100 Bullets Vol. 10: Decayed

Had to go back and reread it immediately because there's always parts I don't quite "get" with 100 Bullets but Azarello makes it a pleasure. Book number 10 does not disappoint in the least. A few surprises in fact!

Brian Azzarello, 100 Bullets: Decayed (Vertigo, 2006) I've been waiting a long time for Decayed to finally wander into my library. As always, it was worth the wait. Darwyn Cook, in his introduction, calls Azzarello "one of the best crime fiction writers today. Period.", and I think he's right. Azzarello's writing, coupled ever so closely with Eduardo Risso's art, is a pairing for the ages. Now, pull the whole thing up and set it down for an episode in Cleveland, and how could I not love it? Decayed is another volume that's pretty much dedicated to setup for what's coming in the final quarter of the series. That doesn't mean it's any less wonderful, though. Or any less ugly. Blood flies, and as usual, quite a bit of it, but there's also a good amount of setup as to how things are going (and foreshadowing to where they may be heading) with the Trust, and with Graves, and with how the two interact. Were this a commercial for a cheesy television show, I'd say something here like "and this season, another house goes down!" in order to get you to watch. Erm, read. Anyway, yeah. If you haven't started 100 Bullets yet--not only if you're a fan of crime comics, but of crime writing in general--you should. Brian Azzarello's doing something big here. ****

Can't say much else about it, I've read it long before I had to write this review. But as far as books go, I would defintiely read it again.