Coward (Criminal, Vol. 1)

By Ed Brubaker

Book Overview

From Harvey Award-Winning Best Writer Ed Brubaker, and Scream Award-Winning Best Artist Sean Phillips comes the first collection of Criminal, one of the best reviewed comics of 2006. Coward is the story of Leo, a professional pickpocket who is also a legendary heist-planner and thief. But there's a catch with Leo, he won't work any job that he doesn't call all the shots on, he won't allow guns, and the minute things turn south, he's looking for any exit that won't land him in prison. But when he's lured into a risky heist, all his rules go out the window, and he ends up on the run from the cops and the bad men who double-crossed him. Now Leo must come face-to-face with the violence he's kept bottled up inside for 20 years, and nothing will ever be the same for him again. Collects Criminal #1-5.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 078512439X
• ISBN13: 9780785124399
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Marvel Enterprises
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.5" x 0.3" x 6.8"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

If you like crime stories, buy this.

In terms of style, grit, and ability to integrate genre tropes without feeling cliché, Ed Brubaker's neo-noir stories in the Criminal series are rivaled only by Frank Miller's Sin City. Furthermore, Sean Phillips' art is an eye-pleasing homage to the low key underworld stories of yesteryear. Coward, volume one in this series, tells the story of Leo: a seasoned heist planner whose number one priority is not to get caught. Leo's criminal life is governed by a series of rules that he follows rigorously but when a heist goes sideways, he finds he might have to break them all to clean up the mess he's made. If you like crime stories, you should read this. If you like comic books and you're tired of superheroes, you should read this. If you read this and you don't enjoy it, crime stories probably just aren't for you.