CRIMINAL #10 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
© Marvel/Icon
Mania Grade: A
Issue: 10
Authors: Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips
Publisher: Marvel/Icon
Price: $2.99
Issue: 10
Authors: Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips
Publisher: Marvel/Icon
Price: $2.99
CRIMINAL #10
By: Kurt AmackerReview Date: Thursday, November 15, 2007
Ed Brubaker’s Criminal remains one of the best comics from Marvel in print, as well as one of the best ongoing series of any company. This arc, entitled “Lawless” moves away from Leo, the career-thief-with-a-heart from the last story, and focuses instead on Tracy Lawless, an AWOL soldier who bucks the Army to find out who killed his younger brother. By this issue, Lawless has fallen into his brother’s old crew under a fake name, only to get closer to the action that killed his brother than he ever intended. Like Donnie Brasco or Gangs of New York, our protagonist finds himself all too close to his target, turning a simple ploy for revenge into something more complicated. To make matters worse, a simple shoot-and-grab for some extra cash way back in issue #6 has come back to bite Lawless where it hurts. By the end of this issue, his best-laid-plans have fallen apart. But all doesn’t have to end badly for the bad. You’ll see.
This issue completes the arc “Lawless,” and brings us through the heist that the titular character works inside to understand his brother’s fate. I realize that this all sounds vague, but if I divulge much more, the entire thing will unravel and I’ll be forced to just spoil the whole story. Most importantly, know that this shows as another example of Brubaker’s penchant for working with patently amoral and immoral characters, making the reader both sympathize with them and reflect on how good he or she probably has it by comparison. But, as the story necessitates, Brubaker finds a few redeeming qualities in Lawless, thus making his enemies all the more repugnant. Then, he yanks the rug out from under you with an ending that seems almost happy, but really just brings his protagonist back down into the depths of the underworld. In the world of Criminal, only the bartender at the Undertow keeps his hands clean, and even he’s only neutral.
Sean Phillips brings a gritty, and very appropriate film-noir darkness to Criminal, combining the best influences of Mike Mignola’s work with a more natural feel. But it’s heavy on the black ink, with muted colors by Val Staples rounding out the picture. No doubt, the art in criminal looks like it came from the same grimy dive bar where its cast hangs out to plan their heists. I love ever panel of it.
Criminal still rules. The trade for this arc will be out in December, but you can probably still pick up the issues leading into this one, starting with #6. Get on board now.
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This take place within the Marvel U?