Strychnine Lives

by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso

'100 bullets' created by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401209289
• ISBN13: 9781401209285
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Vertigo
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.7" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

Graphic SF Reader

Anyone want to be a crimelord? 100 Bullets may well give you second thoughts. And third thoughts. Lots of money, lots of power, lots of girls/boys/booze/cars or whatever other things you might like. Also, lots of stress, heartache, and lots of loss of integrity of the physical being via the murderous actions of others.

Genius.

Brian Azzarello, 100 Bullets: Strychnine Lives (Vertigo, 2006) It took seven and a half months from the time I put this on hold at the library until the time it showed up in my hot little hands. Seven and a half months of waiting after the best volume in the ever-improving series. Seven and a half months of wondering where Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso (and why, in nine introductions, has no one yet commented on the fact that Eduardo Risso is Frank Miller's spiritual heir?) were going to take this story. Was it worth it? You betcha. Lono, since Azzarello started developing his character, has always seemed to me to be the series' most intriguing guy. And in Strychnine Lives-- a book that marks that place in most series where all the political machinations and stuff have to happen, where the action fades into the background as everyone realigns for the final charge to the big battle that ends it all(TM)-- Azzarello gives us an in-depth look at Lono, who's at least a peripheral character in every tale here, and the central character in a couple. And we get to know Lono better than we ever have before. Oh, yeah, sure, there are developments in the larger story arc, as some previously disparate entities cement their alliances and a few characters we haven't seen for a while (remember Branch?) come back into play, but let's call a spade a spade-- this is a book about Lono. Manuel Ramos, in his introduction, muses on the seeming disparity between Lono's unrepentantly violent nature and his ability to discourse on forgiveness. I don't see it as a disparity, per se; in fact, it's seemed to me since the third of fourth book that one of Azzarello's goals in creating and fleshing out the character of Lono is to give the reader something meatier than the stereotypical strongman with a heart of gold (and a head of lead). It could be argued, in fact, that Lono is the textbook sociopath, the kind who'd be stereotypical if crime writers and journalists actually read psychology textbooks and the DSM as part of their research. Contrast him with the book's other main characters, old-timer Augustus and newcomer Spain. Spain is the psychotic, a diametric opposite of the sociopath, driven by impulse as opposed to the sociopath's cold, calculating split-second analysis of every situation. Spain's role here (aside from, given the voice-over dialogue between Lono and Augustus in Spain's crucial scene, setting something up a few books down the line-- another thing Ramos highlights about this series in his intro) is to provide a direct foil for Lono, even though the two never come into direct contact. They're both scary guys. Though we are never sure at any point that either is an out-and-out villain in this series that lacks anything even remotely resembling an actual hero, both of them are pretty low on the number line of deeds performed for the good of various and sundry. But contrasting Lono and Spain in the way he does shows us in no uncertain terms that Bria

The intrigue deepens

Honestly, if you haven't read any of the 100 Bullets story before, don't even think about beginning here. It's just not accessible at this point, but it's well-worth picking up the first couple of trades and going from there. At this point, the series is a gigantic chessboard with pieces gradually being moved into their final positions, as the end of the series begins to come into sight. As the newly appointed warlord of the Trust, Lono really dominates the issues collected here. If you haven't read the last few story arcs recently, you might want to go over them again as a refresher before starting this volume. It's complex, no doubt, but all the more rewarding for it. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this series is that it makes you actually use your brain when reading it; not everything is spoon-fed to you. Basically, if you're already a fan of this series, you probably have this book. If you're interested in picking it up, this isn't the place to start. head on over to the listing for "First Shot, Last Call," and dive in.