History ComicBook / OneHundredBullets

--> --'''Brian Azzarello's introduction in the final trade paperback.'''

* ShoutOut: The Minutemen are a gang of seven badass career criminals dressed in identical black suits and ties, who disband suddenly when they're involved in a crime gone wrong. [[ReservoirDogs Sounds familiar.]]

* Both FanService and FetishFuel.

* CombatPragmatist: Victor Ray

** Book 13 is "Wilt", a reference to the basketball player Wilt Chamberlain (who has "13" on his jersey, and is famous for being the first basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game).

** Book 1 is "'''First''' Shot, Last Call"
** Book 2 is "Split '''Second''' Chance"

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: With one exception, the title of each of the collections is based around its number. Book two is "Split Second Chance", while book ten is "Decayed" -- sounds like decade. Some titles don't actually contain the numerical pun, but instead are cleverly part of a phrase that would usually include that number, such as "Samurai," the seventh book, after ''SevenSamurai''; "The Hard Way," the eighth, after a dice roll in the game of craps that involves rolling an eight; and the twelfth book, "Dirty," after ''TheDirtyDozen''. Book eleven is titled, "Once Upon a Crime," which at first doesn't make sense -- unless you know Spanish. The title of the thirteenth and final book, "Wilt", is a two-in-one; Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain not only has 13 as his jersey number, but is famous for having scored 100 points in a single game. The only book to break this tradition is "Hang Up on the Hang Low" (it would otherwise have been title "The Charm", as in "Third time's the-"), which was named after a Story Arc contained in the book; the story in question had won an Eisner Award.

* AncientConspiracy: The Trust were the real [[spoiler:founders of the United States.]]

* TheFettered: Agent Graves. He has a very strict moral code based on personal ethics, and he made sure that all the Minutemen he had a part in creating had a similarly rigid code of honor. Even Lono, CompleteMonster that he is, [[EvenEvilHasStandards has a thing he won't do.]]

* KryptoniteFactor: The only thing that grosses [[CompleteMonster Lono]] out is [[spoiler:anal sex. As he puts it: "We all got [[GenreSavvy our Kryptonite]], Jack...[[{{Squick}} shit on the dick]] is it for me." ]]

* ManOnTheGrassyKnoll: In an issue that offers us a first look at Graves in his earlier days as a Minuteman, we also see him visited by a retired baseball player whom he offered one of his infamous opportunities; Whilst no names are named, the baseball player is heavily implied to be ''Joe DiMaggio'' as the the man on the grassy knoll, taking revenge by assassinating ''JohnFKennedy'' for the murder of ''MarilynMonroe''.

* WhoShotJFK: Dealt with in one issue that also partially introduces Milo. Whilst ''Joe DiMaggio'' is stated to be TheManOnTheGrassyKnoll, he is not directly stated to be Kennedy's killer. Instead, Graves suggests he could have fired the killing shot, but there were also other people operating for reasons separate to DiMaggio's that were in Dallas that day. Graves also adds that whether DiMaggio made the kill is beside the point, given he still got what he wanted, in the end.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Lono possibly pulls one of these. It's unclear if he survives being shot by Dizzy and falling out of a high window. Consider what he survived earlier in the series, it's entirely possible that he does.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:Loop]] does this at the very end of the series.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Best exemplified by Wylie Times, "The Point Man"; every shot he fires has a destination and will hit its mark.

* TheFettered: Agent Graves. He has a very strict moral code based on personal ethics, and he made sure that all the Minutemen he had a part in creating had a similarly rigid code of honor. Even Lono, CompleteMonster that he is, [[EvenEvilHasStandards has thing he won't do.]]

