ICON Comics: Super Crooks

 

This week we get the first issue of a new series written by Mark Millar and drawn by Leinil Yu. If you haven't heard of Mark Millar or his "Millarworld" books, maybe you should go check them out. He's written some great gems, such as "Wanted", "Kick-Ass", "Superior", and "Nemesis". He's also written some stories for Marvel and DC, notably Marvel's superhero "Civil War". Don't go by the movies, although he had a role in them his graphic novels are a must-have. This week and month he starts off his Super Crooks series, and if you haven't all ready gone to your local comic shop, you might want to soon.

[SPOILERS BELOW]

Super Crooks is a book based on the villains. We start the book off showing a bank robbery, and as the four suspects escape onto a subway, a hero known as Gladiator arrives and gets on the train and stops them. The criminals are taken to jail, and by the conversations inmates have there we know that they've been there before, and many times at that. What you're supposed to get out of this? That for every criminal, there's a hero. I'm only telling you this because the rest of the book really doesn't include any character from these first few pages, but it helps to keep it in mind for a later conversation.

The next scene we are given is based in Las Vegas at a casino. We find a man, Carmine, cheating with the help of a psychic, Walt. Their cover is blown, and the owners of the casino apprehend the two. They kill Walt in front of Carmine, and tell him that they want close to 10x what he stole from them back. Roughly 12 million dollars. And they want it in a month. 

Finally we're at a diner where a girl, Kasey, is visited by her ex-fiance Johnny, both of which are previous criminals. Previous because Johnny had gotten arrested in a jewelry heist gone wrong on the day of his wedding, hence the ex status. Carmine appears, beaten, and goes to the two for help, explaining the predicament. Apparently Carmine was a previous mentor to the two, and they agree to help in what way they can. 

The plan?They're going to be criminals. However, as the opening of this book showed, there are too many heroes for this to be a good plan. So Johnny has an idea- what if they went to a place where there were no heroes? Like Spain? And that is where the book ends. You leave this book in good shape, you have a decent plot, an unrevealed past, plenty of room for character development, and one of the best authors I've ever had the pleasure of reading from. I feel this book is a good jumping on point for a new Millar reader, as it is not too graphic (but it is graphic) and unlike his previous titles you don't end the book with either "What did I just read..." or "Oh no he didn't!". You see, Mark Millar has no boundaries in his writing, and the idea that you're given a visual representation of this is just one of the pure enjoyments I have reading his work. There's no killing in Spider-man, no cursing in Superman, and no blood in the Fantastic four. Mark Millar doesn't care, he'll have all three over a span of two pages. When you pick up his self-made titles, you'll agree- go into them without a sense of morals. 

So do you get this book? The answer is easy- Yes. It's Millar, a book from the perspective of bad guys, and you can easily get hooked. After all, there's plenty of room for jaw-dropping later.