Azzarello, Brian

PERSONAL:

Born in Cleveland, OH; married Jill Thompson (a cartoonist and illustrator). Education: Received B.F.A. in painting.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Chicago, IL.

CAREER:

Writer and comic-book creator. Formerly worked as a furniture restorer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Eisner Awards, 2001, 2002, and 2004, all for 100 Bullets; Crimespree Award for favorite comics writer of 2007.

WRITINGS:

"100 BULLETS SERIES"; COLLECTIONS

100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call, illustrated by Eduardo Risso and Dave Johnson, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2000.

100 Bullet: Split Second Chance, illustrated by Eduardo Risso and Dave Johnson, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2001.

100 Bullets: Hang up on the Hang Low, illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2001.

100 Bullets: A Foregone Tomorrow, illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2002.

100 Bullets: The Counterfifth Detective, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2003.

100 Bullets: Six Feet under the Gun, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2003.

Samurai, illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2004.

100 Bullets: The Hard Way, illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2005.

100 Bullets: Strychnine Lives, illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2006.

100 Bullets: Decayed, illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2006.

100 Bullets: Once upon a Crime, illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2007.

100 Bullets: Dirty, illustrated by Eduardo Risso, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2008.

"LOVELESS SERIES"

Loveless: A Kin of Homecoming, illustrated by Marcelo Frusin, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2006.

(With Danijel Zezelj) Loveless: Thicker Than Blackwater, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2007.

(With Marcelo Frusin and Dainijel Zezelj) Loveless: Blackwater Falls, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2008.

OTHER

Hellblazer: Hard Time, illustrated by Richard Corben and Tim Bradstreet, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2000.

Gangland, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2000.

Startling Stories: Banner, illustrated by Richard Corben, Marvel (New York, NY), 2001.

(With others) The Incredible Hulk, Marvel (New York, NY), 2002.

Johnny Double, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2002.

Hellblazer: Good Intentions, illustrated by Marcelo Frusin, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2002.

Cage, illustrated by Richard Corben, Marvel (New York, NY), 2002.

Cage: Volume 1, illustrated by Richard Corben, Marvel (New York, NY), 2003.

Hellblazer: Freezes Over, illustrated by Marcelo Frusin, Guy Davis, and Steve Dillon, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2003.

Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2003.

Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place, illustrated by Joe Kubert, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2003.

Batman: Broken City, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Marcelo Frusin, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Cameron Stewart) Hellblazer: Highwater, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2004.

Superman: For Tomorrow, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2005.

Lex Luthor, Man of Steel, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2005.

Batman: Black and White, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2007.

(With Cliff Chiang) Tales of the Unexpected: Dr. Thirteen—Architecture & Mortality, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2007.

(With Danijel Zezelj) El Diablo, illustrated by Kevin Somers, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2008.

(With Carlos D'Anda) Deathblow: And Then You Live, Titan Books Ltd. (London, England), 2008.

Joker: The Dark Knight, Vertigo (New York, NY), 2008.

Also author of story, America's Pastime, 2001, and Batman: Gotham Knight, 2008. Writer for comic-book series, including Batman, Spider-Man, and Hellblazer.

SIDELIGHTS:

Comic-book writer Brian Azzarello has worked on a number of comic-book series, including Hellblazer, which Comic World News online reviewer Scott Woods wrote "has always been a great idea." English protagonist John Constantine's magical adventures have included the political, the raunchy, the comic, and the frightening, and they have always provided a "massively entertaining read," said Woods. "It has primarily been a real world-flavored comic with real people issues weaved throughout the macabre characters, situations and multi-dimensional rifts."

Woods noted that the series' central character and antihero with a heart was, for a time, "simply meandering…. You'd think with a character with as much backstory as Constantine … he'd have more to do than tease hookers and hitchhike across America." Woods praised the contributions of Azzarello and artist Richard Corben, who were responsible for a number of issues, including the story arcs Hard Time (numbers 146-150), Freezes Over (numbers 158-161), and Good Intentions (numbers 151-156).

In Hellblazer: Hard Time, Constantine has been sentenced to a maximum-security prison for the murder of his friend, Lucky Fermin, and there he comes up against gangs, brutal guards, and the man who rules it all. In Hellblazer: Good Intentions, the now released Constantine travels to West Virginia to see Lucky's family and finds himself caught up in a series of bizarre events that threaten their little town. Constantine continues his back roads journey in Hellblazer: Freezes Over.

