Innocent #3, In Stores Tomorrow.

Online listings line up with the theory we posted a few weeks back, and this afternoon I was able to confirm it personally: Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #3 is in stores tomorrow, a mere fortnight since the second issue.

Don't be the last square on the block to get your copy of the crime comic so good, it oughta be illegal.

The Last of the Innocent #2: The Reviews.

Over at Comics Alliance, a webcomic was recently posted, on how lapsed readers could be brought back to comics. A couple images of sophisticated, modern comics include all three of Brubaker and Phillips' major collaborations.



We have Criminal, Incognito, and even Sleeper alongside some of my other favorite works, all crime comics of one flavor or another: Brubaker and Rucka's Gotham Central, Chew, and Darwyn Cooke's Parker books.

We found this webcomic as reviews have been released for the second issue of Criminal: The Last of the Innocent. In the back pages, Brubaker notes that the first issue received "the best press and reviews of anything we've ever done," and he hopes that the rest of the arc "lives up to the hype."

I haven't found as many reviews as last time -- as before, I'll update this post with more reviews as I find them -- but so far, so good.

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IGN: "Criminal: The Last of the Innocent is quickly becoming the high point of the franchise. Both Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are firing on all cylinders with this latest story, which manages to be more ambitious and more artistically and tonally diverse than any Criminal tale before it." 9.0 out of ten.

Comic Book Resources: "This arc of 'Criminal' is gearing up to be the best one yet. While this second issue isn’t quite as good as the smashing debut, it is better at the game of comics than nearly every other rag that drops this week." Four-and-a-half stars out of five.

Innocent #2, In Stores Tomorrow.

I'm in the middle of wrapping up a huge grad-school project, but I'm taking the time to post that the second issue of Criminal: The Last of the Innocent is out tomorrow.

Hectic schedule be damned, I'll be sure to grab a copy (or two!) and catch the latest chapter in this dark look at nostalgia before calling it a night. If anything, I'm anticipating this next issue even more than the first.

This Week, Noir Reprints, New and Old.

If one were to attempt collecting all the work created, individually, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, he would have to hunt down over twenty years' worth of work for each. Altogether, the two have produced on the order of a thousand comic books.

Their collaborative work is much more manageable. The two have worked together, off and on, for over a decade, to produce what I would consider to be four (correction: five -- no, six! -- no, SEVEN!) major works:

• Batman: Gotham Noir (DC, 2001) - A single-issue, prestige-format Elseworlds comic.
• "The Turning Point" (DC, 2002) - Batman #603, part 11 of the event "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive," the issue is also a fairly self-contained story where Batman visits a retiring police officer who asks him to solve his one remaining open case.
•  Sleeper (WildStorm, 2003-2005) - Two 12-issue "seasons" of the super-powered espionage thriller.
• "The Black Bird" (DC, 2004) - A single-issue story found in Hawkman Volume 4 #27, dated June 2004, since republished in last year's Brightest Day: 100-Page Spectacular.
• "Only Takes a Night" (DC, 2004) - A single issue story found in Catwoman Volume 3 #32, dated August 2004, republished nowhere, so far as I know.
• Criminal (Icon, 2006-present) - Twenty-three issues thus far, counting last month's debut of "The Last of the Innocent," plus two short-story "emissions" have been published in anthology collections.
• Incognito (Icon, 2009-2011) - Two mini-series for this modern take on pulp, totaling 11 issues, so far.

(Update, August 20th. Originally overlooked the Hawkman issue, the reprint of which we noted only very briefly last year.)

(Update, December 30th. Also originally overlooked the Catwoman issue: I just discovered the story and tracked down the back issue, only over the last couple months.)

(Update, February 11th, 2013.  Also overlooked Batman #603; I re-read the back issue a few months back but failed to update this list.)

There are two works that I would consider "minor" collaborations, NOT because the work isn't great (it is), but because neither are emphatically Brubaker-Phillips creations.

First, way back in 1999, Sean Phillips inked Michael Lark's pencils for the last three chapters of Ed Brubaker's four-issue Vertigo mini-series, Scene of the Crime. The story, "A Little Piece of Goodnight," was then collected in a trade paperback.

