Brubaker's new book -- CRIMINAL

[Ed Brubaker]

It's been a few weeks since the Criminal announcement went public, and a few days since the October solicit for issue 1 hit, and I'm still finding tons of people who haven't seen the 5 page teaser Sean and I specially crafted to sell readers and retailers on this book, even though it was widely broadcast on newsarama and other places. So, I'm taking it to the people!

If you haven't seen the teaser for Criminal, go download it at this link: http://www.edbrubaker.com/criminal/

And then, email it to everyone you know who likes good comics, and post the link on every message board you can find. ;)

And, if you're a true friend, print out a copy and bring it in to your local store to show your comics retailer, too. I'm going out big to retailers in the next few weeks, but having customers come in with the preview for them will make a HUGE difference. It's a tough market right now for anything outside superheroes, and while I think we'll do okay, better safe than sorry.

Anyone who does either of these things, though, please email me at edbrubaker@gmail.com and let me know, and I'll see that you get something cool for helping us out.

[The Shadow]

Consider me signed up!

Looks great Ed.

I'll see what I can do as far as printing the stuff out too.

Is this an Icon book?

[mrc1214]

I'll buy it.

[Ed Brubaker]

Consider me signed up!

Looks great Ed.

I'll see what I can do as far as printing the stuff out too.

Is this an Icon book?

Yep. Fully creator-owned.

[Ed Brubaker]

If there was an Icon board...

[Expletive Deleted]

Icon's perfectly on-topic here.

I loved SLEEPER, so I'm really looking forward to CRIMINAL.

[moon knight]

The preview was great. I will pick this one up.

[Doom Hammer]

Wait, who's Ed Brubaker? :confused:

[Expletive Deleted]

He's that guy who wrote that thing, remember?

[ultramandingo]

so is sleeper kaput ? ......and who wins at air hocky , cap or dd ?

[Doom Hammer]

He's that guy who wrote that thing, remember?

Doesn't ring a bell. What's his name again, Burbanks?

[daletron]

not tryin to be a fan boy or nothin, but i buy anything you write ^__^ so count me in

and what happens if my local comic shop is already getting this? i want that special something anyway =\

[ratzo]

Ed, you have no idea how badly I've wanted you to return to doing mateiral like this. Consider me sold as well. Cannot wait to read this.

[david r]

If Criminal is anything like Sleeper, then it'll be a great story. And being creator-owned, I hope that Ed Brubaker has a lot of creative freedom on this title. This is what Icon was made for!!

And I'm jazzed it's an ongoing, and not a mini-series. I hope it has a long life. Marvel needs more diversity like this.

[Subotai]

Looks good. I'll check it out for sure, hit a couple of places with it . Any literary influences in the genre, Ed?

[Hombre]

Any literary influences in the genre, Ed?

I wonder if Kriminal, a classic Italian adult oriented B/W strip, could have been an inspiration:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriminal

[Doom Hammer]

Damn, there's a lot of good, new books coming out soon. I'm gonna have to destroy the current pull list.

[Majinlex]

I may have to give this a miss in favour of The Boys but who knows, I may just go nuts and get both. Looks good. I'll pick up the first issue at least.

[Nick Kal]

It's been a few weeks since the Criminal announcement went public, and a few days since the October solicit for issue 1 hit, and I'm still finding tons of people who haven't seen the 5 page teaser Sean and I specially crafted to sell readers and retailers on this book, even though it was widely broadcast on newsarama and other places. So, I'm taking it to the people!

If you haven't seen the teaser for Criminal, go download it at this link: http://www.edbrubaker.com/criminal/

And then, email it to everyone you know who likes good comics, and post the link on every message board you can find. ;)

And, if you're a true friend, print out a copy and bring it in to your local store to show your comics retailer, too. I'm going out big to retailers in the next few weeks, but having customers come in with the preview for them will make a HUGE difference. It's a tough market right now for anything outside superheroes, and while I think we'll do okay, better safe than sorry.

Anyone who does either of these things, though, please email me at edbrubaker@gmail.com and let me know, and I'll see that you get something cool for helping us out.


Consider it... Done!:D

[Bobster777]

Oh man I can't wait for this book. Going to be another sure fire hit.

[Hi-Fi]

I'm in! Can't wait for it.

[meethraa]

It's official: Marvel hates my wallet.

