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Underground > Comic Books >

100 Bullets

13:47 / 19.06.01

Anyone out there read 100 Bullets? I picked up the first Graphic Novel a few days ago and thought it was pretty good and I'm sucked in for the long haul now (sigh! More money!). The premise is very interesting and I just want to know what Agent Graves is really up to!

What was really excellent was the story telling by the artist (Eduardo Risso I think). The story flowed so well visually and he manages to handle several different scenarios in single panels really well. Even if you don't like his style I still recommend everyone to check it out.

18:02 / 19.06.01

I couldn't deal with the dialogue. I don't really know what the writer is really like, but I couldn't get past the mental image of the Comic geek from the Simpsons sitting by himself with a Yoohoo and a corn dog, writing about "vato's cappin' 5-O for street cred". Shit, I even feel funny typing that.

Ronald Thomas Clontle

19:41 / 19.06.01

I recently picked up the first 100 Bullets collection, and I'm falling squarely between the two of you opinion-wise...I thought the concept was great, but I agree that the dialogue was occasionally very questionable..and it was especially strange that the dialogue of all things was praised in the quotes on the cover..
I've a feeling that the concept could be realized by another writer in a way that would really be something. Azzarello seems to have a tin ear for dialogue...I've picked up a bit of his recent Hellblazer, and the same problem's over there too..

To me, the art is the big draw...I'm really fond of Risso's fluid lines, his feel for page layout, how things look very cartoonish, but also realistic in its own way. He's got a very "classy" looking style..very appealing. I noticed that the colors were really well done too.

20:30 / 19.06.01

I wasn't too keen about the first collection -- but the second... Is good. The dialogue becomes less self-conscious, and the story gets more and more intriguing.

06:18 / 20.06.01

Werd !!! you Punk A$$ broke Mo-Fo's!!!

A-Hem, yeah the book continues to improve, both word and art wise . . . I'm digging it . . . Y0!

06:20 / 24.06.01

I picked up the first a few weeks back, thought it looked pretty interesting. It was.
Wait until you get into the second collection...

Out of what I've read so far, it looks as if it's going to grow into a very complex and interesting line. 'Specially liked the story arc introducing Cole Burns. That's when it all begins to snowball out.

Mata ne, Karasu.

03:51 / 12.02.04

SOMEONE RECOMENDED 100 BULLETS TO ME AND THE ART AND THE STORYTELLING GOT ME HOOKED. THIS IS A GREAT BOOK TO READ. CHARACTER DEVELOPEMENT, STORY PACING. THIS IS A GREAT READ!! 5 STARS ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP.

14:36 / 12.02.04

I'm torn about 100 Bullets. I heard it was so amazing, and it is (after reading the first 3 paperbacks) very good crime noir stuff, with BEAUTIFUL and ingeniously expressive art by Risso, but the story seems to meander on and on and every story is like the same hard-boiled Raymond Chandler riff, but not nearly as good as Frank Miller's SIN CITY and everyone is speaking a little too "we're all such cool bad-asses" speak (sort of like Millarspeak but different). After buying the first 4 paperbacks, I read the first three and was like "eeeh," and haven't been inspired by what I read to eagerly devour the 4th. Instead, I'll just save it for a rainy day.

Dave Johnson's covers are always genius.

My friend has a theory that Risso is carrying Azzarello on this book, and Azz's lackluster (in my opinion) current run on Batman is proving that theory right. I kind of dread Azz's Superman run.

But I know 100 Bullets is just something some people will really like and others won't.

15:15 / 12.02.04

Love the 100 Bullets. Even though it's suffering now, I still love it. The central premise was fantastic, and the absence of that ethical dillema in recent issues is part of the problem. I'd like to see some more one-offs with "regular" people offered the magic gun, like the waitress with the missing daughter.

