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Have you read Criminal?
Carter Reyes
Zachary Powell
I've read the first trade.
Gabriel Lee
I've read the fourth trade. I'll get around to buying the rest eventually.
Jonathan Gray
Pulling the current series. Good shit.
Jordan White
Thoughts?
Joshua Ross
So... did Brubaker comment on the current industry?
Ayden Brooks
The new volume kinda leaves me lukewarm. Doesn't have as much edge to as the old series and the constant jumping and irregular length in arcs feels like Brubaker can't really decide what he wants to be doing. I mean, the current arc's going to last like 13 issues or something, iirc, while the book launched with a single issue story that kinda cuts off and then you had that comic con arc that was okay but not as gritty noir as one would like.
Alexander Morales
There's a few flashbacks in it, right? You think they pad things out too much?
Josiah Reed
I read the first six volumes. Bad Night is my favorite, The Last of the Innocent a close second. I tend to dislike the stories focusing on Lawless, because the guy is buring, just a big, burly brick of a character, feels very token and uninspired compared to all the other protagonists, which are much more human and layered.
Nolan Brooks
Maybe it's because I haven't read it in a while, but I can't recall him emoting. Maybe he cried one?
Thomas Peterson
If anyone who hasn't read this series isn't planning to I recommend you at least read The Last of the Innocent.
Mainly because of how different it is from the rest in its presentation.
Aaron Bell
Yeah, that's him, he's just the big, gruff stoic badass. He should be the main character of an action comic, not a noir.
Noah Richardson
>He should be the main character of an action comic
So you dislike Max Allan Collins' Quarry series?
Evan Foster
Not him, but that series is a war comic right?
So, basically, he's saying Tracy Lawless would be a more fitting central character in a comic like that.
Not sure if it would make him like Tracy more though. He'd still be the same.
Ian Brooks
>but that series is a war comic right?
No, Quarry is about a Nam vet who after getting back from the war murders his wife's lover and then becomes a hitman and is very stoic, pragmatic and hard as nails when it comes to doing the job, i.e. similar to Tracy's deal in Criminal. Quarry had one season long TV series recently which was pretty great, but made him more humane and traumatized, it was different but very interesting take on the military guy turns into a criminal trope.
Matthew Morales
Yeah. I like the whole “Archie” vibe going on.
Joseph Howard
Ah. Thanks.
Jayden Long
Yeah. For some reason when Freakout tells Riley who the real Brookview stalker was I found it to be humorous. maybe because of the subject matter, and it still used the Archie comics style to present it.
Grayson Hernandez
>So you dislike Max Allan Collins' Quarry series?
Original user here. I actually love those books, but Quarry feels a bit more textured to me. Maybe it's the fact that the books are entirely told from his viewpoint, while part of Lawless stories have a third person narrator.
Dominic Reed
What about young Tracy?
Ian Howard
Still haven't read that volume, I'm on the first 6.
Thomas Roberts
It's a crime/noir book by Brubaker and Phillips.
They're all pretty much good-to-amazing.
Benjamin Richardson
Any personal favourites?
I think I'm partial to Last of the Innocent myself. Though I only read mostly Criminal by them.
Christopher Green
>Sleeper
>Criminal
>Incognito
>Fatale
>The Fade Out
>Kill or Be Killed
How would you rank these, lads?
Logan Mitchell
I ain't an expert but I've got a friend who seems like he's read them all.
Me personally I've only read vol4 (the comic artist one) and Fade Out.
I always love when an artist has clashing/different artstyles in one setting (like the Dick Tracy looking imaginary friend) bit I think I liked Fade Out a bit more just because it was a more fleshed out story.
Josiah Jenkins
> Dick Tracy imaginary friend
That's the Bad Night four parter. Kind of small scale.
Sebastian Scott
Criminal > My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies > Incognito > The Fade Out > Sleeper > Kill Or Be Killed > Fatale
Ryder Adams
Teeg's war days could be an interesting read.
Carson Robinson
Fatale's kind of supernatural as well as Noir. They don't mix well to you?
Adam Cruz
Any recommendations for other crime-related comics?
Eli Parker
I've read five or six trades and I really like it
Hunter Carter
>Sleeper
>Criminal
>The Fade Out
>Incognito
>Kill or Be Killed
>Fatale
The supernatural Cthulhu stuff was always ruining the otherwise good noir story.
Dylan Rivera
Maybe if the styles were separated?
Tyler Wright
I wouldn't mind the supernatural angle if it was actually spooky. But it wasn't, you just had gangsters with monster faces and occasional cultists.
Alexander Flores
100 Bullets
Alack Sinner
Sandman Mystery Theatre
Stray Bullets
Mason Gomez
And a woman with hypnosis power.
Charles Young
1 - Sleeper
2 - The Fade Out
3 - Criminal
4 - Incognito
5 - Fatale
6 - Kill or Be Killed
Logan Cook
Scalped, ofc Sin City and on the manga side Golgo 13 and Oldboy.
