''100 Bullets'' is an
American comic book published by
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
under its
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
imprint. Written by
Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello (born August 11, 1962 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer and screenwriter who first came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series ''100 Bullets'', published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. ...
and illustrated by
Eduardo Risso
Eduardo Risso (born 23 November 1959) is an Argentine comics artist. In the United States he is best known for his work with writer Brian Azzarello on the Vertigo title '' 100 Bullets'', while in Argentina and Europe he is noted for his collabor ...
, the comic book ran for 100 issues and won the
Eisner Award and
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that we ...
.
Style
Both the writing and artwork in ''100 Bullets'' exemplifies the
noir and
pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
genres of popular modern fiction. Consistent with noir convention, most of the characters are deeply flawed. As is also common in pulp and noir genres, ''100 Bullets'' frequently portrays stylized and graphic violence.
''100 Bullets'' is notable for creator
Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello (born August 11, 1962 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer and screenwriter who first came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series ''100 Bullets'', published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. ...
's realistic use of regional and local accents, as well as the frequent use of
slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-g ...
and oblique, metaphorical language in his characters' dialogue.
Initially presented as a series of self-contained episodic stories, ''100 Bullets'' developed into a sprawling crime saga in which all the characters and events were connected.
Plot
The core concept of ''100 Bullets'' is based on the question of people willing to act on the desire of violent revenge if given the means, opportunity, and a reasonable chance to succeed. Many of the first issues involve the mysterious
Agent Graves approaching someone who has been a victim of a terrible wrong. Graves gives them the opportunity to take revenge by providing a handgun, 100 bullets, and documentation about the primary target responsible for their woes. He informs the candidate the bullets are completely untraceable by any law enforcement investigation, and as soon as they are found at any crime scene, investigations will immediately cease.
Although all the revenge murders enabled by Agent Graves are presented as justifiable, the candidates are neither rewarded nor punished for accepting the offer other than their own personal satisfaction. Several people decline, but others who accept find varied success or failure. The
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...
and Graves' "games" are later revealed to be only a minor part of a much broader story.
Agent Graves is the leader of a group known as ''The Minutemen'', a group of seven men (plus one "Agent") who serve as the enforcers and police of a clandestine organization known as ''The Trust''. The Trust was originally formed by the heads of 13 powerful European families who controlled much of the Old World's combined wealth and industry. The Trust made an offer to the kings of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
by which they would leave the continent and their considerable influence and holdings, in exchange for complete autonomy in the still unclaimed portion of the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
.
When England ignored this proposition and colonized the
Roanoke Island late in the 16th century, the Minutemen were formed. The original Minutemen, seven vicious killers, eradicated the colony and all of its inhabitants, leaving behind only the cryptic message "Croatoa" as a warning, reclaiming the land for the Trust. Since this time, the Minutemen's charge has been to protect the 13 Houses of the Trust, serving as their force against outside threats and more frequently as police of the internal conflicts between the Trust families themselves. The groups' interactions are often facilitated by a person holding the title "Warlord" for the Trust, who serves as the Houses' liaison to the Minutemen.
Sometime in the late 20th century, the Minutemen were betrayed by the Trust and disbanded after Agent Graves refused to reenact "The Greatest Crime in the History of Mankind" (a re-expansion of the borders of the Trust). The Minutemen retaliated with the assassination of a hooded figure in Atlantic City, and they were then sent into hiding. Most of the Minutemen of that time were "deactivated" by Graves. These former Minutemen had their memories repressed for their own protection and were returned to "normal" lives. These events occurred prior (presumably some years) to the beginning of ''100 Bullets''.
As the story plays out, many of those who are offered the chance for vengeance by Graves are revealed to have been people wronged by the Trust or its agents, and six are revealed to have been Minutemen at the time of the events of Atlantic City. With his planning, some luck, and the importance of his "game", Agent Graves seeks to reactivate several of his Minutemen and recruit potential new members during the course of the series. With the occasional aid of the Trust's current Warlord, the charismatic and secretive
Mr. Shepherd, Graves sets into motion a complicated and deadly plot of revenge against the Trust, which divides into factions, with younger members plotting against the older ones.
The series culminates in the downfall of the Trust and its agents, eventually revealing that the attaché and its contents are a metaphor for the limitless power of the Trust.
Characters
Story arcs
Collected editions
There are thirteen
trade paperbacks
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...
in publication for this series. The titles of the trade paperbacks all seem to be somehow related with their volume number (''First Shot, Last Call''; ''Split Second Chance''; ''A Foregone Tomorrow''; ''The Counterfifth Detective''; '' Six Feet Under the Gun''; ''Strychnine Lives''; ''Decayed'' (a pun on 'decade'; this is the tenth volume)), with four being indirect references (book 7 titled ''Samurai'', for ''
Seven Samurai''; book 8 titled ''The Hard Way'', a reference to a roll in
craps
Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...
