New Undertow Podcast and Brubaker Email, in Advance of Criminal #12, Out Tomorrow!

...and, we're back!

We have more to cover, hopefully later this week, but we would be remiss if we didn't post today.

We're greatly anticipating tomorrow's arrival of Criminal #12 -- the grand finale to the ambitious "Cruel Summer" arc, which also serves as the final issue of this particular volume of the long-running series and covers the momentous death of that infamous, fan-favorite anti-hero Teeg Lawless.

First, before fans pick up their copy of the book, they could do worse with their time than checking out the latest episode of The Undertow Podcast.  Back after a brief, unanticipated hiatus, Robert and I take a broad look at the entire "Cruel Summer" arc, where we are at the cliffhanger ending to the penultimate chapter, and where we think we need to end up to fit with the previous story arcs.

We also have a couple recommendations, with Robert pointing listeners to the 2011 film Take Shelter...

...and I've been obsessing over a recent dance album by the producer Rollo Armstrong and his friends, including his more famous sister Dido.  Appropriately enough for what we've been reading, the album is titled The Last Summer, released under the enigmatic name of R+ as the first in a series of projects.

Even the vaguely curious can quickly determine whether the nostalgia-heavy album is up their alley: they should check out the videos for My Boy and Summer Dress.

Second, we noticed that, about the same time Robert was releasing the new podcast episode, Ed Brubaker was sending out a new email newsletter, the first of the new year.  He shares more info about the upcoming original graphic novel Pulp, due in late May -- relaying that the story is not set in the Criminal universe, and it involves two narratives apparently running in parallel -- and Brubaker  reassures readers who may have had questions when this new project being announced.

• As I had previously hoped and assumed, and as Sean Phillips recently confirmed on Twitter, this is hardly the end for Criminal.  "we'll always come back to that series."
• In recording the podcast, we wondered aloud about a transition to focus entirely on hardcover OGN's, but Pulp isn't the end for monthly comics, either: "I still love single issues comics, and even though our next book is an OGN, the thing we'll be launching in the summer is another monthly (a new thing that I can't talk about yet)."

We can't wait to hear more about the next monthly book, but in the meantime Ed Brubaker shared two preview pages of tomorrow's new issue -- from the middle of the story to avoid the biggest spoilers, a preview that has also made its way to Image Comics' webpage for the issue, albeit in lower resolution.

It's probably unintended, but the narration about Farraday reminds of one of the most famous lines from C.S. Lewis.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

We know we can't be alone, eagerly waiting to see exactly how things go to hell in Criminal (Vol 3) #12.