100 Bullets Book Two

100 Bullets: The Deluxe Edition

by Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso (Illustrator)

In the second collection of the acclaimed, award-winning 100 BULLETS, Agent Graves continues to offer immunity to everyday people to carry out their innermost desires of vengeance with the 100 bullets that he supplies. But as these self-serving manipulations take place, pieces of the mystery of the Minutemen and the organization that created them start to come together, and we discover to the research and conspiracy theories of Mr. Branch. As more is revealed about the series' main characters, the true meaning and importance of the conflict between Graves and the Trust starts to emerge.

Then, Agent Graves presents his trademark attaché case containing a gun and 100 untraceable bullets to Milo Garret—a small-time private dick who's just gotten out of the hospital after losing an argument with his car's windshield. With his face covered in bandages, Milo has become an invisible man in more ways than one. As his latest case draws him into the shadowy world of the Trust, he's forced to confront the blank space that is his past and figure out what it has to do with the attaché case he's holding in the present ... and do it before what he doesn't know ends up finishing the job that the windshield started.

Collects 100 BULLETS #20-36.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Fiction, Comic Book, Thriller, Dc Comics

416 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

Brian Azzarello (born in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. He and Argentine artist Eduardo Risso, with whom Azzarello first worked on Jonny Double, won the 2001 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for 100 Bullets #15–18: "Hang Up on the Hang Low".

Azzarello has written for Batman ("Broken City", art by Risso; "Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire", art by Lee Bermejo, Tim Bradstreet, & Mick Gray) and Superman ("For Tomorrow", art by Jim Lee).

In 2005, Azzarello began a new creator-owned series, the western Loveless, with artist Marcelo Frusin.

As of 2007, Azzarello is married to fellow comic-book writer and illustrator Jill Thompson.

information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Az...

Reviews

[Ill D · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the groundwork set, more new faces pop up just as even more populate this swiftly burgeoning narrative. Burrowing unto a thousand rabbit holes the conspiracy becomes marvelously deepened with each bullet blasted and each body dropped. Buoyed by its solid style, even when the substance falters into the level of confusing convolution, the visual know-how keeps its roaring.

Expanding its atmospheres with booze, broads, and bullets Azzarello and RIsso continue to forge their own unique vision that is as much homage as it original content. Well molding the past unto the present, the platonic memory we all share of the hard-boiled detective world still feels timely here. Continually proving the poignant relevancy of the amoral environs of the Film Noir, this read will leave you thirsty for more.

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm starting to really get in to this series. Tough noir settings, intriguing conspiracy arc running throughout, great storytelling. I still don't care for the art too much, for a graphic novel that's usually important but the writing is so damned good that I find myself not really caring too much. The good of both major contributors far outweighs the bad.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is getting a bit better, as we see the stories weave together, which (I hope) will lead to a satisfying resolution. I still prefer the work of other crime teams such as Brubaker/Phillips or Matt Kindt--edgier and more satisfying ideas--in terms of both writing and art, but this has its high points: the inclusion of several artists like Frank Miller and Jim Lee who fill in and do one pagers, the “Mr. Branch and the Family Tree” story which provides Branch with a chance to give us backstory on several characters; “Idol Chatter” is a single issue story on the Marilyn Monroe/Joe DiMaggio/ JFK love triangle. It's got some historical background and gives more background on characters, including Garret.

"The Counterfifth Detective" is a high point, too. Milo Garret, one of the Minute Men, is the focus here, and this is classic noir stuff. In the first volume we are introduced to a lot of characters. In the second volume we get background on Shepherd, Graves, the Minutemen, and just what this 100 Bullets in a briefcase might mean. I am still in a 3-4 place on this, after 40 (of 100) comics, 2/5 of the way, but leaning to liking it more as it appears more complicated and clever.

[Mohamed Metwally · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this volume the story's scheme gets more solidified, with us meeting the secret organization, and another minute man takes the spotlight of events, he rather sadly bites the dust in the end, though his part takes the most of the pages of this volume, and while it was good, there was minor progress on the overall story...

MiM

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story develops well but just isnt fast enough or linked enough for me to be engaged. The separate stories are great, and yes loosely linked, just dont gel for me. Just as soon as I get comfortable with a few characters, they disappear for a long period of time.

[Dorin Lazăr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing that brought it down for me was the fact that all stories are enveloped in a shroud of mystery, and they tend to not stand on their own. Some stories don't really make sense, like that of the guy who transported some parrots over the border. Overall it feels somewhat inconsistent, a collection of stories that connect eventually, but the connections are so over the top that they really don't make sense. And there's always the sleeper agent thing which becomes a boring trope.

