448 100 BULLETS
and Worley were the fi rst comic creators to come out as bisexual. Th e relationships
of bisexual character Shelley Hine and gay character Rob Shaw rang truer as a result.
Shelley was also disabled, bringing that issue to the forefront.
In 1987, Friendly Frank’s Comic Store in Chicago was raided. Six comics were seized,
including two issues of Omaha. Th e Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, an organization
dedicated to protecting the rights of comic creators, publishers, and retailers, began as a
result. Omaha was the subject of further obscenity charges in Toronto and New Zealand
in 1990. All charges were eventually dismissed.
Waller was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1991. His outstanding medical bills
resulted in two benefi t comics, titled Images of Omaha , again published by Kitchen
Sink. Some of the most respected people in comics contributed to the benefi t books,
demonstrating the aesthetic respect Omaha commanded. Following Waller’s recov-
ery and an acrimonious breakup with Worley in 1994, the same year Omaha moved
to Fantagraphics , the title was discontinued indefi nitely, after four issues with that
publisher.
In 2002, the rift between Waller and Worley was suffi ciently mended and the two
resumed work on Omaha. Kate Worley died of lung cancer in 2004. Her widower,
fellow writer James Vance, began working with Waller on concluding the storyline
from Kate’s notes and manuscripts. As of this writing, the series is being concluded
episodically in NBM’s Sizzle magazine, with a fi nal collection pending on the work’s
completion. In addition to spurring the creation of the erotic funny animal subgenre
of comics, Omaha was nominated for three Eisner Awards in 1989, two in 1991, and
won a Squiddy Award for Best Ongoing Series in 1994.
See also: Underground and Adult Comics
Selected Bibliography: Kitchen, Denis. Th e Complete Omaha, Vol. 7. New York: NBM
Publishing, 2008.
Diana Green
100 BULLETS. A monthly series from DC’s Vertigo imprint that ran for 100 issues
between 1999 and 2009, written by Brian Azzarello , with art by Eduardo Risso,
100 Bullets is based largely on a single premise: What if you could get away with
murder? As the series begins, unsuspecting individuals from various walks of life are
approached by a man identifying himself only as “Agent Graves.” Graves reveals to
these individuals that certain misfortunes, tragedies, or traumas in their lives have
been willfully caused by specifi c parties. Graves then provides each of his targets with
an attaché case that identifi es the perpetrator(s) and provides “irrefutable evidence”
that his claims are true. Most importantly, each case contains a gun and 100 rounds
of untraceable ammunition to be used as the bearer sees fi t. Crucially, Graves never
explicitly instructs those receiving an attaché to kill; rather, he tantalizes them
with information and opportunity: whatever they choose to do, their actions will
