Art For Art’s Sake #347: Crime Comics — Where The Bullets Fly So Beautifully

Another week to celebrate all the incredible art we have in our medium – yes, it’s Art For Art’s Sake time!

Something a little different this week, purely because I was reminded of the brilliance of the incredible line work and minimalist tone of Spanish artist Jordi Bernet when I saw one of his pieces that sneaked into last weeks’ Art For Art’s Sake. And that led me to more of Bernet’s Torpedo art, after which there was the obvious link to Alex Toth and Eduardo Risso, and I really don’t need any excuse to show you art by those two fine, fine comic artists. And, by the time I did that, well, I figured let’s just make this an Art For Art’s Sake of connections. Because, why the hell not?

Anyway, starting off with Jordi Bernet‘s collaboration with Enrique Sánchez Abulí, on Torpedo 1936, it’s simply a masterclass in minimal line, perfect line, just a beautiful series of brutal tales of a moral-free hitman, Luca Torelli. Torpedo 1936 was first published in Creepy, the Spanish horror mag, in issue 32 (1982), with Toth on art for #31 and 32, before Bernet came in and made the character his own.

There’s a quote from Will Eisner, hardly a slouch himself in artistic terms, that sums up the essence of Bernet’s artwork – ‘Here was a man who was producing pure story-telling art. That is art that uses the kind of minimalism so singular to his draftsmanship that is actually a narrative device in itself.’

Now, where to go after Bernet? Well, how about some of that Alex Toth artwork from the first two Torpedo series?

So, keeping the flow going, a little of Eduardo Risso‘s art from the 2017 Torpedo 1972, published by Ablaze in English in 2024…

And of course, from Eduardo Risso, we have to go to the book that most will associate him with, 100 Bullets. Another bloody brilliant book, and brilliantly bloody, 100 Bullets spanned 100 issues, first published in 1999, with co-creators Rizzo and writer Brian Azzarello giving us something dark, noir, pulp. The original concept played out in the first volume or so was a simple one – if you’d been wronged, what would you do if you were offered a gun, bullets, and a guarantee that you’d get away with whatever you wanted to do with it? From there, it spun out into this epic saga of crime and power that is another must read for you.

After the initial 100-issue run, there’s the 2014 eight-issue 100 Bullets: Brother Lono series, and, coming out in 2026, from DC Comics reborn Vertigo imprint, will be 100 Bullets: The US of Anger, where former Minuteman Lono is back in the US and back in trouble.

And here’s the cover to that one, by Dave Johnson…

And that takes us to the next link in this crime comic chain… as Dave Johnson did an awful lot of striking 100 Bullets covers over the years…

Okay, let’s wrap this week up with a simple jump from 100 Bullets, a twisting, turning tale of crime and violence, to David Lapham‘s Stray Bullets, a twisting, turning tale of crime and violence!

First published in 1995 with Lapham, previously best known for some alright art at Valiant and Defiant publishers in the early 90s, we just weren’t expecting him to come up with something so dark, involved, and absolutely stunning.

Over the years of its publication, you follow a large cast of neer do wells and lost souls, caught up in events both criminal and tragic. 40 issues came out from El Capitan from 1995-2005, Lapham’s self-publishing company, wrapping up in Stray Bullets 41 in 2014 from Image Comics – and yes, that was a hell of a long time to wait.). With a new home at Image, we then had the eight-issue Stray Bullets: Killers in 2014 and the 42 issues of Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses. Another absolute recommendation.