SPOILERS AHEAD!!
This forth volume gives us even more information about the Trust, as well as introducing us to some more Minutemen.
The Mimic (#20) is a conversation between Shepherd and Benito. We learn a little bit about Shepherd’s past, that he was a Minutemen but was promoted by the Trust. He tells Benito about Graves and his plans, so it looks like he playing both sides. But for what purpose? What does he get? In the background there is the B story, about drug dealers in the park. The B story is usually self-contained to the current story arc, until the characters come back in future stories (Spain will be back later).
Next (#21-22) we meet Jack Daw, which gets the attache’ from Graves, but this time with a twist. The target is himself, he is the one responsible for becoming a drug addict. The story is told in flashbacks and the target is only revealed at the very end. Meantime we are always guessing who Jack is going to shoot, I was sure it was his mother. The ending is ambigous, until Jack comes back later on.
Issues 23-25 finally show us the Trust. They meet in Atlantic City to discuss Graves. So much info here: 13 families, Minutemen were there to maintain status quo among the families, and also to be their muscle. Daniel Peres is called by Graves, but I don’t understand why he wouldn’t be afraid. In the end Burns does kill him. This is also when Benito meets Dizzy for the first time. The B story is about Hank, who has a gambling problem. His story ties into Benito’s, who is also a gambler.
After this issue I started to take down all names of the 13 families, though I was very confused at first. Most of them don’t even get to speak here, and I couldn’t quite remember them in future stories. I should have realized that Mia was one of the 13, and not Daniel’s wife as I thought at first.
Issue 26 is an atypical issue of 100 Bullets: this stand alone issue contains pin-ups by many great artists, each one depicting important characters of the series. At the same time, the framing sequence by Risso sees Branch telling us about them, thus revealing some more hints. 400 years ago the Trust pulled the biggest crime in history, they asked the Minutemen to repeat it, but Graves refused as an excuse to do what? And what is his plan for Dizzy? I was a bit puzzled by the Dave Gibbons pin-up about the Minutemen. I thought there were always 7 of them, instead Gibbons drew 8 of them. I didn’t realize until later that Graves was in charge of them, but technically he was not in the 7. Also, Echo Memoria is introduced here, though not by name. She’ll be back in a later story.
Idol Chatter (#27) is the best self-contained story that has nothing to do with the big conspiracy. Even though the characters are not identified, it’s clear who they are: Joe DiMaggio, Marylin Monroe and JFK. Azzarello manages to explain the death of Marylin and JFK with an attache’ Graves gave DiMaggio. It’s a very clever story, told in a masterful way.
The last story of the volume is about Wylie Times, who goes to Mexico and everything goes wrong for him. Shepherd and Dizzy are checking up on him, so it’s clear that Wylie is a Minutemen, but he hasn’t awaken yet. Shepherd doesn’t know the secret word, which means he’s not there on Graves’ orders. Then what is his purpose? Wylie doesn’t look scary to me at all, he’s very different from the other Minutemen.
Now that the Trust is revealed, we just need to know each one of them, and find out what happened in the past. I’m keeping tabs on any new member of the Trust or the Minutemen.