100 Bullets 811725 223652271 2008-07-05T02:33:53Z J Greb 1806135 Coverted to templated table {{dablink|For the game, see [[100 Bullets (video game)]]}} {{Supercbbox <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics--> | title = 100 Bullets | image =100Bullets vol1.jpg | caption = Cover to ''100 Bullets'' vol. 1 "First Shot, Last Call". Cover art by Dave Johnson. | schedule = Monthly | format = |ongoing=y | publisher = [[Vertigo (DC Comics)|Vertigo]] | date = August [[1999 in comics|1999]] – present | issues = | main_char_team = [[Agent Graves]] <br/> [[Mr. Shepherd]] <br/> The Minutemen <br/> [[List of characters in 100 Bullets#Dizzy Cordova (also known as "The Girl")|Dizzy Cordova]] <br/> [[List of characters in 100 Bullets#Loop Hughes (also known as "The Boy")|Loop Hughes]] | writers = [[Brian Azzarello]] | artists = [[Eduardo Risso]]<br>Dave Johnson | pencillers = | inkers = | colorists = Grant Goleash<br>[[Patricia Mulvihill]] | creative_team_month = | creative_team_year = | creators = [[Brian Azzarello]]<br>[[Eduardo Risso]] | TPB = First Shot, Last Call | ISBN = 1-56389-645-1 | TPB1 = Split Second Chance | ISBN1 = 1-56389-711-3 |subcat=Vertigo |sort={{PAGENAME}} }} '''''100 Bullets''''' is an [[Eisner Award|Eisner]] and [[Harvey Award]]-winning [[comic book]] written by [[Brian Azzarello]] and illustrated by [[Eduardo Risso]]. It is published in the [[USA]] by [[DC Comics]] under its [[Vertigo Comics|Vertigo]] imprint and is tentatively set to run for a little over 100 issues. ==Style== Both the writing and artwork in ''100 Bullets'' exemplifies the [[film noir|noir]] and [[Pulp magazine|pulp]] genres. It presents morally ambiguous stories with dark realism. Consistent with ''noir'' convention, most of the characters are deeply flawed.<ref name=mcl>{{cite book | last = Mclaughlin | first = Jeff | title = Comics as Philosophy | publisher = University Press of Mississippi | location = Jackson | year = 2005 | isbn = 9781578067947 }}</ref> Influenced stylistically by films such as [[Quentin Tarantino|Quentin Tarantino's]] ''[[Pulp Fiction (film)|Pulp Fiction]]'' and ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'', [[Bryan Singer|Bryan Singer's]] ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'', [[Guy Ritchie|Guy Ritchie's]] ''[[Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels]]'' and [[Paul Thomas Anderson|Paul Thomas Anderson's]] ''[[Hard Eight (film)|Hard Eight]]'', and by authors like [[Elmore Leonard]], [[Eddie Bunker]], [[Dashiell Hammett]] and [[Raymond Chandler]]. {{Fact|date=April 2008}} ==Plot== The initial plot of ''100 Bullets'' hinges on the question of whether people would take the chance to get away with revenge. Occasionally in a given story arc, the mysterious [[Agent Graves]] approaches someone who has been the victim of a terrible wrong, and gives them the chance to set things right in the form of a nondescript [[attaché case]] containing a [[handgun]], 100 bullets, a photograph of a person, and irrefutable evidence that this person is primarily responsible for their woes. He informs the candidate that the bullets are completely untraceable: any police investigation that uncovers one of them will stop. Though all of the murders enabled by Agent Graves are presented as justifiable, the candidates are neither rewarded nor punished for taking up the offer, and appear to receive nothing other than closure for their actions. Several people have declined the offer. This is later revealed to be only a minor part of a much wider story. Agent Graves was the leader of a group known as "The Minutemen". Although somewhat related to [[The Minutemen|the civilian riflemen]] who fought in the [[American Revolution]], Graves' group were also the enforcers and assassins for the shadowy organization known as "[[The Trust (100 Bullets)|The Trust]]". The Trust was originally formed by the heads of 13 powerful European aristocratic families who made an offer to the kings of [[Europe]] to abandon the "[[Old World]]", where they had considerable influence and holdings, in exchange for complete autonomy in the still unclaimed portion of the "[[New World]]". When England ignored this proposition and colonized [[Colony of Roanoke|Roanoke Island]] late in the 16th