Yesterday, longtime collaborators Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips wrapped up their current Image Comics series, The Fade Out. In the back of the final issue of The Fade Out, Brubaker and Phillips revealed that their next project will be revisiting the very first creator owned comic they worked on together: Criminal.
Via Newsarama, Brubaker noted that the Criminal 10th Anniversary Special will bring back two of the most popular characters from the Criminal series: Tracy Lawless and his father, Teeg. The story is a flashback to Tracy’s childhood, as he and his father find themselves on the run.
“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.”
Last year, Brubaker and Phillips released a Criminal one-shot that allowed Phillips to pay homage to some of the classic Savage Sword of Conan comics by the late John Buscema. The Criminal 10th Anniversary Special will feature something similar: a comic within a comic that is described as 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,” related 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.”
Incidentally, CraveOnline named Brubaker and Phillips’ The Fade Out as its top comic of 2015, so you should definitely read it and Criminal! Brubaker and Phillips other notable creator owned comics include Fatale and Incognito, both of which are also excellent.
The Criminal 10th Anniversary Special will be published by Image Comics on Wednesday, April 13.
