Book of Doom: Criminal #1
Hey everybody, it’s that time of the week again! This week we’re reviewing Criminal #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips from Marvel’s Icon imprint. I liked the book but I’m not quite sure why. Maybe my fellow Doomers can help me put my finger on it.
Jean Claude Van Doom:
“The shop was sold out. So, based on my fandom for Mr. Brubaker, the incredible reviews it’s gotten, the great art, the cool plotlines, I’m sure it’s terrible. Thank goodness the shop was sold out.”
That sucks. Let’s try the next one.
Doom DeLuise:
“I don’t get it.
I’m sure that after I read the next few issues, everything in Criminal #1 will make perfect sense, but, as of right now, I just don’t get it. Just like the protagonist with the Frank Kafka comic. I’ll hold off judgment until I read the next few issues. This first one, though, leaves me with the impression that I just cannot say anything about it, since it makes such little sense, and we’re given such little amount of story. The art’s pretty, and I have faith in the writer, so, eventually, I’m sure this will be pretty cool, but the first issue leaves me with nothing to say.”
Jim Doom:
“I will accept that maybe true crime isn’t the genre for me. I like when superhero comics have a real life / true crime element to them, like throughout the Bendis run on Daredevil. It grounds the fantasy, I guess. But at the same time, you can still easily suspend your disbelief because it’s happening in a superhero universe.
So I don’t know if it’s the genre that doesn’t work for me or if Criminal just isn’t any good, because I just flat out didn’t like this. If this book would have been my introduction to Ed Brubaker, I never would have tried Captain America. I hope that if anyone is reading Ed for the first time here, that it doesn’t affect their chances of reading Cap or Daredevil or Uncanny X-Men or any of those other superhero books he does so well.
I’ve cared about anti-heroes before. I’ve cared about bad guys who have their own code of honor and a hidden good side. I’ve cared when their bad-guy life catches up to them. All that stuff, fine. Didn’t care here. Not in the slightest. I have a feeling that if I cared, I could have gone back and re-read the book and figured out who the bound-and-gagged person was at the end, because if we don’t already know that person, what kind of cliffhanger is it? So I assume we know that person, but I honestly can’t be bothered to re-open the book to theorize on who it is.”
Hmm…did not see that reaction coming at all.
Y’know, I don’t really like crime dramas either, but I had pretty much the opposite reaction. And like I said, I have no idea why. Maybe I’ve just seen so many first issues (or pilot episodes, or opening acts, or what have you in whatever medium) that have tried to introduce an entire new universe and cast of characters and failed miserably that this one not failing miserably seemed like a big success. It remembered me a lot of Madrox, which is weird because Madrox had tons of mutants and stuff in it. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if Criminal will be able to hold my interest like that book did without the superpower stuff.
Someone out there help us decide…
Criminal #1: Good or bad?
“remembered me”?
You’re talking like my grandpa
and I loved Madrox.