CRIMINAL: FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE and THE UNDERTOW PODCAST: Reviewing the Last Month and More!

It's been a bit delayed, but following the latest release from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips -- and just in time for America's 250th birthday! -- we have a brief updates.

READING MATERIAL. On May 27th, the team released their latest original graphic novel, FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE: A CRIMINAL BOOK. That week, Image Comics released a four-page preview that looked very familiar and could have been seen as an error on their part.  But no, we discovered that the book contains "The High Roller," the story from December's GIANT-SIZE CRIMINAL #1, and in the afterword Brubaker tells us that the OGN expanded on the one-shot instead of the one-shot being a planned first chapter.

The one-shot is still printed on glorious newsprint, includes a four-page introduction to the series with "Welcome to the World of Criminal," and the rules and material for Criminal: Flushed, an original role-playing game by Keiron Gillen.  The RPG is based on playing poker rather than rolling dice, and by itself it makes tracking down the one-shot worthwhile.

And we're not just looking backwards to what's already been published, the wheels keep turning, and the team's next project was announced as the CRIMINAL OGN was released. On the same day, May 27th, Image Comics announced UNFINISHED TALES, another hardcover OGN, this time in the world of writing and publishing.

The announcement included a seven-page preview of completed interior pages, and it gave a release date of November 11th for comic book shops, with a December 8th release date for bookstores.

FOR YOUR LISTENING ENJOYMENT. On June 22nd, the latest episode of THE UNDERTOW PODCAST was released. Robert and I typically look at the previous book around the time of each new release, and so the original plan was to review "The High Roller," but instead we took a look at the entire story of Ricky and Mallory's struggles to get Ricky out of a gambling debt, going from bad to worse.

In addition to reviewing FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE, we also discuss the latest snippets of news from the world of television...

COMING SOON TO TV. We are still eagerly awaiting the CRIMINAL TV series on Amazon Prime, and in a rare email newsletter, sent first on May 27th and again on May 30th, Ed Brubaker writes:

I had hoped the CRIMINAL show on Amazon would be out by the time this book hit, but with the big shake-up over there on the TV side, things were in flux for a while. The show was showcased on the upfronts a few weeks ago, and I do have an airdate now (but it's top secret so I can't share) but I think in a few months more news and teasers will start appearing. I'm really proud of the final result. It really feels like the comics brought to life, and I've been dying waiting for it to get released, finally. But soon. 

And on June 3rd, Sean Phillips wrote something very similar in an Instagram post:

Now I do know when the Criminal tv show is coming out, though I still can’t tell you. You’ll have to wait until Amazon Prime Video announces it.

We'll be there to cover it, however belatedly! Robert and I may even take a break from reviewing comic books to review the TV show.

Hopefully we'll have more to cover well before November's UNFINISHED TALES.