Tag Archives: neo-noir

Xenos: Eisenhorn (by Dan Abnett) Review

Posted on by Arleigh

“I’m excusing a lot because I recognize the trauma and the loss you have suffered. But my patience isn’t limitless… unlike my authority.” — Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn

Xenos by Dan Abnett is one of the best places to begin a journey into the immense, intimidating fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000. The setting has decades of lore, countless factions, and a reputation for throwing newcomers into a blizzard of Gothic names, alien species, religious doctrine, and galaxy-wide war. Abnett gets around that problem by starting on a smaller, more personal scale. Rather than opening with armies of Space Marines firing bolters into a battlefield, Xenos follows an investigation. It is a mystery novel first, but one wrapped in political intrigue, supernatural horror, science-fiction adventure, and the oppressive atmosphere that makes Warhammer 40,000 unique.

The novel follows Gregor Eisenhorn, an Imperial Inquisitor investigating the suspicious death of another Inquisitor and the possible return of an infamous forbidden text. What initially appears to be a contained case grows steadily more complicated, carrying Eisenhorn from the polished halls of the powerful to the dangerous, hidden corners of the Imperium. Along the way, he encounters criminal networks, secretive cults, alien interests, old enemies, and clues suggesting that the threat he is following is far larger than it first appears. That is about as much as the plot should be revealed going in. One of Xenos’ greatest pleasures is seeing an investigation expand in unexpected directions as Eisenhorn realizes that every answer seems to reveal another, more disturbing question.

For newcomers, Eisenhorn is a perfect guide through the setting because his job gives him access to virtually every level of Imperial society. The Inquisition is the Imperium’s feared internal-security and investigative force, responsible for hunting down threats such as heresy, Chaos corruption, rogue psykers, dangerous mutants, and alien infiltration. Its three major branches are the Ordo Xenos, which deals with alien threats; the Ordo Malleus, which combats daemonic and major Chaos threats; and the Ordo Hereticus, which investigates internal heresy and corruption within humanity. Eisenhorn belongs to the Ordo Xenos, although Xenos quickly makes it clear that the lines between those responsibilities can become blurry when an investigation leads into forbidden knowledge and the influence of Chaos.

Inquisitors operate with enormous authority inside the sprawling hierarchy of the Imperium’s bureaucracy. They can demand cooperation from military officers, nobles, bureaucrats, religious leaders, and law-enforcement agencies alike, often placing them effectively above the normal chain of command. That vast authority makes them necessary in an empire as corrupt, unwieldy, and permanently threatened as the Imperium, but it also makes them frightening. Eisenhorn can investigate almost anyone, order arrests and executions, seize resources, and disregard ordinary procedure if he believes the situation demands it. The novel’s central moral tension comes from that power: what happens when someone entrusted with protecting humanity has the freedom to do almost anything in its name?

That question gives Xenos considerably more weight than a straightforward sci-fi detective story. Eisenhorn is not a traditional hero, though he is clearly written as the protagonist and often comes across as intelligent, disciplined, and committed to his work. He believes in the Imperium, believes in his duty, and believes that evil has to be confronted before it spreads. At the same time, he works inside a system where fear and brutality are normal tools of governance. An Inquisitor cannot afford to be naïve, especially when dealing with Chaos, cults, and conspiracies built around forbidden knowledge. But Abnett constantly pushes Eisenhorn toward uncomfortable choices, forcing him to decide how much compromise is acceptable when the enemy is capable of manipulating minds, corrupting souls, and destroying worlds.

That is one of the major reasons the book works so well. Warhammer 40,000 can sometimes feel like a setting built from giant concepts: eternal war, fanatical religion, ancient aliens, grim military hardware, and cosmic evil. Xenos does not ignore any of those things, but it makes them matter on a human level. The Imperium is not merely described as a brutal galaxy-spanning empire; Abnett shows how it functions through its people and institutions. There are noble houses, archives, cults, scholars, law officers, ship crews, bureaucrats, mercenaries, and citizens who have learned to survive under a regime where suspicion can be fatal. The book makes the Imperium feel less like a background painting and more like a living, oppressive civilization.

Abnett’s greatest strength is his ability to reveal the setting without drowning the reader in exposition. There are plenty of unfamiliar terms in Xenos, especially for readers coming in cold, but the novel rarely stops to hand over a rulebook-style explanation. You learn about the Warp because it is dangerous and uncanny whenever it enters the story. You understand Chaos because its influence produces paranoia, violence, and spiritual corruption. The Eldar are introduced not as a long historical lecture but as secretive, ancient, unsettlingly intelligent outsiders with motives that human characters cannot fully grasp. That approach preserves the sense that this universe is far bigger than Eisenhorn’s current case, while still making the plot easy to follow.

The pacing is helped by the fact that Abnett never lets the story remain in one mode for too long. Xenos begins with the mood of an investigative thriller, but it gradually expands into something stranger and more dangerous. The novel moves through crime scenes, aristocratic gatherings, interrogation rooms, alien ruins, dangerous underworld spaces, and moments of full-scale action. That variety keeps the book from becoming too bleak or static. The setting is absolutely grim, and the violence can be nasty, but there is also a strong sense of momentum and adventure. Abnett knows that the horror of the 41st Millennium is more effective when the reader is also excited to see what strange corner of it comes next.

His prose is another major advantage. Abnett writes in a style that is clean and readable without losing the ornate, Gothic flavor of the setting. He can handle action well, especially when Eisenhorn and his team are forced into sudden violence, but he is arguably even better with atmosphere. Some of the novel’s most memorable scenes involve conversations where nobody says exactly what they mean, tense interrogations, the discovery of forbidden evidence, or the lingering sense that an apparently routine lead has opened a door that should have remained closed. He gives Xenos the feel of a noir investigation filtered through a nightmare version of space opera.

