the situation looks bad for all concerned…

But we won’t know until the next volume…

Everybody lies and everyone has their own goals in this complex and impossibly clever yarn, so the magical skill shown in presenting these characters in their immediate actions and long-term machinations is dazzling to behold. This madly mature epic is a masterpiece of craft, with layers of incidental stories counter-pointing the major narrative thrust… but in which even the least depicted cameo of the most minor bit-player might be of crucial importance to the final denouement…

If there are still any thrill-starved readers – grown-up, paid-up, immured to harsh language and unshaken by rude, nude and very violent behaviour – who aren’t addicted to this astounding epic thriller yet, for Pete’s sake go out and grab every one of these graphic novels at all costs! You need them all and the very best is still to come…
© 2005, 2006 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso & DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

100 Bullets: The Hard Way

New Extended review

By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-041-0

When as perfect a story-hook as “what if you were given an untraceable gun, one hundred bullets and a damned good reason” is in the creative hands of talents like Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso you know the resultant drama is going to start big and end spectacularly but even after fifty issues the breakneck pace and heart-stopping tension of this series never faltered and indeed intensified…

With this eighth volume The Hard Way (collecting issues #50-58 of the 100 Bullets monthly comic) comes a ramping-up of suspense as a lot of questions are (partially) answered and the myriad players take their positions for the apocalyptic finale – still half a c-note away…

The key piece here is the full, complete and true history of the United States of America and the origins of the Trust: illicit brotherhood of hereditary crime-kings who have controlled the nation since before it even was a country.

In ‘Prey for Reign’ a guy walks into a bar…

So many stories start that way, but when the guy is reactivated Minuteman Victor Ray (100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call) and the beer-and-buddies yarn he spins concerns the secret history of America, you’d better listen…

Not long after Columbus stumbled upon America, thirteen European crime-families migrated to his New World and clandestinely carved up the continent between them. When the new nation was born the Trust embedded itself in every aspect of it.

To prevent their own greed and ambition screwing up the sweetest deal in history the Families created an extraordinary taskforce to mediate and police any Trust member or faction acting against the best interests of the whole. Dubbed the Minutemen they were always led by the kind of peacekeeper needed to keep them honest and actively cooperating – a man uniquely honest, dedicated, smart and remorseless.

A few years ago Trust leaders decided they no longer needed overseers and acted with characteristic ruthlessness to remove them. Betrayed Minutemen leader Agent Graves didn’t take his dismissal lying down and has been manipulating events and people to rectify that injustice.

For years he has been appearing to various betrayed and defeated people as a “Court of Last Resort” offering answers, secrets, an untraceable handgun and 100 Bullets… Now Victor sits in bar spilling secrets, knowing that since all the listeners are murderous thieves awaiting a payoff that will never come, there’s little chance of this history lesson going public…

The Trust is under attack. House leaders have been killed, and as the surviving members convene to utterly rewrite their 400 year old accord, scattered members of Grave’s old team circle in the wings. Wylie Times (100 Bullets: A Foregone Tomorrow) resurfaces in New Orleans on another mysterious mission and takes up temporary residence in a jazz bar whilst waiting to make his move…

‘Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down’ finds him confronting Trust facilitator/fixer Mr. Shepherd and newest Minuteman Dizzy Cordova (also 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call) whilst stumbling onto a particularly grisly murder. Hunted by the brutal killers and torn by guilt over his lost love Rose, Wylie becomes too involved in the tragic lives of (relatively) ordinary folks until the grim reality of his past painfully, horrifyingly reminds him that his old masters have a long reach and their dirty fingers in every pie…

For someone like Wylie however, the safest escape plan is to remove all possible threats and the cataclysmic conclusion of this compulsive seven-chapter saga sees more than one major player taken off the board…

The book ends with ‘Coda smoke’ as dishonoured Minuteman Lono and cellmate Loop Hughes (100 Bullets: Samurai) get a shocking phone call and rush to Shepherd’s aid. It appears the man with all the answers was betrayed by his most trusted agent. How bad must it be if an ex-con and a sociopath with impulse-control issues are the first number on your speed-dial…?

