Welcome back to Start, Stop, Finish—a series where we here at DC.com take a look at classic comics and storylines for the very first time, giving our thoughts before, during and after reading! A few weeks ago, I made my way through the first volume of Dark Knights of Steel. This time, I’m switching from Elseworlds to Vertigo and checking out the first volume of the six-chambered crime and conspiracy series 100 Bullets. Written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso, 100 Bullets ran for ten years and garnered several awards throughout its run. It’s since returned with a couple of limited series, including the newest, 100 Bullets: The US of Anger. So why haven’t I read it yet? Well, no time like the present, so here are my thoughts in journeying through 100 Bullets Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call.
START
The cover to the introductory issue features a stoic, craggy-faced older man illuminated by the gunfire from a pistol-wielding younger woman. The woman has a single tear running down her eye, while two photographs (one of a pair of policemen and another of a loving couple and baby boy) are flanked by a group of street-toughs with the word “BARRIO” graffitied over their heads. This looks to be an inner-city crime story, judging by the makeup of these characters. The only thing I’m aware of with this title is that it’s a series moving from one character to another, so I’m imagine these characters open up our story but won’t be staying for long.
STOP
As I predicted, this first volume kicks off with a finite story that tells its complete tale in the initial three issues. A 23-year-old woman named Dizzy Cordova is released from prison after being put away for gang affiliation. While she was locked up, her husband and baby were killed in a drive-by shooting. This event causes Dizzy to change her ways and disavow a life of crime and conflict…which is too bad for her, as upon her release, she’s approached by a man who gives her a gun and one hundred rounds of ammunition, promising no legal recourse if she chooses to use that gun on the people responsible for her family’s deaths. Those individuals happen to be police, and with Dizzy’s younger brother wrapped up in street life, her attempts to live on the straight and narrow are suddenly met with complications that could determine the path of the rest of her life.
Brian Azzarello’s work is often defined by the gritty crime storytelling in this first arc. Accompanied by artist Eduardo Risso, I was first introduced to the pair through their Batman story “Broken City.” Here, the two illustrate a pitiless world of violence and compromised morals, lit with harsh, warm colors and heavy chiaroscuro shadows which have come to define Risso’s highly influential style.
FINISH
The final two issues that comprise the first volume were a one-two punch of circumstance, temptation and tragedy. In short, I loved it.
Lee Dolan was once a successful restauranteur, until a fateful frame-up of a crime he didn’t commit caused him to lose everything from his business to his family. Now working in a seedy bar, Lee is met by the same man who confronted Dizzy in the first story—Mr. Graves. Graves tells Lee he was framed, gives the identity of the woman who framed him and, like he did with Dizzy, provides him with a gun and one hundred untraceable bullets. Unlike Dizzy, Lee is dead set on his revenge, fantasizing how he would carry it out and even building up his anticipation by trying to reconnect with his teenage son. But things are not as simple as they seem, and the woman in question behind Lee’s misfortunes has a lot more going on than being a simple rich girl looking for kicks.
This is where the series truly shines in my opinion. The crime element of the story is noirish in its themes of bad luck and the evil that men (and women) do. It recalls the stark stylings of Frank Miller, with Risso relying even more on shadows and positive and negative contrast of his figures for maximum suspense. His art excels at illustrating the conflicted morality of Lee Dolan, at once making him sympathetic yet despicable. The result is a gripping story told with a control of tension reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode.
This is what the first volume of 100 Bullets offers, morality plays done in the extreme. These stories are quick, intense and simplistic in their demands of both the characters and the audience. What would you do if you were wronged, your life ruined, and the one chance to make everything right lies with a stranger gifting you an untraceable gun? How strong is your sense of ethics? Azzarello and Risso ask this of the reader with each arc of 100 Bullets. How long can you resist?
100 Bullets Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso is available as a softcover graphic novel in bookstores, comic shops, libraries and digital retailers. It can also be read in full (along with the rest of the series) on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.
Donovan Morgan Grant writes about comics, graphic novels and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @donomark and X at @donoDMG1.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Donovan Morgan Grant and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