; book 12 titled ''Dirty'', as in ''
The Dirty Dozen
''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 American war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy ...
''; book 13 titled ''Wilt'', for basketball player
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 years and is widely reg ...
, who wore the number 13 and was famous for scoring 100 points in a single game). Book 11 ''Once Upon a Crime'' is also a reference as "once" is
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
for eleven. The exception to the rule is book 3, which was originally to be called ''The Charm'' — as in "third time's the charm" — but was given the title of the collection's largest plot arc, ''Hang Up on the Hang Low'', when it won the Eisner Award. Another interpretation of this seemingly odd exception is that 'Hang Up on the Hang Low' is a coded allusion to Masonic symbology, the upwards triangle placed over the downward triangle, where the number 3 is alluded to, among other things, by this code. As The Trust can also be seen to be a Masonic type allusion, one should also look for other Masonic symbols throughout the books. A series of "Deluxe Edition" hardcover volumes collecting the series have also been published, and then released in paperback a few years later.
100 Bullets Deluxe Edition
100 Bullets Omnibus
Media adaptations
Acclaim announced plans to release a
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
based on ''100 Bullets'', but following the collapse of Acclaim's publishing house, the game was cancelled. It was intended that the player would be either Cole Burns or Snow Falls (a completely original character) and play in a third person view, with actor Keanu Reeves portraying Cole Burns. The plot was not publicly known, aside from a supposition that it followed the plot of the comic book.
D3Publishing obtained the rights from
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
to publish a ''
100 Bullets game'' in 2006. They intended to make a video game completely independent from Acclaim's aborted vision, albeit still heavily reliant on input and plotting from
Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello (born August 11, 1962 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer and screenwriter who first came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series ''100 Bullets'', published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. ...
and releasing it in Q3 2007, but was never released.
In 2011, screenwriter
David S. Goyer
David Samuel Goyer (born December 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for writing the screenplays for several superhero films, including '' Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' (1998), the ''Blade'' ...
was attached to executive produce and write a TV series based on the comics for
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
. Two years later, Goyer said that the project got "incredibly close" at Showtime before being turned down due to a multitude of mass shootings across the United States. He called the sudden turn of events "frustrating", further stating: "At one point, I thought it was going to happen at Showtime. It got to the three-yard line".
In 2014,
SciFiNow
''SciFiNow'' was a British magazine published every four weeks by Kelsey Media in the United Kingdom, covering the science fiction, horror and fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically se ...
reported ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' release of information regarding upcoming Warner Brothers films based on DC Comics properties. The films that were revealed to be in development included the much anticipated
''Justice League'' film;
''Shazam!'',
''Fables'', and ''100 Bullets'' were among the other films listed. A film adaptation was announced in August 2015 to be produced by
Tom Hardy with the option for him to star in the film, written by Chris Borrelli and distributed by
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...
.
Critical reception
The series has attracted critical acclaim from within and beyond the American comics industry, as "very violent, dark and clever" and "a series of compelling morality tales". In his introduction for the second volume collection,
Howard Chaykin
Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett and Al Parker.
Early life ...
wrote: "Thanks are overdue to both these guys for producing the most exciting comic book in years".
Awards
The series won the 2002
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that we ...
s for Best Writer, Best Artist and Best Continuing Series, and the 2003 Harvey Award for Best Artist, as well as the 2001
Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story, and the 2002 and 2004 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series.
Sequel
Brother Lono
The franchise's creative team behind the original ''100 Bullets'' joined forces once again to work on a
limited series Limited series may refer to:
*Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series
*Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered
*Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...
sequel, ''Brother Lono'', released in April 2014. It was an 8-issue limited series that detailed Lono's rehabilitated life in Durango after the events of ''100 Bullets'' issue #100.
[Drew and Patric]
"100 Bullets: Brother Lono 2"
''Retcon Punch!'' (July 22, 2013).
Collected editions
See also
Other titles by the same creative team:
*''
Jonny Double''
*''
Batman: Broken City''
*''
Flashpoint: Knight of Vengeance''
*''
Spaceman''
References
External links
Brian Azzarello interview to Sequential Tart(August 1999) regards the development of ''100 Bullets'', among other things
{{Vertigo Comics Ongoing Series
Mystery comics
Action comics
1999 comics debuts
2009 comics endings
Eisner Award winners
Eisner Award winners for Best Continuing Series
Harvey Award winners for Best Continuing or Limited Series
Comics by Brian Azzarello
Comics adapted into video games
Neo-noir comics