Lateness really wounds the book, too. It's one of the few comics that works perfectly as a monthly, and I have no desire to buy any of the trades. It would really defeat the anticipation and glee I got when each issue came out. Bit like alloting myself a shot of whiskey and a pint each friday, after work: the pint tastes fantastic, and the whiskey makes sure its infrequent... and I wouldn't have it any other way. With the recent delays, the grand, sprawling tapestry of plot seems frayed. I guess that with the ever-expansive cast, and slowly-unfolding conspiracy of avarice that abounds, the plot needs to be advanced regularly. And at a snail's pace.

16:33 / 19.02.04

I was trying to find out when the next issue will be out, and stumbled across the videogame instead.

Looks horrible.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

13:49 / 16.02.05

Holy Fucking Shit.

Tell me you all read #58. TELL ME YOU READ THIS. I have to know I didn't just imagine the most unbelievable fucking thing I've ever read.

14:26 / 16.02.05

I gave up on this around 50 - love the art, good hard boiled story but I just got tired of it, seemed very one-note to me in a way that Sin City isn't....

so what was #58? Do you recommend getting/reading it if you gave up on the series a while ago and don't know all its convoluted characters by heart? (sorry, I was just disappointed by this series)

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

14:43 / 16.02.05

Hm, I don't know. If you haven't been following the book, you might not appreciate the negasonic levels of stunnery inherent in these latest developments. My knees are wobbly. It's too much.

17:12 / 17.02.05

Yeah. Um, wow...

I'd thought Azzarello would be backing off the Big Revelations slightly after the expositiony goodness of the last arc, but Christ, the series has really kicked into high gear now, hasn't it?

Having Dizzy do what she did (trying not to wade too far into spoiler territory, here) was a stunningly cruel but of writing, really... The splash page of the fateful moment literally made my jaw drop. God knows what the poor girl is going to do now. The wolves starting to gather on the final page was creepy as hell.

Finder, I'd be surprised if reading the last arc and then this story didn't change your mind about this series. My enthusiasm was starting to flag at about the same point as yours, but it's definitely back on top form again.

I can't wait to see how this Lono/Loop partnership is going to work out. Badly, I imagine...

04:03 / 18.02.05

Holy Fucking Shit.

Tell me you all read #58. TELL ME YOU READ THIS. I have to know I didn't just imagine the most unbelievable fucking thing I've ever read.

I'd agree, except for one thing; Vertigo needs to stop fucking spoiling the issue right on the goddamn cover.

That conclusion was a kick to the head after the last story arc.

Story-related pondering: I wonder if knowing "Croatoa" is actually going to do Lono any good. Has anyone else gotten the impression that it only works as a 'trigger word' when said by the right person?

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

13:07 / 18.02.05

Dude, you knew Sheps was on the outs from Page 1, but there's NO WAY you knew how it was going to go down.

Also, I think Croatoa's universal access. Painting, Jazz Trumpeteer. Anyone can rock it.

08:23 / 19.02.05

There was a denial thing going; I really like Shepard as a character. Lono survived seemingly worse early on, I was hoping there was some slim chance for Shepard, too.

13:49 / 19.02.05

I think the word can be used by anyone, the question is what programming it unlocks in the reciever. It looks like Graves didn't want Sheperd asking too many independent questions.

Love the Loop/Lono partnership.

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:44 / 21.02.05

For me the real shock is that Victor isn't the Saint...

12:03 / 21.02.05

I'm going back to my earlier impression that it's the junkie. There was some sort of religious imagery in his first story that made me think so... except that he so looks like a monster. that cross on Vic's hand would throw you, though.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

15:49 / 21.02.05

But remember the line over that first reveal of Vic. "Nothing...is ever what it seems." I'm currently going back over the series again and I have a feeling that this is now sort of a requirement after every storyline. Not that I mind terribly. I mean, I'd say every single Risso panel deverse special attention.

But yeah, there were a few panels of Jack that looked a bit saintly. But I've been reading a lot of speculation about who exactly trained Dizzy in prison and whether or not it was The Saint (the most intriguing strand of this line of thought: It's Echo Memoria). Why did Dizzy need to be trained in prison? Well, it seems like your typical MM MO, and at some point Graves had to have someone (presumably not Shepard) drop the C Bomb on her.