But all in all, it still feels fresh and it has its moments, like The Mimic, which happens in a park and it manages to tell two stories at the same time.

[Quintin Zimmermann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This sprawling, overrated epic has an interest plot device, but it continually repeats, over and over, with diminishing returns.

With uninspiring, washed out artwork, this intertwining, multifaceted storyline grinds towards banality.

[Lono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Azzarello and Risso continue to add to their colorful ensemble cast with this outstanding volume. I will resist the urge to go on and on about all the specific little things I love about each individual chapter of this book in an attempt not to spoil any of the malicious goodness.

I really am crazy about the way Azzarello has multiple stories unfolding around one another simultaneously throughout the series. It brings his backdrops to life in a very distinct way. Those stories may have little to do with the story on the whole, but they help to develop, define, and provide a believable identity to the characters that appear throughout the entire series while they are existing separately from one another. Drug dealers during a turf war, smugglers trafficking in unusual cargo, gamblers losing it all, and back stabbing art thieves provide a variety of scenarios for central characters to really come to life.

And while I promised not harp on my love for this book, I still have to give a couple of shout-outs to my favorite chapters.

“Mr. Branch and the Family Tree” follows Mr. Branch as he scores some ass while baring his soul to an opportunistic French hooker. This story provides Branch with a chance to describe characters in greater detail and sports some awesome single page guest artists (including Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Lee Bermejo, and several other all stars) providing their own take on the title’s killers, crime-lords, and vixens.

“Idol Chatter” is a single issue story that is something of a twist on the Marilyn Monroe/Joe DiMaggio/ JFK love triangle. It ties together several historical events and conspiracy theories while providing a little more of Agent Graves’s history via flashback. It also serves as an introduction to Milo Garret.



One of the highlight stories of the entire 100 Bullets series is contained within this volume. "The Counterfifth Detective" was without a doubt one of several high points of the series as a whole. Milo Garret is one of my favorites among the Minute Men and fans of noir fiction will undoubtedly appreciate Azzarello's more distinctly noticeable nods to the genre with this 5 part tale. Milo is part Philip Marlowe, part Raylan Givens, and part Bud White. A smart, shit-talking, tough guy I immediately took a liking to. Like noir? Your gonna like this part.

Risso continues to contribute the beautiful artwork of the series. 100 Bullets will likely come to be known as his “Sistine Chapel”. Hopefully he will have a long career to try and top this masterpiece. If you like the first Deluxe Volume, read this book. It gets even better.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the format of this series. Hard-hitting, character-driven crime pieces with a mysterious background that gradually swells to the forefront of the plot. Each story in this series grips me, making me feel like I can relate to seedy characters that I have almost nothing in common with. Risso's art is also an undeniable force in this series, at times beautiful, others gut-wrenching, sometimes both. If I were Peter Travers I would probably call this "a triumph" and it would be one of the times I meant it.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Land sakes, it took me FOREVER to get through this. I picked up the series initially because I am a huge fan of Risso's art, but the story is so complex and there are so many characters to keep track of and it's so dark and I don't feel comfortable with the way women and people of color are portrayed...that I found myself pushing through to get to the end of the volume. There are elements of the story I'm interested in seeing through to completion, but as soon as I get interested in a thread, Azzarello drops it and introduces more new characters for me to keep track of. Argh.

[Brahm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great graphic novel series; crushed Volume II in just a couple days.

As before, really digging the art style and story. In Volume II, we meet even more characters and learn more about all these shady organizations.

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

really liked the panel layouts of the opening story.

[David Cordero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. Now we’re getting into the nitty gritty and it could only mean hell on Earth, nothing else. Let’s go!!

[Gauthier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 2 of 100 Bullets follows the same model as the last: a series of short stories that focus on various characters. Some are intended to disappear with the end of each story (maybe to come back later?) while others will definitely stick around. Agent Graves keeps coming to various individuals whose life is a mess and gives them the gun and 100 untraceable bullets as well as irrefutable proof that one person is responsible for their hopeless circumstances. Everyone is free to do with the gun as they please but they don't necessarily use it as we think they would. As Agent Graves reaches out to more and more people, we slowly get a better understanding about what he is up to and, more importantly, what he used to do.

I enjoyed this 2nd book of the series although I still have to discover what made it such a cultural reference. My hope is that all the little pieces that have been spread out in all the short stories will eventually come together and my mind will be blown away. In the meantime, we get a lot of violence, swearing, sex, and characters that can only exist in comics. For a non-American like me, it is still a blast to navigate through the American crime scene with its colourful characters and their colourful language. It makes up for the graphic style of which I am not a fan. And onward to book 3!