The character Deathblow, featured in Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire, was a minor DC Comics character and friend of Batman who died while investigating a pyromaniac villain named Firebug, who was suspected in the death of an intelligence officer and friend of Batman. The story goes back and forth in time, recounting the undercover operations of both Batman and such organizations as the Central Intelligence Agency. Booklist reviewer Ray Olson wrote that, although Batman is "brutal and nihilistic," he "remains heroic." Mary Harvey reviewed Batman/Deathblow for Rambles online, saying that it "gets credit … for tackling the well-worn theme of covert agency corruption, where cat-and-mouse style chess games pit one agency against another…. Trying to find its voice through the character/narrator of Batman, a hero whose missions could not be further removed from that of an assassin's, is a twist that's unique enough to get the reader's attention."

Silver Bullet Comic Books contributor Ray Tate also reviewed Batman/Deathblow, saying that "ultimately, it's Batman's honesty that saves him from ending up fallen on the chessboard the government has created." Tate wrote that "the story itself is a mirror to our own world" and noted that, because Batman is the hero, Azzarello had to find a way to have him remain so. "He finds a means without diminishing the themes of betrayal or the labyrinthine means in which the badmen who run the world achieve their goals."

Marvel revived a superhero in its graphic novel Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place, written by Azzarello and drawn by veteran Rock penciller Joe Kubert. The World War II setting finds three captive Germans killed while in the custody of East Company. Entertainment Weekly contributor Tom Sinclair noted that since the new version is published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, Azzarello could have "upped the carnage quotient" but instead tells the story nearly as it was originally told forty years earlier. "Understand, that's not necessarily a bad thing," wrote Sinclair; "it's refreshing to find a creator who doesn't feel compelled to reinvent the wheel for the sake of it."

Azzarello's popular "100 Bullets" series contains stories of revenge in which an agent named Graves gives a gun and one hundred untraceable bullets to people who have been wronged, thereby providing them with a way to kill their abusers without being caught. In the first volume, 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call, Latina gang-banger Dizzy Cordova is given the opportunity to avenge the murders of her husband and child, who were killed in a drive-by shooting, while a bartender is likewise able to seek atonement for his ruined life. Mad Review online contributor The Dean, noted that in subsequent issues, readers learn that Dizzy "was recruited for a cadre of elite operatives waging a secret war at the highest levels of economics and power. Bit by bit, we discover the selection process utilized by Graves and the manipulative Mr. Shepherd is not so random after all." Entertainment Weekly contributor Ken Tucker called the 100 Bullets series "a rarity: a nonsuperhero book that imputes equal-opportunity heroism and villainy to its female characters."

In the second story arc, published in book form as 100 Bullets: Split Second Chance, details of the manipulative Graves's past begin to surface. The third collection, 100 Bullets: Hang up on the Hang Low, earned Azzarello an Eisner award. Here Graves initiates a young man named Loop Hughes into his web of conspiracy, and Loop, who finds his long-lost mob-boss father, is drawn into mob enforcement.

Azzarello's "100 Bullets" series has continued to reveal more and more of the nature of Graves's beneficiaries and opponents. In the fifth collection, titled 100 Bullets: The Counterfifth Detective, the man who receives the gun and bullets is private investigator Milo Garret, whose face, ever since an automobile accident, must be swathed in bandages. Gordon Flagg commented in Booklist that Eduardo Risso's art "perfectly suits Azzarello's sparse, hardboiled scripts; this is one of the most effective writer-artist teams in comics."

As the story arcs in "100 Bullets" progress, new characters are introduced and new details of Graves's past are revealed. "Graves was the point man for a group known as the Minutemen; [a] highly trained unit working as enforcers and referees to a secretive high stakes group of thirteen crime families known as the Trust," explained Chris Arrant in the introduction to an interview with Azzarello published on the Web site Newsarama.com. "Lee Marvin originally was the biggest influence" on the character of Agent Graves, Azzarello told Sam Moyerman, an interviewer for Broken Frontier. "But that was mostly his demeanor. In actuality, Graves is probably modeled most after my grandfather. I was terrified of him when I was a kid! He was a hard ass! It was my mother's father and he lived in Greenfield, MA where he was the chief of police," the author continued. "The guy was an Irish cop."