Beginning as one of the best crime-comics in decades, 100 Bullets imperceptibly grew into a terrifyingly imaginative conspiracy thriller of vast scope and dazzling, intricate detail. Azzarello and Risso have never been accused of underestimating their audience’s intelligence – or appetite for blood, sex, intrigue and action.

If there are still any shock-starved story fans – grown-up, paid-up, immured to harsh language and unshaken by rude, nude and very violent behaviour – who aren’t addicted to this astounding epic crime-thriller yet, get out there and grab every one of these graphic novels at all costs! You need them all and the very best is yet to come…

© 2004, 2005 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso & DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

100 Bullets: Samurai


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-800-3

Not long after Columbus landed in America, thirteen ancient European crime-families migrated to the New World and clandestinely carved up the continent in perpetuity between them. As the country grew cultured and a new nation was born the Trust embedded itself in every aspect of it.

To prevent their own greed and ambition from destroying the sweetest deal in history the Families created an extraordinary police force to mediate and act when any Trust member or faction acted against the unity and best interests of the whole. They were called the Minutemen and were always led by the kind of peacekeeper needed to keep them honest and actively cooperating – a man uniquely honest, dedicated, smart and remorseless.

Not too long ago though, The Trust’s leaders decided they no longer needed overseers and acted with characteristic ruthlessness to remove them. Betrayed Minutemen leader Agent Graves didn’t take his dismissal well and has been slowly enacting a plan to rectify that casual injustice. For years he has been appearing to various betrayed and defeated people as a “Court of Last Resort” offering answers, secrets, an untraceable handgun and 100 Bullets…

Beginning as one of the best crime-comics in decades, 100 Bullets slowly, steadily transformed into a captivating conspiracy thriller of terrifying scope and immense, intimate detail. With this seventh volume (collecting issues #43-49 of the magnificently adult comicbook) creators Azzarello and Risso began arraying their huge cast of pawns and key pieces for the endgame and unguessable conclusion even though it was only the halfway point of the show…

With ‘Chill in the Oven’ the action switches to a maximum security prison where Loop Hughes is just getting out of solitary. Sadly that’s only the beginning of his problems since both the convict alpha dogs and the guards have been waiting for this moment…

Luckily, or probably not, the heat is temporarily off since the new intake includes the most dangerous sociopath nut-job in America… Lono, a brutal force of nature planning to take charge even from behind bars, fresh from an unexpected encounter in 100 Bullets: Six Feet Under the Gun. Sadly, the murderous ex-Minuteman also has a score to settle with Loop too…

When the Trust’s fixer Shepherd pays a surprise visit Lono realises who is behind all his problems if not why and decides to take matters into his own calloused, bloodstained hands…

Meanwhile out in the free world junkie Jack Daw (100 Bullets: A Foregone Tomorrow) still has one of those untraceable guns and is travelling south with his skeevy pal Mikey. ‘In Stinked’ finds the pair laying low at a seedy wild animal park that secretly caters to “businessmen” who want to kill a big cat without the hassle of licenses, laws or leaving the country…

Jack clearly thinks he has more in common with the caged beasts but when he discovers what else goes on at Jungle Land the lost boy finally makes a stand that leaves the walls red and nobody standing…

Wicked, clever, blackly funny and gloriously, gratuitously vicarious, this ultra-violent, sex-stuffed, profanity-packed, utterly addictive thrill ride goes from strength to strength but always pay close attention! Every beautiful panel on every thrilling page might hold clues to the grand saga unfolding before your eyes.

