I just finished 100 Bullets for the first time

[mitchymitchymitchy]

I finished reading 100 Bullets yesterday - I spent most of the weekend reading books 8-12 and read book 13 yesterday.
I then went to wikipedia to try and make heads or tails out of everything.
This helped me a lot:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...in_100_Bullets

It broke down all the characters and and how they all were introduced and died-- so that helped. With a cast this large I often got confused

I have a TON of questions. I mean-- the last issue was almost like the end of reservoir dogs where you decide who lives and who dies, and it looks like pretty much everyone dies except for Lono, Slaughter, Victor (he's the one with the cross tattoo on his hand, right?) and Loop.

I had a bunch of problems with Victor-- he kind of switched sides back and forth between Graves side and Lono's side. He seemed to be able to be a part of both and that confused me..

Also-- near the end slaughter was behind Lono with a gun while lono was on the phone with Loop… why didn't slaughter kill him?

Another question: what was up with the painting? Nothing ever really came of it.. Cole had it with him, and then nothing. That kind of bothered me unless I missed something.

All in all though, I really liked it-- again, I look forward to reading the entire thing from beginning to end because I think a lot will be able to be taken from it the second time. How many times I was just reading thinking to myself "who is this guy…" will be avoided the second time throught… also, I will be looking for motivation of all characters once I know what they're all doing.

Last thought-- what I loved about the series is a few things:
1) this is a story that can never be told in another medium other than comics.. The amount of times they used the effect of having a character speaking over a picture that was taking place in a different storyline, but had meaning for both storylines was absolutely brilliant. Sometimes (like the last issue) one person's words would have implications across 3 or 4 storylines and the action shown would enlighten the words or vice versa. Just brilliant.
2) I am shocked and impressed that all 100 issues had the exact same creative team. The same writer, artist, cover artist, colorer and letterer. That is unprecedented (I think Y the last man had 2 artists), and Fables has many. I didn't LOVE Risso's art, but it told the story well, and I understand the lateness of the book at times. It seems impossible.

Anything you all'd like to add? Or maybe point out that I may have missed?

[ERNIE_E]

You could analyze this series until the cows come home, clearly my favorite series of all time, and a great graphic novel achievement. I agree with a lot of what you say, except for the fact that you didn't LOVE Risso's art. Art's subjective, but Risso was a HUGE part of the series and no other artist could have brought to the table what he did. He's a co-creator and anytime you saw a story behind the story, it was him fitting that in. There's few artists who could come close to what he did in these 100 issues.

The Painting is a metaphor for art. In the end, it was meaningless, much like most high priced art. Worthless or valuable to only those who put value in it. Don't think too hard on that one.

As for your other questions, answers are there and you may see it more clearly on the second time around knowing how everything fits. Everything is there, trust me. But you gotta love a series you WANT to read multiple times because it's that enjoyable. Too often I buy comics that I read once and never want to read again, or worse yet, share with anyone. 100 Bullets, is always in an arms reach and has been loaned/bought to friends/family numerous times.

[Taxman]

Dman, I was hopping it would make sense once I decided to finish it.

[mitchymitchymitchy]

You could analyze this series until the cows come home, clearly my favorite series of all time, and a great graphic novel achievement. I agree with a lot of what you say, except for the fact that you didn't LOVE Risso's art. Art's subjective, but Risso was a HUGE part of the series and no other artist could have brought to the table what he did. He's a co-creator and anytime you saw a story behind the story, it was him fitting that in. There's few artists who could come close to what he did in these 100 issues.

The Painting is a metaphor for art. In the end, it was meaningless, much like most high priced art. Worthless or valuable to only those who put value in it. Don't think too hard on that one.

As for your other questions, answers are there and you may see it more clearly on the second time around knowing how everything fits. Everything is there, trust me. But you gotta love a series you WANT to read multiple times because it's that enjoyable. Too often I buy comics that I read once and never want to read again, or worse yet, share with anyone. 100 Bullets, is always in an arms reach and has been loaned/bought to friends/family numerous times.

Thanks Ernie- I agree with you and feel Risso's art told the story very well, it's just not my preferred style. That said- I agree with you that I don't think any other artist could have told that story without drastically changing the story and tone.
I will read this again, but probably not for a year or so. So much else out there and this needs to marinate a bit.

[Deej]

You could analyze this series until the cows come home, clearly my favorite series of all time, and a great graphic novel achievement. I agree with a lot of what you say, except for the fact that you didn't LOVE Risso's art. Art's subjective, but Risso was a HUGE part of the series and no other artist could have brought to the table what he did. He's a co-creator and anytime you saw a story behind the story, it was him fitting that in. There's few artists who could come close to what he did in these 100 issues.

The Painting is a metaphor for art. In the end, it was meaningless, much like most high priced art. Worthless or valuable to only those who put value in it. Don't think too hard on that one.

As for your other questions, answers are there and you may see it more clearly on the second time around knowing how everything fits. Everything is there, trust me. But you gotta love a series you WANT to read multiple times because it's that enjoyable. Too often I buy comics that I read once and never want to read again, or worse yet, share with anyone. 100 Bullets, is always in an arms reach and has been loaned/bought to friends/family numerous times.

Agreed. Risso was a huge part of why this series is one of my favorites.

I've read this series twice and found that I've noticed things in the art, the word play that I didn't catch the first time. It's really worth giving this a re-read.

[joshdahl]

But how did Dizzy learn to fight like that?

There was never anything that even hinted at it.

Josh

[ERNIE_E]

But how did Dizzy learn to fight like that?

There was never anything that even hinted at it.

Josh

At which point?

Shep took her under his wing and trained her as his prodigy. We can assume that she learned a lot from him and admired him. Plus she's a kid from the streets. She was obviously trained, so much so, that she was given the Croatoa flip-switch. It just happened to backfire on you-know-who.

[JHickman]

Great! I wish I could read it again for the first time.

In my opinion, the best Vertigo book ever.

[THWIP!]

I always felt that the painting was a McGuffin. Only Croatoa was important. I fucking love this series. Fucking brilliant. And there is no one else that could have done this book besides Risso.

Another reason I think that this wouldn't translate well on another medium is Azzarello's double talk. This maybe a crime comic but I think that it's a comic about language more than anything. Especially the way that Azz writes all those different characters with amazingly distinct voices.

[Blue Flash]

Totally deserving of the Oversized HC treatment that Y: The Last Man and Starman are currently enjoying.

I'd double dip on a five volume Omnibus run instantly.