* AncientConspiracy: The Trust were the real [[spoiler:founders of the United States.]]
* AlternateHistory: In ''100 Bullets'', Graves is partly responsible for [[spoiler:the assassination of John F. Kennedy after he gave Joe Dimaggio a chance to avenge the death of Marilyn Monroe.]]
* AnyoneCanDie

* ArcWords: Croatoa, the word that triggers the awakening of the Minutemen.
* {{Badass}}: The Minutemen, Crete, Mr. Hughes.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Most of the cast, but especially the Minutemen in their matching black suits.
* BadassLongcoat: Shepherd and, eventually, Lono.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: The moral ambiguity makes it look like GrayAndGreyMorality at first. [[MoralEventHorizon Don't be fooled]]. However, lots of story arcs do go through the whole thing without making a single moral judgment on the characters. Whether or not people get what they deserve, as well as what, exactly, they deserve, is left very ambiguous. The only real moral lesson at the end is: if you live your life through violence and corruption, you'd better be prepared to die by them too.
* BlackComedy: As black as it gets. Much of it is in-universe, but then we get "Did you bust a nut when I...?"
* [[spoiler:BolivianArmyEnding]]: [[spoiler:The final page of the series shows Graves and Dizzy in the burning Medici manor. Dizzy lies in Graves' lap, possibly because of a spinal injury, and points a gun at his head.]]
* BookEnds: ''The Counterfifth Detective'' begins and ends with the same internal monologue.
* BoomHeadshot: There are many. Wiley in particular pretty much only does headshots. Not a bullet wasted. Every shot has a point.
* BottomlessMagazines: Subverted.
* ButtMonkey: Branch.
* TheButcher: Remi Rome.

* CheshireCatGrin: When you see Graves smile, it's usually bad news for someone else. And Lono: his smile is sometimes the ''only'' thing you see, in the dark.
* TheChessmaster: Graves never leaves anything unaccounted for, same for Augustus Medici.
* ChickMagnet: Cole Burns, Wiley Times, Victor Ray and Benito Medici (except to Megan, who loves to play with his obvious lust for her).
* ClickHello
* ClusterFBomb: Frequently. It even becomes a plot point in one book -- when Dizzy and Wylie run into a pair of contract killers in New Orleans, the killers are able to figure out who Wylie is because they hear him yell "Fuck!" and recognize his voice from when he said it before in the dark. Annoyed, Dizzy says [[LampshadeHanging "You might want to expand your 'freaking out' vocabulary!"]]

