Crime doesn’t pay?  Try telling that to hot comic-book scribe Brian Azzarello… We recently had the chance to sit down at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore with the creator such graphics novels and comics as the new Joker and the ongoing 100 Bullets, and got the scoop on what to expect once the latter series comes upon its final hour – as well as what Mr. Azzarello sees as a fitting ending for such a long-standing pillar of comic gore, and why he just can’t come to like those pesky superheroes.  Check out the interview below…

So where are you with 100 Bullets?

We're wrapping up 100 Bullets right now so… last issue will be out in February.

Can you comment on what the finale will involve?

Uh, I don't think it's gonna end the way that people expect it to end – which I think is good. I mean if you're going for a hundred issues… I don't think I can end it the way anybody expects it to end.

Are you thinking about the Sopranos ending now, and the general response to it, and getting nervous?

No, no, no… I actually think that ending was pretty great. Because as a creator you can't create the ending that's already there. People had been living with Tony Soprano for seven years – they had certain expectations about how his life would proceed. Even if Chase would have given an ending where he gets shot, well you knew that was going to end – that's not a good ending. So he gave them something else – that's not the ending you thought would happen. Even if he gets divorced from Carmela – whatever – what kind of an ending do you have built into your head? There's a certain kind of expectation that has to be met – and when it's not met, people scream bloody murder. But it can't be met. You can surpass it.

Is it safe to say the crime genre is your favorite or do you not have one favorite genre?

You know, any genre where people can make mistakes is what I like. That's why I suppose I don't like superheroes. But then again they're on lunchboxes. They're corporately not allowed to make mistakes.