100 bullets, 100 issues of greatness

How do I do describe Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets to you ?

Hands down the best fucking non superhero books I've read to date. A product of DC comics's adult imprint Vertigo Comics. This book is for adults only and with good reason. Blood, Violence, Sex combine to make a hard boiled crime noir masterpiece. The plot starts like this : A mysterious old man visits people and hands them a brief case and an opportunity. Inside the brief case is redemption in the form of a gun and 100 untraceable bullets : Carte Blanche. Along side the gun and bullets are documents containing information about a person who as wronged you or ruined your life in the past or present. So do you accept the offer and take your revenge without any trouble from the cops? or do you decline ? Brian Azzarello is simply a genius and the plot doesn't stop there and as the series plays out the bigger picture of huge world controlling illuminati and their protectors are in the midst of war leaded by the mysterious man in the brief case.

100 bullets spans 100 issues and is in 12 collected graphic novels (13 and final to come in June).

100 Bullets epitomes the main messages of Saving Comics! This is comic is not for children and is not a superhero comic by any means, these "heroes" wear suits to work and to kill. The Characters of 100 bullets are dark, evil, greedy and stone cold killers.

This can by no means be missed.

Who Watches the Watchmen...or is reading it for that matter.

If you haven't heard of the Watchmen by now you live under a rock. The Watchmen is labelled by many as the "greatest graphic novel ever" and has now recently been transformed into a major motion picture. Originally written by the seemingly crazy but brilliant Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, From Hell, and Swamp Thing) the Watchmen was released in the 1986 to 1987 and was drawn by Dave Gibbons. 

I remember about 3 years ago when I was just getting into comics again after a hiatus when I had progressed out of my childhood and thought comics were a childish passtime. By this time I had already read The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and his rendition of Batman: Year One and was ready to expand my horizons even further beyond the typical superhero story and thats when the Watchmen was recommended to me by the owner of my local comic book store. But importantly he told me to read it more once. I remember getting the Watchmen for Christmas and reading it over the span of my christmas break from school but only the one time. My mind was so blown, I didn't even know what happened. The Watchmen is a complex and tightly interwoven masterpiece, that reading it only once would be a crime and I guess that makes me guilty. Almost anyone I've talked to says to re-read the Watchmen over and over and each time you unlock something different more hidden locked away in the narrative.

In the nutshell, the Watchmen brought humanity to comic book characters. Alan Moore gave his characters real problems, paranoia, impotency and obvious mental issues. Alan Moore showed comics can support just more then the average good vs. evil fight or superhero in tights and make intriguing stories about moral issues and characters who could be dealing with Freudian concepts of repression and psychoanalysis.

My only problem with the Watchmen now is that it seems alittle dated. This is the comic that unlocked the darkness and moral issues in comic book characters which has now been used and abused for close to 30 years in comics and TV. But I hope this doesn't stop you from taking up this adventure, it deserves to be read and is not your typical superhero book. The Watchmen is a comic to challenge your mind and perception of  the superhero genre and comics alike. Try not to let those shallow pop culture versions of superhero movies and cartoons hold you back.

Look out for V for Vendetta and From Hell reviews sometime soon as well as the Batman books mentioned. We're gonna keep trying to plug non superhero books so don't worry but there's just so many classics that transformed the genre which should not be missed.

Chris Stewart