Then, in 2005, Sean Phillips began creating cover art for DC's Gotham Central, starting with issue #33 and "Dead Robin." That was the last story arc Ed Brubaker worked on, and Phillips continued creating the covers for stories by Brubaker's co-writer, Greg Rucka, until the series' end in 2006. Gotham Central has been collected a couple times, and the complete 40-issue run has been released in hardcover and is being re-released this year, in trade-paperback format.

Brubaker and Phillips' collaborative work is relatively easy to hunt down, especially in collected editions. I've checked a couple of retailer lists -- through The Savage Critics and the home page for Great Escape Comics -- and they confirm two more arrivals this week.

First, we have the trade paperback for Incognito: Bad Influences, collecting the second story arc, which wrapped up earlier this year.

Second, we have Batman: Gotham Noir, being republished (for the first time!) as DC Comics Presents Batman: Gotham Noir #1. I believe the book will be a one-shot collecting the entire story -- and the official site lists a second story by Brubaker and artist Scott McDaniel, from Batman #604 (2002).

So, we have Gotham Noir, and we have what Brubaker has described as Apocalyptic Pulp Noir. We have a reprint of Brubaker and Phillips' first major collaboration, and we have the collection for their latest work.

This is going to be a good week for those who want to see how the pair's work has developed over the years.

Slight Delay for Innocent #2.

From his Twitter page, Ed Brubaker relays that the second issue of Criminal: Last of the Innocent, has been delayed slightly. The issue was due this week, but a "scheduling mishap" means that it will arrive just two weeks before issue #3.

I contacted the fine folks at Great Escape Comics in Marietta, Georgia, and they relay that the second issue is now scheduled for July 27th, so the third issue should reach stores around August 10th.

I should be done with my massive final project for graduate school by then, and I'll have time to flesh out some recent thoughts on the crime comic. In the meantime, there are plenty of reviews for the excellent first issue of the latest mini-series.

The Last of the Last of the Innocent, Out in September.

Solicitations always run a few months ahead, and so we have Marvel's September solicitations, including the finale to Criminal: The Last of the Innocent.

It's the big finale of CRIMINAL's most ground-breaking storyline yet! Riley Richards has committed crime after crime to get what he wants... Now what will he have to do to keep all the things he's killed for? It's a twisted look at crime, comics, nostalgia, and obsession... all in the award-winning CRIMINAL style. And remember, every issue of CRIMINAL has articles and illustrations that are only available in the single printed single issues, making it the best bargain on the shelves!

Ed Brubaker has a point in complaining about solicitations that reveal too much, but here we have a good-but-vague idea of what's coming, all without being given a four-word description like we see for September issues of Chew and Walking Dead.

Issue #4 of the four-part story is scheduled to be released on September 7th.

In the meantime, Brubaker fans should check out his Twitter feed, where he's been providing #noirlessons.

The Last of the Innocent #1: The Reviews (and Another Interview).

The reviews are coming in. I don't believe we have a sort of Rotten Tomatoes or MetaCritic for comic books, so I'll take the opportunity to compile the reviews that I find for at least this first issue of "The Last of the Innocent," starting with the advance review we mentioned yesterday.

I'll update this entry as my very limited time permits. I tip my hat to the tweets and retweets at Ed Brubaker's page -- and to any one who lists any I miss in the comments.

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IGN: "It's too early to tell how The Last of the Innocent will compare to past Criminal stories, but it is clear this tale has potential to outshine them all." 9.0 out of ten.

Comic Book Resources: "This book is a study of our view of the past, both our own and a culturally ubiquitous one, as well as the start of the best noir tale you’ll find in any medium." 5 stars out of five.

cxPulp: "This is an excellent jumping on point for new readers, so if you’ve never read a Criminal comic before, why not start here?" 4.5 out of five.

Comics Alliance: "Brubaker and Phillips have managed to crank out five volumes of Criminal over the past few years, and The Last of the Innocent is off to a fantastic start that's comfortably above the already high bar set for the series. In fact, it has a good chance of being the best arc yet."

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An MTV print interview with Ed Brubaker includes its own quick review:

"...without spoilers, we’ll say that it’s probably our favorite kick-off to a Criminal series yet. Steeped in comic book minutiae, but without losing any of the blisteringly whip-smart noir feel of previous series, Last of The Innocent would definitely be on our 'do-not-miss' list for this next week, even if we weren’t lucky enough to snag a copy from Brubaker himself."

More to come, as I find additional reviews.

