Monday, February 03, 2020

Criminal: The Dying and the Dead by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

(pb; 2015: graphic – collects issues 1-3 of the comic book series Criminal Volume Two)

From the back cover

“Three stories interweave to tell a tragic tale in The Dead and the Dying. A beautiful but damaged woman returns home with nothing but vengeance on her mind, and two best friends, one of the son of the city’s crime kingpin, are caught in the crossfire in this gritty, ‘70s noir from noir masters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.”



Review


Brubaker and Phillips shake up the structure of their previous two Criminal volumes by fracturing it into a character-sharing portmanteau work, one that serves as a prequel to Coward and Lawless. Like those books, this is hardboiled, terse, character-deep and violent, with sex and betrayal prominent in the mix.


Second Chance in Hell” focuses on the relationship between boxer Jake “Gnarly” Brown─who will later become a bartender at the Undertown, a.k.a. the Undertow─and Sebastian Hyde, his rich son-of-a-criminal-kingpin boyhood friend. Set in 1972, Hyde’s betrayal of his girlfriend (and Brown’s crush-object), Danica Briggs, sets off a series of events that form the impetus of Dying.


A Wolf Among Wolves”: 1972. Teeg Lawless, Vietnam vet and father of Tracy and Ricky (who are key characters in Lawless), tries to do right by his family and adjust to civilian life, but it isn’t in his nature. This tale offers a character-rich wrinkle to the memories that Tracy speaks of in Lawless, deepening the overall works.


The Female of the Species”: Danica Briggs shows her journey from a naïve girl to a hardened hustler out for revenge and escape. Her fate, prior to “Female,” is already established in the two previous stories, making this all the more heartbreaking.


Followed by Criminal: Bad Night

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