Eisenhorn’s supporting cast helps keep the novel grounded. Aemos, his loyal savant, brings experience and knowledge to the team, while the warrior Midas Betancore adds a practical edge to their fieldwork. Alizabeth Bequin, whose unusual nature is tied to some of the setting’s stranger ideas, becomes one of the more intriguing figures around Eisenhorn. Each character has a defined role, but they are not simply pieces of equipment for the Inquisitor to deploy. Their reactions to danger, secrecy, and Eisenhorn himself make it clear that he may possess enormous legal authority, but he still depends on people he cannot completely control.

The relationship between Eisenhorn and Bequin is especially effective because Abnett does not force it into an overly simple romance. In a lighter setting, their dynamic might become predictable, but Warhammer 40,000 is not a world where emotional connection comes without consequences. Their growing trust is complicated by secrets, duty, personal history, and the fact that Eisenhorn’s work places everyone around him in danger. The novel is stronger for that restraint. It understands that Eisenhorn’s position makes ordinary human relationships difficult, and that the pressure of the Inquisition can turn even loyalty into something painful.

If there is a weakness in Xenos, it is that the middle section can occasionally feel rushed. Abnett covers a lot of territory, introduces several important concepts, and puts Eisenhorn in contact with a broad cast of characters. Some supporting figures and locations are memorable but could have used a little more time to develop. The book also has the feeling of a first installment in a larger story, particularly as Eisenhorn’s moral compromises begin to take shape. Still, that is not a serious flaw. The novel provides a satisfying central investigation while clearly establishing bigger questions that continue through Malleus and Hereticus.

What ultimately makes Xenos such a successful novel is that it understands the appeal of Warhammer 40,000 without relying entirely on surface-level spectacle. The setting has no shortage of memorable imagery: skull-covered cathedrals, psychic powers, ancient alien technology, daemon-haunted worlds, and armies fighting endless wars across the stars. But Abnett gives all of that a purpose by focusing on a man trying to hold onto his principles in a universe that rewards ruthlessness. Eisenhorn is not merely fighting cultists, aliens, and supernatural conspiracies. He is fighting the possibility that protecting humanity may require him to become something he once would have condemned.

For longtime fans, Xenos offers a welcome change from stories focused solely on battlefield carnage. It shows the day-to-day machinery of the Imperium, the political paranoia beneath its religious language, and the hidden wars being fought far away from the front lines. For newcomers, it is an especially good entry point because it does not require prior knowledge of the tabletop game, its codices, or its enormous chronology. It introduces the setting’s major ideas through a compelling story rather than a lecture.

Xenos is suspenseful, violent, atmospheric, and smarter than many people may expect from a novel tied to a miniature wargame. Dan Abnett turns the colossal scale of Warhammer 40,000 into a strength, giving readers glimpses of a universe full of horrors while keeping the narrative centered on one investigation and one increasingly compromised man. It is a highly entertaining science-fiction thriller in its own right, but it is also one of the clearest demonstrations of why Warhammer 40,000 has endured for so long. If someone wants to take their first step into this massive fictional universe, Xenos is a smart place to start.

Review: 100 Bullets Vol. 4 – A Foregone Tomorrow

Posted on by Arleigh

“On your feet, soldier. You’ve just been drafted. This is a war.” — Agent Graves

With A Foregone Tomorrow, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso make it clear that 100 Bullets is done merely teasing the larger story behind Agent Graves, the Trust, and the Minutemen. The earlier volumes built their appeal around a very simple but powerful idea: Graves finds someone whose life has been ruined, hands them a briefcase containing a gun, proof, and one hundred untraceable bullets, then leaves them to decide what revenge is worth. That premise is still present here, but it no longer feels like the whole series. This fourth collection, which gathers issues #20-30, is where the long-running conspiracy really begins stepping out from the shadows. The Trust finally feels like a real organization rather than a few names being dropped in dark rooms, the Minutemen begin to take clearer shape, and Agent Graves starts to look less like a cryptic avenger and more like a man moving pieces around a board that only he fully understands.

The collection opens with “The Mimic,” and it is a good representation of what this volume does best. Azzarello ties together two conversations that seem unrelated at first: one involving Mr. Shepherd and Benito Medici, and another taking place at street level among people trying to survive in a world where even the smallest patch of territory has consequences. The contrast is important. On one side are the rich, insulated people who control entire criminal and financial networks without ever getting their own hands dirty. On the other are the desperate hustlers, dealers, addicts, and low-level criminals who are usually the first ones to bleed when those powerful people make a move. 100 Bullets has always had a strong sense of class anger under all the pulp dialogue and gunplay, but this volume puts that feeling more directly into the story.

Benito Medici is one of the most interesting additions here because he does not initially come across as the kind of polished, ruthless heir one would expect from the Trust. He seems immature, reckless, and more interested in enjoying the benefits of his family name than understanding what it costs other people. But Azzarello does not make him a joke. Benito is a spoiled rich kid, sure, but he is also a young man slowly realizing that he has been born into something dangerous and ancient. The Medici name gives him protection, money, and influence, but it also makes him a target. That uneasy realization gives his scenes some real tension. He is not just learning how much power his father Augustus has; he is learning that power in this world is never free.

The Trust itself is probably the biggest reason A Foregone Tomorrow feels like such a major turning point. Earlier books gave readers names like Augustus Medici and Megan Dietrich, along with hints about a hidden system that existed beyond regular crime families and street gangs. Here, the curtain gets pulled back much further. The Trust is revealed as a collection of powerful old families whose influence stretches across the country, while the Minutemen were created as their enforcers and internal police. The scope is suddenly much bigger than one person deciding whether to pull the trigger on somebody who wronged them. Agent Graves is not simply handing out opportunities for revenge. He is using those opportunities to destabilize a system that has spent generations protecting itself.