century, the Minutemen were formed. The original Minutemen, seven vicious killers, eradicated the colony and left behind the message "[[Croatoa]]" as a warning. Since that time, the Minutemen's charge has been to protect the 13 Trust families, partly from outside threats, but primarily from each other. They were betrayed by the Trust and disbanded after Agent Graves refused to re-enact "The Greatest Crime in the History of Mankind". Some of the former Minutemen had their memories wiped for their protection and were living normal, if lackluster, lives at the beginning of the story. Many of those who are offered the chance for vengeance by Graves are actually former Minutemen, or people who have been wronged by the Trust or its agents. Trusting to luck and the importance of his "experiment", Agent Graves goes on to reactivate several former Minutemen and recruit potential new members during the course of the series, with the tentative help of the Trust's warlord, the shady and double-dealing [[Mr. Shepherd]]. ==Characters== {{main|List of characters in 100 Bullets}} ==Story arcs== {{main|100 Bullets stories}} ===Collected editions=== There are currently twelve [[Trade paperback (comics)|trade paperbacks]] in publication for this series. The titles of the trade paperbacks all seem to be somehow related with their volume number (''First Shot'', ''Second Chance'','' Foregone'', ''Counterfifth'', ''Six Feet'', ''Strychnine'', ''Decayed''), with three being indirect references (book 7 titled ''Samurai'', for ''[[Seven Samurai]]''; book 8 titled ''The Hard Way'', a reference to a roll in [[craps]]; book 12 titled ''Dirty'', as in ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]''). Book 11 ''Once Upon a Crime'' is also a reference as "once" is [[Spanish language|Spanish]] 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. {{Comics TPB table| {{Comics TPB line|1|First Shot, Last Call|[[Vertigo (DC Comics)|Vertigo]]||1563896451|*''Vertigo Winter's Edge'' #3 *''100 Bullets'' #1-5 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "100 Bullets", "Shot, Water Back", and "Silencer Night". }} {{Comics TPB line|2|Split Second Chance|Vertigo||1563897113|*''100 Bullets'' #6-14 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "Short Con, Long Odds", "Day, Hour, Minute... Man", "The Right Ear, Left in the Cold", "Heartbreak Sunnyside Up", and "Parlez Kung Vous". |color=y }} {{Comics TPB line|3|Hang up on the Hang Low|Vertigo||1563898551|*''100 Bullets'' #15-19 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "Hang Up on the Hang Low" and "Epilogue For a Road Dog". }} {{Comics TPB line|4|A Foregone Tomorrow|Vertigo||1563898276|*''100 Bullets'' #20-30 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "The Mimic", "Sell Fish and Out to Sea", "Red Prince Blues", "Mr. Branch and the Family Tree", "Idol Chatter", and "Contrabandolero". |color=y }} {{Comics TPB line|5|The Counterfifth Detective|Vertigo||1563899485|*''100 Bullets'' #31-36 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arc of the same name. }} {{Comics TPB line|6|Six Feet Under The Gun|Vertigo||1563899965|*''100 Bullets'' #37-42 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "On Accidental Purpose", "Cole Burns' Slow Hand", "Ambition's Audition", "Night of the Payday", "A Crash", and "Point Off the Edge". |color=y }} {{Comics TPB line|7|Samurai|Vertigo||140120189X|*''100 Bullets'' #43-49 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "Chill in the Oven" and "In Stinked". }} {{Comics TPB line|8|The Hard Way|Vertigo||1401204902|*''100 Bullets'' #50-58 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "Prey for Reign", "Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down", and "Coda Smoke". |color=y }} {{Comics TPB line|9|Strychnine Lives|Vertigo||1401209289|*''100 Bullets'' #59-67 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "The Calm", "Staring at the Son", "The Dive", "New Tricks", and "Love Let Her". }} {{Comics TPB line|10|Decayed|Vertigo||140120998X|*''100 Bullets'' #68-75 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "Sleep, Walker", "A Wake", and "Amorality Play". |color=y }} {{Comics TPB line|11|Once Upon a Crime|Vertigo||1401213154|*''100 Bullets'' #76-83 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "Punch