Customer Reviews

Criminal Vol. 4: Bad Night

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mr. SCHREITER just before me has just about said all that has to said about this book. It is not one of those cases where a fan praises the product just for the sake of it all and splashes five stars on it without giving any reasonable thought whatsover. No. This truly is a masterpiece, just as the three volumes before were masterpieces. The story is fresh, the characters are very well defined, the interaction between them is very good, the art is consistently appropriate. This is a modern classic in the noir genre as well as a classic (graphic) novel. Period. So far, nothing that I bought with the names "Brubaker" and/or "Philips" on it has been a disappointment or even average.

I really enjoy Brubaker's work overall, and I think his writing and Sean Phillips' art seem to complement one another very well. They certainly do in Bad Night. This isn't a superhero book, it's a crime noir mystery--and a well done one indeed. Brubaker creates characters that are interesting and believable and Sean Phillip's art wonderfully captures and enhances the mood that Brubaker creates. It's a dark world composed of thieves, corrupt cops, and violence.

I've read all of the books in the Criminal line, and I've thoroughly enjoyed each one. If you like a gritty story of crime, betrayal, and danger, you'd do well to give this series a chance. I'm glad I did.

This book is like the fight club of the criminal series. IT shows the working class man whose just going through life with and interesting past that chases him. This book is very artistic and a story that is not for all but those who read it will be rewarded with a tale that keeps you on the edge and always wanting to know if there is a way out of the situation our main character has been thrown into. The first half of this book is very atmospheric and shows you what our main character is doing for a job and how he may already be insane but there's just something in his past holding him together. He then is forced into a world of violence and sex that sends him in an ecstatic downwards spiral to where he comes to his senses and he finds out no matter how he tries to live his life from then on... there will be blood. The one night he started it all is the one night that reborn the protagonist. He lived a sheltered life from before the events of Bad night, talking to his friend thats not really there whose named Frank. This artistic and chilling story is should receive more praise for its nice ending and how it nods to readers of the whole series.

A crippled cartoonist helps out an attractive red-head after she has a drunken fight with her boyfriend one night. Would that be the end of it? Not if this is an Ed Brubaker book! The cartoonist winds up in a complex plan involving kidnapping, extortion, murder, betrayal, and madness. "Bad Night" is a twisting story about twisted people double-crossing one another to get what they think they want.

Brubaker's writing is as taught as ever and the plot whirls quickly throughout the book. Each character slowly develops into a deeper person and this has always been the strength of the "Criminal" series. The cartoonist is in fact a minor character from Book 2 but Brubaker has plucked him from a subplot back then and given him an entire book here. It shows true skill and imagination to do this.

Sean Phillips' artwork is nothing short of masterful, as always, but his painted covers are gorgeous to behold. The man does noir like no other and conveys action so perfectly it seems to the reader as if the panels are moving.

The "Criminal" series is an utterly involving and brilliant comic book series that is surely ripe for the Hollywood treatment any day now. Meanwhile, we have the comic books themselves which are nothing short of master-classes in comics art. "Bad Night" is another triumphant addition to the series and well worth a read for fans of both comics and crime thrillers.

Basically the best writer/artist duo in comics right now, just fleshing out the oevre a bit. To say it's good is an understatement, to say it's great sounds cheesy, but man, I tell you, this is just fantastic work! Criminal is basically one long novel broken into story-line segments, sort of like a Dickens serial in the newspapers of yore (but with more gore), and the anticipation of waiting for the next installment is a killer. If you haven't read any of the series yet, start from the beginning.

You just know that, when a dirty cop gets betrayed by a dirtier one, things are going to hell in a hurry. Evocative artwork carries this fast-changing story of scams and counter-scams, grudges, and murder. And somehow, it all revolves around that woman who might just be more dangerous dead than alive.

-- wiredweird

This fourth trade paperback collects four issues (Vol. 2 #4-7) of writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips' consistently outstanding Criminal series. This story arc is self-contained but features some minor links to past issues and takes place in the same city. The main character is Jacob K., the ex-counterfeiter that helped Tracy Lawless in Volume 2. Jacob is revealed as the creator of "Frank Kafka, P.I.", a comic strip that appeared in previous issues and plays a significant role in this story. The woman on the cover is Iris, whose chance encounter with Jacob at a diner has powerful repercussions for both. The story retains the series' gritty realism and features an increased aura of psychological drama. Having pre-ordered this, I devoured it the day that it arrived at my house.
Brubaker and Phillips took a break from this series for the six-issue mini-series "Incognito" but promised that "Criminal" will return. (I bought all six individual issues of "Incognito" and loved it - the TPB is scheduled for a December release). The first three "Criminal" TPBs have been collected into a deluxe hardcover edition.