Criminal: Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

When I was in Clear Lake this summer I started reading some of Ed Brubaker’s work and quite litterly fell for it. Shortly after reading his masterful take on Captain America, I found these comics at a flea market by the name of Criminal. With the name Brubaker attached to it and at a buck a piece, what could I loose, I asked myself. I ended up buying every issue she had and cleared out the back issues in our local comic shop, Eye Opener Books. I fell for everything about this story: dark, vicious art that almost speaks for it’s self, conflicted characters that you love to hate, and writing that makes me quiver with jealousy. So when I made my weekly visit to that very same comic shop this Thursday, I was exulted to discover that Brubaker and Phillips, one of comics finest team if I may say, just released the first issue of a new story arc in this series.

Now, for those of you who are not familiar with this book, or comics in general for that matter, then I can only say this: find an old copy of one of the four or five graphic novels that have already been released, and don’t put it down until every blood-soaked page has been absorbed into the unexpected recesses of your cranium. But seriously though, these books have been some of the most fresh and enjoyable reads I have had in a while.

In this new issue, we follow another story with Tracy Lawless, a character we have seen quite a bit of so far. He came into the picture while searching for his brother’s murderers, but is quickly sucked into a sinister world of ruthless crime and violence. He is troubled by the decisions he has made in life and has become hardened because of it; he is a no-bullshit kind of man that has no problem pulling the trigger, something he has done too many times to count. But there is something else to him, he is not your everyday average criminal, there is more to him than I think even Ed realizes. With this new installment, he is “persuaded” to find the ones responsible for a recent string of killings in order to finalize his deal with the crime kingpin that has had him by the balls ever since he arrived on the page . . . or so he thinks.

If you liked the Incognito series that I reviewed a few issues back, then you will love these Criminal comics.