The concept of the Trust has become central to the overall story of 100 Bullets. "Forged in the first days of the ‘New World’ in the 1600s, the Trust has, for all intents and purposes, carte blanche on the world around them," Arrant stated. "Responsible for some of the world's most deadly and [ambiguous] crimes and murders in the past three centuries, the Trust is the dark hand playing with the world's future." At one point, when Graves refused to follow the Trust's orders, he was hit himself and left for dead. Since that time, he has been gathering his own group of enforcers. "The story is executed faultlessly and beautifully," wrote Michael Orbach in the Queens College Knight News. "With arguably the finest dialogue in comics and trading through American history from the pilgrims to pop-icons like Mickey Mantle and Marilyn Monroe, Brian sets up 100 Bullets as a beguiling tapestry about America with a distinctly American type of violence; ‘violence,’ as one of the characters says, ‘as American as apple pie.’ And an America run by corporations and shadow organizations is a paradigm of America that is more relevant now than ever."

Azzarello's Loveless series "follows a confederate soldier named Wes, who after the end of the Civil War returns home to the town [of] Blackwater," Arrant wrote in a continuation of his interview with the author. "What he finds is Union soldiers running rampant, even living in his own house and manhandling his wife, Ruth. As the fresh scars of the Civil War mix with newfound hatred … [when] Wes finds his former enemies in his house, in his bed and with his wife… he strikes back." Wes was a veteran soldier under the command of one of the great Confederate partisans of the war, William "Bloody Bill" Quantrill—who included in his troop famous outlaws like Frank and Jesse James. "Depending on whose history book you're reading," Azzarello told Matthew McLean in an interview for Comics Bulletin, "Bloody Bill was either a hero or a monster. He was either a complete sociopath or circumstances drove him to do what he was doing. Reasonable circumstance. The truth is, of course, that it's somewhere in the middle. One of the things in Loveless," the author explained to McLean, "is how our background shapes who we are." At root, the book deals with "the way people behave and what motivates them, and they're two different things," Azzarello said in an interview with Carlos Ruiz on Playback:stl. "On the surface there is a lot of hatred. Politically based hatred, but underneath it's personal hatred." "What I find as a reoccurring theme in many Westerns and post Civil War books," he continued, "is these Southern soldiers come back from war and they have nothing. They're disillusioned and broken, so they turn to crime. In a way, they never stop fighting the North because now they're fighting a guerrilla war against the Northern institutions that displaced them. They're not noble or fighting the good fight, they're just criminals." Loveless came to an end with issue #24 early in 2008.

The author also contributed to the story of one of the most respected characters in American comic fiction: the Batman. "Brian Azzarello is one of the six acclaimed scribes to pen a segment within ‘Batman Gotham Knight,’ the third in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies," explained a contributor to Jive magazine. "Unlike many of his past works, Azzarello's segment—entitled ‘Working through Pain’—takes a decidedly non-violent direction. The segment, which falls chronologically as the fifth of the six segments, explores an early chapter of Bruce Wayne's training as a mysterious and exotic Indian woman named Cassandra introduces Batman to techniques that would help him to conquer the physical and spiritual consequences of what he does." "Every time I approach Batman, I like to come from a different angle," Azzarello explained in a Q&A session in Jive. "In Deathblow: And Then You Live, I saw him as a James Bond-type but on an urban level. For Broken City, he was the bitter private eye. On this project, I guess he's lying to himself. He's not intentionally conning Cassandra, but he does ultimately con her. He wants to learn what she knows, but he doesn't want to know it for the reasons she teaches it." "It isn't until the end," Azzarello concluded, "… that even he understands that he's been lying to himself."

Azzarello has also been contracted to script a miniseries featuring the Batman's most notorious adversary, the Joker. Entitled Joker: The Dark Knight, "the series will try to understand why anyone would want to be in the Joker's gang," Sara Jaffe wrote in an interview with the author on Newsarama.com. "It will feature many of the familiar villains from the Batman world, but will run on the premise that these characters would be doing anything possible to avoid Batman's attention while they worked on their nefarious plans, [and] it will be written from the point of view of a character in the Joker's gang." "I don't think you could write a book in Joker's head because it would take the power away from that character," he told Carlos Ruiz in an interview published in Playback:stl. "One of the things that makes the character so compelling is his unpredictability. As soon as you can tell his story, it becomes predictable."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2003, Gordon Flagg, review of 100 Bullets: The Counterfifth Detective, p. 1531; May 15, 2003, Ray Olson, review of Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire, p. 1626; December 1, 2003, Gordon Flagg, review of Six Feet under the Gun, p. 656; September 1, 2004, Ray Olson, review of Broken City, p. 76; October 1, 2004, Gordon Flagg, review of Hellblazer: Highwater, p. 319; October 15, 2005, Gordon Flagg, review of Superman: For Tomorrow, p. 38; August 1, 2006, Gordon Flagg, review of Loveless: A Kin of Homecoming, p. 59; August 1, 2006, Gordon Flagg, review of 100 Bullets: Strychnine Lives, p. 59; February 15, 2007, Gordon Flagg, review of 100 Bullets: Decayed, p. 47; March 15, 2007, Gordon Flagg, review of 100 Bullets: Thicker than Blackwater, p. 36; July 1, 2007, Gordon Flagg, review of Batman: Black and White, p. 45; September 15, 2007, Gordon Flagg, review of 100 Bullets: Once upon a Crime, p. 55; November 15, 2007, Gordon Flagg, review of Tales of the Unexpected: Dr. Thirteen—Architecture & Mortality, p. 26; March 15, 2008, Ian Chipman, review of El Diablo, p. 40.

