BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS return ten years later to the world of CRIMINAL for one of their darkest and strangest tales yet. Teeg and Tracy Lawless co-star in this one-shot, a twisted 70s noir about a father and son on the run. Also includes articles, illustrations, and behind-the-scenes extras.
I feel like the writer just wanted to make something "deep", but in their pursuit of depth they created a shallow story, with uninteresting characters and a brief sex scene which just feels completely gratuitous and out-of-place.The art is good and easily understandable. But aside from this and some good writing, it's difficult to really praise anything about Criminal. The comic doesn't seem to say anything, or speak in any volumes about anything. It's just "here are some characters, this is what they do." Even more difficult than to specifically say anything good or bad about it, is to just say something about it. It's hard to say things about a comic that doesn't say anything, and Criminal is so flat and lifeless it feels like a day at Keira Knightley's acting academy. 1/5 stars. Read Full Review
Woof, that one (one??) critic review of this comic has to be one of the worst misses I've ever seen on this site. This is a tenderly observed story of brutality, slice-of-life by way of Scorsese, and it's one of the highlights of Criminal
Brubaker and Phillips start their longstanding criminal noir relationship out on a high note in Criminal, enough so that they have made, what, FOUR more noir series together? with Kill or be Killed making their newest outing coming soon? this first issue is great art, and tight writing, with some really beautiful, vintage comic book art used as a means to transition scenes in the story. things start off really dark, and just keep that darkness about them throughout. this is not a story for kids, even though it is about a kid and his dad on a road trip. but not ANY road trip, they’re hunting down a criminal who would implicate the young man’s father in crimes he and his boss have committed. we learn a lot about him and his father, and se more
Not sure why there aren't more reviews for this, Ben Seeka missed the mark big time, I wonder if he even realizes that there is more history to these characters. This is a boyhood story about Tracy trying to subsist under his father's criminally poor parenting; Tracy discovers escapism for the first time in the form of a comic book magazine and it leads him down a path to the childhood he never knew he was missing. The story is well executed by Sean Phillips who thrives with sequential story telling in a way that is easy to under-appreciate. Definitely read this in the Magazine format if you can, the art is larger and makes good use of the format with the pages depicting the comic within the comic. Check this out if you like Criminal or noi more
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