Here’s another entry on the list of venerable comic institutions I didn’t know about until they stuck a werewolf in it. Criminal is a comic by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips that explores the clichés of the crime genre through a lense of realism. This Eisner-winning series has been running since 2006, and because I’m a comics plebe, I hadn’t heard of it until friend Manny Aguilera alerted me to the upcoming 10th anniversary issue: a 64-page one-shot featuring the series’ most popular characters.
“Teeg and Tracy Lawless are our most popular characters, so I knew this Anniversary Special had to showcase their early days,” said Brubaker. “A big part of Criminal is finding new ways into noir stories, and this time we get to see it all from the point of view of a 12-year-old kid forced to help his father, who is a career thief and murderer.”
This issue also feature a comic-within-a-comic, a “bizarre ‘70s-era KUNG FU magazine starring a werewolf.”
“Once again I get to try out a new style, after the cartooning of The Last Of The Innocent, and the sword and sorcery of last year’s Savage Sword of Criminal,” said Phillips. “This time I get to figure out how to draw a kung-fu werewolf without him looking too silly. Let’s hope I can pull it off! Even if I can’t, it’s great to be back in the Criminal universe again, it’s like we’ve never been away.”
You can pick up the 10th Anniversary Special in stores Wednesday April 13th (or you can use Diamond code NOV158430 to order it), but if you want the variant that has this incredible Fang the Kung Fu Werewolf cover, order it from your local comic store by Monday the 28th with Diamond code NOV158431. Both versions have the Fang story inside, but come on. Come on.
Then there’s the decade of Criminal to catch up on, available on Amazon and Comixology. Better get started!