That expansion does make the book denser than the first three collections. Readers who liked the clean, self-contained revenge stories from First Shot, Last Call may need a little patience here. Azzarello is deliberately withholding information, and a lot of dialogue involves people speaking around the truth rather than plainly stating it. Characters mention events, names, and old betrayals that do not fully make sense until later. But that is also part of the fun. 100 Bullets is becoming a crime epic where every casual insult, odd coincidence, and brief appearance may eventually matter. The book trusts readers to keep up, and even when the plot gets murky, it rarely stops being compelling.

The Jack Daw material is probably the weakest portion of the collection, though it still has its uses. Jack is a huge, self-destructive junkie who already has one of Graves’s cases when the reader meets him. That is an interesting reversal of the usual formula because we do not see the initial pitch or the moment of temptation. We are instead dropped into the aftermath of a man who has already been given a chance to change his life and has clearly made a mess of it. Jack is not especially sympathetic, and the story never quite reaches the emotional impact of Dizzy Cordova’s or Loop Hughes’s earlier arcs. Still, he feels like another example of the kind of damaged person Graves is collecting. He is not a hero waiting to be awakened. He is a wrecking ball waiting for someone to point him in a direction.

The more memorable material comes from the way Azzarello keeps connecting old threads to new ones. Mr. Branch, who has spent much of the series trying to understand the conspiracy around Graves, becomes increasingly important as someone who sees patterns other characters are too close to notice. The story also takes a detour into the past with a strange, darkly funny episode involving baseball, Hollywood, and the Kennedy assassination. It is the kind of side story that might feel random in another series, but it works here because it reinforces the sense that Agent Graves has been active for a very long time. His briefcases are not a recent hobby. They are part of a much older game.

There is also an unexpectedly funny stretch involving a trip to Mexico, though the humor never makes the story feel safe. Azzarello has a talent for writing characters who can trade ridiculous insults and crude jokes one minute, then become frighteningly violent the next. That tonal balance is one of the things that keeps 100 Bullets from becoming unbearably grim. These people are living ugly lives in ugly places, but they still have personality. They still argue, posture, flirt, lie, and make each other laugh. The humor is usually mean, but it feels authentic to the world rather than forced comic relief.

Eduardo Risso remains the series’ secret weapon, even though by this point it is hard to call him a secret. His art gives every character an immediately recognizable silhouette and attitude. There are a lot of people in this volume, including gangsters, Trust members, old associates, street criminals, and potential Minutemen, yet Risso makes it easy to tell them apart. Benito looks like a privileged kid trying to wear confidence like a costume. Shepherd always carries himself with quiet control. Graves is still composed and unreadable, like somebody who has already calculated every possible outcome before entering the room.

Risso’s layouts are especially strong in the opening material, where different conversations and locations are visually paired to show how the powerful and powerless reflect each other. He can make a simple exchange in a park, a bar, or a hotel suite feel loaded with menace. His use of shadows, extreme angles, and stylized expressions gives the book its distinctive noir personality, but he never lets the style overwhelm the storytelling. You always know where to look and what emotional beat matters most. The guest pinup pages included around the original twenty-fifth issue are a neat bonus, though they do not have the same storytelling impact as Risso’s regular pages.

A Foregone Tomorrow is not as emotionally focused as Hang Up on the Hang Low, and it can feel more like a bridge volume than a completely self-contained story. But it is a very important bridge. This is where the series proves that its revenge setup was never just a clever anthology gimmick. The briefcases, bullets, and personal vendettas are all part of a larger conflict between men and women who believe they own the world and the people willing to burn that world down. By the end, Agent Graves is still mysterious, the Trust is still dangerous, and the Minutemen are only beginning to emerge from the past. But the road ahead is much clearer, and much more threatening.

100 Bullets Vol. 4: A Foregone Tomorrow is a strong, complicated, and occasionally messy installment that rewards readers who have been paying attention. Azzarello continues building the series into a sprawling noir conspiracy filled with damaged people, crooked power structures, and revenge that never comes without a price. Risso keeps the whole thing looking stylish, dangerous, and alive. It may not be the easiest volume to jump into, but for anyone following the series from the beginning, this is the point where the larger machine finally starts roaring to life.

100 Bullets Volume Reviews

Review: 100 Bullets Vol. 3 – Hang Up on the Hang Low

Posted on by Arleigh

“I never told you to kill him. I just gave you the opportunity.” — Agent Graves

With Hang Up on the Hang Low, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso continue to prove that 100 Bullets is far more than a series about revenge fantasies and mysterious briefcases. The first two collections introduced the basic concept of Agent Graves approaching damaged people with a gun, one hundred untraceable bullets, and proof of who ruined their lives. That premise was already strong, but this third volume starts showing just how much uglier and more complicated the world around Graves really is. This is where the series begins to feel less like a set of loosely connected crime stories and more like a large, carefully constructed noir epic. The revenge angle is still present, but it is no longer the whole point. The people who receive Graves’s offer are getting pulled into a much bigger machine, whether they realize it or not.

The main character this time is Loop Hughes, a young man who has spent much of his life acting tougher, smarter, and more connected than he actually is. He is a small-time street hustler, someone who talks a good game but clearly has no real direction in life. That makes him an interesting choice for Agent Graves. Loop is not someone who has already been crushed by a terrible tragedy in the same direct way as Dizzy Cordova or Lee Dolan. His grievance is more personal and more complicated: his father, a man known as the Rain, abandoned him and his mother when he was still a child. Loop has built up years of anger around that absence, even if he has never really known what to do with it.