If there are still any of you rush-starved story fans – grown-up, paid-up, immured to harsh language and unshaken by rude, nude and very violent behaviour – who aren’t addicted to this compulsive classic yet, get out there and grab every one of these graphic novels at all costs! You need them all and the very best is yet to come…

© 2003, 2004 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso & DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

100 Bullets: Six Feet Under the Gun


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-662-0

Beginning as one of the best crime-comics in decades, 100 Bullets imperceptibly grew into a terrifyingly imaginative conspiracy thriller of vast scope and intricate, intimate detail. With this sixth volume (collecting issues #37-42 of the stunningly adult comic book) creators Azzarello and Risso seemingly paused for breath and a succession of single episodes, exploring the inner workings of a deadly half-dozen cast-members, but as always there’s far, far more going on than you might think, and now that the series has concluded it’s clear that what happened here was of vital importance to what came next.

Pay attention! Every beautiful panel on every thrilling page might hold clues to the epic saga unfolding before your eyes.

Soon after Columbus landed in America, thirteen European crime-families migrated to the New World and carved up the continent in perpetuity between them. As the country grew civilised and a new nation was born the Trust embedded themselves in every aspect of it.

To prevent their own greed and ambition from destroying the sweetest deal in history the Families created an extraordinary police force to mediate and act when any Trust member acted against the unity and best interests of the whole. They were called the Minutemen and were always led by the kind of peacekeeper needed to keep them honest and actively cooperating – a man uniquely honest, dedicated, smart and remorseless.

Not too long ago though, The Trust leaders decided they no longer needed overseers and acted with characteristic ruthlessness to remove them. Betrayed Minutemen leader Agent Graves didn’t take his dismissal well and has been slowly enacting a plan to rectify that casual injustice. For years he has been appearing to various betrayed and defeated people as a “Court of Last Resort” offering answers, secrets, an untraceable handgun and 100 Bullets…

The sextet of character studies herein opens with ‘On Accidental Purpose’ as Dizzy Cordova pays a nostalgia-tainted visit to the friends and ghetto neighbourhood she so happily escaped from (in 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call) whilst Graves has a conversation with one-time Minuteman Shepherd – now sole facilitator for the Trust, before ‘Cole Burns Slow Hand’ sees the newly reactivated Minuteman settle accounts with the fiancé he abandoned once Graves came calling (100 Bullets: Split Second Chance), all set against the backdrop of a robbery/hostage situation gone painfully wrong.

Trust Heir Apparent Benito Medici experiences first hand a taste of the Old Ways and Good Old Days in the bloody ‘Ambition’s Audition’ whilst rogue agent and unstoppable Force of Nature Lono gets a visit from Shepherd, resulting in a situation even his barbarous methods can’t handle in ‘Night of the Payday’ and Graves himself features in ‘A Crash’ as overtures from the Families are rebuffed whilst a young couple’s brief dream of vast, unearned wealth falls foul of bad timing and their own consciences.

Wylie Times (100 Bullets: A Foregone Tomorrow) gets a visit from Agent Graves and a case, gun, bullets and dossier of his own in the final tale ‘Point Off the Edge’ – a tense thriller which reminds us that not all evil comes courtesy of secret criminal cabals whilst proving once more that even if it doesn’t Graves is always prepared to take advantage…

Even after this seeming break in the overarching narrative the unfolding saga remains astoundingly accessible and readable with the war against the Trust now openly declared and all participants anxiously choosing their side and crossing their fingers. Agent Graves has activated the final stage of his decades-long campaign and the endgame is approaching…

If there are still any entertainment-starved story fans – grown-up, paid-up, immured to harsh language and unshaken by rude, nude and very violent behaviour – who aren’t addicted to this compulsive classic yet, get out there and grab every one of these graphic novels at all costs! The best is still to come…

© 2002, 2003 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso & DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

100 Bullets volume 5: The Counterfifth Detective


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-467-1

All societies have policemen and the kind of cop absolutely depends on the kind of society. When that society is utterly secret and consists of thirteen ruthless criminal dynasties that have covertly controlled America since Columbus landed, the kind of peacekeeper needed to keep them honest and actively cooperating has to be a man uniquely honest, smart and remorseless.

