100 Bullets Vol. 5: The Counterfifth Detective
Set in a brutal world of tough guys and glamorous dames, the noir comic-book100Bullets revolves around a pulpy but potent premise: enigmatic Agent Graves offers wronged persons briefcases; each contains an untraceable gun and 100 rounds of ammunition, giving the recipient the means to avenge themselves and elude punishment. While depicting the fates of Graves' beneficiaries, the series has slowly parceled out information about the shadowy organization behind the agent. In this fifth collection (hence the tricky title), small-time PI Milo Garret learns from Graves that the automobile crash that left Garret with an Invisible Man-style bandaged face and holes in his past was no accident, and he decides it's payback time. The elegant simplicity of Risso's shadowy, atmospheric art perfectly suits Azzarello's sparse, hardboiled scripts; this is one of the most effective writer-artist teams in comics. Although sardonic, violence-addicted Garret is the focus here, characters from previous episodes reappear, keeping this from being the ideal entrance-point to the series.Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved