Title : Coward (Part 2 of 5)
Writer : Ed Brubaker
Art : Sean Phillips
Colors : Val Staples
Publisher : Icon [Marvel Comics]
[Other details, including letterer and editor, were not available within this issue]
Believe the hype.
Seriously.
What, you want more?
In an era where so many series are pumped-up to the eye-balls with lavish praise and stellar build-ups, it’s an incredible relief to come across a series that lives up to every one of the superlatives that have been lobbed its way.
Criminal is the latest brainchild of Ed Brubaker, best-known to mainstream fans for his work on Gotham Central and Captain America. He’s also written the finite series Sleeper. I never was able to pick up the trades for Sleeper, but you can bet your ass I’m going to now.
Criminal, for those who came in late, initially gives us the main character of Leo, a thief and pick-pocket who prides himself on planning every ‘score’ to the nth degree, and often walks away from problems where more reckless comrades go down.
Leo has been effectively coerced into taking part in a jewel heist with a number of crooked cops, and it doesn’t take Al Gore to realize that things are, in some way, going to take an unforeseen turn.
The quality of the writing here just leaps off the page. After effectively and concisely setting up the characters in issue #1, Brubaker only ups the stakes here, placing the characters in their inevitable conflict, and almost badgering us into the pre-planned emotional paths.
Minor exchanges about such things as cell-phones take on an almost Pulp Fiction air, in the middle of the treachery and double-dealing that is reminiscint of such recent movies as The Score. The explicit nod to the classic The Italian Job only adds to the feel of watching a great heist movie, complete with twists and double-crosses.
Brubaker leaves us on less than a cliff-hanger, and more just a rabid desire to know what happens next, in this superbly-plotted tale of intrigue.
Sean Phillips’ contribution should not be underestimated. In a series where it would be tempting to make all of the characters look roughly the same (as has been a difficulty with similiarly noir series), he invests every character with their own individual look and feel, with Leo’s emotions and careful planning coming to the forefront at appropriate times.
While I wipe my drool off the floor, I can only add my voice to the chorus of approval, and encourage all of you to jump on this bandwagon as soon as possible.