* CombatPragmatist: Victor Ray
* DevelopmentHell: Acclaim tried to make a video game version before they went bankrupt, and another developer is trying to without any known release date.
* DissonantSerenity: Victor Ray, better known as "The Rain", is able to keep his emotions in check and can execute his mission with utmost efficiency. One time he was able to give off a lecture about the origins of The Trust '''IN THE MIDDLE OF A GUNFIGHT''' without even breaking a sweat.
* CrypticConversation: Often occurs between members of The Trust and/or The Minutemen.
* DramaticIrony: The deaths of [[spoiler:the Rome Brothers. Ronnie was on his way to the hospital to see Remi, who was there recovering from both hands being amputated. Remi believed that their mother had died of a heart attack, which he never got the chance to learn was just "the agita." Ronnie, knowing their mother was okay, was likely going to use the information to comfort Remi and maybe try to give him a reason to live. But Ronnie got in a car accident on the way, and was brought to the very same hospital Remi was in. As Ronnie was being wheeled inside on a gurney, likely a quadriplegic, Remi jumped off the top of the building. Ronnie's eyes open in shock as he sees his brother about to hit the pavement.]]
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The Rome Brothers.
* FaceHeelRevolvingDoor: It can get extremely difficult to tell who Shepherd and Lono are working for.
* Both FanService and FetishFuel.
* TheFettered: Agent Graves. He has a very strict moral code based on personal ethics, and he made sure that all the Minutemen he had a part in creating had a similarly rigid code of honor. Even Lono, CompleteMonster that he is, [[EvenEvilHasStandards has thing he won't do.]]
* FunetikAksent: Used quite effectively to show accents of the Urban, Southern and Louisiana variety.
* FemmeFatale: Megan Dietrich and Echo Memoria.
* GambitPileup: Where to start? Besides Graves and Augustus, some of the Minutemen have plans of their own, as do the smaller families within The Trust.
* TheGambler: An entire story arc is devoted to a dice throwing conman named Chucky. Another involves a man named Hank who tries to save his sick wife by winning enough money in a poker game -- and later, seeks revenge on Benito when he raises the stakes too high and forces him out of the game. Benito Medici loves gambling and has extraordinary luck. Branch also loves to gamble but his luck comes and goes.
* GoodOldFisticuffs: Milo is an exceptional fist-fighter and can put down trained fighters twice his size with just a few punches.
* GunsAkimbo: Minutemen have done this on more than one occasion, with deadly results.
* TheGunslinger: The Minutemen
* {{Handguns}}: The preferred weapon of the Minutemen.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: It'd be easier to list the characters who ''don't'' qualify.
* HufflepuffHouse: With thirteen houses in the trust, it's only natural that some get less page time than others. [[spoiler:One house head, Constance Von Hagen, went unnamed until the issue in which she died, and even then it was only her first name. Her surname was up to speculation until WordOfGod confirmed it.]]
* HumanShield: Victor Ray doesn't shy away from using them even if it's a body of a dying partner.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: With one exception, the title of each of the collections is based around its number. Book two is "Split Second Chance", while book ten is "Decayed" -- sounds like decade. Some titles don't actually contain the numerical pun, but instead are cleverly part of a phrase that would usually include that number, such as "Samurai," the seventh book, after ''SevenSamurai''; "The Hard Way," the eighth, after a dice roll in the game of craps that involves rolling an eight; and the twelfth book, "Dirty," after ''TheDirtyDozen''. Book eleven is titled, "Once Upon a Crime," which at first doesn't make sense -- unless you know Spanish. The title of the thirteenth and final book, "Wilt", is a two-in-one; Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain not only has 13 as his jersey number, but is famous for having scored 100 points in a single game. The only book to break this tradition is "Hang Up on the Hang Low" (it would otherwise have been title "The Charm", as in "Third time's the-"), which was named after a Story Arc contained in the book; the story in question had won an Eisner Award.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Best exemplified by Wylie Times, "The Point Man"; every shot he fires has a destination and will hit its mark.
* IntrepidReporter: Branch - He goes out of his way to find out about Graves and his bullets and is forced to flee to France after getting his hand broken by Lono.

* KickTheDog: Members of the Trust and the Minutemen are all guilty of this at different times.

** [[spoiler:Dizzy's and Graves' fates are tied to each other, and left ambiguous at the end. Dizzy can do her job as a Minuteman and kill Graves, but if she does so, she will be unable to escape the burning mansion due to her injuries. The fact Graves put himself in the place where Dizzy would have to make this decision is particularly interesting, since it means Graves is giving her another one of the choices he's so obsessed with: do her job or save her life.]]
* KnightTemplar: Agent Graves.
* KryptoniteFactor: The only thing that grosses [[CompleteMonster Lono]] out is [[spoiler:anal sex. As he puts it: "We all got [[GenreSavvy our Kryptonite]], Jack...[[{{Squick}} shit on the dick]] is it for me." ]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The Minutemen are completely unaware of their previous lives and are essentially normal people until they are activated.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: It's a huge EnsembleCast.
* MacGuffin: The painting.
* MadeOfIron: Jack and Lono. Both take tremendous amounts of punishment. Jack once took three blows from a bat to the back of the head, before finally choosing to turn and headbutt the bat-wielder into submission. During a bare-knuckle boxing match between the two in Volume 10, Victor Ray's explains why to Loop: "It's ''pain'', versus ''no'' pain. Fer one of 'em? Pain is all he ever ''feels''. While the other...''can't'' feel, 'cause his ''head'' is fucked." Even Victor is not sure which is which.
* MafiaPrincess: Subverted twice by Benito Medici - he is a Mob Prince and is well aware of his Father's activities, though he chooses to distance himself.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Many story arcs have either background events or subplots that do not relate to the main story, but often express sublime messages and themes that help enrich them.
* MeaningfulName: Agent Graves is no stranger to getting people killed while Agent Shepherd guides and nurtures Dizzy. There's also [[strike:Romulus and Remus]] Ronnie and Remi Rome.
* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Wylie shoots trumpet player [[strike:Gabe]] Martin after he loses his jaw in a bear trap.]]
* MrExposition: Branch - Whenever he's being featured expect A LOT of background information.
* MsFanservice: Sexualization is present throughout the entire series, but Meghan Dietrich takes the cake.
* MythArc
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:Lono, in the final issue.]]
* NewMeat: Dizzy and Loop.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: In ''Hang Up On The Hang Low''.
* TheObiWan: Mr. Shepherd to Dizzy.
* OffhandBackhand: Lono walks out a door and casually kills a guy who is waiting for him with a gun. Lono simply crushes his trachea with one blow.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Wylie's shoot-out with Mikhail "Coochie" Kuchenko and his gang in the desert.
* OnlyAFleshWound: Cole Burns was shot in the arm but it did not faze him. Later he fished the bullet out in the shower.
* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler:Shepherd to Lono.]]
* PrivateDetective: Milo's job in his "regular" life after he was deactivated as a Minuteman.
* PrivateEyeMonologue: Used heavily in the fifth volume, starring Milo.
* PsychoForHire: Lono.
* PungeonMaster: Milo Garret, both in his hard-boiled narration and in conversation.
* PunnyName: Agent Graves's first name is Phillip, as in Fill up Graves. Then there's Cole Burns ('Coal burns'), Jack Daw ('Jackdaw'), Victor Ray ('Victory'), and Echo Memoria ('Echoic Memory').