Such a man is Agent Graves…

Beginning as one of the best crime-comics in decades, 100 Bullets gradually, cunningly transformed itself into a startlingly imaginative conspiracy thriller of vast scope and intricate intimate detail. With this fifth volume (collecting issues #31-36 of the much missed adult comic book) close followers might assume they finally have a handle on what’s going on, and how the characters are shaping up but once more Azzarello and Risso have plenty of surprises to unleash and chairs to kick out from under us…

Milo Garrett is trouble: brooding, violent and always looking for a fight. That’s not the best résumé for a private investigator, but it gets Milo through the nights and through the week. However his soul-deadened life a takes a decidedly strange turn when he wakes up in a hospital bed with his face bandaged like a mummy. Being a tough guy doesn’t help much when you’re catapulted through a speeding car windscreen…

He has a visitor: a sleek old gentleman named Graves who offers him a briefcase with an untraceable gun, 100 bullets and a dossier on just how he got there. What Graves doesn’t offer is any answers…

Psychotically independent, ever-suspicious and always spoiling for another drink and another fight Garrett revisits the case he was working on. He was hired to recover a stolen painting, but when his client is murdered he knows he’s stepped into something big and dirty. Unable to let go he digs deeper and finds the ultra-rich Megan Dietrich (see 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call) up to her neck in something that clearly terrifies her: something that scares everybody connected to this case…

As the body-count mounts Graves’ reawakened “Minutemen” surface, and although Garrett doesn’t know it yet he is caught between a centuries-old criminal cabal and the squad of paramilitary peacekeepers they betrayed and (they believed) destroyed.

Events spiral as monstrously ambiguous hitman Lono stalks his next – unspecified – target and once Milo finally sees the mysterious painting which apparently reveals a hidden secret of the criminal Trust that runs America, the detective is pretty sure of the only way this mess can end…

Deeply unsettling yet spectacularly compelling this yarn turns the hardboiled gumshoe genre on its head as it weaves a unique web of intrigue that gradually built into a monolithic saga of institutional corruption and personal honour. The unfolding saga remains an astoundingly accessible and readable thriller as the mystery of the Trust is revealed and Agent Graves begins the final stage of a plan decades in the making: 100 Bullets promises that the best is already here, but even better is waiting…

Entertainment-starved story fans – grown-up, paid-up, immune to harsh language and unshaken by rude, nude and very violent behaviour – should make their way to their favourite purveyor of fine fiction immediately and get every one of these graphic novels – at all costs.

© 2002 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso and DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

100 Bullets: A Foregone Tomorrow


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-466-0

From being one of the best crime-comics in decades 100 Bullets gradually, cunningly transformed into a startlingly imaginative conspiracy thriller, with this fourth volume (collecting issues #20-30 of the much missed adult comic book) finally seeing a disparate range of previously seen strangers revealed as vital components in a vast and intriguing cast.

The tension begins with ‘The Mimic’, a captivating multi-layered allegorical vignette which features a conversation on a park bench between the mysterious Mr. Shepherd and young Benito Medici disclose some pertinent facts and intriguing conjectures about the enigmatic Agent Graves and his old associates “the Minutemen”, all whilst the life or death drama of a street corner gangsta’s life plays out to a lethal inevitable conclusion around them.

In the two-part ‘Sell Fish & Out to Sea’ “High” Jack Daw, sometime bouncer, doped-out addict and one more lost soul is offered a way to change his life with the now inescapable consequences. When he is handed a gun and those eponymous bullets he revisits all the family and friends he had left; looking for the reason he’d fallen so low. Only when he finally ascertained who was really responsible for his fall did he start using that untraceable weapon and ammunition…

East Coast gaming capitol Atlantic City is the venue for ‘Red Prince Blues’ and sees the return of super-bitch Megan Dietrich (see 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call) and ice-cold Benito, both scions of the mysterious Trust, but busily conspiring for their own unscrupulous futures as inveterate gambler Hank tries to win one last pot…

With a dying wife the last thing he needed was to get into a poker game with young Medici, but everything goes into a terminal spin when Graves, Cole Burns and Dizzy Cordova hit town. This three part saga provides more useful clues about the thirteen families that rule America, and when the head of one of those Trust clans dies after a parley with Graves the stakes are raised to a level that no one can afford…

‘Mr. Branch & the Family Tree’ returns us to Paris and Dizzy’s old instructor who unwisely reveals the secret history of The Trust and The Minutemen in a saucily novel manner; a classy yarn that sees guest artists Paul Pope, Joe Jusko, Mark Chiarello, Jim Lee, Lee Bermejo, Dave Gibbons, Tim Bradstreet, Jordi Bernet, Frank Miller and J.G. Jones supplement the always superb Eduardo Risso with a series of narrative pin-ups identifying the major players in this increasingly convoluted, compelling chronicle.

