‘If a stranger offered you the chance to get away with murder…would you take it?’

 

The first story arc in 100 Bullets begins with an ending, presenting the reader with the outcome before giving us a chance to discover how we and the protagonist arrived there. In this way, we are thrown right into the thick of it, the story grabbing us from the get go.

 

Bullets tells the story of the down trodden and forgotten refuse of life as they are given a second lease on life at the expense of those who ruined their own. This second lease comes in the form of an attaché case with evidence alluding to the truth behind the downfall of our anti-heroes and an untraceable 9mm with 100 bullets - equally untraceable. No orders are given, only choices and opportunities - continue your life as it is, or reclaim it for what it once was. Which would you choose? Would you have the strength to do what is right? What is right in such a situation?

 

First released by Vertigo in 1999, I am only discovering Bullets now at the recommendation of a friend and I have to say that it is without a doubt one of the most well written and thought out comics that I have read so far this year. Jim Sterenko (known best for his work on Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. & Spyman) describes bullets as a story that, ‘has no heroes, just survivors twisted apart by betrayal, anger, pain, and hatred - the stuff that nightmares are made of.’

 

I would have to agree as Brian Azzarello’s (Joker as reviewed on medianator here,Hellblazer & Lex Luthor: Man of Steel) words have a mocking sense of sincerity and sing-song quality to them with lines such as, ‘So mommy goes to jail, daddy goes legit. Minimum wage plus food stamps and baby makes three…’ Illustrated by Eduardo Risso (The Swamp Monster Strikes Again & Aliens: Wraith) whose mix of noire and minimalist cartoon style characters and panels tell their own story adding to the depth of that told by Azzarello balance one another making Bullets an engaging read, almost as if two stories are being told at the same time. This can be seen as early as the first few pages of issue one of Bullets where a shady and unexpected meeting between the main character, ‘Isabelle “Dizzy” Cordova with the catalytic Agent Graves allows Azzarello’s words to tell us the back story on Dizzy as Risso’s illustrations put the scene into context depicting through actions and symbols what kind of a world Dizzy has known doing time in prison and growing up in the hood where an honest man calmly walking down the street can be jumped for loose change and left to splutter on his own blood by the roadside. Dizzy’s life certainly has not been easy. After being incarcerated for her involvement in a drive-by shooting & finding God as a way to deal with the murder of her husband and son, Dizzy returns to her old haunts with a new outlook on life - but one that she cannot hope to reconcile with the ghosts of her past. However, as is soon pointed out to her, ‘you gotta talk to dead people when they’re all you know.’ Now Dizzy is on a mission to piece her life back together even if she has to battle against the constant pressure of her peers - self-styled 23 year old O.G’s - ‘Old Girls’, a brother coming up in the only world both have ever known - the hood -  as he builds himself a rep others measure themselves by as well as those responsible for her loved ones murders who are as equally troubled by the mysteries surrounding Dizzy as she is in their own. Suffice to say, there are more layers to this comic then in both onions and ogres put together.

 

Reprinted now in trade paperback form with all of Dave Johnson’s original covers, the pulp quality of the paper seems in keeping with the overall, gritty feel of the comic and allows those such as myself discovering the comic for the first time to experience it as it was originally intended to be.

 

And if 100 Bullets begins with an ending, then like all good stories - it ends with a beginning too.

 

Conclusion: I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Read it if you enjoy a darker, grittier form of comic consisting more of abnormal ‘real-life’ situations and problems and trials of the human dilemma more so than spandex clad heroes crying ‘Kapow’, ‘Boff’ and ‘Zonk!’

 

Rating: A+

 

Price: Each TPB ranges between AUS$19.95 and $25.95

 

Writer: Brian Azzarello

Illustrator: Eduardo Risso

Colourist: Grant Goleash

Letterer: Clem Robins

Covers: Dave Johnson

Publisher: Originally published in single issue form (1-5) by Vertigo (1999) all rights reserved to DC Comics (2000).