“Sex Criminals” is funny. “Sex Criminals” is sad. But one thing “Sex Criminals” rarely is, is romantic. That’s never really been in its playbook. This is a story less interested in looking at the wonderful power of love than it is in the hard work. Relationships are defined by patience and hard won communication. That’s why I’m happy to report that this is the rare exception. This is an issue of “Sex Criminals” that’s all about love.
Cover by Chip ZdarskyWritten by Matt Fraction
Illustrated by Chip Zdarsky“FIVE-FINGERED DISCOUNT,” Conclusion How have we gotten through 24 issues already and not made an “exciting climax” joke in the solicits? C’mon, Matty, wake up and get your head in the game. SEX CRIMINALS #25 XXX SKOTTIE YOUNG VARIANT COVER Beloved illustrator SKOTTIE YOUNG raw dogs this cover so hard you’ll never think of cute superbabies or The Wizard of Oz when you see his work ever again
That doesn’t mean it’s not all the other things you’ve come to expect from this book. It’s still funny. It’s still sad. But ultimately it’s about the beautiful love between Jon and Suzie. If anything, all the messiness in the middle makes it much stronger than your average rom-com. The fights, the break-up, the realness make this sweet reconciliation achingly cathartic.
There’s a lot to get through in the issue before Jon and Suzie finally erm, come face-to-face. There’s the aftermath of the fire Suzie’s mom started with her vibrator. There’s Jon confronting his cube of sadness, talking things out with his shrink. There’s a lot of business with Myrtle Spurge aka Kegelface. There’s even a strangely sexy cartoon explanation of quantum entanglement. This is “Sex Criminals” after all. But unlike the issues that preceded it, this one left me with a smile.
As typical with Matt Fraction comics, “Sex Criminals” opened with a lot of artsy funny business before descending into raw realness. I can’t claim to be friends with the guy, but it’s clear from reading the letters pages in the back that he’s going through some stuff, and that often manifests in the story. What was once played for satire has become more and more of a tragedy. At the end of the tunnel though there’s a dim light and one of the most romantic uses of the phrase “fuck you” I’ve ever seen.
We also get a chance to spend a lot of time with the supporting cast of sex criminals, all in one place. That leads to some fun dynamics, but nobody quite steals the show. That’s almost a relief. Many of the characters have been mined for pathos so putting them on a plot-heavy mission is a fun change of pace. I’ve spent so much time reading naked maudlin monologues (name of your sex tape) from Kincaid, it was a delight to watch her kick some ass for a change. Last issue left me terrified about Spurge sabotaging the team, but no, she and Kincaid make a great duo.
Zdarsky kills it. That goes without saying. Chip Zdarsky is so weird on his many Marvel books that its easy to forget how actually weird he is without limits. His background gags on this book are legendary, but the regular art deserves a lot of credit too. What other artist needs to think so hard about various characters’ O-faces? Who else needs to capture the pathos of a mother and daughter reconnected after a sex-toy fueled house fire? Zdarsky gets plenty of accolades for his obvious gags (name of his sex tape), but his subtle character work is some of the best in comics today.
His layouts also are worth mention. No, they’re a master class. While Big Two books are having a renewed love affair with the nine-panel grid, Zdarsky packs the panels as often as he leans on splash pages. One page makes use of thirteen panels. That’s practically unheard of, and its not because of some gimmick, it’s because it was the best way to pace the scene. Every comic artist should read a few issues of this series to learn how to maximize the meaning they get out of layouts.
Continued belowAs always, the letters page is an incredibly worthwhile stop, and I’d encourage you to pick up the single issue for the letters alone. Sure, some of them are funny, but just as many are touching and this month, one person’s stories taught me about a sex injury I had never really considered in real life. These pages are educational on top of everything else, and are probably more worthwhile than most high school health classes.
Going into this issue, I thought it was the first of a new arc. It wasn’t until the end I realized is was the last before the final one. This left me flabbergasted. This book is going to end soon. This wonderful, funny, depressing, evocative, relatable series has just a few issues left. What could have been a cute gimmick has consistently been one of the most medium-expanding comics of a generation. Grab it.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – I wanted to give it a 6.9, but it was too good to waste such a low quality joke on.
