REVIEW: It is a crime not to read ‘Criminal: 10th Anniversary Special’
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips return the favor of more criminally great stories in their tribute to the tail-end of the 1970s disco era, Criminal: 10th Anniversary Special. [CRIMINAL: 10TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL comes out this April!] Similar to the last Criminal issue that was also treated in magazine-sized format, this one is massive, more than […]
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips return the favor of more criminally great stories in their tribute to the tail-end of the 1970s disco era, Criminal: 10th Anniversary Special.
[CRIMINAL: 10TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL comes out this April!]
Similar to the last Criminal issue that was also treated in magazine-sized format, this one is massive, more than fifty pages of chronicling the father-and-son road trip from the perspective of the son. Readers of the crime genre can already dig this one, particularly that its plot reads like Road To Perdition (both the graphic novel and/or the movie adaptation). Except in Criminal, there are no religious themes whatsoever mentioned here.
Also similar to the previous work, the comics become part of the larger narrative for the moral theme of the actual events synchronize well with the comic’s end results (as read by the boy while waiting his dad from work). This is what set Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips apart from most comic book creators right now in doing the crime genre — even very nice people are ultimately caught in the crossover.
Ed and Sean are definitely on top of their artistic game. The team masterfully intertwines the main story of the actuality to the connectivity of the comic form into one cohesive story line that is both clever and homage to the supernatural feel during that 1970s. Phillips and colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser present their proficiency in making his characters very believable in their respective emotional projections, which are prominent to the main protagonists. The stoic and deadpan faces of the son and the tough exteriors of the dad are delivered almost perfectly. The physiological attributes of the ladies really delve on the zeitgeist of the times, making this read a lot more tantalizing!
As almost all Criminal and other Ed-Sean collaborative efforts, sex scenes, nudity, course words, some rather disturbing themes (like teaching kids to criminal acts) may cause some naive readers and myopic types to aghast this one. But for true lovers of anything crime, suspense and noir are sure to enjoy this one, especially if the creators are the masters of this genre.
It is a crime not to read CRIMINALS!
Criminal: 10th Anniversary Special will be released this week!
