List of 100 Bullets characters
100 Bullets is a fictional crime drama published by DC Comics. The following information is known or can be gleaned about the characters as of issue #79.
The Trust
- Main article: The Trust (100 Bullets)
Notable members of the Trust
Augustus Medici
First appeared in issue #4. The Trust's most powerful member. Augustus is the de facto leader of the thirteen families and has plans to bring peace to the rivalries that plague the Trust. Since the death of Daniel Peres, Augustus became even more powerful and has consolidated his position by removing the Peres family from power. Other family heads are now plotting against him. Through Shepherd, Augustus monitored Graves and his schemes, as well as his son. Recent events have forced him to deal directly with Graves and accede to Lono's suggestion to pardon Kotias and Vasco for their participation in a failed scheme to assassinate him.
Benito Medici
First appeared in issue #20. Augustus' son and heir apparent, mentored by Mr. Shepherd, Benito is a spoiled and reckless young man with a seemingly excess of luck who is more interested in gambling than in his responsibilities towards life or the future of the Trust. A botched attempt made on his life on the orders of Fulvio Carlito, as well as Mr. Shepherd's death later on, led him to reassess his priorities. He was pursued by Megan Dietrich but appeared enamored with Dizzy Cordova, whom he is currently in the process of tracking down.
Megan Dietrich
First appeared in issue #4. The series' femme fatale; a charming, confident yet deadly member of the Trust. Megan had risen to become the head of the Dietrich family, also running the family securities firm following the death of her father. A seemingly staunch supporter of the House of Medici and a close friend of Augustus, Megan had a hidden agenda and was not above murder to protect her own interests, also displaying more than a passing interest in Benito Medici. Some time after unsuccessfully attempting to meet with Mr. Branch, she was shot in a failed assassination attempt in San Diego (in issue #66). Since then, she has consummated a partnership with Augustus Medici, who was able to convince Megan to not seek retribution for the attempt on her life.
Javier Vasco
First appeared in issue #25. Javier Vasco's family has historically been viewed as aggressors within the Trust. They have had problems with the Nagel family which were dealt with by the Minutemen, but a rivalry is still evident. Javier is quite suspicious of the intentions of the House of Medici in restructuring the Trust and eliminating the Minutemen. He had formed a trio of dissent along with Helena Kotias and Fulvio Carlito, planning to eliminate Augustus Medici with the tacit agreement of Graves, in return for his reinstitution.
Helena Kotias
First appeared in issue #25. Helena is unhappy with the leadership of the Trust. She is part of the alliance between the Kotias, Carlito and Vasco families determined to remove Augustus Medici from power. The trio recently met with Agent Graves, offering him to reinstitute the Minutemen in exchange for his help. It appears that Helena is a very close ally of Javier Vasco and Lono even refers to her House as a wing of the House of Vasco.
Mia Simone-Deceased
First appeared in issue #24. Another ally of Medici. Graves considered the Simones to be the weakest of the families of the Trust. Mia is close to both Megan Dietrich and the late Daniel Peres, and seems dismissive of the aggressive influence of the Vasco family within their organisation. She was killed by Remi Rome in issue #76.
Mr. Vermeer
First appeared in issue #25. Not much is known about Mr. Vermeer, besides his last name. It is speculated that the House of Vermeer is in alliance with the House of Vasco after Mr. Vermeer and Javier Vasco approach Lars Nagel in issue #72.
Daniel Peres - Deceased
First appeared in issue #23. Daniel Peres was head of the Peres family and powerful within the Trust. During a summit meeting, Peres delivered a message to Augustus Medici from Graves. Peres tried hard to prevent a war between the former close friends, but thanks to Graves and Cole Burns, became the next message to the Trust (in issue #25). The House of Peres was then absorbed by the other then-12 families.
Anwar Madrid - Deceased
First appeared in issue #25. Father of Rose Madrid and a supporter of Augustus Medici in the elimination of the Minutemen, Anwar also had a personal ax to grind against the Trust's former soldiers. Wylie Times killed Anwar Madrid (in issue #56) shortly after being reactivated as a Minuteman.
