100 Bullets # 47 Review

Archive

Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: In Stinked: Part 1

Written by: Brian Azzarello
Art by: Eduardo Risso
Colored by: Patricia Mulvihill
Lettered by: Clem Robins
Assistant Editor: Zachary Rau
Editor: Will Dennis
Publisher: Vertigo > DC Comics

* See issue 21 & 22

During the course of 100 Bullets, Brian Azzarello has done a fantastic job at never wasting the reader’s time. He constantly pulls events from past issues back to the forefront; seemingly unimportant events usually have a purpose towards the larger narrative. Potentially long forgotten, any characters that don’t die, hell even ones you thought were dead, may come back to take center stage once again.

This issue, we see the return of Jack and Mike from issues 21 and 22. We saw the result of drug addict Jack receiving the suitcase with the 100 untraceable bullets. Unlike the other stories, the picture inside the suitcase, which is the identity of the person that ruined his life, is none other than Jack himself. We’re left at the end of the story to believe Jack will kill himself with the final bullet. While that may be the case eventually, Jack and his buddy Mike turn up this issue, very alive.

Watch out boy, or that there tiger will rip your arm clear off!

Not much happens this issue, but it serves as a building point for what’s sure to be an interesting arc. Brian Azzarello brings us up to date on the lives of Mike and Jack; quickly getting them involved in an as yet unclear criminal plot. The guys end up at the “Jungle Park” of Mike’s cousin Garvey. With the recent tiger pet fiasco in New York City, and the tragic attack on Roy (of Siegfried and Roy fame) it’s oddly coincidental that a tiger plays a very important physical and symbolic role in the book.

The artwork by Eduardo Risso perfectly captures the “nature” (nobody loves a bad pun as much as me) of the story. Risso’s style is possibly the most frequently copied in comics recently. The scratchy figures, and somewhat realistic but highly stylized images are very odd on first inspection. As always, they are stunningly perfect for this gritty crime drama.

47 bullets spent, but there’re still 53 left!

The next several months are going to be very difficult on fans of 100 Bullets. With the pair of Azzarello and Risso working on Batman for six months, this book will move to a bi-monthly schedule. Brian Azzarello almost always pulls vignette tales like this one into the greater narrative involving the Minutemen and the Trust. It is an agonizing wait for the answers to the mysteries that lie at the end of 100 Bullets run. Yet, few writers craft better stories, and while the main narrative is long from being solved, I’ve never been disappointed by the arcs which always come to a satisfying conclusion.