100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call

100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call

I was so excited when I heard about this book. A stranger approaches you with a briefcase. The contents include 100 bullets that are untraceable, the gun, the information regarding the wrong doer whom is responsible for your misfortune and/or current state of misery, and the guarantee that you will get away with no strings attached. Now, the choice is yours. Awesome! These ideas of an old secret society hellbent on vengeance and revenge and righting the wrong is what comics have always been about. The little people standing up for themselves and what is right against tyranny, gang violence, and injustice.
So WTF happened here? I'm sorry everyone, but I don't want to read a comic about a Latina gang banger who just got out of prison. Ill watch Netflix for crap like that. I drew the line with the Preacher, the other Vertigo book I recently finished. That one at least felt like a comic book. This feels like a slap in the head with a rolled up blunt instead of a newspaper. The dialogue is crap, the slang is stupid, and that's too bad because the idea really had me interested in reading this. Well, maybe if I played with essays and cholo's instead of basketballs and women I would have enjoyed this. On the other hand, this isn't alien to me. One of my best friends in junior high and high school got mixed up in a gang and I remained his friend throughout his experimental mistake. Oddly enough, one of the gang leaders he was in really liked me and his crew watched my back from afar. I was a descent fighter and never needed them, but it was comforting knowing I had back up.
 I do like crime dramas and witty text but this was hyped up way to much. It was a real drag to read and I contemplated finishing. I couldn't care less, but I had to finish for the simple fact that I paid for it. You know, the movie you want to walk out of at the theater but paid $12 for so you stay in your seat and play with your phone. Or in my case, you get an old fashion from the chick your seeing "a la" Prometheus. I tried getting in to the film, she didn't front and said it was a crap from the start, so her mind.....and hand wandered off. Didn't even have to do the popcorn trick with this one.
 100 Bullets is predictable with its guns, violence, sex and drugs. Nobody cares about the lame characters or their dialect. I am probably wrong, but I feel the writer wanted to cash in the emergence of culture and stereotypes of the late 90's. The end of the story felt like a Tales From The Crypt episode where the femme fatal wins. There's a strip club scene and no nudity is shown. Anyway, I have spent more than enough time on 100 Bullets. The artwork is lovely. The idea fantastic. The dialogue painful to read. I get it. I get it 100%. Just not interested. Save your $15 and write me if your interested. Ill mail you my copy.
-Alan Tooma
Panel Yap rating 4/5
Buy 100 Bullets Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call at Amazon