When Graves gives Loop one of his trademark attaché cases, it seems at first like another straightforward setup. Loop has the gun, the bullets, the evidence, and the freedom to act without legal consequences. The temptation is there, and Azzarello makes it easy to understand why Loop would want to pull the trigger. The Rain did not just leave; he left a hole in Loop’s life that the younger man has filled with insecurity, bravado, and bad decisions. But the story becomes much more interesting when Loop finally finds his father and discovers that the Rain is not some helpless old man waiting to be punished. He is deeply involved with dangerous people and has his own place in the criminal underworld.

That is where Hang Up on the Hang Low really finds its momentum. Rather than immediately becoming a story about a son taking revenge on his father, it turns into a story about Loop being drawn into the world that helped create his father in the first place. The Rain is connected to organized crime, old grudges, and the kind of people who can make a murder look like business as usual. Loop thinks he is finally getting some answers, but every answer only opens another door to something worse. He is in well over his head almost from the beginning, and the book does a great job of making the reader feel that constant pressure.

Loop is one of the more sympathetic characters in the series so far because, underneath all of his posturing, he does seem to have a conscience. He is not innocent, exactly, and he certainly makes some dumb choices, but he is not naturally cruel. He wants respect, money, and an explanation for why his father left, but he also cares about people in a way that many of the hardened gangsters around him do not. Azzarello does not turn him into a saint, though. Loop is still immature and easily manipulated, which is exactly why his journey through this volume becomes so tragic. He keeps thinking he has found a way to gain control over his life, only to learn that somebody else has already decided the terms.

Agent Graves remains the most fascinating figure in the book. In the early volumes, he could be seen as a mysterious avenger or a kind of grim wish-fulfillment figure, handing victims the tools to get justice on their own terms. This collection makes him feel more unsettling than heroic. Graves is not necessarily lying to Loop, but he is absolutely steering him toward a result that serves some larger purpose. He is a man who sees people as pieces on a board, and even when he gives them a choice, it is hard to believe that he does not already have an idea of how they will respond. The briefcase may offer freedom from prosecution, but it never offers freedom from consequences.

The book also continues expanding the larger mythology involving the Trust and the Minutemen. Azzarello is still not explaining everything, and that can be frustrating if someone wants clean answers right away. At the same time, the lack of full explanation is part of what gives 100 Bullets its pull. The reader gets the sense that every crime boss, stray conversation, and seemingly random killing could matter later. People who initially seem like minor players keep revealing hidden ties to the larger conspiracy. Even the deaths and betrayals carry an extra weight because they do not feel random. This series is building toward something, and by the end of this volume it is clear that Graves has been setting events in motion for a long time.

Eduardo Risso’s artwork continues to be one of the best things about the series. His characters look stylized without ever feeling too cartoonish, and he gives every person a distinct physical presence. You can tell who is dangerous just by the way they stand in a room. You can tell who is nervous by the way they avoid eye contact. Risso’s visual storytelling is especially effective in the bar scenes, street confrontations, and quiet moments when characters are trying to decide whether to trust someone. He knows how to make a room feel crowded, seedy, and tense without overloading the page with unnecessary detail.

Risso also has a great eye for the ugly atmosphere of this world. The bars look worn down, the apartments feel cramped, and the city streets always seem like they are one bad decision away from turning violent. The noir influence is obvious, but it does not feel like a cheap imitation of old detective stories. It feels more like a modern crime story filtered through noir imagery: low lighting, cigarette smoke, suspicious looks, crooked power structures, and people who keep trying to escape the past only to be dragged deeper into it. The coloring helps the art stand out as well, giving the grimy environments and tense confrontations a little extra visual bite without making the book look overly polished.

The ending is what really makes the volume stick. Azzarello does not rely on a giant surprise twist so much as a sense of inevitability. You can see the bad outcome coming, but that does not make it any easier to watch. Loop spends most of the story trying to become somebody who matters, somebody with control and power, and the cruel part is that the criminal world is more than happy to let him feel that way for a little while. By the time reality catches up with him, he has learned that the people offering him opportunity were never offering him a real way out.

100 Bullets Vol. 3: Hang Up on the Hang Low is the strongest collection in the series so far. It has a more focused central story than Split Second Chance, while still pushing the wider conspiracy forward in a meaningful way. Loop is a memorable lead because he is flawed, angry, and trying desperately to look fearless when he is really just lost. Azzarello keeps the dialogue sharp and streetwise, Risso keeps every page visually charged, and the larger story continues to get more dangerous the more we learn about it. This is the point where 100 Bullets stops merely promising that it has a major story to tell and starts delivering on that promise.

100 Bullets Volume Reviews

Review: 100 Bullets Vol. 2 – Split Second Chance

Posted on by Arleigh

“Asking questions is free… but the answers—they can cost you your life.” — Agent Graves

In the first volume of 100 Bullets, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso laid down a stunning thesis for their magnum opus: a world where the wronged are offered the ultimate temptation of consequence-free vengeance. That volume, First Shot, Last Call, functioned as a potent thematic introduction, establishing the series’ central moral quandary through self-contained stories. With Split Second Chance, the creative team makes a crucial pivot. This collection, gathering issues #6-14, successfully preserves the gritty, anthology-style explorations of revenge while beginning to weave a much larger, more intricate conspiracy that feels poised to consume everything in its path. If the first book was a promise, this second volume is the first, gripping step toward its fulfillment, even if it occasionally stumbles under the weight of its own ambition.

The volume opens with “Short Con, Long Odds,” a two-part story that initially feels like familiar territory. We are introduced to Chucky, a small-time gambler fresh out of prison, who is approached by Agent Graves. As before, Graves offers incontrovertible proof of a betrayal and the tools for retribution—this time against Chucky’s childhood friend, Pony, who has seemingly built a successful gambling empire on his partner’s misery. What makes this story stand out is its focus on the petty, desperate world of gambling. Risso’s art is especially potent here, capturing the sad, seedy underbelly of street-corner hustles and back-alley games. The story’s conclusion, which unfolds off-panel, is a masterclass in implication, leaving the reader to piece together the grim aftermath. It is a solid entry that reinforces the series’ core premise, but its real purpose becomes clear retroactively as the larger plot comes into focus.