[Nate]

Even if I’m a tad confused by the whole Truth/Minutemen backstory, I’m still very much enjoying this series because the vibe is just so cool. I also like how Azzarello pieces together short stories about different (often brand new) characters that collectively progress the larger plot. Some of these shorts are better than others, sure, but all are at least interesting and/or clever. The best part of this book is not one of the shorter stories, but the epic, seven-part “Counterfifth Detective,” a pitch perfect piece of noir straight out of a 40s pulp novel. I could read that one again right now. The dialogue grabs you by the throat.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this series. I tried. It won numerous awards, and many people seem to enjoy it. But I guess it's just not for me. I'm not a big fan of noir fiction.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every separate story arc leaves me wanting more and more.

[Darth Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really solid crime drama in the vein of The Wire and older black and white detective noir films.

Definitely better than I expected it to be, and I love the whole concept of the Minutemen and business heirs, CEOs, etc. secretly running the economy.

The last section with the mummy lookin' dude was probably my favorite.

Will be reading the next one.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four hundred pages of gorgeous women and grotesque men, and stories told in such a confusing way that everything has to stop for an entire issue of pin-ups while it all gets explained to us. The homophobic, sexist narrator of the last and longest story gets a bit much after a while. Some of the book is good, but if I didn't already own the complete set I probably wouldn't buy the next book.

[Aildiin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really digging this.
It's not so much the art ( which is still really good), but the writing by Brian Azzarello is really top notch.
Highly recommended.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fine continuation of the series, my only quibble is with the numerous shadowy figures pulling strings in the dark - so many Machiavelli's muddle the plot

[Maria Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

More info about the conspiracy emerges. We are still left wondering about the nature of Graves' plans. One thing's for sure - he's up against some incredibly dangerous people.

[OmniBen · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review for the omnibus this story arc collects) 4.5/5
I was really looking forward to this. I was holding this one back for a rainy day. One of those reads that you just know you're going to love, so you don't want to burn it too quickly. Once read, it can never again be read for the first time. Now, over the last year or so since its release, there were plenty of times I began to doubt Azarello's ability to deliver on this, for I've read some absolute stinkers from him. Though it wouldn't be the first time that someone was really good at writing a down and dirty crime noir, yet didn't have the chops to deliver, say, a long run on a female superhero...
But on to 100 Bullets. I know when I'm absolutely on board with a comic, when rather than read at my usual pace, I linger on panels, pages. I read things over and over again, not because they're ridiculous or don't make sense, but because they're so bloody good. Because I'm completely immersed in the story, or maybe because there is a rather fetching young lady featured on the page (and there are quite a few of those featured throughout).
I had minimal experience with Risso's artwork before this, although despite him being very much a love him or hate him type artist, I was instantly on board with his style. It suited the story and Azarello's writing down to a T. This only grew as the run continued, and the guy's chops and style improved. Some of the artwork and colouring in the final runs collected here were stunning, causing more of those lingering stares. And yeah, the guy knows how to draw a seedy, yet sexy looking woman, that's for sure.
Whilst a few issues towards the end certainly weren't as good as the opening salvo's, and the prevalence and quality of the dialogue wasn't as strong at the end of the book as the beginning, but nearly sixty issues of quality street level noir with the same artist is something I can't quite accurately describe how happy it makes me. If this didn't live up to my expectations, I would've been crushed. But thankfully, 100 Bullets is one of the greatest collections I've had the fortune to read thus far, and absolutely and unequivocally belongs on every respecting comic book fans shelf. If you've never read it, stop what ever you are doing (probably reading this review) and get it. When it goes OOP, can't imagine it will get a reprint anytime soon. 4.5/5


OmniBen.

[Surly Gliffs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewing the first two 100 Bullets books as a unitary work. The very first scene of 100 Bullets is set in the shower room at a women's prison. It's a mission statement of sorts: if that fact alone cheeses you off, 100 Bullets is not for you.

But while 100 Bullets is unabashedly pulpy, it's not stupid. It's not exploitative just for the sake of being exploitative. The plotting is compulsive and the dialogue is tight. What the characters lack in depth they make up for with sass, each one the OG habitue of their own cityscape. That fealty makes up for some of the less excusable licenses, say for instance, the hard-boiled detective who's wrapped in bandages like the Invisible Man.

Add to that the superlative drawings by Risso, a masterclass on both panel composition and character design. Okay maybe some of the boom-Spielberg shots are overused in the earlier issues, but Risso has an uncanny sense of how characters and their dialogue flow through the frame. His characters are unique and beautiful, lavish attention is spent not just on the principals and the supporting cast. Not to mention his ability to capture Chicago, Paris, Miami Beach with panache.

Altogether one of the best comics I've ever read. For fans of noir and pulp fiction, highly recommended. I'll read the rest of the series and see whether this comic merits the fifth star.