[Frank]

It`s been a while since I`ve been this excited by a crime book!

[Lex]

I usually wait for trades on most Marvel books now, but I like the concept of this book enough to pre-order the first few issues.

I'm looking forward to it.

[kdx125]

[reads teaser]

Leo, huh? Does this mean the other two guys are the Scarecrow and the Tin Man? :)

[Patient Boy]

It's been a few weeks since the Criminal announcement went public, and a few days since the October solicit for issue 1 hit, and I'm still finding tons of people who haven't seen the 5 page teaser Sean and I specially crafted to sell readers and retailers on this book, even though it was widely broadcast on newsarama and other places. So, I'm taking it to the people!

If you haven't seen the teaser for Criminal, go download it at this link: http://www.edbrubaker.com/criminal/

And then, email it to everyone you know who likes good comics, and post the link on every message board you can find. ;)

And, if you're a true friend, print out a copy and bring it in to your local store to show your comics retailer, too. I'm going out big to retailers in the next few weeks, but having customers come in with the preview for them will make a HUGE difference. It's a tough market right now for anything outside superheroes, and while I think we'll do okay, better safe than sorry.

Anyone who does either of these things, though, please email me at edbrubaker@gmail.com and let me know, and I'll see that you get something cool for helping us out.

This guy is obviously a troll trying to get people to visit his site. ;)

[lordlad]

It's official: Marvel hates my wallet.
i thought it's the opposite. Marvel loves ur wallet. They only makes u hate it :D

[rebelchelle]

It's on my pull list. Can't wait to read it!

[meethraa]

i thought it's the opposite. Marvel loves ur wallet. They only makes u hate it :D
Ahaha, I meant that they love to see it empty. And an empty wallet is bad, so they hate it.

[CaptainAwesome]

Screw you Bru! Why dont you just come and take my money? I mean, what is it with you writing quality books? Huh? What do you do at work? "Look at me, Im Ed Brubaker. Im gonna write great books and make CaptainAwesome buy them becuse they are so good." And I just trimmed my pull list too...razza...frazza...:mad:

[Ullar]

Wow Ed Brubaker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am sold i already buy everything u write.

[Crimson]

I already ordered it but the preview is great

[1WEBHEAD]

Looks good.Count me in. :cool:

[Ed Brubaker]

Screw you Bru! Why dont you just come and take my money? I mean, what is it with you writing quality books? Huh? What do you do at work? "Look at me, Im Ed Brubaker. Im gonna write great books and make CaptainAwesome buy them becuse they are so good." And I just trimmed my pull list too...razza...frazza...:mad:

Email me the rest of your pull list and I'll tell you what to drop to fit this in. :evilsmile

[BeastieRunner]

Couple questions:


Is this an ongoing or a mini?
What's the cover price?
Why does this man always make quality books?
I wish it came sooner. It's gonna put my comic book budget over but I don't care. Looks great.

[david r]

Criminal is confirmed as an ongoing title.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's $2.99.

[BeastieRunner]

Sweet deal. Good thing I have a lot of mini's on the pull list right now, there's room for this.

[BeastieRunner]

Hey Ed, I got this on pull list at my LCS and sent the preview to some of my friends. Now they're getting into comics and started a pull list with this on it! I think this will be a great series.

[Jonah Weiland]

CBR's posted their own interview with Ed Brubaker right here:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=8535

Look for more with Sean Philips tomorrow on CBR.

[Jonah Weiland]

And our interview with Sean Phillips can be found here:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=8540

[Dennis K]

Damn it, what a week it was for me at the comics store. I picked up Criminal, Ant-Man, and Doctor Strange as well. All three titles knocked the ball out of the park so to speak. I can honestly say I don't remember the last time I picked up three titles, much less new titles, that I enjoyed as much. Congratulations to all involved for a job very very well done.

[brundlefly]

I picked up CRIMINAL yesterday and totally loved it; the style gave me enjoyable flashbacks to Ed and Sean's SLEEPER while the characters, underworld environment, and story/dialogue all had a great David Mamet/Michael Mann crime films-type vibe to them. I'm definitely in for the long haul on this one. A great week for new titles between this and Vaughan's DR. STRANGE.

[aepuk]

its ordered and can'rt wait

[PastePotPete]

This book was really, really, really, really cool.

