posted
One of the series most frequently mentioned in the "Any Recommendations" Thread is Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, which is one of the best crime comic book series not only today but in the history of comics books. Criminal isn’t a series, per se, but actually a series of miniseries—it works better that way because you never know how these gritty crime stories will end and who will make it through. During one of the most recent breaks between Criminal arcs, Bru & Phillips did a miniseries called Incognito which actually focused on super-villains where they added the superhero background to their well established crime writing style. As with all other Criminal stories, it was utterly fantastic.
That’s the theme you need to understand if you’ve never read a Criminal story before: this is one damn excellent comic book. It is gritty and it is noir. When a lot of publishers or solicitations say thing are noir, a lot of the time they’re a bit wrong; noir isn’t just crime with a lot of shadows; noir has a certain style and specific themes to it. And Bru & Phillips definitely are well within the noir genre. Their characters are pessimistic and distrustful, and usually with good reason. All the characters have blurry morals; heroes are reluctant to do anything because “it’s the right thing”. If you like Crime as a genre, and if you like crime comic books, then you need to be reading Criminal because it’s the best thing out there.
I’ve spoken at length on Legion World on why I think Ed Brubaker is one of the best writers out there. I personally think he’s the very best writer at Marvel and may just be the best current writer in comics. Just about everything he’s done I’ve loved—from Batman to Gotham Central to Daredevil to Captain America; all of them are excellent (in fact, the only thing I would not recommend is his Uncanny X-Men brief run). Just about everything Brubaker does is fantastic: his plots, his dialogue, his character interaction, the pacing of his stories, the way he makes each title he touches have its own style. If his name is attached to something, I’ll buy (re: the excellent Marvels Project miniseries). Here, we see Bru in his favorite genre doing his favorite kind of stories and it’s a delight.
Sean Phillips is Brubaker’s great partner in crime. Just like several other modern writers work best with specific artists, when Brubaker teams up with Phillips things get even better. Phillips’ style is dark and gritty and yet is totally different from everything else. Its noir-ish in the sense of being in the darkest corners of society, and yet it’s a totally modern type of artwork. It kind of takes the crime & noir genre and firmly places it in the 21st Century—something some films over the years have done but not many comics.
An additional piece of Criminal that must be addressed in any review of the series is that each single issue contains (in addition to a great letters page, something all the best comics have) a really excellent 2-page essay by Professor Jess Nevins. These are usually worth the price of the comic alone. Nevins covers crime authors, subgenres of crime films, pulp heroes (like the Shadow and others which were fascinating in Incognito) and all kinds of things. He’s just a really knowledgeable guy whose essays I could read all day. Sometimes Bru will get other people besides Nevins to do an essay and those are always great as well. In the latest issue Nevins talks about Japanese Noir Films in the last 10+ years and it really got me interested. But don’t take my word for it, here is renowned LW poster Outdoor Miner:
quote:Originally posted by Outdoor Miner:
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: [QB] Best of all are the articles in the back, the two here written by Professor Jess Nevins, who has written articles in the past for Criminal and Incognito. The articles are two pages, loaded with information and as fascinating and interesting as anything else I read all year. #4 dealt with "Operator #5" a pulp hero from the 30's I've never heard of and found fascinating, particularly because the series generally always had invasions in the US from foreigners resulting in massive casualties and destruction--something that was a major fear during that era. #5 deals with Fu Manchu, who I *am* familiar with--or at least, I thoguht I was but now feel like I've finally gotten some real history on the character/concept. What it really does is give some incredible insight into the "Yellow Peril" archtype of villainy in the pulp era that stretched on beyond WWII though never quite as ruthless as it was in pre-WWII days (and during of course).
Nevins has written several books laying out details of all the characters and background stuff in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books. He's also got websites listing many of the classic pulp and Victorian-era heroes. He knows his stuff.
All the above are recommended.
The current Criminal arc revisits the one protagonist (note I did not say hero) Bru uses the most, Tracy Lawless and thus far its been a great, solid read. I’m curious to where it will go and the recent twist in the killer’s identity leads me to believe it will be deliciously lurid.