Fulvio Carlito - Deceased
First appeared in issue #25. Fulvio Carlito had been openly critical of the direction in which the Trust was heading. He had formed an alliance with the Kotias and Vasco families to terminate Augustus Medici. The trio induced Agent Graves to not interfere with the achievement of their goals. It was revealed that Carlito was behind a failed assassination attempt of both Augustus and Benito in Miami. Lono's first overt action as the Trust's new warlord was to capture and torture Fulvio for information concerning the alliance (in issue #65) and subsequently to eliminate the House of Carlito.
Axel Nagel - Deceased
First appeared in issue #25. An elder member of the Trust, he seems as sceptical as Vasco about the abandonment of the Minutemen. His family apparently has had disagreements with the Vascos which had to be adjudicated by the Minutemen (presumably in a brutal fashion). He is considered an ally of the House of Medici and his family is based in New York City. Axel was instrumental in approving Graves' elevation as the head of the Minutemen in 1962. This was against the wishes of the Trust's then liaison, Mr. Shore, who distrusted Graves' closeness to the Houses of Medici and Vasco. He dies in issue #69 after willingly taking poison given by Vasco.
Lars and Anna Nagel - Deceased
First appeared in issue #70, they are the heirs to the House of Nagel. Before they can fully decide who will lead the House of Nagel, Anna was deceived by Lono. After Lars finished an unexpected business dinner, Lono deceived Anna by telling her that Lars was trying to ally himself with the men who killed their father. Back at their hotel room, right before the truth was revealed, Lars unknowling took lethal pills that Anna set out. Upon finding out Lars was planning to give the House of Nagel to Anna, she tried to stop him from taking the lethal pills. Already too late, she willingly took the pills after her brother died.
The Minutemen
Led by Agent Graves, the Minutemen are seven killing machines who policed The Trust, originally thirteen rich, corrupt, and powerful families. Mr. Shepherd, himself a former Minute Man, trained Lono and Wylie personally though it is unknown if he trained the rest.
Past and present members
Agent Graves
First appeared in issue #1. A mysterious old man who presents wronged individuals with the opportunity for revenge without consequences. Philip Graves was the head of the Minutemen up until their apparent demise in Atlantic City. Graves is looking to avenge his betrayal by taking down the Trust. His true motives are unclear, but he still has access to the attaché cases containing evidence of a crime, a gun and 100 untraceable bullets to give to whomever he pleases.
He favors Russian vodka.
Mr. Shepherd
First appeared in issue #2. An equally mysterious associate of Graves, Joseph Shepherd is a former Minuteman who became their trainer and liaison with the Trust when he was appointed as its Warlord. He consented to the Minutemen's dissolution but concealed five of the seven that were present at Atlantic City. His loyalties remained in a grey area as he maintained his own agenda somewhere between that of Graves' and the Trust's. Vying with Graves for control of Dizzy Cordova, he was mortally wounded when Wylie activated her, but managed to appoint Lono as his successor and entrust him with Loop's training before succumbing. He also cited Dizzy as a replacement for Milo, which suggests that his death may have been manipulated more than previously thought.
Lono (aka "The Dog")
First appeared in issue #5. A dangerous, larger-than-life character; the series most unredeeming character. Lono is a former Minuteman, the only one it seems that wasn't involved in the re-enactment of "The Greatest Crime in the History of Mankind". Lono is an ultra-violent, sadistic man who doesn't believe in "bad sex". Lono was the only Minuteman not to be in Atlantic City, the reason being Shepard needed him. The thing Shepard needed him for has yet to be revealed. Believing his comrades dead, Lono served his own self interests until Graves came back into his life. He was framed for robbing a bank by Shepherd at Graves' request and was tutoring Loop Hughes to join the seven. Before his death, Shepherd told Lono to work for Augustus as a warlord, revealing that he had never trained Lono to remain as a Minuteman.
Since he was not involved in the Atlantic City event, he did not need to be reactivated.
