What happens when a young hacker in 1999 unwittingly unleashes a cryogenic-ally frozen femme fatale jewel thief from 1969? Thankfully it isn’t an unwanted Austin Powers sequel. What we do get is a bizarre, buddy comedy strewn with late-90s references. Some Spoilers Ahead
Written by Kurt Lustgarten & Kirsten “Kiwi” SmithCover by Audrey Mok
Illustrated by Leisha Riddel
Colored by Brittany Peer
Lettered by Ed DukeshireIn 1999 a young and extremely talented computer hacker named Brenda Ospina floats through life with no realistic aspirations. She works in the IT department of her community college, has seemingly no friends and goes by the alias Killa-B on the ‘net.
Brenda is a mixture of a realistic loner type and precocious comic book character. She has an odd knack for narrating her life as if she knows she is a character. What makes this even stranger is that she tends to speak her narrations out loud without realizing it until someone near her calls her out on it. And she isn’t only narrating, she is speaking her private thoughts, which gets her some odd looks as she barely scrapes by getting in trouble from being overheard.
Brenda is a different kind of character to follow in a series about a young woman. She is full of herself, when her only talents lie in her ability to hack computer systems. While her talent is impressive, she feels it gives her free reign to do as she pleases while failing miserably in all other aspects of her life. She is the embodiment of the angst and entitlement that we all hope to grow out of as we get older. Along with her idiosyncrasies, she is not the typical comic book heroine. She is Hispanic, she’s over-weight and is ultimately not very likable. What makes her work best as a character is that she is just like anyone else you might pass on the street. There is nothing fantastical about her, she’s just a real, odd person.
After being nearly caught bad-mouthing her supervisor in one of her sleepwalk-like narrations, he sends her to clean out an old storage space to make room for an additional server. As Brenda is cleaning up she finds an odd piece of tech that she, of course, decides to mess around with. When she initially gets no response from its controls, she figures she can hack into it with her laptop. It miraculously works, though since she had no idea what it was at first, she could have started World War III or unleashed a deadly virus on the world. As it turns out, it is a cryogenic system housing a young woman.
After some brief introductions, this newly freed woman decides she’s had enough of this conversation and leaps out of the room, does a superhero landing and makes a break for freedom. At this point Brenda’s hacking skill truly come to light as she creates obstacles and problems throughout the city to make for a difficult escape route. She eventually catches up with the mystery woman, learns she was frozen in 1969, is a master jewel thief and was mid-heist upon getting frozen. Knowing she has nothing else to offer, Brenda basically begs the thief, named Mia Corsair, to allow her to join her as a silent partner handling all tech for her big score.
This was a mile-a-minute premiere issue, characters are introduced and explained very quickly. The story moves so quickly that by the end we have all answers we need to move forward. Lustgarten & Smith’s writing is fun and light. With the 1999 setting we get a string of 90s references throughout, some feel natural, others are placed for comedic effect. Not all land smoothly, but it’s best to not take this book too seriously. Along with the exposition and references, we get plenty of Joss Whedon-esque witticisms and snark on nearly every page. This makes for a fun read, but keeps the story and characters from feeling too meaningful. Hopefully that will change in future issues. This series clearly needs to be fun, based on the subject matter alone, but giving these characters depth as the book continues will only make for well-deserved growth. With hints of a larger conspiracy at hand there is hope for some great sci-fi and adventure elements to come. The quick storytelling and light exposition will be appreciated by most.
Continued belowLeisha Riddel’s illustrations are a modern pop-art mixture. Playing in the same sandbox as Amy Reeder (“Ironheart”) and Cliff Chiang (“Paper Girls”), it makes for great panels with an energy to match the fast-paced writing. Her work jumps between heavy, substantial line-work with great detail, sketchy, rushed movement, and a blending of “Scott Pilgrim” and Big Hero 6. Brittany Peer’s color work is fantastic. She magnificently manages to keep this world in its animation-style roots topped with gorgeous colors matched with realistic lighting and shading to give it enough depth to save it from being just another flat comic with decent coloring.
“Smooth Criminals” #1 is an enjoyable late-90s tech-romp, but like its main character, it doesn’t quite reach for what it can or should. Fine writing and competent art make for a good time and hopefully a series that continues to grow. One of the best things about this comic is that it is definitely different. With comics really moving in a direction focusing on interesting female characters, I hope this series does just that. With two women who are wildly different in personality and appearance teaming up, this could be an important comic as it progresses.
Final Verdict: 6.0, Fun and witty, this premiere issue could have done more with the premise it set up, but is still a humorous adventure.