[Russio · Rating 4 out of 5]

More high quality noir misanthropy from the team, this collects 17 editions, including a few short serials, of characters locked in spirals of revenge, given an opportunity to secure their aim - if they can. In these stories large-scale crime tends to be the main focus of the panorama, even if street-level matters refuse to not intervene. We are given more of the Graves backstory, a mafioso cabal of 13 families and their uneasy alliance and succession issues and a seedy Chandleresque misogynist detective (concerningly uncritiqued) whose investigation of a missing person leads into cross and double cross regarding an art theft of great import.

Every panel demands your undivided attention as characters and clues emerge from the background to add to the tapestry - I am convinced I missed at least half of the longer-term threads that will only be revealed with more reading of the saga. It has me hooked now; my main concern being that I am missing important details about how the stories intersect - there are only so many sweary pushers, suited villains and whorish femme fatales that I can keep track of, even if they are all convincingly drawn (in both senses of the word).

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

100 Bullets continues to expand its mythos while continuing to tell seemingly disconnected crime stories. The vignettes are getting a little longer, with protagonists from prior arcs becoming side characters here. I like the arc about a gambler who holds up one of the illuminati after getting bet out of a card game—plays satisfyingly with the idea of men getting guns to force a change in reality.

The latter two major arcs both ostensibly about deactivated Minutemen. One is about a border mule, and the other has become a PI after having his mind wiped. This latter arc, "The Counterfifth Detective", is my favorite—unlike most of 100 Bullets so far, there's lots of perspective caption boxes from the protagonists Milo's perspective and it's full of delicious, dumb noirish Chandler-style prose, like "That live piece of ass turned out to be a dead end." Stuff like that. It's pretty fun.

I don't really remember where the story goes from here, and I can't remember how far I really read this series, so I'm excited to see where it ends up.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this series continues to be fun and engaging. Despite what most people think I still like the shadowy rough art style. It seems to fit the tone of the story.
The Counterfifith Detective is the stand out story here. It has all the standard noir tropes and that is a good thing. Easy to draw a lot of Frank Miller parallels.
Contrabandolero is why this book gets knocked down to 4 stars. This story really didn't pay off in its conclusion. This story also highlights one of the problems with this series for me, Dizzy. She is slowly getting pushed to the peripheral. Her introduction in First Shot was great and she obviously has a greater part to play in the grand scheme, but it seemed to me that she is used for cover art and to serve as our eyes in the narrative. She is not sure what is going on and neither are we. I hope she is actually featured in the next volume.

[Juan DeLeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich stories that are either narratively or thematically intertwined

It is a treasure trove that this series has become. The characters are a hallway away and in some stories, come back to continue the narrative or new strand. The dialogue is so compelling you don’t care if it is going anywhere. It does go to a destination, but whether it is tied to another strand is not quite made sure, again it does not matter these characters either cling to the shadows or are very much pawns that draw those around them out into the light as they face each other off, even if completely over match, the scene is so good, one can only be that spectator that should intervene, but... you first, I’ll be right behind you, with the types that exist here. This is worth going over again, just so I can do take in more if only to not gaze like a lost pedestrian.

Next one please!

[Marko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Odlično ovo ide. I druga knjiga sjajna i prezabavna.

Na momente postaje malo izazovno povezati sve i pohvatati likove i radnje jer se sve jako brzo dešava i ima puno toga. Ako bih neku manu hteo da nađem do sada, to je što je crtež takav da je nekad teško na prvu razlikovati neke likove kao npr Shepherd i Hank, iako posle par kadrova se ipak jasno razjasni ko je u pitanju.

Trebalo bi pomenuti i neke crtačke mini priče koje se dešavaju u paraleli sa glavnom radnjom. To mi se jako dopada. Npr dok se dešava neka radnja, najčešće dijalog, glavnog narativnog toka u crtežu se odvija neka mini priča koja nije bitna za narativni tok ali daje na atmosferi jako. Ima dosta toga i ima dosta u crtežu detalja koji su genijalni.

Priča daje onako malo po malo neke naznake i uzbudljivo se gradi dalje i tera čitaoca da čita dalje.

[Bryan Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very much like the first book (see previous review for details). Writing is great, art is great, plot from story to story is good, overarching plot is too sparse and confusing.
This volume had a bit more focus on the background story that’s been tying everything together which I did appreciate.
But it wasn’t enough to really grasp me and push me to read more, at least for right now.
I may come back to this series some day, but from some reviews I’ve seen, it doesn’t quite stick the landing. Which is what I was really hoping for.
I think some sort of character profile page or a “family” tree would be a very helpful inclusion for future editions.