This is the volume where the series’ title begins to earn its meaning. Agent Graves is no longer just a cipher; he is revealed to be a man with a history, and Split Second Chance doles out those histories with deliberate, tantalizing precision. The most significant revelation comes in “Day, Hour, Minute… Man,” where we learn about The Trust and the enigmatic Minutemen. This arc peels back the curtain, suggesting that Graves and his associate, Mr. Shepherd, were once part of this shadowy organization before faking their deaths to escape its clutches. The introduction of Lono, the chilling hitman from the first volume’s “The Samurai,” becomes far more significant. His meeting with Graves is charged with a dangerous, unspoken history, confirming that Graves’s “gifts” are a part of a larger, more personal agenda. The plot is thickening nicely, and the promise of a sprawling, interconnected narrative starts to feel exhilaratingly real.

However, it is in the standalone stories that Azzarello’s writing truly shines, showcasing his ability to extract raw, human emotion from his noir framework. The standout is undoubtedly “Heartbreak, Sunnyside Up,” a single-issue story that follows a hard-working diner waitress named Rose. Rose’s life is a grinding cycle of poverty and worry for her runaway daughter. When Agent Graves appears, he doesn’t just offer her a gun and a target; he delivers a slow, agonizing explanation of how her daughter became a heroin-addicted prostitute after being molested by her own father. It is a moment of pure, unflinching tragedy. The brilliance of the story lies not in the revenge itself, but in the horror of the revelation. Azzarello forces the reader and the character to sit with the unbearable truth, making the subsequent act of violence feel less like empowerment and more like a desperate, last resort. It serves as a powerful reminder that “sometimes evil is closer to home than we think.”

“The Right Ear, Left in the Cold” offers a fascinating twist on the formula by introducing Cole Burns, a deadly assassin living undercover as a neighborhood ice cream man. This story introduces the concept of the “sleeper agent,” a tool that Graves and Shepherd can “reactivate” for their own ends. Cole is a more capable and cold-blooded protagonist than the average victim, which makes his story less about moral choice and more about professional obligation. Yet, it deepens the mythology, showing that Graves has an entire network of operatives at his disposal, further blurring the line between righteous avenger and puppet master. His ultimate task of retrieving the briefcase from Dizzy Cordova in the final arc, “Parlez Kung Vous,” masterfully ties this new plot thread back to the series’ very first protagonist.

Throughout it all, Eduardo Risso’s artwork remains the series’ undeniable and consistent anchor. His style, which perfectly captured the cold, deliberate mood in the first volume, continues to excel in Split Second Chance. Risso’s panels have a cinematic rhythm; his compositions are economical yet expressive, using deep shadows and stark contrasts to build a world that feels dangerous and morally unstable. He excels at conveying unspoken tension and character attitude through posture and expression, a vital skill for a noir story where much is left unsaid. While some readers may find the depiction of female characters hyper-sexualized, Risso and colorist Grant Goleash unquestionably create a visual language that is sleek, uneasy, and unmistakably noir. The story’s pace may occasionally lag, but the art is always arresting.

100 Bullets: Split Second Chance is a more challenging and rewarding book than its predecessor. It sacrifices some of the first volume’s focus and self-contained impact to lay the foundation for something much grander. This is the volume where the series starts to earn its reputation for dense, interwoven plotting. It is a work of deliberate, intricate world-building that asks the reader to be patient and pay close attention. It is not without its flaws—some stories feel more like necessary setups than complete narratives, and the unrelentingly grim tone can be exhausting. Yet, the moments of genuine human tragedy, like Rose’s story, and the thrilling expansion of the central mystery make Split Second Chance an essential step in the journey. It confidently expands the world of 100 Bullets, deepening its mythology and proving that this is a saga built for the long haul.

100 Bullets Volume Reviews

Anime You Should Be Watching: Cowboy Bebop (Kaubōi Bibappu)

Posted on by Arleigh

“Men always seem to think about their past before they die, as though they were frantically searching for proof that they truly lived.” — Spike Spiegel

There are certain works of art that transcend their medium to become cultural landmarks, and Cowboy Bebop is one of them. Shinichirō Watanabe’s magnum opus isn’t just a great anime; it’s the classic for many, the show that gets brought up in the same breath as Akira and Ghost in the Shell when people talk about anime as an art form. Even now, decades after its initial run, it absolutely earns that reputation, which is why it non-negotiably belongs on any new anime fan’s must-see list. If someone tells me they want to get into anime but don’t know where to start, this is the first title I throw at them, because it serves as the ultimate gateway, a perfect primer on what the medium is capable of.

At its core, Cowboy Bebop is a space western noir, a genre mash-up that sounds chaotic on paper but plays out with such effortless cool that you never question it. You’ve got Spike Spiegel, a former syndicate hitman with a killer right hook and a death wish; Jet Black, a grizzled ex-cop with a cybernetic arm and a heart of gold; Faye Valentine, a femme fatale with amnesia and a gambling problem; Radical Edward, a chaos-gremlin child hacker; and Ein, a data-dog who is frankly way smarter than everyone else. They’re bounty hunters in the year 2071, just scraping by in a solar system that’s still recovering from a major accident that made Earth largely uninhabitable, and they’re not saving the world—they’re just trying to make enough woolongs to afford their next meal of bell peppers and beef, which, as Jet will remind you, never actually has any beef.