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[Update, June 5]

A few more reviews:

Best Shots Rapid Reviews, Newsarama: "It’s without a doubt writer Brubaker’s most personal work, and the direct and palpable emotion of it all just makes the book a compelling read from start to finish. Artwise, from cover to back Sean Phillips makes the book sing, with his lurid, pulpy painted cover and gleefully retro Archie-like flashbacks as he switches styles to portray the protagonist’s earlier years. Hands down, this was the best book I read all week and is strongly recommended."

The Buy Pile, CBR: "The idea, it seems, was to show the discordance between the characters in their youth and their much more rough hewn adulthoods, but it didn't quite connect." Honorable Mention / "Read Pile"

Fresh Ink video review: "This may be the best one yet... It makes my heart weep that something this good might be overlooked because you gotta buy a bunch of [event] tie-ins. So, if you only buy one comic this week, oh my God, make it Criminal. This is such good stuff." Pick of the Week.

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[Update, June 6]

And a few more reviews:

Best Shots Review, Newsarama: "If you're going to keep on creating and reading these kind of dark, twisted crime stories, eventually you need to find some humor in the situation... The dark humor of Riley Richards' life is a welcome treat in this latest story of crime and murder."

Savage Critics: "Is it a form of innocence to pine for something evil? Or is it a sign of corruption? I think this book is going to address this stuff (god, I really hope so), but the first issue didn’t really deliver on that for me. It’s still GOOD, mind you — well-written and lovely as hell, but [from the pre-release interviews] I’d been primed for something great."

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There were three reviews at Comics Bulletin, in their Firing Squad's Sunday Slugfest:

Morgan Davis: "Brubaker and Phillips work is so strong [] that even if they were to unfold this story in a way we've seen before the book would still be a powerful if clichéd effort. But given the experiments in form that Brubaker and Phillips are conducting and the track record of these two, it's likely that we'll be the fortunate receivers of yet another groundbreaking piece of crime lit that plays with our sense of nostalgia for a time when noir was new." 5 bullets out of five.

Rafael Gaitan: "Criminal is a masterclass in how to do crime in comic form, and Last of the Innocent is perhaps the zenith of Brubaker, Phillips and Staples' efforts. Easily the best issue of the week and perhaps the year, there's nothing that packs a simultaneous punch to the jaw and a blow to the heart as much as Criminal." 5 out of five.

Danny Djeljosevic: "The character work is so strong and Brubaker's script so thought-provoking that I can read this issue without feeling unsatisfied and can write about it without dropping the usual mitigating first issue review stock phrases like "this is all setup, so I'll reserve final judgment for future issues." It's a meaty first issue that doesn't feel like it needs to satisfy some well-worn genre formula, so I don't have to reserve judgment. I'll call it now and risk pulling a reverse-Pauline-Kael-on-Star-Wars: Criminal: The Last of the Innocent will be an instant classic." 5 out of five.

The book was chosen as the "Pick of the Week" at iFanboy. Conor Kilpatrick raves about the issue in a print review and, with his colleagues, he lauds the issue in an audio podcast.

Not to review the reviews, but I've really been getting a kick out of all this commentary. It's great to see Criminal praised from so many corners, especially for a storytelling approach that was challenging and risky, but it's also nice to share the experience of enjoying a good work of art with others and find a greater appreciation for the work from their analysis.

For all of these reviews, I've been excerpting only the "bottom line," but I STRONGLY recommend that our readers check out the links, especially from Comics Alliance and Comics Bulletin.

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[Update, June 11]

And one more review...

Living Between Wednesdays: "[I]t was the best comic I read last week... Last Of The Innocent isn’t one of those wretched re-examinations of beloved comics characters that wallows in postmodernism by simply recasting old favourites as drug addicts, wife beaters, and fascists (although one of the thinly-veiled Riverdale gang is now saddled with a substance abuse problem). Brubaker and Phillips actually have something to say about the dangers of viewing the past through rose-coloured glasses, and their Archie pastiche provides an entertaining and insightful storytelling device with which to deliver it."

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[Update, July 7]

And a late entry...

AV Club's Comics Panel: "The pairing of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips may not have reached legendary status yet, but Criminal: The Last Of The Innocent #1 (Icon) solidifies their position in the golden pantheon of comic-book creative teams."

In the comments, the author, Oliver Sava, reveals that AV Club will soon publish an interview with Ed Brubaker, including an "enlightening" discussion of Criminal.