Criminal #1
Published by: Icon
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist & Cover: Sean Phillips
Colorist: Val Staples

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Review:

I have been reading more and more crime/noir comics lately. Some of my favorite recent comics have this sort of crime-related element - Powers, Top 10, The Crossbronx, Gravedigger: The Scavengers, and Hip Flask: Mystery City to name a few. This book fits in nicely with my current preference.

At this point, I’ll readily admit that I was out of the comic book scene for a few years (10 or so). I’ve only recently come back to the regular reading fold, and am trying to catch up on the things I’ve missed (while skipping most of the cape & cowl mess that has gone - and continues to go - on). One of those series that I’m making a concerted effort to catch up on is Sleeper. Brubaker and Phillips collaborated on that series a couple of years ago, and from what I understand, it is outstanding.

This book does a good job of dropping us into a story that seems to have already been developing. We’re given just a little prologue and some background on the main character, Leo, leaving us to pick up the rest as the story moves. Brubaker does an excellent job of dropping bits of exposition in without resorting to the splash page info-dump.

The story moves along at a steady pace, setting us up for hopefully getting to the meat of the story in issue 2.

Phillips’ art doesn’t distract, and his cover grabs you with its style - setting the stage for the story to come.

This is a solid first issue. I have no complaints, and I’ll certainly continue picking up the series.