Next comes possibly the best single tale of the entire run as Agent Graves encounters a geriatric baseball star whilst delivering another briefcase. This is no mere fading star however, but a man who once wed the most glamorous movie star of her generation, a tragic woman who had an affair with a President and – apparently – took her own life. The still grieving widower is also someone a younger but just as resolute Graves left a briefcase with in early 1963…

‘Idol Chatter’ is a conspiracy nut’s dream, blending legend, myth and history into a clever, witty and punishingly poignant tale, even though the mordant black humour is never too far away…

This edgy epistle ends with the three part ‘¡Contrabandolero!’ as lowlife El Paso gas-station attendant Wylie Times meets Dizzy and Mr. Shepard before getting sucked into a crazy criminal scam to smuggle contraband from Mexico into the USA. Unfortunately things quickly go south in Juárez when the “exporter” insists that the illicit entrepreneurs also provide an over-sexed, under-age girl with a ride back to the Land of the Free…

Wylie just might be another Minuteman waiting to be reactivated, but you wouldn’t know it from this calamitous comedy of errors and terrors…

Bleak drama gradually gave way to dark gallows humour and the major characters were slowly showing softer sides but this high-octane thriller had lost of its verve with this volume. The unfolding saga remains an astoundingly accessible and readable thriller as the mystery of the Trust is revealed and Agent Graves begins the final stage of a plan decades in the making: 100 Bullets promises that the best is already here, but even better is waiting…

Entertainment starved story fans – grown-up, paid-up, immune to harsh language and unshocked by rude, very violent behaviour – should make their way to their favourite purveyor of fine fiction immediately and get these graphic novels at all costs.

© 2001, 2002 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso and DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

100 Bullets: Hang Up on the Hang Low


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 1-84023-361-3

The best crime comic in decades oh-so-slowly begins transforming itself into the best conspiracy thriller in the business with this third volume (collecting issues 15-19# of the monthly comic book) as further hints about The Trust and their unique police squad The Minutemen slip out during the dark, bleak story of Louis “Loop” Hughes, a young street tough swiftly going the way of most of his class and race in the streets of Philadelphia… at least until the impeccable Agent Graves turns up with an untraceable gun, one hundred bullets and an ironclad guarantee of no repercussions.

Graves also knows exactly where Loop’s father has been for the embittered kid’s entire life, although he’s only telling about the last few years…

Curtis Hughes collects debts for one of the nastiest old loan-sharks in Philly. The broken down old leg-breaker has been around and seen it all, but he wasn’t expecting a street punk to stick one of those guns in his face – and certainly not the son he abandoned all those years ago.

Against the odds he reconciles with his son and starts teaching him business and life; but once family duty and work allegiances come into conflict, there’s only ever one outcome. And just how does Curtis know about Graves and the Minutemen?

This tense, bleak drama has as much resonance as The Wire and more punch than Goodfellas as it weaves a tragic tale of family, disillusionment and overwhelming necessity, and though readers of the original comic-books didn’t know it, laid much of the groundwork for the “Big Reveals” to come. Pay especial attention to the epilogue where Loop meets up with the brutal force of nature called “Lono”…

Astoundingly accessible and readable in its own right, this impressive, gripping yarn is another subtle step up on a path of intricate mystery and intrigue, and one no fiction-fan (grown-up, paid-up and immune to harsh language and rude behaviour) could resist… nor should you.

© 2000, 2001 Brian Azzarello and DC Comics.  All Rights Reserved.