42 AZZARELLO, BRIAN
language is always a weapon, and menace lingers behind seemingly every exchange.
He challenges his readers to fi nd meaning between the lines of both cryptic conversa-
tions and the panels on the page, to fi ll in the rhetorical and narrative gaps of what is
merely implied.
All 100 issues of 100 Bullets were drawn by Eduardo Risso, with whom Azzarello
shares a widely recognized synergy. Azzarello and Risso fi rst collaborated on Jonny
Double , a four-issue series (also from Vertigo) published in 1998 that established
their aptitude for gritty crime drama with noir-inspired narrative twists and graphic
violence. In the midst of their run on 100 Bullets , the two also completed a six-issue
story arc in DC’s B a t m a n (2003–4). Th eir “Broken City” storyline off ered little of the
super-heroic posturing and gadgetry that is often associated with the Dark Knight;
rather, Batman was given a hard-boiled internal monologue that fi gured the hero as
an unfl inching, jaw-breaking gumshoe. Azzarello followed his stint on Batman with
another attention-getting run on a canonical DC character, Superman , this time col-
laborating with superstar artist Jim Lee in 2004–5. Th e 12-issue “For Tomorrow” arc
arguably put as much emphasis on philosophical introspection as it did on action (the
story is interspersed with Superman’s often gloomy conversations with a young priest
dying of cancer), much to the chagrin of hardcore fans of the character.
As his work on DC’s most recognizable heroes attests, Azzarello frequently con-
torts generic conventions into provocative shapes. A 2003 original graphic novel with
legendary artist Joe Kubert, Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place , inserted the
familiar World War II hero into a mystery involving his own company of soldiers and
murdered prisoners of war. A short-lived Western series for Vertigo, Loveless (2005–8),
was structured around complicated fl ashback sequences and involved the bold choice
of killing off the ostensible protagonist early in the series. In 2002, following a lengthy
tenure on one of Vertigo’s fl agship titles, Hellblazer (2000–2), Azzarello was sched-
uled to become the writer of the sensationalistic superhero team, Th e Authority , but
he withdrew from the project in the wake of September 11, believing that the rampant
patriotism and charged religious environment would compromise his vision for the
series.
A recent Joker graphic novel (2008) with art by Lee Bermejo (the two also collab-
orated on a Lex Luthor miniseries in 2005) allowed Azzarello to put his strongest
talents on full display: shining an unwavering light on the darkest, most desperate, and
shockingly violent recesses of the criminal mind. Azzarello fi gures to be an integral
member of DC’s Vertigo Crime sub-imprint, announced in 2008. His fi rst contribution
to this brand, a standalone graphic novel entitled Filthy Rich , is scheduled for 2009.
J. Gavin Paul