The episodic structure is a huge part of the show’s charm, as you never really know what you’re going to get from one episode to the next. One week, it’s a high-octane action romp; the next, it’s a somber, almost silent meditation on loss; and then it might pivot to a bizarre, almost comedic episode about a fridge floating through space. This variety keeps things endlessly fresh, but it’s the overarching narrative, the slow burn of Spike’s past with the Red Dragon Syndicate, that gives the whole thing its devastating emotional weight. The show rewards multiple viewings because you pick up on new little details, new visual cues, and new emotional resonances every time, and the animation by Sunrise, even by today’s standards, is fluid and expressive with a cinematic flair that often feels like watching a classic film.

If you talk about Cowboy Bebop and don’t immediately mention the music, you’ve missed the entire point. The influence of the soundtrack is so profound that it’s essentially another main character, as Watanabe has always had a brilliant, intuitive understanding of music’s power in storytelling. With composer Yoko Kanno at the helm, he created something that transcends a typical score; the music isn’t just there to heighten the mood, it shapes the mood, defines the narrative, and creates the show’s entire identity. “Tank!” is perhaps the most iconic anime opening of all time, a roaring, brassy jazz piece that screams “style and energy” before you’ve even seen a single frame, but Kanno’s genius is in her range, shifting seamlessly from the bluesy harmonica of “Rain” to the ethereal, Celtic-tinged vocals of “Adieu” to the frantic rock of “What Planet is This?” during a chaotic fight, all of which makes the space-faring adventure feel gritty and lived-in but also achingly beautiful.

This masterful use of sound creates the overall mood of the series, which is one of profound, melancholy cool, steeped in a pervasive sense of loneliness and existential drift. Each of the main characters is running from something—a past they can’t escape, a memory they can’t forget, or a future they can’t imagine—and Spike lives by a philosophy that a man only dies when he’s forgotten, with his entire arc about confronting a past he’s been trying to outrun. They are a found family, but they’re a family of loners, each so wrapped up in their own personal baggage that they can never truly connect on a deeper level; they share meals, they bicker, they fight together, but they rarely share their deepest fears or true feelings, creating a bittersweet undercurrent to all their interactions. This juxtaposition—the cool, action-packed surface and the lonely, emotional depth—is what makes Cowboy Bebop so unforgettable.

For a newcomer, that blend is exactly why the show serves as a perfect gateway, as you don’t need to be steeped in anime tropes or have a tolerance for over-the-top melodrama to appreciate it. The storytelling is grounded, character-driven, and deeply human, with a cinematic sensibility that feels instantly familiar to anyone who loves Western films, noir, or sci-fi, sidestepping the more esoteric quirks that can sometimes be a barrier for new fans and delivering pure, universal storytelling. It shows that anime can be mature, thoughtful, and emotionally complex without being dark and miserable for the sake of it, setting the bar incredibly high and giving newcomers a clear benchmark for quality.

So, is it as good as everyone says it is? Yes, it’s a masterclass in visual storytelling, world-building, and character development, managing to be mature without being gratuitous, philosophical without being pretentious, and deeply sad without being depressing. It’s a singular work of art where every single element—the animation, the story, the characters, and most importantly, the music—aligns perfectly to create something that is so much more than the sum of its parts. Honestly, if you watch Cowboy Bebop and don’t find something to love, anime might just not be your thing, but for the vast majority, it’s the beginning of a beautiful, lifelong obsession. It’s the show you’ll recommend to your friends, rewatch years later, and still find yourself tearing up at the finale—essential viewing, plain and simple. It’s a perfect, beautiful, jazz-infused tragedy, and you’re gonna carry that weight, whether you want to or not.

Anime You Should Be Watching

Review: Dark City (dir. by Alex Proyas)

Posted on by Arleigh

“First there was darkness. Then came the strangers.” — Dr. Schreber

Dark City opens like a half-remembered nightmare, and that’s exactly the kind of vibe the movie sustains from start to finish. Alex Proyas builds a world that feels trapped between a detective story, a fever dream, and a sci-fi conspiracy, and the result is one of the most atmospheric films of the late ’90s.

What makes Dark City so distinctive is the way it treats its setting like an active force rather than a backdrop. The city itself feels oppressive and unstable, all sharp angles, heavy shadows, looming buildings, and damp streets that seem permanently stuck in the middle of the night. That visual approach owes a lot to German expressionism, with its warped architecture and unnatural spaces, and Proyas uses that legacy to make the city feel psychologically trapped and visually wrong in the best way. You can see the noir influence too, especially in the low-key lighting, the sense of fatalism, and the way the whole film feels like a detective story pushed through a nightmare filter.

The sci-fi side of the film is just as memorable because it doesn’t rely on shiny futurism. Instead, it leans into mystery, memory loss, and identity breakdown, which gives it a more unsettling and human quality. That’s part of why the film works so well: the weirdness is not just decorative, it’s built into the story’s central questions. The result is a movie that feels cerebral without becoming cold, and atmospheric without losing narrative momentum. Even when the film is being highly stylized, it still moves with purpose, and that keeps the viewer locked in.

The performances help sell all of that, especially Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch. He has to carry the audience through confusion, paranoia, and growing dread, and he does it with a mix of physical vulnerability and stubborn intensity. William Hurt gives the film a weary, grounded presence, while Kiefer Sutherland turns Dr. Schreber into one of those slippery, unforgettable supporting characters who always seems one step ahead of the audience. Jennifer Connelly brings warmth and melancholy to the film, which matters a lot because her character gives the story a human anchor amid all the conceptual chaos. The cast doesn’t play the material like it’s just an exercise in style; they commit to the oddness while keeping the emotional stakes legible.

