100 Bullets

100 Bullets

Finally could afford the final chapter in this, not-surprisingly, 100 issue comic series. I really like comics that have a specific end date in mind, which is why so much of Vertigo appeals to me. There are comics like Hellblazer in which the main character is more of a vehicle for the story, so as ongoing series, they work. But for the odder, weirder, meatier and more intricate stories, having a definite start-middle-finish is a far more effective approach to storytelling. Books like The Invisibles, Transmetropoliton, and Peacher could not have worked without a clear idea where it ends.

For those of you unaware, 100 Bullets is Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso modern pulp noir romp through the darkness of America. The concept starts out very simple; a former gangbanger is released from prison, and is approached by an old man with a briefcase. Inside the case is a gun, 100 rounds of ammunition, and a file that contains absolute proof that her husband and son, who were believed killed in a random drive by, were actually targeted and executed by two corrupt police officers. The gun and bullets are special. Any police force that runs the numbers on the gun, or forensic team that IDs a bullet, the investigation is immediately called off, the weapon and remaining rounds returned, and all charges dropped.

There is no 'mission' assigned with the gun, or really any suggested course of action. Each person who receives the case has to make the exact same choice; do you take revenge, aware that there are no legal repercussions to use as an excuse not to? The idea quite elegantly strips away the protective gauze of the laws of civilized society, and places each person into a revealing state of self-realization. How many of us, over a pint or reading the paper, have commented about some awful story or news report and stated that 'if we had the chance, that person wouldn't walk out of that courtroom'. Well, imagine if the person next to you said 'here's the chance'? It is that moral dilemma that faces the early protagonists of the series.

As it evolves, you start being slowly introduced to two different factions; the Trust and the Minutemen. The Trust are a group of 13 families, formed during the 16th century, who essentially laid claim to America. When Elizabeth the 1st defied them by setting up a colony on Roanoke Island, the Trust recruited seven men to slaughter the colony. In the wake of the attack, they left one word behind; Croatoa, a warning to others who would defy them. Those men would form the forerunners of the Minutemen. The story starts after the Minutemen have broken with the Trust, and all but one of them have been brainwashed and placed into normal lives, without any memory of their past or their remarkable skills as killers. Without the threat of the Minutemen, the families of the Trust are engaged in a shadow war over influence with each other. Only Agent Graves, the head of the Minutemen and the old man with the briefcases and guns, remains in play as a rogue factor, and it slowly develops that he's playing his own game against his former employers.

The key behind 100 Bullets is the fact that the twisted conspiracy story takes place in and around the stories focused on the briefcases. Each person has a very different life and circumstance, that involve classic themes of loss, betrayal, and envy. The people who receive the weapons are very flawed people, often largely responsible for their own misfortune. However, none of the stories are simple, and each of the protagonists are lavishly rendered with very resonant, if a little fractured, motivations and personalities. Azzarello is famous for his understanding and use of regional colloquialisms, and his background as a reporter obviously influences his choice of stories. In many cases, the main story is only tangentially involved with the larger conspiracy, so a story involving a man at a casino may also involve a meeting of the Families there, intertwining the stories without interacting directly.

It is hard to overstate the art. Risso has a unique, stylized approach to his art and layout, playing with the point of view to pull together a unique visual style. His characters are often unfaltering, wonderfully human and grotesque simultaneously. He's taken the basic principles of both noir and pulp styles, and intermixed them with modern urban sensibilities to create work that is highly graphical and yet feels very real and authentic at the same time. The colouring is very stark, and often uses lurid palettes of green, blue, red, and yellow to replicate the night view of the city, defined by signage and advertising.

One of the other strengths are the Minutemen themselves, both in their fake lives, and later as they reassume their former identities. Drawing from the same well as writers like Ellory and directors like Tarantino, Azzarello built seven men who are both extremely human and developed in one sense, and also iconic in another. These men are easy to like and sympathize with on one page, and in the next, hardened killers who are at ease eliminating an entire family if needed. The seven; Wolf, Dog, Point Man, Bastard, Rain, Monster, and Saint, each represent a different aspect of the noir anti-hero, and both play the role and clearly illustrate the real horror of each popular protagonist type. Risso hasn't been shy about using celebrities to accent his depictions of them. Cole Burns - Wolf, resembles a younger Johnny Depp, while Lono - Dog looks like del Toro at his most brutish. Each of them is washed in a 'hard-boiled' design aesthetic; black suits and ties, white shirts, long brown trenchcoats, and dual-wielded automatics.

Still, with this figures moving back and forth on the landscapes, Azzarello truly shines in his single issue stories, and minor subplots in the larger stories that hold up elements of modern culture for display. There's a wholesale willingness to tear open the urban legends and 'friend of a friend' stories that make up our modern urban lore, and play in those elements to show what emotions and prejudices underline their creation in the first place. Much like the gun, many of the stories do focus on the 'what if you could?' scenario and where that logically leads. Oh, and it also clears up the question of the Kennedy Assassination. Turns out it was Joe DiMaggio all along. Seriously.

Highly recommended.