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Rating:  - Dissapointingly Derivative
I'm a big fan of crime genre in both fiction and film and a moderate fan of graphic storytelling, so I've been starting to seek out books that bridge the two. The comic book series collected in this volume got great reviews (and an Eisner award I think), so I picked it up with high expectations. The book covers a storyline that spanned five issues, although it oddly doesn't include the issue covers or text that appeared at the end of each.
Set in a comicbooky version of '70s-'80s San Francisco (here known as "Bay City"), it starts out well. We meet Leo, a 30-something thief who was literally born into a life of crime, learning how to pickpocket at young age from his criminal father and one of his associates. Leo is the titular coward, known throughout the underworld for his refusal to use guns, refusal to work for anyone else, and making sure that he always has at least two escape routes. He also doesn't really have any personal attachments to speak of. The main storyline kicks off when he gets suckered into planning a sketchy heist that requires him to abandon most of his rules and go up against crooked cops and gangsters with considerably less ethics than himself.
At this point in the story I was feeling fairly let down because it was exceedingly evident that both Leo and the plot were almost entirely recycled from various crime films -- especially Michael Mann's two films Heat and Thief. Coupled with this is a distressing amount of cheese factor, for example, the name of Leo's bar hangout (The Undertow, get it?), the involvement of an innocent kid and the requisite curvy love interest, the past coming back to haunt Leo, and don't get me started on the dialogue... Other reviewers have pointed out how hokey it is, my own favorite example is the last line of the book: "But like I said, dying... dying is harder than killing... Just my luck." Wow, deep stuff, eh?
I guess I was expecting something a little smarter, cleverer, more unusual, or just plain distinctive. The artwork by Sean Phillips is fine, not too clean, not too rough, not a lot of character period. All rendered in appropriately deep and dark tones, contained in totally straightforward paneling. The story is the real disappointment, as it fails to bring anything new to the table. Maybe this first storyline is just Brubaker finding his ground, and future installments will be more nuanced and original, but I'll definitely have to keep looking to find the right crime comic book for me.
Rating:  - Great book
First book a read in this series, but I'm surely going to read more.
*good art
*intresting plot
*intresting characters
Rating:  - Awesome
Ed Brubaker is one of the outstanding writer's in the comics industry today. This series, Criminal, is a superb crime drama which Ed does beautifully. This has been a hit series and once you read it, you'll know why many people love it...
Rating: - Amazing comics, but where are the text pieces?
This graphic novel collects issues 1-5 of Ed Brubacker and Sean Phillips' Criminal. This contains the entire "Coward" arc which introduces us to Criminal world and some of its main stays.
The story and its execution are absolutely fantastic. The art and writing blend together perfectly to establish a great setting with believable characters. We get a world that seems to blend the best themes from classic noir and 70's "heist" films. I can't wait to see more from the world of Criminal.
The only problem I had with this collection was the decision to not include the text pieces that appeared at the end of each individual issue. I understand they did this to reward those who bought the single issues, but in this day and age many people tend to wait for the collected volume. It's a shame those who did miss out on the great text pieces from various creators.
Despite this, it's an amazing read. I highly suggest it. Though it's not as stylish as Sin City, I find the world to be just as interesting if not more so. Brubacker and Phillips are at the top of their game, and I cannot wait for more.
Rating:  - Dissapointing
This won an Eisner and is about a heist gone wrong, so figured it was worth a shot. Its the worst, absolute hot garbage. Where do the creators get the balls on the back page? "Ed and I have tried to do something about [the quality of the product out there], to produce a book we both totally believe in, without hopefully adding to that huge mountain of mediocre comics churned out every month." Is he serious? Or is he just jerking us around? Cause if this is just some kind of scam where he hopes to be able to sell the movie rights and make a buck off this, Im into it. But check this dialogue (note the emphasis is not mine, but actually from the book):
- You dont mean that. God, Leo you CANT mean that.
- Dont tell me what I mean. Just cause we SLEPT TOGETHER dont think you know me.
- But Im trying to... if you F**KING let me. Im trying to HELP.
- I dont NEED help from you... or from anyone.
- God DAMN you. I thought you were different. I thought they were WRONG. But I get it. You aren't afraid of violence or guns or anything like that... But you're afraid to let me in.
This sounds like a parody, like The Naked Gun or something!
I bet at some point in the 90s, sometime after True Romance and Pulp Fiction there were interns working for movie studios reading 10 scripts a day like this - maybe this is better than some of those, maybe it isn't.
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