Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Eduardo Risso
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo
Plot: The Minutemen are making sure that their numbers are reduced. Thus concludes the "Punchline" story arc.
Comments: (spoilers warning!!!)
You might say I’m a big comic fan. I like both its format and the marketing strategy of providing covers that hook readers to pick up the book. I like the glossy paper, but also the older non glossy paper on which 100 Bullets is being printed. I even like the ads between the story, because you get yourself a mini-cliffhanger before turning the page. And I’m a sucker for the monthlies as opposed to waiting for the trades. I just need my comic fix every week.
But with 100 Bullets I’m reconsidering if I will stop buying the monthlies in order to just pick up the trades, because it’s getting really slow. I have collected all issues of 100 Bullets, but as I wrote in my review of 100 Bullets #78, the best of this series is in its past. Issues #1 through #50 were great, but it looks like Brian Azzarello is stretching the story far too long.
Issue #79 concludes the "Punchline" story arc, which is one of the worst 100 Bullets arcs so far. The story is stretched way too thin, and the greatest action moments are tough guys waiting. The punchline occurs perhaps in the last few pages of this issue, but the rest is waiting and waiting and…
Pfff…
So let’s try something different in this review and see if we can get a grip on this issue. A scene by scene analysis could help us readers understand what Azzarello and Risso are providing:
Scene 1 INT. CABIN – NIGHT
Victor has showed up. And even though the others are as well, there is something about Victor that changes a situation in a second. Almost all his conversation is either a threat or a provocation. He loves trouble, maybe as much as killing people. The guns lying around aren’t making the scene any lighter. Again, Eduardo Risso is making good use of shadows and silhouette, which makes this talking heads scene far more interesting than it should be.
Scene 2 EXT. CABIN – NIGHT
Wylie has a date with Agent Graves. The fatman isn’t sure that Victor will not kill the lot of them, but Wylie gives the fatman a little hint how to keep Victor cool by giving him beers. The fatman isn’t picking up this clue, which we will find out later.
Scene 3 INT. CABIN – NIGHT
The ring Victor got is a skull, which seems to be a bit of a metaphor. In some cultures wearing a death skull keeps away bad luck. Sometimes it can be seen as a warning for change. Just like a raven or the death card in a tarot deck. But Victor is not wearing the ring; he just holds it and the kid wants it. Does he want it to keep away bad luck or is there a major change in the air? Well, when the fatman finally gets the hint Wylie gave him to pick up some beers for Victor, he finds a gun and points it right at the back of Victor’s head.
Scene 4 EXT. ATLANTA DOCKS- NIGHT
We have seen this scene a million times. The Minutemen are getting ready to burn someone. After all this, this issue still can not make heads or tails. The conversation isn't helping either. This interlude is getting boring.
Scene 5 EXT. MEXICO ROAD – NIGHT
Most scenes in 100 Bullets occur at night, which gives Risso more room for his shadows and silhouettes. Well, let me get right to the end of the scene, because it’s all talk without any real meaning: Wylie gets shot! Out of the blue (or dark so to say). And this isn’t a comic moment where he can be resurrected in issue #85 or something. The guy dies happy, thinking of his love, Rose. Was this planned? Graves doesn’t seem too happy about it. I think this is the punchline Azzarello was getting at with this story.
Scene 6 INT. COCKFIGHT – NIGHT
The circle is complete because Part One of "Punchline" also presented a bloody cockfight.
Scene 6 INT/EXT – CABIN – DUSK (Finally the night is over--HA HA)
The last two pages have the best mystery in them of the whole arc. The kid now has the sign of death on his forehead and a finger! Maybe it's a metaphor for pointing out a rat? Well, it seems the fatman has lost his. Finger, that is. Wylie wasn’t up for the job of handing over the girl to Agent Graves, but now it seems his so-called buddies don’t have a problem with that job.
Conclusion: Two men dead. A lonely finger. Dizzy beat up and tied in the back of a car. It all seems to be enough but still the story line is pretty thin.
Let’s just move on to the Trust vs. Minutemen.
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