Milo Garret (aka "The Bastard")
First appeared in issue #27 (and previously, in a flashback sequence in issue #10). Milo was one of the most ruthless of the Minutemen, earning him the code name "The Bastard". After Atlantic City he became a hard boiled and heavy drinking private detective. Re-awakened by a stolen painting, in a case involving Megan Dietrich, Milo was unwilling to re-adjust to life as a Minuteman, preferring his new life and all that it involved to the prospect of returning to Graves' fold. To that end, he engineered his own demise at Lono's hand, the full story only becoming clear to Milo in his dying seconds.
Reactivated in issue #34 after seeing the painting "La Morte dil Cesare" in Megan Dietrich's house.
Cole Burns (aka "The Wolf")
First appeared in issue #9. Cole was the first one seen to be reactivated, shortly after he accepted Graves' offer to avenge his grandmother's untimely death. Prior to his rebirth, he was an ice cream salesman and was running small deals for a local racketeer. He had a girlfriend, Sasha, but recent events have left anything between them finished.
Reactivated in issue #9 when a rock 'n' roll star, paid by Graves, whispered the word "Croatoa" to Cole. He was fully "awakened" after his ice cream truck exploded and he caught the blast.
Wylie Times (aka "The Point Man")
First appeared in issue #28 (and previously, in a flashback sequence in issue #10). A seemingly unimportant gas station attendant and part time smuggler in El Paso, Texas, Wylie was once thought to be the most focused of the Minutemen, as well as the most skilled of the group and the leader. Graves offered to Wylie an attaché whose contents implicated Shepherd in the murder of Rose Madrid, a deceased girlfriend of his and a Trust family member. He attracted the attention of Dizzy Cordova after an unsuccessful attempt by Shepherd to reactivate him, and had been since lugging the attaché for some time, living as a waster in El Paso. Reactivated by Graves in New Orleans, he briefly flared with purpose in order to confront his demons, finally making peace with Shepherd shortly before he was slain. He has since reverted to being a waster, tagging along behind Dizzy in the Mexican desert. Wylie told Graves off when Graves requested he bring Dizzy into the fold and was forced to kill Coochie and his men when they confronted him upon Graves' inclination. Wylie, after encountering Victor Ray, decided to meet Graves and exchanged words with Cole and Remi, suggesting he had figured out Graves' plan, mentioning that Graves was possibly attempting an atonement for a dark deed in his past, and that it might involve the death of a lover. Tragically, Remi mistook Wylie's reaching for matches as him going for a gun and shot his former leader through the chest. Graves rushed to him in shock and horror, but it was too late to save him. As Wylie died, he had the vision of Rose coming to greet him.
Reactivated in issue #53 by a musician telling him the title of a song he created, in which Agent Graves suggested the title "Blue Day for Croatoa".
Victor Ray (aka "The Rain")
First appeared in issue #50, where he recounted the story of Roanoke and the origins of the Trust (and previously, in a flashback sequence in issue #10). Graves activated Victor whilst on his way to meet Dizzy in Chicago for the first time, although this fact is revealed later on in the series. Since then Victor has been involved in a diamond heist gone wrong but remained unaffiliated with the rest of the Minutemen, for reasons known only to him and Graves. Recruited by Lono and Loop shortly after they were released from prison, he carried out the assassination attempt on Megan Dietrich in San Diego with poise and precision and escaped unnoticed. It was later revealed in issue #79 that lono engineered the purposely botched assassination attemp to solidify power. Victor has since deserted Lono's group in Mexico in favor of Graves, apprehending Branch and Dizzy and leaving an unconcious Benito for his former comrades.
Reactivated off-screen before issue #1 by Agent Graves whispering the word into his ears before he first approached Dizzy.
Jack Daw (aka "The Monster")
First appeared in issue #21 (and previously, in a flashback sequence in issue #10). Jack was once a Minuteman, but his life became ruled by heroin. Jack was given an attaché by Graves that essentially prompted him to commit suicide, as it was (apparently) the only one containing a picture of its recipient. After receiving the attaché, Jack carried on with his life of crime and addiction, but following a run in with a zoo full of wild animals being hunted by the mafia, Jack has kicked the habit and is laying low, bareknuckle boxing in Atlantic City. Graves is openly scornful of the waste that Jack has made of his life and seems reluctant to reactivate him before he fully overcomes his self-destructive tendencies. Lono has since reactivated him, but whether or not this was under instruction from Shepherd, Graves or his own inclination is unknown.
