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Criminal (2006-2007)
Criminal (2006-2007) #1
This fall crime noir smacks you right in the face, as award-winning writer Ed Brubaker, whose recent hits on Daredevil, Captain America and the X-Men have made him one of the top writers in the field, joins best-selling Marvel Zombies artist Sean Phillips for CRIMINAL, a new ongoing series from Icon. Navigating through a world of smoky barrooms and double-crosses to present tales of heists, murders and cons, CRIMINAL is determined to be different than any other book on the shelves today.
In our debut issue, we meet Leo, who can plan the perfect heist... but only if he can be convinced the job is safe enough. See, Leo is not a shoot-first think-later guy; Leo is a professional. But to some criminals, even professionals, the right payout is worth almost any risk. So when an old friend and a crooked cop approach with a plan to seize millions of dollars in contraband from an evidence transport van, Leo must make tough choices, knowing there's nothing you can trust less in this world than a cop on the take.
In our debut issue, we meet Leo, who can plan the perfect heist... but only if he can be convinced the job is safe enough. See, Leo is not a shoot-first think-later guy; Leo is a professional. But to some criminals, even professionals, the right payout is worth almost any risk. So when an old friend and a crooked cop approach with a plan to seize millions of dollars in contraband from an evidence transport van, Leo must make tough choices, knowing there's nothing you can trust less in this world than a cop on the take.
- GenresGraphic Novels
28 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 4, 2006
1 person is currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Ed Brubaker
1,798 books3,022 followersEd 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 2, 2025
"Leo, who can plan the perfect heist... only if he can be convinced the job is safe enough.
Not an idiot, he's a professional, an old friend and a crooked cop approach with a plan to seize millions of dollars in contraband from an evidence transport van, Leo must make tough choices, knowing there’s nothing you can trust less in this world than a cop on the take."
Reminds me of some of the early 1920s pinups, solid line-work and writing, the author is mainly known for superhero comics.
3/5 The formula of the crime-noir novel in comic form. Frank Miller the first obvious comparison, and that’s harsh because everyone comes off worse that way. There’s some craft at work here, with great pacing and some classic plot devices used well.
If you’re looking for, well written and well drawn crime stories where no one is dressed as a bat then this is for you.
Not an idiot, he's a professional, an old friend and a crooked cop approach with a plan to seize millions of dollars in contraband from an evidence transport van, Leo must make tough choices, knowing there’s nothing you can trust less in this world than a cop on the take."
Reminds me of some of the early 1920s pinups, solid line-work and writing, the author is mainly known for superhero comics.
3/5 The formula of the crime-noir novel in comic form. Frank Miller the first obvious comparison, and that’s harsh because everyone comes off worse that way. There’s some craft at work here, with great pacing and some classic plot devices used well.
If you’re looking for, well written and well drawn crime stories where no one is dressed as a bat then this is for you.
December 10, 2025
That’s what I’m talking about! The art, color, and stories are all on point! I’m so glad I went into this story blind, getting thrust into this world of criminal elements is so interesting as small details are revealed about our characters and with each revelation a new understanding of their decisions comes to make more sense. But this is not a story of a big heist, this is not ocean’s 11, this is a story of cowardice and staying afloat as much as possible. This story focuses around a man named Leo, his father was a crook and helped to run the biggest pickpocketing racket the city has ever seen. Leo grew up under him and his crew and learned and listened, the good and the bad when it came to heists. This story starts with a bad heist, we see a lot of his crew gunned down, and Leo is the only one to survive. Out of his father’s old crew the only one supposedly left is Ivan. Ivan survived because he knew the rules. Not societies rules, they don’t care about those, but the rules on how to protect yourself…sometimes even from yourself. These are not rules that you write down, they are rules that you remember and never forget and will keep you safe. And evidently from the prologue of the heist that went bad, we see Leo use these rules and his brains first instead of his guns to get away and blend into the crowd as a bicyclist. But like I said, our narrator Leo is a coward. He is scared of ending up like his father, scared of dying in prison, but the way he sees it…”if you aren’t scared in your line of work. Then you just aren’t thinking. And I won’t work with people who don’t use their brains before their bullets…as a rule at least.”