Although it is possible that Shepard was so devoted to Graves that he did it himself, everything, because it furthered Graves' agenda.

We shall see.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

13:52 / 11.01.06

#68.

Last Page.

It's on like Donkey Kong.

I didn't see it coming until the last panel before the reveal but holy living shit. #69, well, somebody's getting fucked.

(That was such a 100 Bullets line.)

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:47 / 11.01.06

Spoil me, dude! I've been oddly uninvolved by this title ever since Shep got got. Even Meghan Dietrich's end didn't grab me the way it should.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

16:34 / 11.01.06

Well, aside from the complicated Trust flashbacks which I still kind of don't get, the whole issues teases two things:

1) Jacky-Boy is set up as an underground fighter in AC.
2) Some mystery guy (in first person) is being especially menacing and receiving some kind of tattoo.

Turns out Jack isn't going to have to throw the fight he thought he would because there's a new guy in town that everyone's betting on (or against? either way, it is financially adventageous now for Jack to win).

So he gets into the ring and who's the opponent? Lono. Oh wow, big fucking deal.

He's got CROATOA tattooed on his six pack.

To Be Continued.

03:18 / 12.01.06

SPOILERS...

Dietrich survived! She's alive, scarred and scared.

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:20 / 12.01.06

Gah, I should have known - even as I typed that I was thinking "but is she dead? - no, he wouldn't pull that shit twice". Wrong!

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

09:49 / 12.01.06

I wondering what that was about. Duh. I need to fucking go read the last few issues AGAIN. God damn, DC.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

11:45 / 20.02.06

So I reread the last ten issues and my brain is just straight up melting. Along with rereading Loveless and finally figuring out what the hell is going on (if you're not paying attention, a few of those flashbacks can get mighty confusing), I've come to the conclusion that Azzarello is just on a whole other level of comic writing.

I had missed so much of the nuance of everything, the triple crossing, the chess pieces, not to mention I'd totally missed the point of Branch's final moment in the airport. That it wasn't Dizzy, and that he wasn't scared for himself going after Echo, he was scared for Dizzy and what was in store for her. If he only knew he was too late. Can't wait to see what goes down in the desert.

Thirty issues to go. Just what the gank is Graves really planning?

22:48 / 20.02.06

My bet would be that he's trying to pare the Trust down to 7 houses. One for each of his minutemen, led by Dizzy. I think Lono knows the top spot is going to open up soon, and is trying to position himself as leader (with the elder Medici's support). I'm also wondering if the younger Medici is "trained" himself, and going to make the transition from King-in-waiting to Minuteman. I think Graves believes the only people fit to rule behind the scenes are the people charged with keeping order in the first place. He's just cutting out the middlemen.

16:21 / 21.11.07

Thread resurrection!

I've been wondering if anyone else here is (still) following this series, because it's starting to ramp up a little, now. I believe the series finishes on #100, so there's just over a year to go before the story that's been going on for the last seven or so years wraps up.

Previously, I had been following it in trades - with the 'numbers in the title (except for Loop's Arc)' structure (which took me a couple of minutes to work out, on trade #11), but since then I've been following single issues wherever I can, and I've been concurrently impressed and trying to work out if what's going on could really be as simple as it seems, i.e. Graves wiping out the houses, Lono planning to wipe out Graves and setting Benito Medici up as a single head of The Trust, etc.

Then an issue like the last-but-one pops up, wherein we see a minor character from the aforementioned Hang up on the Hang Low return, and wreak her revenge on Lono. It's unexpected. It's also rather good.

So. Anyone still following?

21:28 / 21.11.07

Yes indeed. Though it seems there have been longer intervals between issues of late. This has been cutting into what should be an increasing level of tension from issue to issue. I suspect it will be grand upon reread.

And the art is still excellent.

11:37 / 25.11.07

Following this excellent series via the trades, but getting a bit lost/confused towards the last one or two volumes. It'd probably take a few re-reads to sort everything out in my head; the writer doesn't spell things out for you and I like that about this series.