CriminalVol 1: Coward
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
2007
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
CriminalVol 2: Lawless
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
2007
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
CriminalVol 3: The Dead and The Dying
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
2007
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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CriminalVol 4: Bad Night
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
2007
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
CriminalVol 5: The Sinners
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
2010
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Vol 6: The Last of The Innocent
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Someone told me that the books in the Criminal series could be read in any order - and while I see the point (each volume is it's own self contained story): there's some things that won't hit you right and some bitter ironies that you'll miss unless you read them in sequence. Certain moments that might seem hopeful if you come at them the wrong way. But wait. What is Criminal anyway? Why read them at all? Ok then: the baby of American writer self-confessed "army brat" Ed Brubaker and English ex-2000AD artist Sean Phillips (who have also worked together to create Incognito and Sleeper - so if you like this - you should go check them out too) the series Criminal is the flagship title of modern crime "neo-noir" comics and the successor of a tradition that started all the way back with Frank Miller's Sin City (and if you haven't read those already - what the hell is wrong with you?). Unlike Sin City - there isn't too much wild and crazy with the techniques used here (with a few exceptions here and there) - so anyone hooked on the outlandish excesses of your Alan Moores and Grant Morrisons should look elsewhere (or - you know - simply adjust your expectations accordingly): Criminal is stripped back, unshowy and cuts right to the point (and most times - that's the end point of a knife pushed up against someone's throat). In common with Sin City (I promise I'm gonna stop going on about Sin City soon) what's nice (nice?) about Criminal is the way all the separate stories inter-lock and dovetail into each other - so that each successive volume drags you under a little deeper and pours on the injustice a little more - creating a world where character's fates end up being decided before they even get a chance to grow up.
The artwork follows the cue of the writing containing all the action in the same sequence of little tidy boxes (which - if you compare it to his art for other books - isn't really something Sean Phillips does elsewhere): but it definitely adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere that builds up in every story and reinforces the central idea contained within every volume (and hell - every noir story) that escape is impossible: and your only options are death or - even worse - prison.
Other things I liked: the unlikely names of the characters ("Teeg Lawless"?); the lighting (hell yeah comics can have good lighting too); the few times the art switches styles (mostly in dreams and memories - and there's a cool trick in Vol 4 that I won't spoil); the piling up of bad luck upon trouble that afflicts every character caught in headlights of plot in a way that never seems too contrived but always left me thoroughly gripped.
So - yeah - anyone that likes a good old dollop of hard boiled crime fiction (and Ian Rankin wrote an introduction - so you know this is the real thing): Criminal is waiting to show you a good time... Just make sure you watch your step.
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Links: The Comics Reporter Interview with Ed Brubaker, Page 45 Review of Vol 1, Tor Review of Vol 1, Gosh! Comics Blog: Gosh Recommends Criminal Coward and Lawless, A Criminal Blog, Tearoom of Despair: It's Criminal, Tearoom of Despair Criminal: The Sinners Article, Tearoom of Despair Criminal: Last of the Innocents Article, The Comics Cube Article: Gateway Comics: Criminal.
Further reading: 100 Bullets, Incognito, Sleeper, Sin City, Scalped, Queen & Country, The Punisher: The Punisher MAX, Marvel Zombies, Goldfish.
Profiles: Ed Brubaker.
All comments welcome.
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