A lot of this information is drip fed throughout the issue as it’s revealed to the other characters, but this is such a fantastic character to follow this story from, especially as we join Leo 5 years later from the heist in the prologue to find he is being scouted. Leo spotted them scoping him out at the art gallery picking the pockets of the wealthy, as he dumped his take and went outside a very large cop named Jeff slammed him against a wall. Of course Leo had nothing on him, which is exactly what his old “friend” Seymour expected. The current racket he was running was about identity theft, flipping all of their cards and ID. But really Seymour is here to show Leo off to Jeff and recruit him for a new job. Leo doesn’t want any part of it, the last job he had with Seymour ended with a lot of them dead. Leo sees Seymour as a gambler, either you got rich or he got you killed. But that’s exactly why Seymour needs Leo, he is a coward and while he is some of the best in the business at looking at every angle of a job he also knows when to leave it, and when he says leave it he means run as fast and far away as possible. Turns out Jeff really is a cop and he has the inside eye on millions worth of diamonds sitting there for easy pickings. Nothing is ever that easy.
Leo is still out from the begging and Seymour lets him go, knowing that he will come around and Seymour can more than assure it with his backup plan. As we see Leo head home, picking up some easy marks on the way, we begin to see his life wear him back down. He doesn’t blame Seymour for the last job that when back, but it was his score and he can’t get over his smug cop buddy’s face. He can’t help but remember what the cops in this city have done to people like him. But as Leo gets home he is immediately met with trouble, he is currently taking care of Ivan and through the years of addiction and now the Alzheimer's disease is making life a living hell for the nurse he has at home to take care of him. She can’t take it anymore, he believes he is 30 and is constantly trying to screw her, even to the point of using his pick pocketing skills to lift her panties. I have to admit, doing that without her noticing is darkly impressive but also deeply depressing as he just can’t control himself. If that wasn’t bad enough of a reminder of what money could do to change his life, there is a knock at the door. It’s Greta, the supposed wife of Terry Watson one of the men who were gunned down during the heist gone bad at the start and someone who seems to think Leo owes her because of it. Apparently she is a recovering addict and kicked the habit when she had her kid, and Seymour got with her to hunt him down and convince him to do the job to help her situation as well. I’m not entirely sure if she is getting a cut as she is part of the crew of is leaning on Leo to help her, but with how she was able to find him I am assuming she is on the crew. Especially as Leo commented on not working with her because she is a junkie, causing her to lash out and exclaim she has been sober for years.
After this exciting reminder of his life, he decided to go back to the nest everyone in his field eventually crawls back to, the bar known as the undertow. It’s a safe haven for the circles he is in, no one starts fights here and it hasn’t changed since he was 8 years old. Even though he hasn’t been on there the bartender treats him as though he is still a regular. Leo came here looking for Donnie, the bartender hasn’t seen him but thinks he may be working on the trains. Leo did in fact find Donnie working on the trains, doing his usual routine where he will fake a seizure, then jump up and put on the most heat piercing sob story you have ever heard begging for money to go to the ER. Even if they have heard the story before there is something about the way he delivers it that gets them to cough over cash every time. And as Leo meets up with him outside the train, good as new, Leo extends his hand to pull Donnie into a real job.
As the issue comes to an end Leo gives Seymour a call to confirm he is in. Just before this we saw Jeff pull anything he could on Leo…he couldn’t find anything. But he could find everything on his dad and could fill in the rest, but is still in disbelief he has stayed out of the system. Seymour further expresses that is exactly why they need him, as good as he is at seeing holes in security and mapping out scores he is just as good at slipping away…which is apparently very necessary for this job. And I think we find out why right at the end, as Jeff gets the confirmation they are good to go, Seymour knew Leo couldn’t say no to Greta, Jeff gives a man a call. It seems this job didn’t come out of nowhere and Jeff is being coerced into it. The owner of those diamonds wants them back and he currently has Jeff’s partner held hostage to do it. No clue how no one has noticed a full cop just missing, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s why they need someone as slippery as Jeff.
