The story of Jon and Suze starts to reach its climax. Pun intended. (It should also go without saying that this is an 18+ series, with graphic discussion of sex and sexuality throughout.)
Written by Matt FractionCover by Chip Zdarsky
Illustrated by Chip Zdarsky• THE SERIES? It’s back.
• JON AND SUZE? Also back.
• THE BANK? MUST BE TAKEN DOWN.
• THIS ARC? THE LAST. Gasp!
• BULLET LISTS? How do you turn them off in Microsoft Word.
The highly anticipated return of the #1 New York Times bestselling humor/romance series SEX CRIMINALS kicks off its final story arc. Praised for its emotionally compelling characters, taut storytelling, and comedic genius, Time Magazine called it “the best comic of the year” upon launch. Since its debut, SEX CRIMINALS has garnered coverage from such mainstream media outlets as Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, NPR, and The Washington Post and won multiple awards. SEX CRIMINALS follows the adventures of Suzie and Jon—a couple who discover they can stop time when they have sex. This final chapter sees the reunion of writer MATT FRACTION (NOVEMBER, Hawkeye) and CHIP ZDARSKY (THE WHITE TREES, Daredevil).
Eighteen months. That’s a hell of a long time for foreplay. That’s also how long we’ve waited to find out the next – – and now last – – chapter of Jon and Suze, their reconciliation. Are they still together? Did they rob the bank? Is everyone okay?
By the time you also finish this issue, you’ll realize just what Matt did eighteen months ago: that this wasn’t a story about the bank to begin with. It’s a story about relationships. About Jon and Suze. And letting yourself fall completely, totally, unconditionally in love with someone when you want to hold yourself back.
And that’s the star of this return: our two star-crossed lovers/bank robbers, reunited and it feels so good . . . or is it?
It’s unclear exactly when in the timeline “Sex Criminals” #26 takes place. Fraction plays fast and loose with past, present, and future, weaving organically in and out of multiple timelines, before dropping a bombshell that you probably saw and felt coming. (Heh.) We see hints of the present in a reunited Jon and Suze: in bed, at the diner with their friends, on the phone. We see a young Suze experiencing illicit sex for the first time at the library with a copy of Lolita and later confronting her mother about the trauma of losing her father. And then there’s that flash to a future, telling us all we need to know about the bank heist. Along the way, something is troubling Suze, some sort of trauma that she can’t comprehend or explain, something that makes her fear she is going crazy. That thread holds these timelines together, and gives us a hint of what we can expect in this final chapter.
If you’re looking for linear storytelling or even a “previously on” to refresh your memory, it’s not here. Fraction’s too smart for that, and he knows you’re too smart for that, too. He leaves you bits and pieces, snapshots, fragments of narrative, allowing you to to fill in the rest of the details, with his sly, subtle, and subversive trademark humor along the way. (If you’re a librarian like me, and have been keeping up with recent news, there’s one panel in particular that will give you a chuckle.)
As my colleague Jake pointed out in his review of the previous issue, Chip Zdarsky embraces the weird we know and love about him in his Marvel work and takes it to unfiltered, boundless heights in this series. The background gags that fans of the series embrace and love are on full display here. If you have the opportunity to read this digitally, take it, so you can get up close and personal with these little charms. He plays with perspective in all the right ways, demonstrating just how well he can use both a close up and a wide angle shot to emphasize intimacy. Linework is simple but not too much so, and speaks volumes about a character’s mental and emotional state. And of course, this is the man who laughs in the face of the nine panel grid and one-ups it with a sixteen panel grid that is the perfect layout for that particular moment in the script.
Continued belowSo if all the elements are there that made the first 25 issues so wonderful – – the avant-garde script, tongue in cheek art that throws comic book conventions out the window – – why was I, at first, left unsatisfied?
I wasn’t sure. Perhaps I was expecting the beginning of the end to start off with a bang and not a whimper. Perhaps I had built up this comeback so much in my head I put unfair expectations on it.
Or, perhaps, I was focusing on the wrong story elements all along.
Matt was right. It was never about that bank. It was never about Kegelface. It was never even about that letters column (which is back and is still a must-read) or the variant NSFW covers (which are also back and boy, this one’s a doozy). It was about two people who just happened to meet and fall in love, a journey both glorious and messy. Just like any relationship, “Sex Criminals” #26 is far from perfect. Storytelling by omission puts the burden on the reader to fill in the blanks, which some readers may not be able to (or want to) do. And with such a long break, there needs to be a hook to bring back casual fans, which isn’t easily discernible in a character-driven issue such as this.
But it is time to bring the story full circle to end it. And to do that, you have to return to the two people who met at that party, leaving everything else afterwards by the wayside, at the very least temporarily. I still want the rest of my answers about the bank, about Kegelface, about Gary, and even to what’s troubling Suze. But I must step back and remember the real power and legacy of “Sex Criminals” is Jon and Suze. It took a second read-through to really have that sink in, and once it did, I saw the power of Fraction and Zdarksy’s genius.
Final Verdict: 7.1 – I really wanted to embrace the joke and give it a 6.9, but smart craftwork takes it just over the top.
