The fourth in the Criminal series, Jamie checks out Bad Night…

I went looking for trouble, but she was already there, waiting for me.

Oh yeah Bad Night the fourth in theCriminalseries.

Id heard the names Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips before.

Brubaker was a player, all right.

He had an alibi for every crime.

The word was hed killed off Captain America and brought Bucky back from the dead.

He was a high roller, and there was no doubt about that.

Only a fool would bet on him not pulling it off.

This Phillips guy was just as tough.

He had form longer than my arm, which was pretty damn long.

There was Batman, JLA and Hellblazer.

The cat could draw.

So I opened the pages and liked what I saw.

It made Humphrey Bogart look like Justin Lee Collins.

And it was tough, too.

If you thoughtGrand Theft Auto,The WireandThe Shieldwere hard-hitting and relentless, then think again.

Theyre all pussycats compared to this little caper.

This Brubaker guy takes an ordinary tale and makes it extra ordinary.

This book has more twists than a rollercoaster.

Every page had another revelation.

You want to talk bad nights?

Yeah, weve all had them.

But this guy Kurtz has the mother of all bad nights.

Every demon in his past is going to come back and haunt him.

Ad content continues below

Hes in for a bumpy ride and so is the reader.

Make no mistake; this little comic puts the graphic back into graphic novel.

Its for grown-ups only.

Any little boys still up should go to bed now, because its about to get nasty.

And say your prayers before you close your eyes just like momma told you.

I sat there thinking, Is noir the new black?

Is black the new noir?

The broads in this book are bad to the bone, and hotter than gas mark 4.

The cops are not much better.

Theres double-dealing by the truckload.Dixon Of Dock Green, it aint.

Was it a homage to the pulp days of the Shadow and Doc Savage?

There are no super heroes in the world ofCriminal, just real people in a whole lot of trouble.

It was more like a Spillane or an Elmore Leonard, but turned up to 11.

Like all the women your mother warned you about youll want more much more.

The good news is that are now four volumes ofCriminalto savour.

Do what ever you have to to read a copy.

Beg, borrow or steal.

Just remember, justice always gets served in the end.

You dont want to end up like one of the characters inCriminal.

In fact, you never want to be one of the characters inCriminal.

Just sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride.

If youre looking for adventure and trouble, then youve come to the right place.

Rating:

5 out of 5