Reactivated in issue #68/69 when Lono got the word Croatoa tattooed onto his stomach and approached Jack.
Remi Rome (aka "The Saint")
First appeared in the flashback sequence in issue #10 with his full appearance in issue #70. The seventh was concealed by Graves himself, following the Atlantic City incident, for a purpose as yet unknown. Following an assault on meat thieves, Remi has gone back into the fold and is shown to remarkably sadistic, displaying cruel tendencies on the level of Lono, as when he volunteered to kill Mia Simone. In Mexico, Remi was responsible for murdering Wylie Times when he mistook Wylie's reaching for matches to be going for a gun.
Reactivated in issue #72/73 by Agent Graves paying a bum to write "Croatoa" in the snow of Remi's car.
Future members
Dizzy Cordova (aka "The Girl")
First appeared in issue #1. The first person to be visibly approached by Graves, Dizzy was an ex-gangbanger who accepted his offer to avenge the deaths of her husband and child at the hands of crooked cops, after her release from prison. She was subsequently recruited by Shepherd on behalf of Graves and sent to Paris, ostensibly to be briefed by a reticent Mr. Branch on the nature of her employers. Dizzy was undergoing training by Shepherd to replace Milo as a Minuteman (perhaps the first female one), and was contested for control between Shepherd and Graves, until her -apparently accidental- activation by Wylie led to Shepherd's death at her hands. Grief stricken, she sought solace in the desert surrounding Juárez and is soon to be confronted by the attentions of three men.
Loop Hughes (aka "The Boy")
First appeared in issue #15. Loop was a Philadelphia gangbanger who was re-united with his estranged father, Curtis, and was tutored by him for a short while, thanks to an attaché from Graves. He reconciled his differences with his father before Curtis' death, but was soon after fingered for murder by Graves and sent to prison, after declining an offer to work for him. Whilst imprisoned, he has trained to become a Minuteman under Lono, at Mr. Shepherd's request. The two were released following Shepherd's death, who had an unfinished agenda requiring their attention. His first assignment was to act as spotter for Victor Ray in the assassination attempt on Megan Dietrich. With Lono promoted to Warlord, it seems that Loop has found a third mentor in Victor.
Various supporting characters
Mr. Branch
First appeared in issue #12. Branch was a journalist who was offered the attaché by Graves. He chose to investigate the origins of Graves' power and uncovered the existence of the Trust. This earned him a traumatic visit from Lono, as well as an encounter with Shepherd, who revealed to him the history of the Trust and the Minutemen. Branch fled to Paris, and continued to research his obsession at great personal risk. He was briefly scared off the case by Cole Burns during Dizzy Cordova's visit to Paris, but developed an infatuation for her, which led him to accept a dangerous request by Megan Dietrich to return to the States. Diverted from meeting with Megan, he was compelled by Cole to track down Echo Memoria in Europe, but reneged on the deal in order to chase after Dizzy. Recently, he formed a plan with Wylie and lost a finger to Victor Ray. He is currently a captive of Graves along with Dizzy.
Coochie
First appeared in issue #29, his real name is Mik Kuchenko. A rough but earnest smuggler and gunrunner based in Juárez (and apparently a good judge of character), Coochie is an old friend of Shepherd who becomes acquainted with Dizzy and Wylie during a border crossing gone wrong and provides them with shelter when they drift across the border again after Shepherd's death, later in the series. Displaying the same equanimity, he also leads Mr. Branch and Benito Medici to confront Dizzy, during a loaded moment between her and Wylie. He was terminated in issue #77 by Wylie Times.
Crete
First appeared in issue #23. Crete is the silent and bulky, but preternaturally quick, bodyguard of Augustus Medici. He recently declined Lono's attempt to recruit him as warrior in service to the Trust at large, preferring instead to continue to provide his services to the House of Medici.