Lots of great hooks for our main character. I like that he's described as a coward and that he takes care of his Dad's old senile partner. I was pumped after reading this first issue.

Brubaker hasn't failed yet.

[rogerio]

I cant wait to get my copy!:)

[Ed Brubaker]

Thanks everybody. I just read through the second issue - which goes to press imminently -- and I think it's even better than the first one. The Heist is awesome. Sean kicked ass.

[filthysize]

Yeah, I liked this first issue A LOT.

I'm digging the cool format too.

[BeastieRunner]

This was awesome! I will be getting this each and every month till I die or it ends, which ever comes first!

[matt levin]

What strikes me is there is no real good guy; our narrator's the criminal son of a criminal dad, right? And somehow righteous for somethin' we'll find out later. Very tumultuous opening issue; enough I'm still glad I've preordered through, what? 3? 4? so far. Rereading tonight. Thanks to all for this auspicious addition to our comics crime literature!

Matt

[1WEBHEAD]

Comic Shop sold out.:( I'll see if they have restocked this Wednesday.

[ultramandingo]

wow .....a marvel book with no spandex or clones or characters under 30 (?) . i kept checkin for a vertigo logo , or oni or planet atlar or at least a dark horse or somthin . make mine marvel.......finally

[kate-pryde]

Comic Shop sold out.:( I'll see if they have restocked this Wednesday.

I had a heck of a time finding Criminal this weekend. I had to check three comic shops before I found a copy, and it was the last one that shop had. Sales must be really good.

I really liked it. It's quite different from the books I usually read, but the art is great and the story's really interesting. I'll definitely pick up the next issue.

[Will.S]

My response is a little late since I didn't read it right away but it's off to a great start. You can see a little bit of the movie Heat in it mixed with Ed's original story and characters.

It's great how much depth each of the characters have even from the outset and I was surprised at the eloquency of the back story. It was like reading a piece of a novel.

[matt levin]

hi,

Got to re-read "Criminal" again and this time slowly. Repeatin' my first thought posted above, to add a couple more, and a list of other cool crime comics--what c'n ya add?

What strikes me particularly special about "Criminal" is there seem to be no good guys at all--even the cops are criminals: our nominal good-guy lead character is a criminal son of a criminal father. What he's got going for him is apparantly a code of conduct he's smart enough to follow, and his underlying humanity, caring for sick, old, dangerous Ivan; disliking a compatriot's attitude toward an epileptic associate. And whatever it is that ''they say about you'' that they're right about.

Two things I like best this first issue: the exchange between Greta and Seymour about the job in the offing, which covers a lot of ground, characters' back-histories, inter-personal relationships, and personalities--a lot in two pages. Secondly, I get "Frank Kafka, Private Eye;" I mean, I get-it get it, and I hope we see more of it, maybe one strip per issue, just enough, for those of us who get it. Never makes any goddamn sense? Sure it does.

I like the artwork fine and the colors are suitable--but unrelentingly so. Maybe a page or two, in one issue, or two, where the action goes 'above ground' where the colors are brighter might make the plunge back into tan-brown-olive-black-and-purples underground in the criminal world even just a little more despairing.

"Fell" (yay!), the Bendis-works, "Jinx," "Goldfish," and "Torso," and Lapham's "Stray Bullets," "Sam & Twitch," "Cross Bronx," "Ms. Tree," and "Matador," and from really long ago, "Mike Danger," Mickey Spillane's homage to Frank Miller's "Sin City"...and of course, his own Mike Hammer.

Happy reading,
Matt

[ultramandingo]

#2- book of the week? mabey the best "comic " heist ive seen . a "dolls" quote , and movie reviews!

[Ed Brubaker]

Yeah, I'd been looking for a place to use that Ebert line forever.

[The Shadow]

Question Ed (though it may have been answered and I missed it) but is Criminal an ongoing, a mini or a series of mini's?

[Ed Brubaker]

It's an ongoing, as long as he keeps selling as well as it is. We'll take a month or so between storylines, but we plan on 10 issues a year, at least.

[Juss]

I must confess that I've not been a big reader of graphic novels or comics in the past and know of little outside of Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns, partly because they are expensive and partly thanks to the overabundance of superhero titles and plastic models that hit you in the face whenever you enter a comic book store. Somebody mentioned that Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men series was particularly good and it was whilst checking out reviews for this that I stumbled upon all sorts of review sites with overwhelmingly positive comments about Brubaker in general and his new work Criminal. I picked it up kind of on a whim (I'm a big Tarantino fan - and I love Film Noir too, nice to see Brubaker's interesting piece on Out of the Past in the back of Criminal #2) and I'm glad to say that its got me interested again in the medium as a whole. I won't try and dissect the book too much as we're only on Issue #2 and whilst I could guess where things are heading and what the major themes are likely to be I prefer not to. (why do we only get one a month?? :evilangry ) What struck me the most was the similarity between a good graphic novel like Criminal and a smart, slick movie like John Carpenter or Tarantino. There's no fat in these issues of Criminal and there's nothing fancy, every frame moves seamlessly into the next just as the story is beautifully paced (and by the way, the opening of issue one is ean exemplary example of how to tell a story, building the character beautifully through images and words, again like a mise-en-scene from a movie)

This isn't just a long winded way of saying thanks to Ed for producing some fine work and for re-sparking my interest in a form that I'd almost arrogantly neglected up to know, I also had a questions that I wanted to throw out related to this. On the Today Program on BBC Radio 4 a couple of days ago an eminent Professor of Literature, John Sutherland was almost scoffing that he'd discovered a graphic novel that was actually any good "The Pride of Baghdad". 20 years after the likes of Alan Moore and Frank Miller earned and still do earn such praise why has the image of the graphic novel not really changed all that much? why is the market for comics still predominantly focused on superheroes and why aren't the bigger companies like DC and Marvel really stepping up to the plate and doing their bit to change that when the format has such huge potential? (I noticed somewhere that Ed said that he had to put in all the effort to market Criminal himself)

[Juss]

Secondly, I get "Frank Kafka, Private Eye;" I mean, I get-it get it, and I hope we see more of it, maybe one strip per issue, just enough, for those of us who get it. Never makes any goddamn sense? Sure it does.
Matt

I thought that there was something as surreal in the idea of Franz (Frank) Kafka being a Private eye himself as one of Kafka's novels. I'm not sure that I get where he's going with this yet other than an invocation of the world as some kind of twisted nightmare. Its certainly a beautiful touch though...I loved the image where he says "I only have this picture of her" and we see a shot of the back of her head. I like that Ed appears to be drawing on all sorts of sources for this, from Italian Job to Tarantino, to Film Noir to Kafka (he namechecks Meyer and Leone too), some you'd expect, some you wouldn't. It should give some depth to the overall story!

[geordiesteve]

Really enjoying this book, it's seedy, it feels real, it's obviously going to be layered and have lots of different avenues to explore and different types of story.

Brubaker had to do all of the push for this book himself as it is the Icon line, not meaning to sound patronising at all Juss, but do you know about it? Short version, Marvel will print it, help distribute it I think via Diamond etc, but it's creator owned, so he has to promote himself, do interviews etc, it's not technically a Marvel book so they don't put the work in to promote it. I don't know completely how it works, but I guess the creators get most if not all of the money from sales, so it's not really in Marvel's interest to promote it, it's there to keep their creators happy. It's basically an outlet for creators who are exclusive to Marvel for them to do books that exercise different muscles they don't normally get by working on Marvel books. So Bendis gets to do Powers, Mack does Kabuki, etc. Hopefully this will keep them happy and fresh and they will want to stay working at Marvel.

As to the last part of your post, it's a whole other debate but I would suggest you look into Vertigo books, Oni, Wildstorm off the top of my head, who produce some excellent stuff that is not superhero focused.

[PastePotPete]

I grab good non-superhero books anywhere I can. We need more! We need them now!

This, I think, is a book you can recommend to your brother-in-law who 'liked' DKR but isn't really into comics.

So far it's been great. If it keeps it up another two or three issues I'll be pimping this book to everyone I know.

[StoneGold]

The only thing I wasn't a fan of, and I know it was addressed in the back, but the Italian Job "homage." It was just a little too close. Oddly, if it was mentioned in story that he got the idea for the car from IJ and was stealing from it because the car would actually work for such a purpose, I would have been cool with it. Other than that, amazing issue, great characterization, etc. Just that one little bit held me back from giving it full honors.

[Nick MB]

I hate asking questions like this, since it makes me feel very stupid, but who was the guy who leapt out from behind the van and tasered the cop in issue #2?