What’s especially impressive is how the acting matches the movie’s visual language. A lesser cast could have made this feel overcooked or self-conscious, but here the heightened performances fit the artificial, dreamlike quality of the world. The characters are somewhat archetypal, yet that works because the film is so interested in identity as something constructed, remembered, and manipulated. In that sense, the performances aren’t just good in isolation; they’re part of the movie’s design, helping it feel like a living puzzle instead of a hollow aesthetic showcase.

The film’s influence on later sci-fi thrillers is hard to miss. A lot of movies after Dark City seem to borrow its basic flavor: the paranoid atmosphere, the reality-questioning premise, the noir-scifi crossover, and the feeling that the world itself is a conspiracy. Films like The Matrix, Memento, Minority Report, Equilibrium, and even Sin City all exist in a creative space that Dark City helped sharpen or popularize, whether directly or indirectly. It didn’t always get the mainstream recognition of some of those titles, but in terms of tone and visual influence, it was incredibly important.

Part of that legacy comes from the way Dark City captured a very specific late-’90s anxiety: the fear that memory, identity, and reality could all be manufactured. That idea became a major engine for sci-fi thrillers moving forward, especially films that wanted to combine philosophical unease with stylized action or mystery. Even the movie’s look, with its blend of noir shadows and surreal production design, became a kind of template for how to make sci-fi feel adult, moody, and psychologically unstable. It helped prove that science fiction didn’t need clean lines and sterile futures to feel intelligent; it could be dirty, haunted, and expressionist.

Dark City remains such a strong film because it understands that style and theme should feed each other. The shadows, the tilted buildings, the endless night, and the fractured sense of self all point in the same direction, creating a unified experience that feels deliberately unsteady. That’s why it lingers: not just because it looks incredible, but because it turns visual design into emotional pressure. It’s a smart, strange, and beautifully murky piece of sci-fi noir that helped clear the way for a whole wave of thrillers that wanted to feel just as paranoid and disorienting.

In the end, Dark City is the kind of movie that rewards both first-time viewers and people revisiting it years later. The plot twists are memorable, but the real achievement is the atmosphere, which is so complete it almost becomes the main character. Proyas made a film that feels like it came from the crossroads of German expressionism, classic noir, and modern sci-fi anxiety, and the result is a cult landmark that still casts a long shadow over the genre.

Review: Angel Heart (dir. by Alan Parker)

Posted on by Arleigh

“They say there’s just enough religion in the world to make men hate one another, but not enough to make them love.” — Louis Cyphre

Angel Heart is one of those ’80s movies that sneaks up on you, starting like a gritty detective yarn before plunging into supernatural muck that leaves you questioning everything. Alan Parker’s 1987 neo-noir gem, adapted from William Hjortsberg’s Falling Angel, stars Mickey Rourke as Harry Angel, a down-and-out private eye in 1955 New York who gets pulled into a case that reeks of bad karma from the jump. It’s casual viewing at first—rain-slicked streets, fedoras, the whole bit—but Parker’s got a critical eye for blending hardboiled noir with occult horror, making it stick like gum on your shoe long after the credits roll.

Harry’s your classic hard luck of a gumshoe, hustling divorce cases in a dingy office when this slick mystery man named Louis Cypher (Robert De Niro, chewing scenery with devilish glee—get the name pun?) hires him to track down Johnny Favorite, a crooner who vanished after World War II. Cypher’s got cash to burn and an unsettling vibe that hints at deeper darkness, pulling Harry into a web of lies from the start. Harry follows the trail from NYC’s jazz dives to the steamy underbelly of New Orleans, where voodoo rituals, bloody murders, and hallucinatory nightmares start piling up like bodies in a back alley. Parker does a solid job adapting the source material’s clash of noir cynicism with Southern gothic rot, but his direction leans too heavily on the style of what he thinks a Southern gothic noir is supposed to look like—overripe with misty bayous and candlelit rituals—instead of letting the narrative drive the supernatural melding with the hardboiled detective beats.

What hooks you early is Rourke’s performance—he’s at his pre-meltdown peak here, all brooding intensity and rumpled charm, nailing the everyman unraveling under cosmic pressure. De Niro’s Cypher is a masterclass in minimalism; he lounges in that art deco office peeling a hard-boiled egg with surgical precision, dropping biblical barbs that land like gut punches. It’s not showy, but every word drips menace, elevating the whole film from B-movie territory to something almost operatic. Then there’s Lisa Bonet, fresh off The Cosby Show, diving headfirst into an X-rated role as Epiphany Proudfoot, Johnny’s daughter with a voodoo twist. Her steamy, sweat-drenched sex scene with Harry is erotic nightmare fuel—raw, uncomfortable, and unforgettable, pushing boundaries in a way that got the film slapped with an X rating before settling on R. Parker’s not afraid to get gory either; decapitations and ritual killings hit with visceral thud, but it’s the psychological slow burn that really twists the knife.

The film’s neo-noir DNA shines through in its voiceover narration, shadowy cinematography by Michael Seresin (those rain-lashed rooftops and fog-shrouded bayous are poetry), and a Trevor Jones score laced with eerie blues that pulses like a heartbeat from hell. Parker shifts gears from straight detective procedural to full-on supernatural dread, introducing occult hints gradually—a creepy voodoo ceremony here, a phantom vision there—until the genre flip feels inevitable yet shocking. New Orleans becomes a character itself, all humid decay and ritual undercurrents, contrasting sharp with New York’s cold urban grind. It’s Parker’s only stab at horror (he’s more Mississippi Burning or The Commitments guy), but while he nails the glossy nightmare aesthetic, the heavy stylistic hand sometimes overshadows the organic fusion of noir fatalism and otherworldly dread that the story begs for.