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:Loop]] does this at the very end of the series.
* ShoutOut: The Minutemen are a gang of seven badass career criminals dressed in identical black suits and ties, who disband suddenly when they're involved in a crime gone wrong. [[ReservoirDogs Sounds familiar.]]
* SlasherSmile: Lono and Remi Rome.
* SmokingIsCool: Many characters look cool smoking, especially Shepherd.
* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:Milo, after not liking his Minuteman era memories purposely provokes a fight with Lono who shoots him dead.]])
* SweetTooth: Agent Graves is often seen eating pies, cakes, sweet drinks and popcorn while plotting.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The Minutemen are not exactly buddy-buddy with each other, or with Agent Graves. About the only thing most of them had in common is a rigid and personal moral code which they do not share with the others, so this is probably to be expected.
* TomatoInTheMirror: All but one of the Minutemen aren't even aware of their true nature when they are first introduced.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: various members of The Trust.]] [[spoiler: Graves in the second to last issue.]]
* VigilanteMan: Victor Ray kills criminals in his spare time to balance out the awful things he does on Graves' behalf.
* VillainousBreakdown: Not an example of ''the'' villain, but [[spoiler: Lono loses much of his cocky attitude and smug demeanor after being run off the Medici premises by Benito of all people. He later starts ranting at his fellow Minutemen, screaming at them to just shoot each other and get out of his way. Then he is possibly killed by something he survived easily earlier in the comic.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Trust no longer need The Minutemen during such a peaceful era and decide and try to kill them off. This ends... badly.
* YouGotSpunk: Lono shows a more twisted variation of this trope after a woman spits in his face.

* GambitPileup: Where to start? Besides Graves and Augustus, some of the Minutemen have plans of their own, as do the smaller families within The Trust. [[spoiler:And it doesn't work out well for ''any'' of them.]]

* ManOnTheGrassyKnoll: In an issue that offers us a first look at Graves in his earlier days as a Minuteman, we also see him visited by a retired baseball player whom he offered one of his infamous opportunities; Whilst no names are named, the baseball player is heavily implied to be ''Joe DiMaggio'' as the the man on the grassy knoll, taking revenge by assassinating ''JFK'' for the murder of ''Marilyn Monroe''.

