Sean Phillips

Story of a all-around thief with a knack for planning heists in a great detail and always finding the way to keep himself out of the prison. Main protagonist is a good man but destined to remain in the criminal underworld due to the nature of his life and experiences and being surrounded by crime since very earl age. It is the only milieu he knows.

Everything about him is as if he came from the old country song "Coward of the county" - respected by few but maltreated by the rest because of their preconception of who he truly is.

And this is where twist lies, and it truly surprised me.

Art is rather spartan (I read Lawless 2 the very same day and level of details on each panel of that comic is .... amazing to say the least), characters and their actions are main focus, everything else (surroundings, traffic) that does not play any role in the story plot is removed or shown in the broad strokes, like a blur. Shading and coloring truly bring up the atmosphere of the criminal underworld where you do not know what waits behind the corner and who to trust. I would truly like to see this comic in black-and-white version.

Highly recommended for all fans of crime stories.… (mehr)

A dudes rock midlife crisis Fight Club-esque romp through the drugs, sex, and violence of an American's fantasy of the Parisian night with less social commentary.

I am not a fan of star ratings of talking about the minutia of awarding them, but it feels pertinent this once as the rating I was going to give this has changed dramatically from the reading, the moment I finished, and during the process of writing this review. There was a level of enjoyment and urge to continue and finish I felt while reading it that evaporated upon finishing. I thought I was going to give this a four, but as soon as I was finished it was three, and upon reflection it became two. So...it actually fell to one.

The art is genuinely great and the writing is decent enough, the whole thing seems entirely unoriginal, which isn't an issue if there is something new or unique, but if it's there I'm not seeing it. It also appears to be a particularly vapid and even more white cisheteronormative fantasy example of this kind of nihilistic, breaking out of your buttoned-down life. A life with a well-paid job, including travel, a loving partner and children...which don't always mean a happy life, but he is happy? Is he 'just' mentally ill? A throwaway line suggests this, which also is a kinda simplistic and harmful way to include mental health in a story like this, right?

(It was at this point that sidhe realised fey actually really, really didn't like this comic, so it's a one star)

All art is subjective. If people enjoy this, I don't want to yuck their yum. For me, I don't see the point in it. It's mildly harmful and gross. And I can't imagine a big publisher picking this up if it weren't for the name attached.

Just not my cup of tea.… (mehr)