100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call (1999)

You know how everyone has got a ‘must’ list? Must-watch horror movies, must-play video games, must-cook food of ancient Atlantis? Well, 100 Bullets is the epitome of must-read comics, side-by-side with such greats as Watchmen and The Sandman. A brilliant noir crime work written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso, 100 Bullets starts off telling self-contained revenge stories before becoming something much, much bigger. Not only has the series been credited for helping re-invent DC/Vertigo from the light fantasy of the late 90s to a darker, more serious imprint, but it also won both the coveted Eisner and Harvey awards for being pretty damn good. Luckily for me, I finally managed to tear myself away from the must-play Zelda: Breath of the Wild and sat down with the first 100 Bullets story arc, First Shot, Last Call and let me tell you, it really is pretty damn good.

The comic starts off with Isabelle ‘Dizzy’ Cordova, a 23-year old convict who’s finally set free from an eight year stint in jail. Still grieving the loss of her son and husband from seven years ago (yes, when she was sixteen), Dizzy is not completely excited to re-enter her old life in the crime-ridden streets of Chicago; that is, until a mysterious man named Agent Graves offers her a chance at revenge. Graves hands her a hundred untraceable bullets, a gun, and complete immunity to get her revenge on the people who killed her family, but leaves it up to her to make the final decision. As she wrestles between her desire for blood and her new found faith, she quickly learns that much has changed in the streets since she’s been locked up and none of it is for the better. Will our heroine turn away from God and kill her enemies in cold blood or will she keep on the straight and narrow, especially when everything she thought she knew turns out to be a lie?

In short, I am IN LOVE with this comic! One of the most appealing parts of 100 Bullets, especially the introduction arc, is how grounded it is. Maybe not the ‘revenge with untraceable bullets’ part, but the rest of it. The down-and-out drug addicts, the young mothers, the gang-bangers. The explosive violence on the streets hair-triggered by a wrong look or a perceived insult. Azzarello handles the subject with care and is careful to not to go over-board and turn it into an exploitation work. He allows the reader to take a look into a world that many suffer but few rarely see, a place where money comes dirty and life expectancy is short. As the reader follows Dizzy in her day to day life, you almost want her to kill her enemies, not for any grim reasons, but for the pure justice of it. She deserves it. I’m excited to see how the other players in the series play out and what they choose to do when they get their chance.

Azzarello not only keeps the authenticity of the streets through action and story-telling but also with speech pattern. He easily inserts a colloquial tone into the work through the spoken words without going over-the-top with it, giving the whole work a very familiar feel. His ear for street noir speaks of a writer who’s in tune with the changing English language, something quite surprising from a man primarily raised in the suburbs of Ohio. Perhaps, in time, there will be discussions (maybe even controversy) about his use of adapted linguistics in his work, but as of now, he has tapped into the wild streets of the city and knows exactly how to carry it over into the written word.

As is common with comics, it’s rare that a writer can single-handedly carry an Eisner-winning work, and Azzarello’s partner, Eduardo Risso, was the perfect artist choice for the comic. His artwork is outstanding! From the panel layouts to the distinctive faces to the well-placed shadows and silhouettes, his illustrations stand far-and-out from his contemporaries. He creates a diverse collection of characters that vary in facial expression as much as their clothes and attitudes. His use of silhouettes is very reminiscent of Frank Miller and is a clever way to express tension and be ready for when shit goes down. 100 Bullets could not have been done better.

If I have sold you on at least reading the first graphic novel of 100 Bullets, you can pretty much grab it anywhere books and comic books are sold or rented (use the library, you heathens!). The entire 100 (heh) issue run is collected in a thirteen book collection or, if you feel like cramming the whole thing down in five sittings, also comes in a five Deluxe Editions. By the way, there’s also a rumor of a movie with Tom Hardy starring in it but there hasn’t been much news since 2015, so don’t get your hopes up. But, at least read the comic. Trust me, it’s worth it!