Rating: 5/5 – Jon and Suzie come out of the quiet and into trouble.
by guest reviewer Kevyn Knox.
On the back cover of every issue of Sex Criminals, in big-as-life lettering, it says “For Mature Readers”. Duh! And that’s a fact, Jack! And as we all know, sex sells. From pretty much the exact moment this comic book from Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky first hit the proverbial newsstands last year, it was a sales sensation. Issue after issue, the comic sold out, and issue after issue, second and third and fourth, and even fifth printings ensued. Now, after a month-long hiatus, issue #5 has finally hit comic shops (and digital download sites) nationwide – and the sensation has not subsided, and neither has the quality. This series is still as great as day one.
For those who do not yet know, Sex Criminals is the story of Suzie and Jon, a pair of seemingly ordinary twenty-somethings, who just so happen to be able to have sex and stop time all around them. Like I said, seemingly ordinary. These two awkward new lovers use this power to rob a bank. Jon does it to get back at his pinhead bank manager boss. Suzie does it to save her beloved library. Fraction and Zdarsky do it just to have fun. With issue #5, we see this sexual awakening-cum-pulp fiction tale (and yes, pun intended) come to a head (pun intended again) as Jon and Suzie run afoul of the so-called sex police (and their kegel-faced fearless leader) – and Matt and Chip’s fun never stops.
Sex Criminals #5, with its back and forth storytelling (Fraction does such in all of his books), doesn’t necessarily move the story forward in the way the first four issues have, but it is this non-linear narrative that I love so much about Fraction’s work. This title and his Hawkeye series at Marvel are my two favorite currently running series. Meanwhile, Zdarsky’s beautiful visual rendering of both the supposed real world, and Jon & Suzie’s inner world known as “The Quiet,” is beyond reproach. Image Comics has become known as the go-to place for the best (and often, the gleefully strangest) comics in the biz, and Sex Criminals is right there at the top of this already unbelievably towering heap. For more on Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarskey’s Sex Criminals (or at least on their great array of aforementioned covers for variants & multiple printings), check out my Blog.
Reviewed by: Kevyn Knox
(kevynknox@gmail.com) www.allthingskevyn.com
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It’s nice to see that this series is going well. I’ve only read the first issue, which I reviewed on my blog, but I was interested in what will happen throughout this tale. Your review makes me interested in continuing where I stopped.