CRIMINAL VOL. 4: BAD NIGHT by Ed Brubaker

Not too long ago, I wrote a review of Brubaker and Phillips's The Dead and the Dying, gushing that it was my favorite volume in the Criminal series that I've read. Well I'll be damned, here I am saying it again! This volume is not only the best Criminal story so far and one of the best graphic novels I've read so far, but it takes this series to a whole new level, delivering a story of noir that's so ink-black and classic in it's development that Goodis, Brewer, Cain, Keene, and Thompson would all be impressed.

Bad Night focuses on Jacob Kurtz, the counterfeiter-turned-cartoonist who was a supporting character in Lawless, a loner and insomniac who's quiet life is upended when he meets a sexy, redheaded lush at a late night diner. To say more about the plot would spoil the unhinged, fascinating ways that this tale of murder, obsession, and sex evolves. Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips have always been partners in total sync, and Phillip's art here is a perfect fit for this grimy and brooding piece of graphic fiction. If you have any interest in noir or in any dark crime fiction in general, you owe it to yourself to check this out. It's like all your favorite books in the genres, but with pictures!

GRADE: A