Five Gears In Reverse

Criminal #12

by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips (Artist), Jacob Phillips (Colorist)

A brand new CRIMINAL graphic novel featuring the legendary RICKY LAWLESS and the crazy tale of how he and MALLORY fell in love in the midst of a crime spree.

"This gritty, tragic, and sharply crafted entry in the series underscores why Brubaker and Phillips continue to set the standard for modern crime comics." —Library Journal (Starred Review)

In one of the wildest, most action-packed books that Brubaker and Phillips have ever done, we delve deep into the life of one of CRIMINAL's most complex and tragic characters, Ricky Lawless as he tries to pay off a deep debt to a mobster, while things just keep going from bad to worse.

FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE will have long-time CRIMINAL fans cheering the return of RICKY LAWLESS and new readers will find it a perfect jumping-on-point for the greatest crime comic series of the 21st century.

"Brubaker and Phillips don't hit a wrong note." - Shane Black

Genres: Crime, Comics, Graphic Novels, Noir, Comic Book, Comix, Thriller

144 pages, Hardcover

First published May 27, 2026

About the author

Ed Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.

In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.

Reviews

[MagretFume · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brubacker and Phillips are a magical team. They have a truly unique way of shoving you down the slippery slope of the gritty, dangerous world of ordinary criminals. There are no great mastermind here, just fuck ups and violence. 

The last installment in the Criminal series is just as good as the previous ones. 

if you haven't read the previous books, this might not be the best entry point but it still works well as a standalone. 

Thank you Image Comics for this ARC!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I love Ricky Lawless as a protagonist. He's like someone playing GTA or something where the player just does a bunch of wacky stuff to see how much the game will let them get away with. He's also very funny without meaning to be.

We also get a bit more back story on his girlfriend Mallory, who I kind of remember from one of the earlier volumes.

The issue with this series is that each book is set in a seemingly random time period, sometimes it's 1972, sometimes it's 2004. I do like that it means we get to catch up with characters who died in previous issues but makes keeping track of everything quite difficult.

Not much else to add really. Each of these Brubaker/Phillips books are instant buys for me, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

[Anthony Lacroix · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay now please Brubaker do a Jessica Jones run

[Tim Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything by Brubaker and Phillips is a must buy. And the newest Criminal graphic novel is no exception. This one focuses on Ricky Lawless and Mallory and how their dysfunctional relationship. Ricky Lawless is a fuck up. No two ways about it. On the plus side, Ricky tends to acknowledge his propensity to fuck up. Ricky is in deep to a leg-breaker of a bookie. So he takes on a job to steal some money to pay him off. But, in Ricky fashion, he screws it up. Which leads to him taking on job after job that tend to end screwed up by his jackassery. I know that sounds pretty basic, but because it's Brubaker and Phillips it's just excellent. This is non-stop propulsive action. It would have fit perfectly (in prose) on a newsstand in 1956 with a Fawcett Gold Medal stamped on it.

[Willie Gillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brubaker and Phillips have hit it out of the part with another Criminal story. This one centers on Ricky Lawless, a dangerous con man who has a reputation for screwing up the job.

Five Gears In Reverse is one long story of a job gone wrong again and again and trying to find ways to fix each mistake. I really loved how the pace of this one never felt stagnant. I flew through this on a Friday night and loved every minute of it.

Every time there’s a new Criminal story, I’m always excited to read it and this was no exception!

4.5 stars!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for an advance copy of this graphic novel which is tale of love, a tale of beating the odds, and a morality tale about being good at one's profession, and if mistakes are made owning up and dealing with them, no matter how many people you have to kill.

I have always tried to act like a professional in all of my jobs. Selling music CDs, stocking magazines, receiving merchandise, whatever the job, I have always tried to do my best, fix my mistakes and learn to make things better when I can. I take pride in this, and has kept me gainfully employed, even in the worst of times. There are a lot of people though who coast. Skip the details, don't dot the I's nor cross the T's. Sometimes this can get one fired. In Ricky Lawless's case it might get him and the girl of his dreams killed. Five Gears In Reverse: A Criminal Book is a graphic novel set in the Criminal universe written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by his partner in crime Sean Phillips, a tale set in the past that is a love story, a cautionary tale to listen carefully, and to act professional, even when violence is so relieving.

Ricky Lawless is descended from a long line of people who would rather do crime than work nine to five. The only problem with this kind of life is the work is not steady, and the downtime can cost one quite a bit. Ricky owes a dangerous man a dangerous amount of money. The man offers Ricky an option. Go to a hotel, rob a big time gambler of his winnings, and things will be even between them. Ricky does so, sneaking into the room, and begins to wait. Gamblers work their own schedule, just like criminals, so Ricky might have a long wait. So he makes a mistake. Than another, than another. As the mistakes escalate, Ricky takes another chance to get it right, but this one puts Mallory, the woman he never knew he felt so strongly about until she was threatened with death. Ricky must think of something, but thinking is not his best attribute. Violence is.

Ed Brubaker is so good at creating these kinds of stories. Of setting the scene, and letting things just go. Brubaker has written a crime novel in a sort of P. G. Wodehouse style, a mix of social mistakes, real mistakes and misunderstandings that are humourous, gross in some spots and ultimately rewarding. Brubaker keeps the story moving and makes sure that everything has a reason for being there. Sean Phillips as artist is critical to these stories. Without his art, his realism, the way we draws backgrounds, cars, guns, and presents the story, these stories while still written well, would be missing that soupçon that makes them perfect. These are stories that are timeless, funny, dark, sad and yet unputdownable. I eagerly await what these two have planned next.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ricky Lawless owes a bookie big so he takes on a risky job to pay him back: rip off a high roller after a casino poker game. Ricky’s a fuckup so he fucks up the job and suddenly he needs to do a riskier job for a mob boss to make up for it. Guess how well that goes for Ricky the fuckup? And so it goes, five chapters of Ricky and his girl Mallory trying to get out of dodge and getting deeper and deeper into shit - instead of moving forward, five gears in reverse.

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips - need I say more? Their names on a book, for those who know of them, are basically a badge of quality. Their last Criminal book, The Knives, was, for me, the best comic of 2025 and their latest Criminal book, Five Gears in Reverse, is already a strong contender for the best comic of 2026!

A few weeks before 2025 ended, they released a single issue Giant Size Criminal comic called The High Roller that you could only buy physically in comics shops, to thank and help those businesses - a lovely gesture from the guys. When I read it, it felt to me like the opener of a larger story, so it was no surprise to me that The High Roller is the first chapter of this book (and I’m glad those Criminal fans who couldn’t get a copy of the comic get to read the story themselves now).

It’s a funny and brilliant opener that sets off a chain reaction that propels Ricky and Mal on a series of adventures throughout the book. Each chapter contains an exciting set piece, and introduces some great new characters, as well as developing older ones. I loved the scummy lawyer and the mob doctor (I fully expect to see a backstory for that character at some point in the future), as well as Mal’s backstory. Mal was first introduced in the second book, Lawless, and her origin was apparently prompted by Emilia Clarke, who plays the character in the upcoming show. It’s as dark and sad and utterly compelling as you’d expect.

Even though they’re anti-heroes and undeniable fuckups, I really liked Ricky and Mal as a couple too. Their relationship is a sweet and genuine-seeming one and I was rooting for them the whole time - two damaged kids who were lucky enough to find each other for a brief time of happiness.

And this is what you get with Brubaker and Phillips: an always entertaining, great story with even better characters and dialogue that keeps going - hard - all the way to the end. This creative team, once again, shows everyone how damned good comics can be when done well. Five Gears in Reverse is another triumph in the Criminal series - imaginative, thrilling, and enormous fun to read. This is easily one of the year’s literary highlights and a masterpiece in crime fiction.

[Alex Sarll]

I always feel a teensy bit guilty when I get the new Criminal as a Netgalley ARC, months ahead of the people who think it's the finest comic of our age, whereas I don't even think it's in the top three series Brubaker and Phillips have done together, let alone separately. Not guilty enough that I don't do it again, though, which I guess is itself pretty Criminal. The title this time kept making me think of the old joke about Italian tanks, which isn't directly relevant here, though it does keep teetering right on the edge of comedy, and more than once left me missing The Fix, which would have really dived into that – now there was an Image crime comic. The protagonist is Ricky, from Criminal's deeply Marenghi Lawless family, and who has already been established in past appearances as a fuck-up. And the story basically consists of him fucking up crime A, meaning someone very dangerous ends up pissed off with him, so he has to do crime B to get them off his back, which he of course fucks up, meaning... You get the idea. All of which eventually gets garnished with some self-justifying philosophising about how society's real monsters routinely break the rules and get away with it, how the official laws and the codes of honour which crooks affect both only apply so long as powerful people find them convenient. Which, gods know it would be hard this week of all weeks to claim that's untrue, but if you're not using that awareness to change the system, only to excuse your own more artisanal small-scale ruining of lives, it's hardly inspirational either, is it? Still, as ever, it all looks suitably moody and noir, and I'm sure people who like Criminal more than I do will like this more than I did.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was fun, as pretty much all Brubaker/Phillips books are – but to me it didn't seem a major entry to the franchise. OK, fans will love how it ties up a few things, and gives them more Ricky, more Mallory, and just more, but to me, as a casual fan of the series, I found myself more critical of it than expected. The story is something I won't of course go into, but it seemed to be a slightly contrived parade of events. This happens, and because of that this happens, and despite of that this happens – the whole left Ricky not so much on a rollercoaster of murderous ups and equally lethal downs, but skipping along merrily like a flat little stone spun out on to the calmest lake surface. There are ripples, of course – but Ricky/the stone keeps on skipping happily along without feeling them, until either all momentum is lost or he hits the far shore.

Don't get me wrong, for this is not unenjoyable – and perhaps another day I would have found this a bit more serious and less flippant, and perhaps I would have taken to the way all this death and destruction doesn't really amount to that much in the long term. But does this have much bearing on the other stories, or completely change the characters – or does it do the sitcom thing of leaving the characters in the exact same place as before the laughter track was fired up? For a part of a series that wants to be gritty, rich and to have some sense of the real, instead this leaves Ricky as a feckless indestructible anti-hero, and I don't think that character is someone I seem to be a fan of. Three and a half stars.

[Ammon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five Gears in Reverse is the twelfth standalone entry in Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ ongoing Criminal series, and it more than holds its own. I loved the previous book in the series, The Knives, and enjoyed Five Gears in Reverse just as much.

This is neo-noir at its finest. Low-rent thief and perennial screw-up Ricky Lawless takes on an “easy” job robbing a whale at a casino to pay off his bookie and save his skin. Naturally, he blows it, and from there the creative team keeps the story in a constant skid as Ricky’s life goes from bad, to worse, to downright catastrophic. One terrible decision after another drags Ricky and his girlfriend, Mallory, deeper into the muck.

As with The Knives, I’d recommend this to fans of Richard Stark’s Parker novels, especially Darwyn Cooke’s brilliant graphic novel adaptations. The comparison is useful, but it also highlights the difference: Parker would never let Ricky anywhere near one of his jobs. Ricky would tank the whole operation, and Parker doesn’t have that kind of patience.

Brubaker and Phillips remain the closest thing comics have to a Parker-style crime saga: well written, gritty, and taut, with excellent pacing and a knack for building tension out of small, desperate choices. Five Gears in Reverse is another strong entry that proves they’re still firing on all cylinders.

Story: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Art: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Overall: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 1/2

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reader copy (ARC) from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The upcoming Criminal show that will be streaming on Amazon Prime Video is already a success in my mind simply for prompting Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips to give us two new graphic novels about the Lawless family in the last year, first The Knives and now Five Gears in Reverse.

Broderick "Ricky" Lawless gives a master class in how not to be a criminal as he scrambles with his girlfriend Mallory through a series of bad deals in 2004 in an attempt to pay off a debt to a bookie. Drugs are consumed, mistakes are made, and people die, needlessly and bloodily, over and over.

Get your schadenfreude on as this trainwreck unfolds in a riveting spiral of love and violence.


Disclosure: I received access to a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: The High Roller -- The Bad Getaway -- The Trip -- The Girl from Nowhere -- The Way Some People Die -- Afterword

[James DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lord praise 2026, because getting more CRIMINAL is exactly what the world needed.

