Bookish Thoughts

While the fourth volume in Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets  series made feel like I was finally figuring things out, the fifth volume has left me more confused than ever. Everything I thought I knew has gone out the window, and it's becoming more clear than ever that there are no good guys in this tale. I'm not even sure there are bad guys and worse guys anymore. Everyone is awful in a way that I hardly know who to root for. I love it. Like the Esiner-winning third volume, this one has a single, longer, story, instead of several very short ones. A character I'd thought (hoped) that I'd never see again turns up to wreck havoc with no clear motivation. The protagonist of the tale, Milo, barely sees it coming, though he does his best to stop him. He can't help but be one step behind everyone around him, though. Which is interesting because at this point the reader can almost keep up with the antagonists. Seeing the destruction coming makes it even hard...

It's summer again which, for me, means comic book season. One of my favorite things to do on a hot, lazy Saturday afternoon is hang out in the backyard with a beer and a comic book. So now that the weather's heating up it's time to return to the series I started last summer: Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets . The fourth volume of this series is about as thick as the first three put together. There's a lot going on in here. Mostly it focuses on the central conspiracy. Everyone's motives and plans are still a mystery, but this volume at least introduces all the players and more or less indicates which side they're on. There's still one guy who I cannot get a handle on, but that's exciting. I can't wait to find out if he's being played or if he's the ultimate puppet-master. Having everything explained (finally) (sort of) really helped me make sense of some of the things that happened in the previous novels. There seems to be a...

This third volume of Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets features the Eisner award winning story arc Hang up on the Hang Low. And that award is well deserved. This volume of 100 Bullets was just astounding. I'm really having a ton of fun with this series. And the final issue in the third volume takes the mystery even deeper. The shadowy Agent Graves is a much more accomplished puppet master than I could have guessed before now. And it's starting to be revealed that everything is connected. In fact, the story has gotten complicated (and awesome) enough that I need to go back over what I've already read before I move on to the next volume. This story is proving to be so dense that I'm positive I've missed something. Since I love a good, layered story, I'm sure my appreciation of this one will only grow with time.

I was really excited to dive in to the second installment of Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets series. As much as I enjoyed the first volume, I was told that the second one is the one that hooks most people. And I can definitely see why. The first volume followed three disparate stories. The only thing they had in common was the mysterious Agent Graves. The second volume seems like it will follow this pattern - the first two issues definitely do. But then it pulls back and offers an initial glimpse behind the curtain. This arc gives more information about Graves, his history, his associates, and this "game" he plays with the 100 bullets. Two secret agencies are introduced: the Trust and the Minutemen. There is some hinting that the Minutemen date back to the Revolutionary War, and I'm really excited to learn more about them. The other big surprise was the return of Dizzy. After her initial story ended and the narrative moved on to a different characte...

I picked up Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets because of a recommendation on the internet. And because I found the first three volumes incredibly cheaply at a used comic book store. I'm not sure what I was expecting beyond "sort of similar to Sin City " (based on my own inference, not the actual recommendation), but I was pleasantly surprised by what I read. The first issue is titled First Shot, Last Call , and that actually refers to two different stories contained in the volume. The first arc lasts for three issues and follows Isabelle "Dizzy" Cordova who has just been released from prison. While she was there her husband and son were shot in a drive-by. She'd assumed this was just a random shooting, one more shitty event in her shitty life. But the Agent Graves sits next to her on the bus home from prison. He presents her with proof that her family was targeted by a pair of crooked cops, a gun, and 100 bullets that he promises will get her ...