Jessie Robertson reviews Sex Criminals #14…
If you’ve never read Sex Criminals, don’t let anything stop you: the title of the book, the independent label, the non-superhero context, none of it matters. It’s at times, sometimes simultaneously the most real and unreal book out there on the market.
I first picked up this book a year or so ago for one reason: Matt Fraction, writer of the book. He wrote Hawkeye for Marvel a few years back and Hawkeye being one of my top 2 favorite characters, I devoured that title. Fraction’s realistic tone fit that character so well while exploring what a normal guy with a bow is doing mixed up in that crazy super hero world, especially after all these years. It was super refreshing take on a character that’s been around for over 60 years and it led me to this book.
This particular issue opens with a quick Wikipedia-like synposis of how the story works and our 2 main characters of Suzie and Jon and what happens when they achieve climax (sexually speaking). I’m not going to lie: some weird shit has gone down in this book; sexual dieties, monstrous things with multiple sexual organs, time stopping, secret groups of people watching Suzie and Jon, it’s bananas at times. This issue sort of scales that back and just lets Suzie and Jon readjust to their new jobs and gives us a quick look into how their minds are working during them. Then, the book stops and Matt and Chip Zdarsky (who does the artwork and is amaze-balls) break the “4th wall” and appear in the book, as Matt hops on a soapbox about women being objectified and how quickly and easily everyone, even himself in this very issue, tends to do it without thinking about it. It’s a wild few pages and there’s some super clever stuff in the midst of it all.
Suzie and Jon are sexual beings and somehow other people of the like have gravitated towards them which is half the fun of reading this story. This issue looks like a sort of downtime issue where they’re trying new things while also resting the story a bit. To fully envelop yourselves in this world, I can’t recommend going back and picking up the first 13 issues (esp. the first trade) and getting to know these characters and this world.
8/10- Tremendous, tremendous artwork and Chip’s self-portrayal is dangerously genius.
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Originally published February 18, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
