I've come to realize that part of Azzarello's style is that he'd rather tell a story in a roundabout, meandering way than in a straightforward one. This can be a flaw, but when it comes to 100 Bullets, it's absolutely an asset. The circuitous teases and half reveals of "Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down" have been frustrating and confusing by turns, but they're also been tantalizing, and they come together for an emotionally powerful final chapter in this issue. Wylie's reason for not wanting to come back, to stay an amnesiac drifter, are made painfully clear, and the moral ambiguity of 100 Bullets is reinforced as well. The ambiguous, deliberately paced style of 100 Bullets makes it much better reading in trade paperbacks these days, but there's also something to be said for the joy that comes from all the pieces coming together when a million questions have been running through your head the way they have throughout "Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down."
Of course, while Azzarello's writing style is a perfect fit for the conspiracy noir of 100 Bullets, we mustn't forget the series' secret weapon, Eduardo Risso. Dead-on renditions of real locations like New Orleans include not just the famous French Quarter but more important little details like a dirty hotel room or a seedy local bar. The characters have the rough and tumble appearance they need, whether it's Shepherd's grizzled veteran, Wylie's dangerous hipster or Dizzy's gorgeous femme fatale look. There's also a real emotional punch to Risso's artwork, as we see the emotions playing out between Wylie and his target in the flashback assassination, and it's hard not to feel at least a little of that vicarious heartbreak as a result.
When we first met Wylie, he was pumping gas and living a loser lifestyle, and though he seemed to get a glimpse at his real past in that storyline, he chose to pass it up. Why was never clear, but throughout this story, it has been hinted that Shepherd somehow betrayed him, and in this issue, we finally see what happened. It's an effective reveal that tells us a lot about what we need to know not just about Wylie and Shepherd but about the basic nature of The Trust and The Minutemen. Not that their nature was unclear at this point in the series, but it underlines that 100 Bullets isn't really about bad guys and good guys, but about levels of corruption and loyalty.
While there's plenty going on in the surface here, there's also plenty of subtext that comes out in Azzarello's dialogue. Some are not fond of Azzarello's stylized dialogue, and I'll be the first to admit that it doesn't work everywhere, but it's perfect for 100 Bullets. His characters have a snappy patter reminiscent of noir novels and movies, where a good turn of phrase and back-and-forth is more important than realism. There's such menace and bitterness in the conversation between Wylie and Shepherd, and it wouldn't be so clear-cut in a real dialogue, but it's got such a rhythm to it, such style, that it's easy to forgive the stylized nature of it.
A lot of the big questions of 100 Bullets have been answered at this point. What is the Trust, who are the Minutemen, what's the deal with the briefcase and Agent Graves? What remains are the questions surrounding the characters, and the big question of where they go from here and how they all interact in the over-arcing story. "Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down" answers some big questions about one character and puts him into play alongside two of the others, and turns in an interesting, atmospheric tale of crime in the Big Easy at the same time. 9/10
