Sunday, August 05, 2007

100 Bullets #84 - Vertigo



This book is fantastic. I love everything about it. Dave Johnson has been doing the covers . . since issue #1. And Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso have been the creative team since issue #1. Not a single fill in issue for any of them. I don't know if I'm the first to say it, but I think that they can beat Bendis' and Bagley's record over on Ultimate Spider-man. That's 111 issues. Only 27 more to go for these guys . . . actually 28 to beat it. Do you think they can do it? I sincerely hope so. They deserve the recognition for all their hard work. And the end result shows that they love what they're doing. I believe that all 3 of these guys put their heart and soul into this book. And I just wanna say "Thanx!!". Anyways, with all that being said, I gotta admit, sometimes when I pick up and read the new issue, I really have a hard time following, or remembering, where we left off last issue. That doesn't affect my enjoyment of this book. It's just that there's so many family involved with this Trust. And so many supporting characters. Sometimes I just have a hard time figuring out where we are exactly. A while ago I blasted my Marvel books for putting the recap in the beginning of so many of their books. It aggravates me, because to me, I think Marvel is assuming that the intelligence of most readers is such that they can't keep up with the stories from issue to issue. So they think they need a recap, to bring them up to date, before they start reading the current one. I don't know about you, but I just feel really degraded, or talked down to by that. But then you have a book like this. A book that has the 13 families of the Trust. Plus all the Minutemen. Not to mention their bodyguards, chauffeurs, acquaintances, etc., etc. This book, above all else, could really use a recap page. Or some kind of score-card. Or you know what? How about an Annual, where they go through and do like a family-tree of everybody and what their relationship is to each other. We bring in a new family this issue, which to my recollection I had't even heard of before. A Mr. Rhone. He owns a Casino, among other things. We see a day in his life. An example of his power and influence. But then, by the end of the issue, he and his whole family are dead. Shot execution style. But even though we've just witnessed a horrendous scene . . . the final page of the book is breathtaking. Now what I'm confused about is how this all fits in to the story and what's been going on. I assume this is another of the 13 families, and they've just been knocked off for someone else to come in and assume power. But the picture probably won't become clear until next issue, or maybe even the one after that. But even with my confusion, I stand by my statement that this is one of the best books on the shelves right now. Not just for this genre. But, period! It's fantastic. It's well written, well drawn, and just a fantastic read. But seriously, think about my suggestion for that annual. I think it would help everyone out a bit.

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