This new volume, Five Gears In Reverse, proves why this series is the gold standard of noir. Ed Brubaker weaves a masterful, suspenseful storyline that starts with a slow-burn tension before shifting into a total frenzy. The plot follows an excellent cast of desperate characters caught in a high-stakes downward spiral, where every decision leads to a darker dead end. The first half meticulously sets the board, but the crazy second half hits like a freight train, delivering the kind of gritty, hard-boiled action that makes this series legendary. I love this fucking shit.

The payoff in this book is incredible, especially seeing the narrative deliver some visceral, well-deserved justice. Watching a rapist get beaten to death was a standout moment, cathartic, brutal, and exactly the kind of no-mercy storytelling I love.

It all builds toward a wonderful ending. This is an easy 4.5 out of 5, but the sheer impact of the finale has me bumping it to a full 5 stars. More of this please!

[Rustic Red Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I REALLY should've read the previous Criminal books before this one, and should've done that when I finished reading The Knives... which is another prequel Criminal graphic novel.

I personally would say IT IS NOT the perfect JUMPING POINT to the Criminal Universe. This is a story how Ricky and Mallory fell in love and of course since it's CRIMINAL story, there's going to be a crime in it, duh. But I still don't care for either of them at the end of the book, which kinda tells a lot how they needed to be more fleshed out. And I think I prefered the crime elements of the previous book, The Knives, compared to this one.

I'll just say it's just alright, not good, not bad. Just fine and a very easy/fast book to read for maybe less than an hour.

This one and The Knives, feel too short for me to really appreciate the characters or the book as a whole. I'll probably re-read this and The Knives once again after my first read of Criminal.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ricky Lawless is back in “Five Gears in Reverse” by Ed Brubaker and it is brutal. Not the artwork. Not the story telling. The action. Just brutal.

Ricky just has bad luck. Mostly of his own making. One mistake after another. He owes people money and that is just the beginning of all of his bad decisions. At the end of this graphic novel, I’m still trying to remember one good decision he made. I seriously can’t think of one.

This is when we say something like, “This is a cautionary tale of…”. Nope. Just don’t be Ricky. No cautionary tale needed. Because this tale is full of sex, drugs, violence, and death. And all of it costs something. All. Of. It.

Well, I will say, if Ricky survives, I’m sure that Brubaker will be around to document all of his bad decisions.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing an ARC for an unbiased review.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was all set to give this one five stars but unfortunately for me there were a couple of loose ends, plot-wise, that were not tied up at the end of it. Usually Brubaker does a good job of taking care of stuff like that. It's possible he left those loose ends untied because he's going to come back to them in a later book, but within the book itself there was no indication of that. Otherwise, this is almost perfect storytelling in the comic medium. Sean Phillips style has really come into it's own over the years and no-one is better at conveying the elements of sordid criminal events unfolding in an absolutely compelling visual style. Brubaker, in my opinion, is not just the best crime comics writer out there, but one of the best crime writers, period.

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thrilling comedy of errors in the world of Criminal, Brubaker and Phillips provide the origins story of Mallory and how she and Ricky Lawless found love. Of course, it is in the midst of a crime spree where Ricky is seeking to make good on a debt, but the ideas never quite pan out. That five of the title plays out in several different ideas that see different locales and from the family that has been the backbone of the series.

Ricky has a tragic arc, son of a cruel but disciplined man who never escaped the life he’d known since childhood. Here Ricky is all grown up, but still in the shadow of his family, just trying to get through the day and meet whatever is needed be it drugs, money or… well it’s mostly money.

It’s a strong stand-alone story that can also serve as an entry point to the series and the underbelly where it is situated. It’s very gritty and violent, but not always without purpose. One adventure sees someone even worse than Ricky, who has been hired to serve as an escort, but, of course, things don’t pan out as planned.

Recommended to readers or noir, criminal thrillers or inter-related stories.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anything by Brubaker and Phillips is worth reading. The art is always stellar and the writing is spot on. The problem for me here is I hate Ricky Lawless. He just keeps messing up his life in the stupidest possible ways and it aggravates me. What’s more the first act of this book is the Giant Size Criminal #1 which came out in December which was pretty much self contained and to me this felt like an unnecessary prolongation of me suffering reading about Ricky. At least it didn’t have a painful and almost incomprehensible RPG this time around. In summation, love the creators, don’t love this creation. Ricky Lawless is too dumb to live.