A lot of this information is drip fed throughout the issue as it’s revealed to the other characters, but this is such a fantastic character to follow this story from, especially as we join Leo 5 years later from the heist in the prologue to find he is being scouted. Leo spotted them scoping him out at the art gallery picking the pockets of the wealthy, as he dumped his take and went outside a very large cop named Jeff slammed him against a wall. Of course Leo had nothing on him, which is exactly what his old “friend” Seymour expected. The current racket he was running was about identity theft, flipping all of their cards and ID. But really Seymour is here to show Leo off to Jeff and recruit him for a new job. Leo doesn’t want any part of it, the last job he had with Seymour ended with a lot of them dead. Leo sees Seymour as a gambler, either you got rich or he got you killed. But that’s exactly why Seymour needs Leo, he is a coward and while he is some of the best in the business at looking at every angle of a job he also knows when to leave it, and when he says leave it he means run as fast and far away as possible. Turns out Jeff really is a cop and he has the inside eye on millions worth of diamonds sitting there for easy pickings. Nothing is ever that easy.
Leo is still out from the begging and Seymour lets him go, knowing that he will come around and Seymour can more than assure it with his backup plan. As we see Leo head home, picking up some easy marks on the way, we begin to see his life wear him back down. He doesn’t blame Seymour for the last job that when back, but it was his score and he can’t get over his smug cop buddy’s face. He can’t help but remember what the cops in this city have done to people like him. But as Leo gets home he is immediately met with trouble, he is currently taking care of Ivan and through the years of addiction and now the Alzheimer's disease is making life a living hell for the nurse he has at home to take care of him. She can’t take it anymore, he believes he is 30 and is constantly trying to screw her, even to the point of using his pick pocketing skills to lift her panties. I have to admit, doing that without her noticing is darkly impressive but also deeply depressing as he just can’t control himself. If that wasn’t bad enough of a reminder of what money could do to change his life, there is a knock at the door. It’s Greta, the supposed wife of Terry Watson one of the men who were gunned down during the heist gone bad at the start and someone who seems to think Leo owes her because of it. Apparently she is a recovering addict and kicked the habit when she had her kid, and Seymour got with her to hunt him down and convince him to do the job to help her situation as well. I’m not entirely sure if she is getting a cut as she is part of the crew of is leaning on Leo to help her, but with how she was able to find him I am assuming she is on the crew. Especially as Leo commented on not working with her because she is a junkie, causing her to lash out and exclaim she has been sober for years.
After this exciting reminder of his life, he decided to go back to the nest everyone in his field eventually crawls back to, the bar known as the undertow. It’s a safe haven for the circles he is in, no one starts fights here and it hasn’t changed since he was 8 years old. Even though he hasn’t been on there the bartender treats him as though he is still a regular. Leo came here looking for Donnie, the bartender hasn’t seen him but thinks he may be working on the trains. Leo did in fact find Donnie working on the trains, doing his usual routine where he will fake a seizure, then jump up and put on the most heat piercing sob story you have ever heard begging for money to go to the ER. Even if they have heard the story before there is something about the way he delivers it that gets them to cough over cash every time. And as Leo meets up with him outside the train, good as new, Leo extends his hand to pull Donnie into a real job.
As the issue comes to an end Leo gives Seymour a call to confirm he is in. Just before this we saw Jeff pull anything he could on Leo…he couldn’t find anything. But he could find everything on his dad and could fill in the rest, but is still in disbelief he has stayed out of the system. Seymour further expresses that is exactly why they need him, as good as he is at seeing holes in security and mapping out scores he is just as good at slipping away…which is apparently very necessary for this job. And I think we find out why right at the end, as Jeff gets the confirmation they are good to go, Seymour knew Leo couldn’t say no to Greta, Jeff gives a man a call. It seems this job didn’t come out of nowhere and Jeff is being coerced into it. The owner of those diamonds wants them back and he currently has Jeff’s partner held hostage to do it. No clue how no one has noticed a full cop just missing, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s why they need someone as slippery as Jeff.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2023
#1 – “Whenever things begin to fall to pieces, I think of my father.” – Leo
Noir without the supernatural stuff (nice for a change now and then). First in a series about heist-man Leo. Gritty, deep backstory, genuine in its portrayals. ***
Noir without the supernatural stuff (nice for a change now and then). First in a series about heist-man Leo. Gritty, deep backstory, genuine in its portrayals. ***
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews