ILLUSTRATIONS22_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative
The only book evenremotely in contentionwith Criminal #1 for the titleof “Best Debut of <strong>2006</strong>” isEscapists #1, and I’m not sureeven a Brian Vaughan-writtenfirst issue can top the returnof Brubaker and Phillips tothe pure crime genre. OK,you got me… I’m a true believer on this one. But even a skepticis going to have a hard time turning away from this book afterreading this first issue, which is about as perfect a setup for a heiststory as you’ll read in comics. From the interesting characters tothe gritty, lived-in world that Phillips portrays to the twists andturns that show a lifetime of watching and reading noir, Criminalis like heroin distilled into comic book form for the crime noveljunkie. And fans of Brubaker’s dark, character-driven superherowork like Captain America and Daredevil are going to find plentyto like here as well.Criminal is a brand new ongoing series about crime. Alltypes of criminals, all types of crime, all filtered through thesensibilities of Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and colorist ValStaples. The first arc starts off with a look at pickpockets andbank robbers, a mixture of Grifters and Heat, and it’s got allthe compelling protagonists, moral ambiguity and twisty plotyou could ask for. The staples of the genre are there — theguilt-ridden pro pulled in for “one last job,” the femme fatale,the bent cop, the sleazy fixer, the secret agenda, the old jobgone-badthat haunts them individually and ties them togetheras a group — but they all have a bit of a twist; not enoughto render them unrecognizable, but enough to make thesepotential crime cliches read as fresh and engaging.For one thing, the retired pro isn’t really retired, he’s justshifted gigs from robberies and scores to petty pickpocketingin the name of identity theft. He’s not an old man, he’s a youngman, and he lost his real father to prison and his surrogatefather to Alzheimer’s and heroin addiction. That’s our lead,Leo, and he’s a fascinating lead. In the opening scene, we seehim at his job-gone-bad, with a particularly clever escape routeplanned out, and we watch him sail through the waters of theunderbelly of criminal society throughout. Leo is a new twiston the criminal protagonist, someone who’s smarter than heis tough, and who has an achilles heel (revealed in the last fewpages) that is uncommon in the hard-boiled world of crime,where protagonists tend to be two-fisted or trigger-happy.It’s clear that Brubaker has a whole criminal world in hishead for these characters. The common ground is TheUndertow, a dive bar where thugs meet to take down scores,but a level of “honor among thieves” keeps even rivals frompreying on each other while inside the bar. Then there’s Leo’slowlife social circle, including epileptic con man Donnie and thebitter mother and widow, Greta. Brubaker and Phillips create aworld and pull the reader right in, and I’d be surprised if there’sanyone who can read this first issue, get to that last page andnot immediately want to put their hands on the next.Speaking of Phillips, he’s always been great, but he’s justphenomenal here. Working with Val Staples, he createsa world that is shadowy and real, yet more brightly lit thanI’m accustomed to seeing in crime drama. Phillips createsmoments that stay with you, like the sight of Terry Watsonshot in the alley, begging his friend with his eyes to stay withhim even though it means getting caught. He also creates vividbackdrops, like the run-down Undertow, which is at once thekind of place normal people would be scared to walk into andthe kind of place a lifelong crook would fallon his knees and thank God for finding.Along with this more subtle world-buildingand character-based emotional storytelling,Phillips brings his gift for action storytellingand danger, as displayed in those cracklingopening pages of heist turned shootout.If the rest of the series can live up tothis home run of a first issue, and I’ve noreason to believe it can’t, we’re lookingat something special. Criminal has all thehallmarks of being a defining moment inthe careers of everyone involved. Just asyou can’t talk about Frank Miller withoutthinking of Daredevil or Dark Knight, AlanMoore without Watchmen or V For Vendettaor Garth Ennis without Preacher, I predictthat in years to come, Brubaker and Phillipswill be forever linked with Criminal. I’maware that I’m setting the expectations bara bit high here… but it’s that good, and fansshould take advantage of a chance to get inon the ground floor. Seriously, this is one ofthose “I can only afford to buy one comic,and Criminal is it” type of books.Read a six-page “trailer” of the series atedbrubaker.com/current/criminal.antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative_23
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