Line", "A Split Decision", and "Tarantula". }} {{Comics TPB line|12|Dirty|Vertigo||140121939X|*''100 Bullets'' #84-88 |writers= |pencillers= |notes=Contains the story arcs "The Lady Tonight", "Red Lions", "Rain in Vain", "The Blister", and "My Lonely Friend". |color=y }} {{Comics TPB line|13|TBA|Vertigo|||*''100 Bullets'' #89-100 |writers= |pencillers= |notes= }} |lead= 100 Bullets }} ==Other media adaptations== [[Acclaim Entertainment|Acclaim]] announced plans to release a [[video game]] based on ''100 Bullets''. However, following the collapse of [[Acclaim Entertainment|Acclaim's]] publishing house, the game has essentially been 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. The plot was generally unknown, aside from a supposition that it followed the plot of the comic book. D3Publishing has obtained the rights from [[Warner Bros.]] to publish a [[100 Bullets (video game)| 100 Bullets game]].<ref>http://www.d3publisher.us/d3_100_bullets.pdf</ref> They intend to make a video game completely independent from Acclaim's aborted vision, but still heavily reliant on input and plotting from [[Brian Azzarello]].<ref>[http://www.gamespot.com/news/6148880.html E3 06: 100 Bullets gets another shot at gaming - News at GameSpot<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> == Critical reception == {{Expand-section|date=June 2008}} The series has attracted critical acclaim from within and beyond the American comics industry,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_May_9/ai_n13677061 |title=DC Comics and Warner Bros. Unveil a New Company Logo for DC Comics, the Publisher of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman; New Logo to Appear on Comic Books, Films and Television Series Based on DC Properties |accessdate=2007-07-24 |date=[[2005-05-09]] |format=magazine article |work=[[Business Week]] }}</ref> as "very violent, dark and clever"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20060604/ai_n16455630 |title=HIT LIST |accessdate=2007-07-24 |date=[[2006-06-04]] |format=newspaper article |work=[[Independent on Sunday]] }}</ref> and "a series of compelling morality tales".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20010107/ai_n9984195 |title=Vertigo's '100 Bullets' hits the bull's-eye |accessdate=2007-07-24 |format=newspaper article |work=The Colorado Springs Gazette }}</ref> ===Awards=== The series won the 2002 [[Harvey Award]]s for Best Writer, Best Artist and Best Continuing Series, the 2003 Harvey Award for Best Artist, as well as the 2004 [[Eisner Award]] for Best Continuing Series. ==Cultural references== *The [[Cobra Starship]] music video "[[Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)]]", promoting [[Snakes on a Plane|the movie of the same name]], features a cameo by [[Samuel L. Jackson]] reading a copy of the trade paperback of ''Strychnine Lives''. *[[Taking Back Sunday]] named a song after the first set of dialogue, titled "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?". == References == {{refs}} ==External links== *[http://www.100bullets.sevenpennynightmare.co.uk/ 100Bullets.co.uk fan site], on material from which parts of this article were based *[http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/aug99/azzarello.shtml Brian Azzarello interview to Sequential Tart] (August 1999) regards the development of ''100 Bullets'', among other things *Part three of a [http://www.buzzscope.com/features.php?id=1189&pg=3 Brian Azzarello interview to Buzzscope] (November 2005) regards the inspiration for several ''100 Bullets'' characters *[http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/100bullets 100 Bullets] - Early previews of the cancelled video game *[http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75284 Newsarama.com article (June 2006)] by Chris Arrant *[http://www.eduardorisso.com/ Website for series artist Eduardo Risso] *[http://www.devilpig.com/ Website for cover artist Dave Johnson] *[http://trishm.blogspot.com/ Website for colorist Patricia Mulvihill] [[Category:100 Bullets|*]] [[Category:1999 comic debuts]] [[Category:Crime comics]] [[el:100 Bullets]] [[fr:100 Bullets]] [[it:100 Bullets]] [[nl:100 Bullets]] [[no:100 Bullets]] [[pl:100 naboi]] [[sv:100 Bullets]]