Entertainment Weekly, January 26, 2001, Ken Tucker, review of 100 Bullets, p. 96; November 21, 2002, Tom Sinclair, review of Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place, p. L2T42.

Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO), October 16, 2005, Bill Radford, "DC Brings Back Western Comics with Pair of Gritty, Violent Entries."

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2005, "Graphic Novel & Comics Spotlight," p. 1.

Library Journal, September 15, 2005, Steve Raiteri, review of Superman, p. 52.

New York Times, July 18, 2004, John Hodgman, "Chronicle Comics: No More Wascally Wabbits."

Publishers Weekly, May 7, 2001, review of 100 Bullets: Split Second Chance, p. 226; November 24, 2003, review of Cage, p. 43; February 9, 2004, review of 100 Bullets: Six Feet under the Gun, p. 60; May 24, 2004, review of Batman: Broken City, p. 46; July 18, 2005, review of 100 Bullets: The Hard Way, p. 191; February 26, 2007, review of Loveless: Thicker than Blackwater, p. 68.

School Library Journal, January 1, 2006, Jennifer Feigelman, review of 100 Bullets: The Hard Way, p. 168; May 1, 2006, Steev Baker, review of Superman, p. 162; July 1, 2006, John Leighton, review of Lex Luthor, Man of Steel, p. 129; November 1, 2006, Jennifer Feigelman, review of Loveless: A Kin of Homecoming, p. 168; November 1, 2007, Benjamin Russell, review of Thicker than Blackwater, p. 158; March 1, 2008, Douglas P. Davey, review of Tales of the Unexpected, p. 228.

ONLINE

Acid Logic,http://www.forbisthemighty.com/ (September 2, 2008), Tom Waters, "Rapid Fire with Brian Azzarello."

Bookgasm,http://www.bookgasm.com/ (September 2, 2008), Rod Lott, reviews of El Diablo and Tales of the Unexpected.

Broken Frontier,http://www.brokenfrontier.com/ (September 2, 2008), Sam Moyerman, "Bad Azz Mojo—Part 1," and "Azzarello & Chiang Talk Doctor Thirteen—Part 7."

Comic Bloc,http://www.comicbloc.com/ (September 2, 2008), interview with Brian Azzarello.

Comic Book Bin,http://www.comicbookbin.com/ (September 2, 2008), "Interview with Brian Azzarello on Batman: Gotham Knight."

Comic Book DB,http://www.comicbookdb.com/ (September 2, 2008), "Brian Azzarello."

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Web Site,http://www.cbldf.org/ (September 2, 2008), "Azzarello, Nodell to Make Waves on CBLDF Cruise."

Comic Book Resources,http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/ (September 2, 2008), Bill Baker, "100 Sound Bytes: Brian Azzarello Interview"; Dave Richards, "Reconstructing the Western: Azzarello talks ‘Loveless’"; Brian Cronin, "Great Interview Idea for a Great Comic Book."

ComicMix,http://www.comicmix.com/ (September 2, 2008), Chris Ullrich, "WWC Interview: Brian Azzarello on ‘Batman: Gotham Knight.’"

Comicon.com,http://www.comicon.com/ (September 2, 2008), Heidi McDonald, author interview.

ComicReaders.com,http://www.comicreaders.com/ (September 2, 2008), Chad Boudreau, "Understanding the Villain."

Comics Bulletin,http://www.comicsbulletin.com/ (September 2, 2008), Matthew McLean, "Brian Azzarello: Crafting Stories from Mistakes"; Keith Dallas, interview with Brian Azzarello.

Comics Worth Reading,http://comicsworthreading.com/ (September 2, 2008), "Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality—Best of 2007."

Comic World News,http://www.comicworldnews.com/ (September 2, 2008), Scott Woods, review of Hellblazer.

ComixFan,http://www.comixfan.com/ (September 2, 2008), James Groves, "100 Bullets #67."