[ January 13, 2012, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Cobalt Kid ]
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Some other thoughts on Bru & Phillips in general:
Some random Message Board history with Brubaker and myself This might not really interest anyone but eh, I don’t care . When I first started posting on the DCMB’s all those years ago in 1999, I basically stuck to the Legion forum and that’s where I meant some of the posters who would one day form the LMB and later wind up on Legion World (the earliest being Crujectra, Dev-Em, Sketch Lad, Mystery Lad and a few others; and then Lardy, Lash and Shady in the month before we formed the LMB). I also spent a considerable amount of time on the Batman forum in those days in late 1999 and early 2000, and those boards were equally as crazy and fun—it was probably the 2nd busiest forum on the DCMB’s. It was right during this time that Larry Hama had just done a 6 issue run that was basically horrific. Just really terrible stuff, and the DCMB posters were literally crucifying him for it. A thread even popped up “The People vs. Larry Hama” in which we had a full-on trial (with several law students guiding us every step of the way) on which Hama was tried on like 6 charges, one of which included the attempted murder of the Batman franchise. It was hysterical, great stuff. When Hama left (which some of the posters thought they were partially responsible for), the new writer to come on was none other than Ed Brubaker—it was his first time ever doing a major comic book series for the big two (he’d really only done the barest material before). And being really brave, he immediately registered on the DCMB’s and interacted with us all prior to even beginning his run. The posters being the crazy people they were actually all went out to buy his books to read them and critique them all and really put him under the microscope. And Brubaker was actually really cool about it—he took it all in good fun, explained some of his ideas and seemed open to seeing what readers wanted and what obscure characters they might like to see. It was a really cool interaction with a creator and he was a real class act about it all. His Batman run, BTW, was nothing short of excellent and long overdue after several years of ups and downs.
A Great Oversight My collecting of Criminal has not been precise over the years and I’ve missed an arc or two. Sometimes I get so backed up in going to get the comics that I forget some of the stuff I’m pulling off the rack—not as much recently but about 2-3 years ago when I was moving and getting married and stuff. But one series of both Bru & Phillips I never have read any of at all is Sleeper by Wildstorm. I’ll admit I basically missed this entirely when it came out and when I did learn about it (after it ended) I was initially turned off by the connection to the rest of the Wildstorm continuity; I think John Lynch is in it or something like that. I know Lynch from when I collected Gen13 in the 90’s, but I have never collected anything Wildstorm-related seriously before (other than Astro City which doesn’t connect to that continuity). I understand Sleeper is supposed to be really good, but does the continuity get in the way of it at all?
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: I understand Sleeper is supposed to be really good, but does the continuity get in the way of it at all?
Not at all, Des. I came to this series pretty darn cold and had absolutely NO trouble enjoying it. I had a passing familiarity with Lynch from the few issues of Gen-13 I'd read, but having any kind of background is inconsequential. The bad guy also apparently had a history with Wildcats. Doesn't matter--you know all you need to here. There may have been a Grifter or other random appearances, but this was definitely Brubaker's book populated by Brubaker & Philips characters. Any existing characters he used were more awesome here than they could possibly have been elsewhere.
Did you like Incognito? Well, Incognito wasn't even half as good as Sleeper! Nope, not even close!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Loved Incognito so that's high praise! I'll probably try to hunt it down in trades over the next few months. When I say I missed this, I really missed it completely; I think I thought it was an arc in Criminal at first and only realized it existed a few years ago.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
The second arc of Incognito has begun and so far, SO AWESOME. Bru has created a really great premise for bringing back Zack and revisiting this universe, keeping it very much in line with the pulp & noir sensibilities of the first arc and the Criminal stories.
Anyone looking for a top-notch crime comic involving superheroes, now is your chance.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
The second Incognito miniseries continues with #2 as Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips showcase how good they are once again. It’s hard to find new ways to praise the two, but I’ll say that while in recent years Ed’s work sometimes doesn’t seem up to par (and how could he hit a home run every time?), his stuff with Sean continues to be as good as it gets. And Sean Phillips delivers every time when working with Ed’s scripts.
The story of Zack Overkill continues to be intriguing and his current predicament provides the ultimate scenario for Zack to decide once and for all where he stands. With a premise not subtle and events pushing the lead character down this road whether he likes it or not, it provides the ultimate noir power over the characters of the series, and it’s just awesome to watch it unfold.
This issue also had another awesome 2-part essay by Jess Nevins, this one on G-8 the aviator superhero from the pulps which was, as usual, really well done. I wish there was a website that collected all of these because they are a pleasure to read.
I highly recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of crime-fiction, noir-fiction and just damn good story-telling.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
The new Criminal arc is great. It's different, with the childhood/youth memory scenes done as happy Archie panels - a good way to show the self-delusion of the main character (perhaps of us all).
posted
I'm also really enjoying this later Criminal arc! Archie meets Noir? Brilliant, and so far done really well.
"Veronica's Dad" is so how I would picture him in the Archie comics anyway.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
"The Last of the Innocent", the latest Criminal arc, continues to be a fantastic new crime story with major Noir elements. It's shaping up to be one of the best Criminal arcs so far.
The obvious nod to the cast of Archie makes for a fantastic twist even 3 issues in. Bru and Phillips go beyond the obvious and make you really feel for Freakout (Jughead) or despise Teddy (Reggie).
What I love is the classic Noir twist where the lead character is the killer so you can't help but empathize with him. You may not feel murder is justified but you can't help, as the reader, to feel nervous for him once he's committed the crime, and hope he doesn't get caught. And in true Noir form, you know that last part is coming--something dreadful is going to occur and you can only watch as the characters struggle to fight the inevitable.
