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100 Bullets: Minute By Minuteman [MAJOR SPOILERS]

Regrettable Juvenilia

17:31 / 15.12.02

A.K.A. "Oh my God, they killed Lono!"

Well, I sure as hell wasn't expecting *that*. Not that the nasty bastard hasn't been asking for it for some time (in fact, I don't think there's another character it would have been as gratifying to see buy the farm). But I remember being slightly disappointed that a more major character didn't die at the end of 'Red Prince Blues', and this more than makes up for it - in fact, it's re-ignited my passion for this book... I don't think anybody would have expected one of these 'character showcase' issues to contain such a twist.

It does raise a whole bunch of questions, though:

Echo - was she just stupid and unlucky, or was she in on this with Shep? Or maybe she has another agenda (her own, or any number of other options, now we know there's a schism in the Trust)?

Shep - okay, so you clearly don't cross this guy. But did he just have Lono offed as a favour to Graves (in retaliation for Lono killing Milo) as requested in issue 37? If so, to me this further raises the question of why Graves didn't make more of an effort to keep Milo alive (you know, like actually explaining to him who he used to be)...

Graves/Shep/Benito - in issue 37, Graves tells Shep that "the boy needs tending to" and Shep says sure, but that's two favours and he'll "use one stone". Which would suggest that somehow what happened in issue 39 (the attempt on Benito's life, which I'm quite prepared to believe Shep set up - read it again, especially the wordless bits) is connected with how Shep had Lono taken out. How? The bank job? The guy who Lono batted to death?

The plot thickens...

22:48 / 15.12.02

I was pretty shocked the Lono went down, but I didn't think Milo was going to bite the bullet either.

But is Lono 'really' dead. I mean, he looked pretty dead. But he is one tough motherfucker. All he has to do is scrape through in a coma to be a nasty surprise later on.

No star here laces

13:21 / 16.12.02

I would be fairly surprised if Echo turned out to be no more than Lono's main squeeze. All the major characters in 100 bullets tend to have at least three layers to them, and she only has two so far (Milo's client/Lono's girl). Plus the 'leaving the country' thing has been dangled in front of us twice now - remember when Milo tried to drop her at the airport? I think she's got too many unexplained loose ends not to resurface later on...

vis a vis Lono being dead - I echo Flyboy's feelings exactly. I really disliked the guy, which is unusual in comics - usually we actually enjoy the villains more than the heroes, but 100 bullets is far too complex for that. Lono's being dead seems to make a very strong point about the controlling idea of the story, which to me is 'information is power'. Lono could never rise above being a petty thug and play the game at Shep, Graves and Augustus' level because hard as he may be, he doesn't control the information flows. Similarly, Milo dies because he is unwilling to engage with the information he's provided with. My reading of the Milo storyline was that Milo was aware of his past as a minuteman, but preferred to stay 'in character' - this being echoed in Cole's attempt to get back with his girl.

Regrettable Juvenilia

16:19 / 17.12.02

I would be fairly surprised if Echo turned out to be no more than Lono's main squeeze.

I went back and read issue 26 last night, and get this: the (bogus?) French prostitute to whom Mr Branch tells basically as much of the Trust/Minutemen's story as we know so far, thinking she can't speak English, is *definitely* Echo Memoriam. I noticed the resemblance straight away, but godlike as Risso is, he occasionally draws people a little too similiar to each other. But no, that's Echo: the key here is that when she meets Milo, he asks her if she's French and she tells him she's Italian (it's also implied she may be trying to hide her accent) - now, at the end of issue 26, after revealing that she can speak English as well as French and so understood everything Branch said, Echo says "Ciao". Tada.

So what does this mean? Either a) Echo works for someone we've met already - but in that case, why pump Branch for info (so to speak), as all the people pulling the strings know more than him? Or was it just to find out how much he knew - seems a little pointless... Or b) Echo is her own agent with her own agenda, and has been piecing together info on the Trust, Graves etc and pulling some strings on her own. I like this idea best, especially if it explains *exactly* what was going on in 'Counterfifth', the exact plot mechanics of which are still a little fuzzy to me. This leaves the question of what Echo's agenda is - I find it hard to believe she was a simple hooker until she stumbled across Branch's info. Someone with a score to settle against the Trust/Graves/whoever? There's always someone who wants revenge that bad, as Graves would probably say...

Then again, there's always c) Echo works for someone we haven't met yet, with limited info, and again an agenda of their own, but that might just get too confusing.

No star here laces

11:51 / 18.12.02

I quite like the thought that she's on Graves' payroll, but Shep doesn't know. Then she'd be Graves' way of keeping tabs on Lono, and might explain some of her role in playing Milo. I can tell I'm going to have to go home tonight and obsessively cross-reference a whole bunch of these comics now. Damn that Azarello and his twisty plotlines.

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:53 / 18.12.02

Makes sense - I found myself wondering at the end of 'Counterfifth' why Graves didn't make more of an effort to keep Milo alive - was it just that Milo was being tested to see if he was ready to come back, and failed? When you add the fact that Milo doesn't seem to trust the "old man", and the conversation Graves and Shepherd have in #37 wherein it's revealed that Shep liked Milo but Milo didn't like Graves... Remember, Graves didn't bring Shep along to help ease Milo back into being a Minuteman the way he did for Cole...

Another idea - and I got this from another board, but it makes sense - since Graves says in that issue that the 'point man' is "next", and the next two character focussed issues are Graves and then Wylie, does this mean that Wylie is the point man? Whom Shepherd though Graves was 'saving', ie not activate yet. Whom Shep tried to activate recently, but couldn't because Graves presumably hasn't told him the magic word 'Croatoa'...

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:53 / 29.07.04

Bump, thump, thwack, crack, smash, and other violent noises.

Wasn't sure which thread to update as this one also has some nice theories.

So in the space of the last three issues we've had three more real "Holy shit!" moments:

i) Jack Daw is heading for Atlantic City, a dull homing signal in his head leading him there blindly even though he hasn't heard the word "Croatoa" yet. I'm when he gets there we will find out that he is "the Monster", and why he got that name (apart from his size).

ii) Victor. Victor! A Minuteman who's been awake since before issue 1 of the book, and we never knew. He hasn't seen Graves since - so what has he been up to, apart from blowing shit up spectacularly? What's his motivation? He's clearly "The Saint", so we know why Graves said "the less said about The Saint the better" - he's the real wild card, the one nobody else knows is in play...

iii) Wylie looks to have his memory back, and has Shephard tied to a chair, ready for garotting. A whole host of questions have been thrown up because we're starting near the end or in the middle of this story... Which friend did Wylie kill? What does he have against Shep? Where is Dizzy?

I am craving my next hit.