The DC/Vertigo series 100 Bullets told an epic crime tale of power, corruption and vengeance for over one-hundred issues, and left behind a rather large body count in its wake. The series was unrelenting in dispatching fan-favorite characters and despicable villains alike throughout its run, with the final issue itself culminating in an absolute bloodbath – but as the series concluded, a few characters did manage to walk away.
100 Bullets #100 – from the creative team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso – was the spectacular culmination of the crime saga, which came to span hundreds of years, featuring dozens of characters, and many stunning deaths.
Over the course of the series, readers learned that Graves was the ex-leader of the Minutemen, a group of enforcers. In conflict with their former employers the Trust, Issue #100 saw their battle come to a chaotic and tragic end.
The Final Issue Of 100 Bullets Was One Final Massacre
The majority of 100 Bullets' cast didn’t make it past the final page, with the issue itself containing the deaths of nearly all the remaining major characters, but there were a few who manage to survive Issue #100. The three main characters to make it were Loop Hughes, Victor Ray and Vic’s father Will Slaughter – with the characters literally riding off into the sunset together, rather than join the final battle of the series. Loop was introduced in the story arc “Hang up on the Hang Low,” where the young man learns his absent father actually worked for the Trust for years, albeit he never as an official Minuteman.
Victor was one of the Minutemen working directly under Graves, who began to doubt his boss, feeling Graves’ didn’t have his best interests at heart. Will Slaughter was a late addition to the cast, with readers introduced to him as a retired Minuteman, who made ends meet by moonlighting as a hitman. The final issue of the series revealed that he was actually Victor’s father, with the two characters, alongside Loop, left as the only ones who get anything close to a non-tragic conclusion by story’s end – though over the course of the series, both had done enough horrible things to warrant their demise.
100 Bullets Has An All-Time Great Final Page
Also surviving was the sociopathic Lono, one of Grave’s Minutemen who was perhaps the most despicable character in the entire series. While his fate was left ambiguous in the hundredth issue, it was later revealed that Lono indeed survived, reappearing in the 2013-2014 sequel series Brother Lono, which saw the former Minuteman trying to atone for his sins at a convent in South America. Beyond that, 100 Bullets #100 wipes out the handful of characters who made it to the finish line. Two of the series most central characters, Agent Graves and his protégé Dizzy Cordova – both introduced in 100 Bullets #1 – survive until the last page.
What happens after is not shown. The final sequence in 100 Bullets #100 saw Graves name his protégé Dizzy Cordova as the new leader of the Minutemen. Graves then makes his final move by killing the head of the Trust, Augustus Medici. Dizzy is subsequently paralyzed in an explosion, and Graves attempts to move her from the burning building. Having taking action against a fellow member of the Trust, it then falls to Dizzy to settle the matter by executing Graves for his crime. The final page of Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets features Graves cradling Dizzy while she places a gun beneath his chin, one of the greatest final images in any comic series.