100 Bullets: Samurai
by: wetz Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009
I just finished 100 Bullets: Samurai (Book Seven) and thought I would update you young readers. Samurai has two different story arcs running through it for me. The first arc is almost like an episode of Oz. Some of the street talk is very lame, but the loneliness of a prison cell is felt throughout. Brian Azzarello has developed these characters throughout the series that as soon as you see certain ones you have an “ohhhhhh crap” type moments. The second arc I liked was around an illegal roadside zoo. Azzarello really goes deep into the insights of men and animals who are never able to escape their nature.
Samurai was the perfect second act of a play. The first five trades introduces the concept and characters of the book. Samurai is pretty much one off stories. Wrapping up certain story or character points while getting the reader ready for the final act. I loved these one offs.
I’m excited to see how the rest of the series rolls out!
Book Details:
Azzarello’s hard-boiled dialogue, twisty plots, and compelling if unsavory characters have made him one of mainstream comics’ most popular writers. Azzarello’s comic-book noir, 100 Bullets, remains the best demonstration of his pulpish but modern sensibilities. samurai revisits two characters from earlier episodes. Loop Hughes, one recipient of a briefcase containing an untraceable gun and 100 rounds of ammunition from the enigmatic Agent Graves, is now behind bars and trying to evade a con out to kill him. And then a hit man for the shadowy organization Graves works for lands in the cell next to Loop’s. For sheer brutality, Azzarello’s gritty rendition of prison life falls just short of Oz–pretty harrowing stuff by comics standards. In the other story here, Jack Daw and his friend Mickey are headed to Atlantic City–site of a pivotal event in the series’ animating conspiracy, which remains shrouded in mystery–when they get involved with an illegal roadside zoo, a corrupt cop, and mafiosi. Risso’s sparse, atmospheric art ideally complements Azzarello’s morally murky vision. As always, the tales in Samurai advance the series’ overriding story line, which has now reached its halfway point.
