100 Bullets

Style

Both the writing and artwork in 100 Bullets exemplifies the noir and pulp 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.

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 early 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 gun and 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 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, which was 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 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. 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. During the course of the series, Agent Graves seeks to reactivate several of his Minutemen and recruit potential new members. With the occasional aid of the Trust's current Warlord, Mr. Shepherd, Graves sets into motion a 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.

Characters

Main article: List of 100 Bullets characters

Story arcs

Main article: List of 100 Bullets story arcs

Collected editions

There are thirteen trade paperbacks in publication for this series. The titles of the trade paperbacks relate to 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; book 12 titled Dirty, as in The Dirty Dozen; book 13 titled Wilt, for basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, 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 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 #1-5

100 Bullets Deluxe Edition

100 Bullets Omnibus

The series has been collected in two Omnibus hardcover editions. Although the second volume was initially solicited to include the follow-up Brother Lono miniseries in addition to the main series, ultimately only the original hundred issues were collected (plus an early short story).

Media adaptations

Acclaim announced plans to release a video game 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.

D3 Publisher of America obtained the rights from Warner Bros. to publish a 100 Bullets video 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 and releasing it in Q3 2007, but was never released.

In 2011, screenwriter David S. Goyer was attached to executive produce and write a TV series based on the comics for Showtime. 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 reported The Wall Street Journals 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, and was 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.

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 wrote, "Thanks are overdue to both these guys for producing the most exciting comic book in years".

Awards

The series won the 2002 Harvey Awards for Best Writer, Best Artist and Best Continuing Series, and the 2003 Harvey Award for Best Artist. It also won the 2001 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story, and the 2002 and 2004 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series.

Sequels

The franchise's creative team behind the original 100 Bullets joined forces once again to work on a limited series 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. In 2025, DC officially unveiled their first line of titles for the Vertigo revival, including 100 Bullets: The US of Anger with Azzarello and Risso returning.

Collected editions

References

References

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