Concatenation.org,http://www.concatenation.org/ (September 2, 2008), Tony Chester, "Graphic Novel/Comics Review: Batman: Broken City."

CrimeSpree Mag,http://www.crimespreemag.com/ (September 2, 2008), Jon Jordan, review of The Hard Way.

Equinox,http://media.www.keeneequinox.com/ (September 2, 2008), Keith O'Neil, "Top Five Worst Comic Books Ever Written."

Factual Opinion,http://www.factualopinion.com/ (September 2, 2008), "Comics of the Weak: When Robin Missed an Important Tennis Match to Cry a Bunch."

Feo Amante's Horror, Thriller, Mystery, and Suspense Web site,http://feoamante.com/ (September 2, 2008), Chris Gage, reviews of Cage, and Hellblazer: Highwater.

Fourth Rail,http://www.thefourthrail.com/ (September 2, 2008), Don MacPherson, "A Kin of Homecoming."

Grovel,http://www.grovel.org.uk/ (September 2, 2008), reviews of El Diablo, Loveless: A Kin of Homecoming, and Loveless: Thicker than Blackwater.

Gutter Geek,http://www.guttergeek.com/ (September 2, 2008), James Moore, "Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, Doctor Thirteen: Architecture and Morality."

IGN,http://uk.comics.ign.com/ (September 2, 2008), Jason Baxter, review of Loveless: A Kin of Homecoming.

Jive,http://www.jivemagazine.com/ (September 2, 2008), "The DC Universe Animated Original Movie: Batman: Gotham Knight."

KillerYear,http://killeryear.wordpress.com/ (September 2, 2008), "And the Crimespree Award Goes To…."

Knight News (Queens College), http://media.www.qcknightnews.com/ (September 2, 2008), Michael Orbach, "Brian Azzarello: The Optimist—Why One of the Leading Comic Book Creators Hates Superheroes."

Mad Review,http://madreview.com/ (May 17, 2000), The Dean, review of 100 Bullets.

Mania,http://www.mania.com/ (September 2, 2008), Rob Allstetter, "Brian Azzarello Exclusive with DC."

New Mystery Reader,http://www.newmysteryreader.com/ (September 2, 2008), Paul Kane, review of "Johnny Double."

Newsarama.com,http://forum.newsarama.com/ (September 2, 2008), Chris Arrant, "The Big Picture: Brian Azzarello"; J.K. Parkin, interview with Brian Azzarello; Sara Jaffe, "WWC: The Vertigo, ER, Brian Azzarello Panel."

Paperback Reader,http://www.paperbackreader.com/ (September 2, 2008), Russ Anderson, review of Batman: Broken City.

Playback:stl,http://www.playbackstl.com/ (September 2, 2008), Carlos Ruiz, review of Decayed; "Last Call, Second Shot."

PopMatters,http://www.popmatters.com/ (September 2, 2008), Sam Gafford, "Uncaged."

Publishers Weekly—The Beat,http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/ (September 2, 2008), interview with Brian Azzarello.

Rambles,http://www.rambles.net/ (September 2, 2008), Mary Harvey, review of Batman/Deathblow; Tom Knapp, review of Hellblazer.

Read about Comics,http://www.readaboutcomics.com/ (September 2, 2008), Greg McElhatton, "100 Bullets #50."

Savage Critic,http://savagecritic.com/ (September 2, 2008), "Abhay Briefly Mentions Doctor 13, then Babbles Melodramatically."

Savant,http://www.savantmag.com/ (September 2, 2008), Xtop B. Sebela, "Review: Hellblazer & El Diablo."

Sequential Tart,http://www.sequentialtart.com/ (September 2, 2008), Lauren Vega-Rasner, "Blood Letters and Badmen."

SFFWorld.com,http://www.sffworld.com/ (September 2, 2008), Owen Jones, "Loveless by Brian Azzarello."

Silver Bullet Comic Books Online,http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/ (September 2, 2008), Ray Tate, review of Batman/Deathblow.

Southside,http://www.southside.za.net/ (September 2, 2008), Iain Duncan, "Batman: Broken City: Part One."

Splash Panel,http://splashpanel.com/ (September 2, 2008), Khaled Abou Alfa, "Best Graphic Novels of 2006."

UGO,http://www.ugo.com/ (September 2, 2008), Daniel Robert Epstein, "Brian Azzarello Interview"; Chris Radtke, "Dr. Thirteen Interview."

Wizard Universe,http://www.wizarduniverse.com/ (September 2, 2008), Andy Serwin, "DC Spotlight."