Critically, though, Angel Heart isn’t flawless. The late-game turns pack a wallop but drag a bit in laying out their logic, making you question the elaborate cat-and-mouse when a quicker path might’ve sufficed. Some dated effects in the dream sequences feel cheesy now, a minor blemish on an otherwise polished gem. Pacing sags slightly in the middle as Harry chases red herrings, and while the cast is gold, supporting players like Brownie McGhee as Toots Sweet add flavor without always deepening the mystery. Still, these are nitpicks; Parker’s atmospheric command and thematic depth—exploring guilt, denial, and the inescapability of one’s darker impulses—elevate it above pulp, even if the visuals occasionally feel more like a mood board than narrative propulsion.

Thematically, it’s a devil’s playground. Angel Heart riffs on classic Faustian tropes, but Parker’s critical lens probes deeper into fractured identity and moral rot. Harry’s journey mirrors the novel’s hardboiled cynicism, but the film amps the supernatural, turning noir fatalism into outright damnation. Mirrors recur obsessively—shattered glass, reflections warped by blood—symbolizing a crumbling self-image as buried truths bubble up. Voodoo isn’t just window dressing; it’s woven into the fabric, blending African diaspora mysticism with Catholic guilt for a uniquely American horror. Parker’s post-war setting adds layers, nodding to shell-shocked vets and racial undercurrents without preaching, letting the era’s shadows do the talking, though one wishes the story’s momentum had guided the gothic flourishes rather than the other way around.

Visually, it’s a feast. Seresin’s camera glides through rain-swept nights and candlelit rituals with painterly flair, while Parker’s British outsider gaze infuses Americana with alien menace—think Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil but grimier. The egg-peeling scene alone is iconic, De Niro’s Cypher dissecting morality with yolk-stained fingers. And those final confrontations? Subtle, actor-driven tension that relies on faces, not effects, delivering chills through implication rather than revelation. Jones’ score weaves jazz horns with dissonant strings, amplifying the bluesy fatalism; it’s the perfect auditory companion to Harry’s descent, grounding the style in emotional truth.

For fans of the genre mashup, Angel Heart is essential—think Chinatown meets The Exorcist, with Parker’s glossy sheen making it pop. Rourke’s turn here is arguably his career best, raw and vulnerable before the tabloid implosion; De Niro proves he’s the king of charismatic evil. Bonet’s bold pivot shocked audiences, earning a career-defining role that proved her chops beyond sitcom smiles.

Rewatch value is sky-high; the slow build rewards patience, and clues hidden in plain sight make it a puzzle box. It’s not subtle—Cypher’s name screams spoilers—but that’s part of the fun, a winking nod to infernal cleverness. Parker’s eye for detail shines in production design: peeling wallpaper in tenements, incense-heavy apartments, gator-infested swamps. It’s immersive, oppressive, and oddly seductive, with every frame dripping atmosphere that pulls you deeper into the haze, even if the narrative sometimes plays catch-up to the visuals.

In a sea of jump-scare slop, Angel Heart stands tall as thoughtful horror-noir that lingers because it forces you to confront the monster in the mirror. If you’re digging into ’80s cult classics or just crave a detective tale with teeth, fire it up. It’s flawed, yeah—style occasionally eclipsing story—but those flaws make it human, much like Harry himself.

Concrete Jungle: REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER (United Artists 1975)

Posted on by gary loggins

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REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER usually gets lumped in with the plethora of 70’s cop films, but I viewed it as a neo-noir. It’s structure tells the tale mainly in flashback, from the participating character’s differing perspective, and is dark as hell. I’m sure co-screenwriters Abby Mann and Ernest Tidyman were well aware of what they were doing: both men were former Oscar winners (Mann for JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG, Tidyman for THE FRENCH CONNECTION   ) familiar with the conventions of the genre. The solid cast features a powerhouse collection of 70’s character actors, led by Michael Moriarty’s patented over-the-edge performance as protagonist Bo Lockley.

Lockley is a young, idealistic cop caught up in circumstances beyond his control, snaring him in an inescapable downward spiral. The film opens with a pair of New York City detectives discovering the body of a young woman, who turns out to be one of their own, an undercover…

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The Big Let-Down: CHANDLER (MGM 1971)

Posted on by gary loggins

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“Some (producers) are able and humane men and some are low-grade individuals with the morals of a goat, the artistic integrity of a slot machine, and the manners of a floorwalker with delusions of grandeur”- Raymond Chandler, “Writers in Hollywood”, first published in Esquire Magazine, Nov. 1945

I had high hopes for CHANDLER, I really did. An homage to the hard-boiled fiction of Raymond Chandler (born July 23, 1888) with Warren Oates as the titular detective sounded like it’d be right up my dark alley. But as much as I wanted to like this movie, I was let down by its slow pace, convoluted script, and butchering by studio execs. Much of the film was cut, scenes were replaced, and the result is an evocative mood piece that ultimately doesn’t satisfy the noir lover in me.

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I don’t have a problem with Warren Oates as Chandler, with his Bogie-esque look and low-key performance…

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Somebody’s Watching Me: Jane Fonda in KLUTE (Warner Brothers 1971)

Posted on by gary loggins

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Original Cinema Quad Poster - Movie Film Posters

I was going to post on KLUTE last week, but between my Internet service going on the fritz and getting swept up in Oscar Fever, I never got around to it. Better late than never though, and KLUTE is definitely a film worth your time. It’s a neo-noir directed by that master of 70’s paranoia, Alan J. Pakula, who’s also responsible for THE PARALLAX VIEW, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, and SOPHIE’S CHOICE. KLUTE is both an intense thriller and character study, with an Oscar-winning performance by Jane Fonda.

PI John Klute is sent to New York City to investigate the disappearance of his friend, Tom Gruneman. Seems Gruneman has been sending obscene letters to Bree Daniels, a call girl he met there. Klute sets up shop in her apartment building, shadowing her and tapping her phone. When he finally goes to question her, Bree says she doesn’t remember Gruneman, but it’s possible he could…

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