He appeared in a few later panels as well. I'll not describe them in detail in case I spoil something for someone. But were we meant to recognise him or was he just a random guy called in by Leo?

[stealthwise]

Picked up the first two issues on a whim, and it's pretty good so far. I'll stick with the first arc and see from there. For some reason (probably because of his leap to Marvel), I always forget that Brubaker's one of the best writers in comics right now.

[Ed Brubaker]

I hate asking questions like this, since it makes me feel very stupid, but who was the guy who leapt out from behind the van and tasered the cop in issue #2?

He appeared in a few later panels as well. I'll not describe them in detail in case I spoil something for someone. But were we meant to recognise him or was he just a random guy called in by Leo?

He's Red. He was in the second scene, when they were planning the heist, but yeah, he's barely there. Two lines of dialog.

[whitey museum]

Criminal has grabbed me. I usually dont like getting grabbed. I'm a pretty miserable guy. But this grabbed me. I will look back into getting the Sleeper TPB's now too.

[The Shadow]

Sometimes I hate my LCS.

The owner and staff are GREAT... but they missed the first issue for me and now the second... so I must wait... and wait some more until #2 shows up

Frustration... thy name is Criminal.

[Nick MB]

He's Red. He was in the second scene, when they were planning the heist, but yeah, he's barely there. Two lines of dialog.

Ah, thanks, appreciated. And congrats on Criminal, also, it's a great piece of work and I'm there for the duration.

[hollow18]

I thought this board needs a lift or a bump so with the new Criminal #1 vol 2 on its way I thought it would encourage people to jump on board. I am a big fan of Criminal and the Lawless arc hands down was the best comics all year! If you are going to try criminal start with the Lawless arc, you won't be disappointed.

I am really looking to the issues and people pick up the issues not the trades, as the issues are what keep this steam engine chugging.
Keep up the good work Ed and Sean. Looking forward to more!

oh and these interviews and whatnot might interest some- I really liked the one with Sean.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=92159514&blogID=353105515

[matthewaos]

It's been a few weeks since the Criminal announcement went public, and a few days since the October solicit for issue 1 hit, and I'm still finding tons of people who haven't seen the 5 page teaser Sean and I specially crafted to sell readers and retailers on this book, even though it was widely broadcast on newsarama and other places. So, I'm taking it to the people!

If you haven't seen the teaser for Criminal, go download it at this link: http://www.edbrubaker.com/criminal/

And then, email it to everyone you know who likes good comics, and post the link on every message board you can find. ;)

And, if you're a true friend, print out a copy and bring it in to your local store to show your comics retailer, too. I'm going out big to retailers in the next few weeks, but having customers come in with the preview for them will make a HUGE difference. It's a tough market right now for anything outside superheroes, and while I think we'll do okay, better safe than sorry.

Anyone who does either of these things, though, please email me at edbrubaker@gmail.com and let me know, and I'll see that you get something cool for helping us out.

Oh, come on, the book will go great!I don't think I have friends to send this, all of them (actually of them who are comic book readers) buys it. And we are not from a distant land...

[Libaax]

Im a proud owner of The Laweless trade. Best art and story combo i have read in years. Great story.

I cant wait for the new issues to hit my LCS.

Since i live in Sweden, i get the comics week or two after.

[matthewaos]

Im a proud owner of The Laweless trade. Best art and story combo i have read in years. Great story.

I cant wait for the new issues to hit my LCS.

Since i live in Sweden, i get the comics week or two after.

I can sympathize... Also I guess you also order your comics three months ahead so there is no real need to give the preview pages, right?

To be honest I am old fashioned. I don't want to see the preview pages. I want to see them when they arrive.

[Libaax]

Im very old fashioned i didnt even bother to watch the preview pages of next Criminal in that myspace link.

I have ordered comics that was realesed in US months ago but havent got in yet.

For example Immortal Iron Fist im way behind cause my LCS had to reorder it.

Without the trades of Criminal i wouldnt have catched up now.

By the way do you read letter pages of Criminal issues ? I love the Noir moves they talked about. I even read Richard Stark Parker books cause Bru recommended it :)

[matthewaos]

I do, I really like them! I love noir movies and I want to hunt down some of those.

[JohnnyC]

Criminal is absolutely fantastic! I bought Coward and Lawless today. I finished Coward and...wow, it's truly unbelievable. Can't wait for Vol. 2.