Carter Moore
Reminder that Brubaker wrote for Catwoman.
Jackson Sanchez
Thanks. I actually read a bit of Stray Bullets before. Does the Pulp Fiction style storytelling ever get confusing?
Aiden Jones
Does it compare? I'm aware this series kept changing writers.
Christopher Reyes
did you read the next issue?
William Evans
Missed that part. That's actually kind of touching.
Hudson Thompson
WHERE THE FUCK IS THE SEQUEL TO COWARD BRUBAKER
Cooper Morales
>WHERE THE FUCK IS THE SEQUEL TO COWARD BRUBAKER
He's locked up man. No real chance of getting out.
Nicholas Morales
If you mean Leo.
I don't think he's getting out of this one.
Kayden Myers
If you mean Leo.
I don't think he's getting out of this one.
Brayden Reyes
But he does
Ryan Roberts
GOD FUCKING DAMN IT. I WAS FINALLY GOING TO PICK THAT TRADE UP.
Does this ruin it?
Caleb Hall
I doubt he's getting out of prison though.
Parker Morales
no, this isn't even the only trade that shows that he makes it out alive. The second volume has him meet up with lawless.
Because you're using regular logic instead of comic logic.
Angel Gomez
> Regular logic
Fair point. Still, Criminal is more grounded compared to cape.
There's a second volume? Junkies is a standalone novella, isn't it?
Gavin Mitchell
Not really. When I first bought the Uber Alles I was expecting something more "indie" or pretentious, but Stray Bullets is very well done boilerplate stuff. If anything's confusing in these crime comics it's keeping up with the multiple characters in 100 Bullets.
Matthew Cook
> Uber Alles
Must have been expensive.
Luke Butler
>There's a second volume? Junkies is a standalone novella, isn't it?
Yes, junkies is a stand alone. But Leo surviving was confirmed in the 2nd tpb of Criminal: Lawless
Blake Hughes
Brubaker has one of the best batting averages in comics history IMO
Benjamin Thomas
He must have had at least one miss?
Luis Harris
Oh, certainly. I really disliked his work on mainline Batman. Which isn't totally his fault, he was wrapped up in the never ending Batcrossover that bled over from the 90s.
His Batman adjunct titles (Catwoman and Gotham Central) are superb however.
John Davis
>no, this isn't even the only trade that shows that he makes it out alive
I'm referring to All My Heroes are Junkies. I know the actual identity of the main character is supposed to be a mystery before you start reading.
James Martinez
Its hard to say, it depends how much you understand the story, i don't feel so
Elijah Murphy
These kinds of masks seem a little rare in co media. Apparently, they're hard to draw.
Xavier Robinson
It's nice to get the perspective of Gotham's Finest.
Luis Miller
Yeah, Gotham is such a crazy place. Always cool to see how civvies feel. Gotham Nights is a great 4 issue mini by Ostrander (also did a sequel, Gotham Nights II) that show Gotham from civilian perspective
Juan Russell
100 bullets is still linear though, right?
Jacob Young
Thanks. Will check those out.
Shame Gotham Central didn't feature a Scarecrow arc.
William Bailey
This particular moment from his Catwoman run felt a little Criminal esque to me. Maybe because of the headshot.
Nicholas Thompson
It's full of POV stuff, someone you meet as a "victim" main character in one issue will show up as a "professional" supporting character later, you might see one of the early cases happening in the background of the current issue. Some domino effect with all the killing, stuff like that.
Jacob White
Got it. Thanks.
Oliver Hall
Parker by Darwyn Cooke based on the Richard Stark books.
Liam Hernandez
Yes.
I love Brubaker and Phillips. And picking up the floppies is always worth it for the extra essays.
Kayden Bell
IMO The Fade Out is his weakest.
Nicholas Ward
I wouldn't call it a miss though.
The setting and characters are fun but as a noir mystery the end really fizzles out. Feels like a lot of strings are left hanging.
Nathaniel Diaz
yeah the mystery sucked. great writing otherwise. would have preferred an anthology
Parker Phillips
>would have preferred an anthology
Considering how well it did they might always come back to it.
Nicholas Cook
they could. brubaker will be writing noir until the heat death of the universe
Noah Allen
Brubaker is so consistently awesome
Brayden Turner
>the end really fizzles out
>mystery sucked
Well:
>book called The Fade Out
>literally fades out
I kind of think the mystery was never the point and it was more about the exploration of Hollywood at the time.
Henry Ward
>I kind of think the mystery was never the point and it was more about the exploration of Hollywood at the time.
That's all fine and dandy but the mystery dominates the story and the mystery isn't good at all. If it was only an exploration of Hollywood at the time with no mystery or the mystery was significantly downplayed I would have enjoyed it a lot more.