Criminal, Vol. 1: Coward

Just read it.

This is the first in an ongoing series of hardboiled graphic novels, written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Sean Phillips. They're directly in the lineage of Spillane, Westlake, Leonard, and Elroy. The storytelling is taut and lean, the characters both emblematic of urban criminality and believable as human beings.

This one tells the story of a second-generation thief whose superpower is his cowardice, his ability to smell trouble and to ditch. I use the term "superpower" because Brubaker also writes superhero comics, and some of his best superhero comics have brought a street-level criminal perspective to the standards capes-oriented storytelling (notably in Sleeper and Gotham Central).

There is a villan in this graphic novel named Roy L. T.. I mean seriously, that's awesome.

Leo is a career criminal - Hell, it runs in his family! The son of one of the best pick-pockets in Philly, Leo has evolved the family business into a much larger, more ambitious livelihood. While he hasn't partaken in a job in quite a while, he's lured into a risky heist targeting hundreds of thousands of dollars in diamonds. Teaming up with dirty cops, can Leo trust his associates and walk away with his cut of the take?

I was a big, big fan of this 1st installment. While I didn't love it as much as [b:Incognito, Volume 1|6584405|Incognito, Volume 1 (Incognito, #1)|Ed Brubaker|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1259044050s/6584405.jpg|6777898] show more (another one of Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips collaborations), I thought it was excellent for what it was. Brubaker has a massive back-catalouge of work and I can't wait to dig deep into it.

Sean Phillips' work is tremendous. I loved his vision in regards to what violent scenes should look like as well as the resulting gore. He doesn't go overboard but creates an atmosphere that really gets the point across.

As with all great heist stories go, it's hard to tell who is geniunely on what side. Brubaker did a great job keeping me guessing until the very end. There really are no friends when it comes to crime - everyone is always out for themselves. show less

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are one of the most consistent and compelling teams in comics, and Criminal show some of their early promise. I’ve never read any of Brubaker’s superhero books, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of his work with Phillips for Image Comics.

Criminal is one of their earlier collaborations, originally published by Marvel’s creator-owned comics imprint, and recently reprinted in a deluxe edition by Image Comics. Criminal is oftentimes cited as a masterpiece of the genre, but in this first volume, it feels like Brubaker and Phillips aren’t quite stretching their wings.

I get the impression that later volumes of Criminal are a bit more surreal and/or experimental, but the first volume is completely grounded. show more In fact, it feels downright familiar if you’ve read anything by Richard Stark. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I think my enjoyment of this book may have suffered in comparison with their later works, i.e. Fatale and The Fade Out.

Criminal’s first volume tells the story of Leo, a career criminal known both for his strict rules for every job and his uncanny ability to get away clean when the shit hits the fan. When a dirty cop convinces him to arrange a heist targeting a police evidence van, things inevitably go south in a bad way and Leo is left to pick up the pieces.

I feel like I’ve seen the story beats in this volume a million times, but Brubaker’s writing and Phillips’ art help elevate it into something more than generic. Criminal might feel familiar, but the execution is top-notch.

I enjoyed reading this volume, and I’ll definitely pick up the next volume at some point, but it’s definitely not my favorite book by Brubaker and Phillips. So far, Fatale still wins that prize. show less

I think this has become my favourite comics by this duo. I can't say I was ever really blown away by the art like I was with The Fade Out, but the story more than makes up for it.

Such a wonderful, subversive take on the heist narrative. There is a plot to this, but that's not what makes this such a good read. This shines with the treatment of it's protagonist. Such a deep, complex, sad character. And while his little "twist" at the end isn't all that original when it comes to this sort of character, I loved it all the same.

Those in the know say the Ed Brubaker-Sean Phillips pairing is one of the best in the comics industry. I took my cue from our friend David S. and started with Kill or Be Killed which according to him is their best effort to date, both as far as story AND artwork (if I understood him right), so that's where I decided to get acquainted with their work. Perhaps that was a mistake. I only say that because I'm now totally hooked on KoBK and find it delivers so much as far as story, character, background, and the artwork really is excellent.

Here we have a good enough story, about a guy who was basically raised to be a crook and a pickpocket by his father and his dad's best buddy, and who also learned when to walk away from a heist so he'd show more never get caught and imprisoned like his father did, which is how he comes to be known as a coward. But one thing I want from my GNs is good artwork, and here I found most of it was sloppy and poorly executed, with a few panels coming up to the standards of what I've come to expect from the recent Kill or Be Killed. I'm not a true comics fan, so bad drawings just distract me from what is going on in the story and make me stop and wonder every time why the artist got so sloppy (because DEADLINES & BUDGET, as I well know, but still, it annoys me as f***). In any case, I borrowed the first two volumes from the library, so I'll follow up with the next entry in the series and see where it takes us and decide whether the story alone has enough of a strong pull for me to want to continue with this one, because I've got so many options with graphic novels going that they're taking me away from my more serious reading and I fear the good people of GR will think me incapable of reading anything that doesn't have pictures in it. :-) show less

As intriguing as the concept of this series is (the thief with a code of rules, if not exactly honour), I found it somewhat empty in comparison to other stories which employ the same themes. The protagonist lacks the flare of John Constantine (the classic graphic novel bad-ass with a secret heart of gold), and the story doesn’t have the same draw as classic crime capers like James Bond or the Italian Job. Even the art style wasn’t particularly engaging, since it brought nothing unique to the table. I won’t be continuing with this series.

Story of a all-around thief with a knack for planning heists in a great detail and always finding the way to keep himself out of the prison. Main protagonist is a good man but destined to remain in the criminal underworld due to the nature of his life and experiences and being surrounded by crime since very earl age. It is the only milieu he knows.

Everything about him is as if he came from the old country song "Coward of the county" - respected by few but maltreated by the rest because of their preconception of who he truly is.

And this is where twist lies, and it truly surprised me.

Art is rather spartan (I read Lawless 2 the very same day and level of details on each panel of that comic is .... amazing to say the least), characters and show more their actions are main focus, everything else (surroundings, traffic) that does not play any role in the story plot is removed or shown in the broad strokes, like a blur. Shading and coloring truly bring up the atmosphere of the criminal underworld where you do not know what waits behind the corner and who to trust. I would truly like to see this comic in black-and-white version.

Highly recommended for all fans of crime stories. show less