Curtis Hughes
First appeared in issue #15. Curtis is the father of Loop Hughes. He left his family when Loop was very young, and was working as a collections man for small time mobster Rego in Philadelphia. Curtis is a past acquaintance and operative of Graves, and he enjoyed at least token respect from most of the Minutemen. He was selected by Graves to become one himself, but the Trust blocked his appointment because of his race. He became acquainted with his son, whom he mentored for a brief period of time, thanks to Graves, but refused Graves' offer of an attaché and another chance to become a Minuteman in his old age. Curtis was killed by Rego's henchmen in an arson attack.
Echo Memoria
First appeared in issue #26. An art thief of Italian origin, Echo was first seen in Paris, touting herself as a prostitute to Branch in order to extract information about the Trust from him. She was next seen being investigated by Milo Garret. She disappeared with Lono, but grew bored with him and left. She was arrested at the airport, trying to buy a plane ticket with some of the stolen money that was used by Shepherd to set Lono up. She was apparently released from custody and, according to Cole Burns, has since returned to Europe.
Ronnie Rome
First appearance in issue #70. Brother of Remi Rome ("The Saint"), he was an enforcer for small time mobster Mimo Pallidino. Ronnie was handed an attaché from Agent Graves, with Remi as his target. Remi found the attaché before it could be used, and confronted Ronnie about it but the gun was not used until a gun battle between the Rome brothers and meat thieves. Following the assault, Remi disappeared and Ronnie was eventually confronted by Agent Graves. Graves has seen to make use of Ronnie, sending him to Italy for unknown business.
Notes and speculation
Atlantic City
Not much is known about the events that transpired in Atlantic City, except for bits and pieces gleaned from the flashback sequences in issue 10 (from Cole's perspective), issue 35 (from Milo's) and issue 56 (from Wylie's). A man in a hood is being dragged from the trunk of a car by three other men. Cole is drinking tequila as the man is doused in gasoline, Milo is uneasy. Wylie and Cole agree on what is happening, but don't agree with each other as to why. Six Minutemen are present but Lono is missing, for reasons as yet unknown. In Cole's flashback, we see only Cole. In Milo's flashback we see both Cole and Milo. In Wylie's flashback we see Cole, Milo, Wylie and Victor, Wylie is the one that lights the match that sets the Hooded Man on fire. In the background is a figure who almost certainly is Jack Daw. What transpired in Atlantic City was meant to be a re-enactment of "the greatest crime ever committed in the history of mankind", a four hundred year old offence that consolidated the power of the Trust. The identity of the hooded man is still a mystery.
It is rumored that the hooded man is really Mr. Dietrich, father of Megan Dietrich. In issue #35, after Milo crashes his car and dreams of the Atlantic City event, when Megan Dietrich awakes him he asks her how her father is doing. This leads us to believe that Milo knew Mr. Dietrich, and also that he might have been somehow related to what occurred in Atlantic City.
The secret of Atlantic City was revealed in issue #79, as well as the other issues of the "Punch Line" story arc. Roland Dietrich had been behind Rose Madrid's actions against the House of Medici. Graves and Shepherd revealed this to Wylie Times, which prompted them to take action against Roland in Atlantic City. Agent Graves instructed Roland to vote in favor of the Trust getting rid of the Minutemen, and while they drove back from the meeting four of the Minutemen (Cole, Jack, Remi, and Milo) made their move, killing Roland's henchmen while Graves took him hostage. They then took him to the dock where they met with Victor and Wylie, and completed the Atlantic City Crime.
"Croatoa"
The comic uses the events revolving around the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke, in which more than 100 people disappeared in 1587, as a plot device. The significance of Roanoke to 100 Bullets was finally revealed in issue #50 (Prey For Reign), taking a spin on the true story. One theory says that "Croatoa" is a place in the 100 Bullets context, while another says that it translates to "this belongs to us", a reminder of the "Greatest Crime in History". "Croatoa" is also the post-hypnotic trigger word chosen by Agent Graves that would reactivate the dormant Minutemen that escaped Atlantic City and were thought to be terminated. As it turns out, at least one other person (Dizzy Cordova) was programmed to respond to the codeword.
