A superb five-chapter entry in the Criminal saga. Great writing and artwork, and special recognition to colorist Val Staples whose subdued palettes and shadows really bring the dark and grimy settings to life.

I'm very excited about Ed Brubaker's Criminal series, so I was excited to quickly jump into the second installment, Lawless. Think of this series as a more grounded, realistic version of Sin City, where Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips tell a set of loosely interconnected noir tales that all center around the fictional Central City, the Undertow Bar, and the unfortunate losers that are stuck in this place. This new installment stars Tracy Lawless, a soldier who goes AWOL from his unit in the Mi...

Tracy Lawless, the son of brutal criminal Teeg Lawless, and brother of Ricky, escaped the streets to become a soldier in Bosnia and Iraq. He returned to the states to discover that his brother was left dead in an alley; to determine what happened, who was at fault, he infiltrates Ricky’s gang and even develops a relationship with one of its members, Mallory, in the process of becoming a driver for one of its heists.I thought this was a good but somewhat weaker volume when I first read it, but on...

The notion that comics are just for kids has been pretty well discredited these days, but if someone ever tried that line on me, I’d probably use Ed Brubaker’s Criminal series for my rebuttal. Not because of the language, violence and nudity it contains, but because they really are top notch hard boiled stories. This is crime fiction enhanced by art, not a funny book with guys drawn with trench coats and guns to make it look like crime fiction.Each volume has its own self-contained story. In th

Tracy Lawless is on the hunt for his brother’s killer. But his brother, Rick, was mixed up with some ne’er do wells who are planning a Christmas heist. Tracy’s got to infiltrate the group and figure out who offed his little brother - and make them pay!Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal is my favourite title from among their many collaborations (Sleeper, Incognito, Fatale) but I think this second volume is the least in the series. It’s definitely hard-boiled noir, kind of like a more realist...

God help me. I think I like Criminal more than I like Sin City. And I fucking love Sin City....

Not as good as volume one, but volume one was special. I could say the story is 3stars but I always add at least a star when you've got Phillips drawing like this. It is a continuation from vol 1 but some different characters and an unrelated story. It's nice that it all fits into the same city and I can see (hopefully) further down the line in the second deluxe book that they all come together as one story.

Well this was a lot better than the first for me. Maybe because of the ending or maybe because I like Tracy a lot more. Either way let's get into it! Tracy Lawless is a conflicted character. His life is actually pretty sad. You see glimpses into his childhood with his brother Ricky and his father. The life of a criminal and how he wound up the way he did. Flash forward and you're in present time, and Ricky, his brother, is dead. Now it's Tracy turn to go around his old town to find out what happ...

A hard-boiled, gritty, noir story about methodical and ruthless revenge – sign me up. What’s it about?Tracy lawless returns home—after an extended leave of absence in the military—to investigate his brother’s murder. In search of the truth, he decides to go undercover and infiltrate his late brother Ricky’s gang, signing up to be a part of their latest heist. However, things prove complicated as Tracy must navigate the dangers of his nefarious new crew as well as evade detection from another cri...

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are the masters of noir. These pages drip with atmosphere, and the storytelling is spot on perfect.Tracy Lawless returns from the military seeking to find out who killed his younger brother. Through flashbacks, we see the life they had growing up, a life he escaped by joining up. But family ties draw him back, and the question is: how far will he go to find the truth?Structurally, this book is more complex than the first Criminal volume (it's probably just me, but I...

Fast cars, dangerous women, bullets flying, big stashes of illicit money, revenge, murder, betrayal, rage, passion - an inescapable cycle of violence that Tracy Lawless has inherited from his small-time robber father, a world he thought he left behind two decades ago when he was forced to join the army or go to prison, a heritage that has just claimed the life of his younger brother Ricky in a heist gone wrong. Now, Tracy Lawless is going AWOL from his special-op unit and heading back home, hell...

Lawless tells the story of Tracy Lawless, a former criminal turned United States soldier. Upon hearing of his little brother's death, Ricky joins up with his brother's old gang in an effort to bring some justice to his killer.Coming off some groundbreaking material with Sleeper: Season One and Incognito, Volume 1, I've decided to continue my recent Brubaker obsession with Vol. 2 of the Criminal series. I certainly liked this enough as in my opinion, it's on par with Volume 1. As always, the artw...

Brilliant still. Was a bit hard to pick up at first, but the story is so good and so well-written it just dragged me in by the second chapter. Brubaker is such a great writer! And the artwork is beautiful and atmospheric, even if not Phillips's best work. All in all, a great read. Highly recommended series.

Tracy Lawless breaks out of military prison once discovering his little brother was murdered during his incarceration. Now he's going to infiltrate Ricky's gang to find out what happened to him.Not the strongest of Brubaker / Phillips collaborations. Once Tracy gets in the gang he just cools his heels and goes on heists with them and kind of forgets about Ricky except for some cliched flashbacks. The story just meanders until the last issue where we get a rushed version of what happened to Ricky...

A solid continuation of the stories begun in the...um...I guess we can call it 'Criminalverse'?Tracy Lawless is a career military man who returns home after many years upon receiving some unwelcome news about the death of his younger brother. Things go just about as you'd expect, and the bodies pile up as Tracy learns what really went down and also comes to a reckoning with the Lawless legacy that made him and his dead brother who and what they are.(view spoiler)[ Yeah this is pretty bad...

A hardcore modern Noir story that read like Richard Stark's Parker novel series. Heist stories are rarely as well done as Brubaker wrote this story.You can see Brubaker have read Richard Stark books.Tracy Lawless is a great tough,noir hero.One of the best crime stories in comics if not the best. To me Criminal is easily his best work in his career. When i read the writing, the dialogue i think of the best noir novels. Often this genre in comics are more action, very shallow when it comes to char...

I must say that Tracy Lawless suited me better both in story and art. The art just worked for me somehow better than with the first (or fourth) book. And I started to enjoy how things are connected, how we meet other characters in minor/major parts here. Brubaker both creates noir stories from the criminal underworld and the world where they are set into. And I enjoy it more and more. And I enjoyed Lawless with a great deal. The mix of old criminal stories naivety/simplicity, noir aspects and en...

So... Criminal is more of a serialized story wherein each arc stands on its own, yet there are elements which are connected with the other chapters. The modern noir elements are there, ideal for this heist story.This is the story of Tracy Lawless and his ill-fated revenge on the death of his brother Rick. He knows who to kill, who to seek help and what exactly he needs to do. What he does not know is if his brother deserved to be avenged. The answer is scattered in bits throughout the story, sav...

This second story is set around the same time as the previous Vol, however a completely different cast. Tracy has returned from prison and is seeking revenge for his baby brothers death. Joins a crew, follows leads to find the killer. Intriguing to a degree but I found Vol 1 did flow alot better. Artwork is great, I love how this was mainly set ay nightime, and Phillips did a great job of depciting that.

Re-reading this series is fun. I vaguely recall how some of the stories interconnect and I like seeing characters and events pop up seemingly in passing that I know get paid off later.A heist, revenge and mystery. What more could you want from a Brubaker/Phillips team up?Tracy Lawless goes AWOL after discovering his little brother Ricky was killed and attempts to figure out how and why. Over the course of the story we see just how messed up Tracy's relationship was with his father and brother, a...