* BilingualBonus: In the arc where Dizzy goes to see Branch in Paris, this is definitely true ([[CaptainObvious for French]]). There's also smatterings of other languages throughout the comic--Spanish, Russian, whatever pops up.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: The moral ambiguity makes it look like GrayAndGreyMorality at first. [[MoralEventHorizon Don't be fooled]]. However, lots of story arcs do go through the whole thing without making a single moral judgment on the characters. At the end of the series, [[spoiler:the people who walk away are [[YourMileageMayVary the most sympathetic people]] left standing, while all the characters who were more towards the darker side of the scale die. While several characters closer to the gray side of the scale die, none of the black morality characters manage a KarmaHoudini]].
** Well a character who [[spoiler:took part in the murder of a 3 year old kid]] survives to enjoy a [[spoiler:huggy catch-up with his estranged father]].
** Really, morality is pretty dark all around. Whether or not people get what they deserve, as well as what, exactly, they deserve, is left very ambiguous. The only real moral lesson at the end is: if you live your life through violence and corruption, you'd better be prepared to die by them too.

* BoomHeadshot: Oh man the headshots, so many headshots.
* BottomlessMagazines: Subverted.

* CastHerd: Averted.

** Or Remi's saying "Anything in my ''[[FunnyAneurysmMoment hands]]'' is a deadly fuckin' weapon, Cole!"

* CodeName: All of The Minutemen have aliases to go by: "The Wolf", "The Dog", "The Monster", "The Bastard", "The Rain", "The Saint", "The Point Man," "The Boy," and "The Girl."

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Many members of The Trust fit this trope
** Is this really the case? While the Trustees are all heads of big business, ''100 Bullets'' really avoids any negative comment on corporatism - we never see them lobbying or oppressing or interfering with the country. We see them exclusively in terms of a family feud, and their wealth seems to exist to facilitate the plot and allow the cast to visit diverse locales more than anything else.
*** Many of the Trustees seem to be in relatively innocuous businesses, too. For instance, one is a hotelier - it's not exactly the beating heart of the military-industrial complex. And Spain is certainly the watered-down-to-the-nth product of his illustrious forebears.

* DramaticIrony: The deaths of [[spoiler:the Rome Brothers]].

** Oh, and not to mention a few issues that are mostly in French--although this troper doesn't speak it fluently (i.e. a few words, phrases), my guess is that that's probly funeticized as well.

** Also kind of subverted with Rose Madrid.

* TheGambler: An entire story arc is devoted to a dice throwing conman named Chucky. Another involves a man named Hank who tries to save his sick wife by winning enough money in a poker game -- and later, seeks revenge on Benito when he raises the stakes too high and forces him out of the game.
** There's also Benito Medici and, to a lesser extent, Mr. Branch.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Gallons. Enough to burn a house down.
** Lono in particular. Everything he does is creepy and if he's looking at you he's probably thinking of a way to kill you. This example also is fully in effect in universe.
** Remi [[spoiler:losing his hands.]]
** Lono nearly dying of poison gas in a sauna. It's not like he didn't have it coming, but JESUS.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: With one exception, the title of each of the collections is based around its number. Book two is "Split Second Chance", while book ten is "Decayed" (sounds like decade). Some titles don't actually contain the numerical pun, but instead are cleverly part of a phrase that would usually include that number, such as "Samurai," the seventh book (After SevenSamurai), "The Hard Way," the eighth (after a dice roll in the game of craps that involves rolling an eight), and the twelfth book, "Dirty." (after TheDirtyDozen) The only book to break this tradition is "Hang Up on the Hang Low" (which would otherwise have been title "The Charm", as in "Third time's the-"), which was named after a Story Arc contained in the book; the story in question had won an Eisner Award. Book eleven is titled, "Once," which at first doesn't make sense -- unless you know Spanish. The title of the thirteenth and final book, "Wilt", is a two-in-one; Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain not only has 13 as his jersey number, but is famous for having scored 100 points in a single game.

* IntrepidReporter: Branch - He goes out of his way to find out about Graves and his bullets and is forced to flee to France after getting his hand broken.
** To clarify: broken ''by Lono''. Which implies the possibility of getting ''other'' things broken by Lono. Which is an oh-so-very-good reason for fleeing to France.
* {{Jerkass}}: Lono, Remi, and Cole on occasion.
* JigsawPuzzlePlot
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Lono possibly pulls one of these.]]