Great stuff as always and I also enjoyed the essay in the back by Jay Faerber on Magnum P.I. Even without the always awesome Jess Nevins, the essays have stayed hella-kewl throughout.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
This is definitely my favourite of the Criminal arcs, because of the lead's (possibly distorted) memories of his youth contrasting with his current situation. It all seems to be going too smoothly for him - you do figure there's going to be a big, sudden turn of events.
That Magnum essay was interesting (even though I'm more of a Rockford fan).
posted
I'm behind on "Last of the Innocent" (along with everything else) and just read #3. I agree with Cramey that this could potentially be the best of the Criminal arcs to date. I love the "Archie" parallels and the asides done in a simpler style that evokes the Riverdale gang's style. It's really interesting to see someone pull off what is supposed to be the "perfect murder" and then wait for it all to bite him in the ass! We'll see if that happens as I eagerly await when I get to the final chapter.
If Brubaker and Phillips ever stop working together, they should be forced to continue or face arrest for crimes against humanity!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
“The Last of the Innocent” wrapped up with an ending I found very surprising! And that was because:
Click Here For A SpoilerHe got away with it!
But that obviously wasn’t the point of it all. The real sad ending is Riley’s decision on what to do about Freakout, which took Riley from someone you could *kind* of empathize with and moved him to someone you despise.
Even more so, despite being glad to see Felix’s Dad getting his comeuppance, I couldn’t help but begin turning against Riley when it was clear he’d still be coming in to NY for weekends for gambling and whoring. Riley is clearly not a nice person, and that’s no one’s fault but his own. The fact that he’s bringing Lizzie into his world is, well, criminal.
The revelation about the serial murderer in their hometown when they were teenagers was a fascinating tidbit and it was made all the more effective by how random and unexplained it all was.
This was a fantastic arc of Criminal. I echo everyone in saying this was one of the best ever for the series.
Also, love the essay on S.W.A.T., another classic 70’s drama that was before my time.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
LOVED the conclusion to "Last of the Innocents"! I'd say pretty definitively that it was the absolute best and most complete Criminal arc to date, IMO.
I enjoyed the cameo of Tracy Lawless's brother, which shows this arc obviously pre-dates Lawless's first arc. Sebastian Hyde showed up as well (as he does somewhere in most arcs), but this one was a special treat.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a sequel to Riley's story at some point--there are certainly some elements set up there. But even if there's not, this was an excellent story with the flashback style being a huge stroke of genius.
Next up from Brubaker and Philips...Fatale at Image!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I reread Point Blank and it was better than I had remembered. I actually counted the pages - 22 - but the story is so dense that each issue seemed longer than normal for a comic.
It's a story about Grifter. He meets up with John Lynch, head of a secret ops group, who needs his help, but is very circumspect as to why. When Lynch misses a meeting, Grifter goes looking for him and finds him shot. Then Grifter embarks on a dark, devious and dirty hunt to find out not only who shot Lynch but what Lynch was looking for.
It's the seamy side of the seamy Wildcats universe, with twists, turns and head games - and one of those sad endings, because the reader knows what happened but the protagonist doesn't.
Point Blank leads right into Sleeper, the story of Holden Carver and Tao.
I read the first issue of the DCnU Grifter but didn't continue it. Now I'm thinking I may pick it up since it could be a continuation of where Grifter was left off at the end of Point Blank. The DCnU story wasn't anywhere near as compelling as the first issue of Point Blank, however.
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic | Subscribe To Topic
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
. When I first started posting on the DCMB’s all those years ago in 1999, I basically stuck to the Legion forum and that’s where I meant some of the posters who would one day form the LMB and later wind up on Legion World (the earliest being Crujectra, Dev-Em, Sketch Lad, Mystery Lad and a few others; and then Lardy, Lash and Shady in the month before we formed the LMB). I also spent a considerable amount of time on the Batman forum in those days in late 1999 and early 2000, and those boards were equally as crazy and fun—it was probably the 2nd busiest forum on the DCMB’s. It was right during this time that Larry Hama had just done a 6 issue run that was basically horrific. Just really terrible stuff, and the DCMB posters were literally crucifying him for it. A thread even popped up “The People vs. Larry Hama” in which we had a full-on trial (with several law students guiding us every step of the way) on which Hama was tried on like 6 charges, one of which included the attempted murder of the Batman franchise. It was hysterical, great stuff. When Hama left (which some of the posters thought they were partially responsible for), the new writer to come on was none other than Ed Brubaker—it was his first time ever doing a major comic book series for the big two (he’d really only done the barest material before). And being really brave, he immediately registered on the DCMB’s and interacted with us all prior to even beginning his run. The posters being the crazy people they were actually all went out to buy his books to read them and critique them all and really put him under the microscope. And Brubaker was actually really cool about it—he took it all in good fun, explained some of his ideas and seemed open to seeing what readers wanted and what obscure characters they might like to see. It was a really cool interaction with a creator and he was a real class act about it all. His Batman run, BTW, was nothing short of excellent and long overdue after several years of ups and downs.