The death of Mr. Shepherd
Issue #58 (Coda Smoke) saw the demise of Joseph Shepherd at the hands of Dizzy Cordova. Dizzy was another one of Graves's sleeper agents. She was unwittingly activated by Wylie Times with the 'croatoa' codeword, which caused Dizzy to shoot Shepherd right after she heard it. Shepherd probably did not know of Dizzy's conditioning, as he was taken aback by her reaction, but the shooting might not have been as accidental as it seemed, since Shepherd had been wondering about the codeword since issue #30 and he himself prompted Wylie for it. Shepherd was still lucid enough to leave the scene of the shooting and put some of his personal schemes into action before he bled to death. He managed to make at least two phone calls in that time, offering to release Lono and Loop from prison in exchange for Lono taking up the mantle of Trust Warlord. Another call was made to someone, presumably Graves since it's hard to see how Shepherd would fail to contact his partner in scheming one last time, if he was able- who declined the offer but concurred with Shepherd on Lono's selection. Since Shepherd expired almost immediately after Lono accepted the appointment (that is, before he could contact Augustus or the police to coordinate their release), it can be argued that the whole exchange was prearranged with Augustus, either during Shepherd's last drive or before ("we have other plans for you, [Lono]", issue #40), and Shepherd only needed to let Augustus know that he was dying at the time. Whatever the case might have been, Lono and Loop were released the following morning. Shepherd also "armed" Lono with the codeword that would allow him to reactivate the Minutemen remaining dormant at the time, namely Jack Daw and possibly the seventh (as it turns out, the seventh Minutemen, Remi Rome, was reactivated by Agent Graves). It is also conceivable that other "sleepers" conditioned by Graves exist, apart from the Minutemen that were present at Atlantic City.
"La Morte dil Cesare"
On this fictional painting by Paolo Veronese hinge a number of mysteries yet to be revealed. The painting depicts 13 richly-garbed men, perhaps of the Renaissance era and presumably the House heads at some point in time; an assassin in the process of attacking one of them (playing with a dog) with a knife; and an open portico bearing the codeword "Croatoa" (the hypnotic trigger that can reactivate the dormant Minutemen) on the lintel.
In a complicated storyline, typical of the noir genre, which unfolded in issues 31-36 (The Counterfifth Detective), a number of people connected to the Trust have sought after the painting, including Lono, who stole the painting from Europe with the help of Echo Memoria; Megan Dietrich, to whom Lono briefly sold the painting in exchange for more than money; Milo Garret, who was investigating the case for Megan and Echo, and whose reactivation was prompted by the painting, as well as both Graves and Cole who try to warn Milo off the case. The painting was messily stolen again from Megan's house by Lono, in a move that was perhaps meant as another message to the Trust; at whose behest is unknown, as Lono was at the time chafing at Graves' betrayal. Interestingly, Shepherd doesn't make a single appearance in those 5 issues, but shortly thereafter conspires to put Lono behind bars, ostensibly to make him amenable to his new assignment (and to team him up with Loop). In issue #62, we learn that Echo was later unexplainedly released from custody and absconded with the painting to Europe. Shepherd demonstrates his ability to spring people from prison at will when he arranges for the release of Lono and Loop with a phone call from the middle of the desert, before he succumbs to his wounds. A little later on, it's Lono again, presumably picking up Shepherd's agenda along with his post, that orchestrates Megan's assassination (to which she was warned by Cole). On the other hand, Shepherd could not have known of at least one special significance of the painting, because in issue #30 he confesses to ignorance of the codeword. Therefore, one can assume that Shepherd abjectly knew that the painting was significant to both the Trust and Graves and was merely playing for balance when trying to keep it away from them. Balance is perhaps also the reason why Shepherd's coterie conspires to remove Megan from the equation, at the same time that Graves very openly supports the growing power of Augustus (going so far as to warn Megan, through Cole, of her impending demise). Graves' purposes, on the other hand, are probably best served by the painting being returned to the custody of the Trust, which is why Cole has Branch track down Echo in Europe. Whatever the full import of the painting is to the story arc, remains to be seen.
External links
- 100Bullets.co.uk fan site, on material from which parts of this article were based