* [[spoiler:KillEmAll: Only Loop, Victor, Will Slaughter, survive the series. Dizzy, Ronnie, and Lono may have a chance by the time of the BolivianArmyEnding. Many of the other characters are killed off in the final issue, which may have been what Graves wanted all along.]]

* KryptoniteFactor: [[AchillesHeel The only thing that]] [[BeyondTheImpossible grosses]] '''[[CompleteMonster Lono]]''' [[BeyondTheImpossible out]] is [[spoiler:anal sex. As he puts it: "We all got [[GenreSavvy our Kryptonite]], Jack...[[{{Squick}} shit on the dick]] [[WeaksauceWeakness is it for me."]] ]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* MadeOfIron: Jack and Lono. Both take tremendous amounts of punishment. Jack once took three blows from a bat to the back of the head, before finally choosing to turn and headbutt the bat-wielder into submission.

** And Rose Madrid.

* MeaningfulName: Agent Graves is no stranger to getting people killed while Agent Shepherd guides and nurtures Dizzy.
** Not to mention [[strike:Romulus and Remus]] Ronnie and Remi Rome.

* PrivateDetective: Milo
* PrivateEyeMonologue: Used heavily in the fifth volume, staring Milo.

* PunnyName: Agent Graves's first name is Phillip, as in Fill up Graves. Then there's Cole Burns ('Coal burns'), Jack Daw ('Jackdaw'), Victor Ray ('Victory').
** Not to mention Echo Memoria and Remi Rome.

* ShoutOut: The Minutemen are a gang of seven badass career criminals dressed in identical black suits and ties, who disband suddenly when they're involved in a crime gone wrong. [[ReservoirDogs Sounds familiar...]]

* SmokingIsCool

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The Minutemen are not exactly buddy-buddy with each other, or with Agent Graves. About the only thing most of them had in common is a ridid and personal moral code which they do not share with the others, so this is probably to be expected.
* TomatoInTheMirror: Some of the Minutemen aren't even aware of their true nature when they are first introduced.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: various members of The Trust]] [[spoiler: Graves in the second to last issue.]]

** Most shockingly, [[spoiler:Wiley's]] death. Which is also a real TearJerker moment.

** Nothing, everything.

* ThirtyGambitPileup: Where to start? Besides Graves and Augustus, some of the Minutemen have plans of their own, as do the smaller families within The Trust. [[spoiler:And it doesn't work out well for ''any'' of them.]]

* [[spoiler:KillEmAll: Only Loop, Victor, Will Slaughter, survive the series. Dizzy, Ronnie, and Lono may have a chance by the time of the BolivianArmyEnding. Many of the other characters are killed off in the final issue.]]

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The Minutemen are not exactly buddy-buddy with each other, or with Agent Graves.

* VillainousBreakdown: Not an example of ''the'' villain, but [[spoiler: Lono loses much of his cocky attitude and smug demeanor after being run off the Medici premises by Benito of all people. He later starts ranting at his fellow Minutemen, screaming at them to just shoot each other and get out of his way. Then he gets killed by something he survived easily earlier in the comic.]]

** Really, morality is pretty dark all around. And whether or not people get what they deserve is left very ambiguous.

* KryptoniteFactor: [[AchillesHeel The only thing that]] [[BeyondTheImpossible grosses]] '''[[CompleteMonster Lono]]''' [[BeyondTheImpossible out]] is [[spoiler:anal sex. As he puts it: "We all got [[GenreSavvy our Kryptonite]], Jack...[[{{Squick}} shit on the dick]] [[WeaksauceWeakness is it for me."]] ]]

* MsFanservice: Sexualization is present throughout the entire series, but Meghan Dietrich takes the cake.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Wylie's shoot-out with Mikhail "Coochie" Kuchenko and his gang in the desert.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:Loop]] does this at the very end of the series.
* ShoutOut: The Minutemen are a gang of seven badass career criminals dressed in identical black suits and ties, who disband suddenly when they're involved in a crime gone wrong. [[ReservoirDogs Sounds familiar...]]