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Kids! Comics!
100 BULLETS #50
Story: Brian Azzarello
Art: Eduardo Risso
If you've only been reading
this book for a short time, as I have, you might wonder
what makes this issue worth reading.
What
we get here is an unremarkable heist-gone-wrong story where
characters rush out into firefights at the slightest provocation,
wrapped around a narrated story about a conspiracy that
founded America and what really happened at Roanoke. It's
mildly entertaining, especially if you dig conspiracy theories,
and it's tightly written at the usual Azzarello level, but
it's not a story that would reward the casual reader.
It doesn't
reward the casual listeners in the story, either, who think
they're just passing the time with a far-fetched yarn. But
Victor, its spinner, is a member of the conspiracy he's
describing.
Longtime
readers are finally getting a big piece of the puzzle they've
been chewing on since the very beginning of the series --
where did the eponymous bullets come from? Who is the organization
behind the man who's providing them? And why is it all happening?
Some
critics complain that the conspiracy element of this book
gets in the way of Azzarello's anthology format and his
more down-to-earth themes of crime, revenge, and human nature
beyond good and evil. In some ways they're right; the two
threads in this issue compete for
attention and neither has the space to be fully satisfying.
Yet
it's hard to imagine them being told separately. The structure
is fractal: the conspiracies on a small level (hunting tigers,
murdering inmates, stealing diamonds) are imitating the
conspiracy at a larger level.
Let's
hope the revelations continue in the second half of the
series. In the meantime, casual and dedicated readers alike
can appreciate Risso's art, which is lively, sensuous, and
strong-lined as always.
Rating: 
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