The best crime comic is...
NOT SIN CITY. Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Rizzo's 100 Bullets is. At least the first few storylines. Honestly as soon as I find some gainful employment I'll be getting the whole series. I had a few of the latter storylines in the regular 22 page format but those are in New York. Honestly I don't know why I stopped reading it. Poverty I guess. I hate being poor. Well a few days ago I reread the first trade paperback and was shocked by how good it was. The story was amazing and the art while also amazing worked in service of the story. I have a lot of respect for Brian Azzarello as a writer, because it seems like he isn't afraid of working with an amazing artist. He knows that it won't steal his thunder and will only serve to make his story even better. I've ranted on this before but I feel like some writers purposefully get inferior or just ho-hum artists to tell their stories so that they can suck up all of the glory. Which is why I don't get as much enjoyment out of Preacher as I should. I don't know if Garth Ennis purposefully picked Steve Dillion because he was a non flashy artist but it feels like it. I would say the same thing about Warren Ellis because of Transmetropolitan which honest I thought was pretty fuckin' boring, but look at Planetary... great stuff. With Transmetropolitan it seems like the artists has like two weeks to get each issue out. Which is unfair. Which is why I wouldn't work that way because yeah while you might look like a hero because you cracked out a book really fast, you also will not get hired again because if the book looks like shit that is what counts. Or the other hand if it looks awesome them all is forgiven...look at Art Adams. Yeah he takes his time but his stuff is amazing. But I digress.
Azzarello's dialogue, characterization and plots are really amazing. 100 Bullets truly feels like a novel or a movie...except it couldn't be. It does things that you can only really do in a comicbook. Storytellingwise you really couldn't call it cinematic because movies don't work like comics do and comics aren't movies on paper. Again...comics aren't movies on paper...they aren't storyboards for movies. They are a unique combination of words and pictures that tell a story in a way that you couldn't otherwise. At least they should be...which is why I hope to god that I don't see 100 Bullets directed by Frank Miller in 5 years. Or that dude that did 300. The only people that could make a good 100 Bullets movie would be Quentin Tararentino or Guy Ritchie. Hopefully being with Madonna didn't destroy his talents permanently. Azzarello's use of ghetto slang rings pretty close to the real thing which is more than I can say for most people that try to write it. His portrayal of inner city "lowlives" is honest,brutal and sympathetic at the same time. Just like real life, they have their good points and their bad points. Also he creates characters that leave you wondering what they are really about like Agent Graves. Who on one hand can seem like a almost grandfatherly figure and on the other like a cold hearted bastard. In fact from what I've read the only characters that are the most sympathetic ARE the inner city dwellers like Dizzy and Loop. They are fairly straight forward in their motivations. Its Graves and some of the other characters who tend to be upper class who you wonder about or downright hate.
As for Eduardo Rizzo's part he does the impossible and makes every page an awesome one. Honestly I don't think you can find a bad panel in anyone of his comics. Rizzo does his homework, every thing is well referenced and yet doesn't look traced like some artists work can. His characters look like real people and look consistent from panel to panel with out looking like he just freeze framed a movie and copied it. Really I can't say enough about his work. It makes me want to break all of my pencils in half.
Long story short...read the damn book and thank me later. Honestly this is the possible the best series ever. I can't wait to be able to read it all since it will be done in march.
Azzarello's dialogue, characterization and plots are really amazing. 100 Bullets truly feels like a novel or a movie...except it couldn't be. It does things that you can only really do in a comicbook. Storytellingwise you really couldn't call it cinematic because movies don't work like comics do and comics aren't movies on paper. Again...comics aren't movies on paper...they aren't storyboards for movies. They are a unique combination of words and pictures that tell a story in a way that you couldn't otherwise. At least they should be...which is why I hope to god that I don't see 100 Bullets directed by Frank Miller in 5 years. Or that dude that did 300. The only people that could make a good 100 Bullets movie would be Quentin Tararentino or Guy Ritchie. Hopefully being with Madonna didn't destroy his talents permanently. Azzarello's use of ghetto slang rings pretty close to the real thing which is more than I can say for most people that try to write it. His portrayal of inner city "lowlives" is honest,brutal and sympathetic at the same time. Just like real life, they have their good points and their bad points. Also he creates characters that leave you wondering what they are really about like Agent Graves. Who on one hand can seem like a almost grandfatherly figure and on the other like a cold hearted bastard. In fact from what I've read the only characters that are the most sympathetic ARE the inner city dwellers like Dizzy and Loop. They are fairly straight forward in their motivations. Its Graves and some of the other characters who tend to be upper class who you wonder about or downright hate.
As for Eduardo Rizzo's part he does the impossible and makes every page an awesome one. Honestly I don't think you can find a bad panel in anyone of his comics. Rizzo does his homework, every thing is well referenced and yet doesn't look traced like some artists work can. His characters look like real people and look consistent from panel to panel with out looking like he just freeze framed a movie and copied it. Really I can't say enough about his work. It makes me want to break all of my pencils in half.
Long story short...read the damn book and thank me later. Honestly this is the possible the best series ever. I can't wait to be able to read it all since it will be done in march.