[Randy Lander · Rating 5 out of 5]

The release of any new project from Brubaker and Phillips is always cause for celebration, but especially so when it is a new volume of Criminal. This one starts off with a reprint of the story from Giant-Size Criminal, which honestly was one of my favorite Criminal stories ever told (a high bar to clear) and then, delightfully, it tells four more stories following that night, filling in the stories of Ricky Lawless and Mallory, characters from early in the Criminal run who are going to be big on the upcoming and highly anticipated TV show.

Another fantastic, violent, darkly humorous read. I hope there are many more stories in the future.

[Stephen Reyes-Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so fun! I've been meaning to read Criminal for years, so I had to jump at the chance to read this early. It really lived up to the hype! It told a ton of story in the few issues that this covers and made me really excited to see more of these characters in the rest of the series. I liked Ricky and Mallory a lot and seeing them get themselves into more and more trouble was a lot of fun. I also didn't know that the series is being made into a TV show in the near future, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. Thanks for the ARC!

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know what I did to be able to read every Brubaker and Phillips book before it has came out the past couple of years, but man it’s a pleasure. They are the best team in comics and have been for like 20 years now. Every Criminal book that has come out has surpassed the last one. I’m so glad when they came back to the world. This volume is another masterpiece of storytelling and art. Seeing more of Ricky Lawless and Mallory was a treat. I hope they never stop making Criminal books and I’ll forever keep reading them. Now we just need that show to finally hit Prime.

4.5/5 ⭐️

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five Gears in Reverse is the newest story set in the Criminal series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. In it, we get a look at some mishaps from Ricky Lawless and his girl, Mallory.
I honestly can not say enough good about this book. Brubaker and Phiilips have this series and setting down to a science.
Brubaker has each character voice down. They are all distinct from each other.
Phillips has the look of the characters and the setting down. It’s gritty and lived in.
This volume is perfectly standalone, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a real starting point.

[Ben A · Rating 5 out of 5]

At this point I really feel like I could lock in my rating for the Criminal books at 4 or 5 stars sight unseen, as they consistently deliver. Five Gears in Reverse is no exception, as Brubaker and Phillips really bring their best, yet again, with an excellent series of stories featuring Ricky Lawless that continue to expand the Criminal Universe in amazing ways.

Special Thanks to Image Comics and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Haruka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read!!! This book has different criminal stories. Backstory of the characters. I quite enjoyed reading this book. Ed Brubaker comics always have this old comics vibe and i love that so much!!
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Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me this opportunity to read and review this amazing book in advance~

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new Criminal outing! This one is about Ricky Lawless and his girlfriend Malory. Ricky is a fuckup and each story has him getting in deeper trouble than the one preceding it because he can't help but screw it all up. Almost every time with the finish line in sight. (If you're wondering, that opening story is Giant-Size Criminal which came out at your local comic book store last fall.) This has me jonesing for that Criminal TV series real bad.

[Jacob McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

At this point, Criminal is one of my three favorite comics ever. Another great entry in the series, this time focusing on everyone's favorite fuck-up, Ricky Lawless. I love how each Lawless family member is distinct in their own messed up ways, but are all so compelling.

Anyway, it's another excellent entry in this iconic series.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

To a certain extent, this is a shaggy dog tale: an unbelievable story that goes around in circles before it ends up where it started.

But it's a pretty wonderful shaggy dog story, and it's great to see Ricky and Mal at their height. As is so oftne the case, it makes me want to go back and read previous volumes again.

[Brad Wojak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading Criminal since the beginning, but this volume was something special. The art is amazing, I really like the choices Jacob Phillips made on the colouring, and Brubaker’s story kicked ass. An excellent addition to the overall Lawless story, or great as a standalone.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not loved all the Criminal books, but Five Gears is a lesson in two things; 1) doing one thing really well and 2) just letting things rip.

Brubaker and Phillips continue to do what they do, and as I am discovering, if it isn't your cup of tea, it's your loss.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read in the Criminal series from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. I always love these stories, and they always deliver. Can't wait to read another in the series. #FiveGearsInReverseACriminalBook #NetGalley

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was very readable – I just sat down and read it in one go!
Ricky Lawless is a criminal who goes from one messed up job to another, but some how comes out the other end, only to get mixed up in some other trouble