A review by nharkins
100 Bullets, Vol. 5: The Counterfifth Detective by Eduardo Risso, Brian Azzarello

4.0

HOLY SHIT! this arc starts with subtle props to [b:Shoot the Piano Player|42589|Shoot the Piano Player|David Goodis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328135504s/42589.jpg|344493] (which i also just recently read), then begins a standard noir pretzel plot with a private detective getting out of the hospital with his head in wraps (a cool touch) and some clever dialogue, BUT the last 10 pages of the 4th issue in this arc is exactly why comics RULE: back and forth frames showing the perspective of two men with concealed guns across the bar of a crowded diner locked in a non-verbal battle of wills, so-to-speak. then again a few pages later, a great cliffhanger where a seemingly minor macguffin connects this arc to the main plot, foreboding all hell breaking loose. big picture: i still don't know much more than i did, and honestly, i'm now afraid that there's too many 'minutemen' that are too similar, and there's not going to be enough depth to set them apart once this story finally reveals something. but i'm way down for some more awesome scenes like these along the way.

update: i should know by now that my giving anything 5 stars before i'm done is the kiss of death. everything after kinda sucked, so i gotta knock it back down to 4, because there's a lot of 5 star comics out there that do a lot better than 10 awesome pages out of ~160.