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Crime/Mystery
I just ordered Cruel Summer, and I completely understand the criminal series time-line (2015-2016) and the recent Criminal stories (2019-2020). But besides that I hear nothing but great things about all of Brubaker stories. My question is since majority of his stories are standalone (with some that cross over) what are you favorite Brubaker stories? Fade out, Criminal '15-16/'19-'20, Cruel Summer, Bad weekend, Fatale, Pulp? If you have a favorite and why is that particular story your favorite? (please no spoilers)
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I adore The Fade Out, though I've heard some people had issues with the ending. I think the writing and artwork works so well in the Golden Age of Hollywood setting. Elizabeth Bretweiser's colours are beyond gorgeous. It's just so damn good. But Pulp, Fatale and Criminal are all up there.
I haven't read fade out or pulp yet. But I personally enjoy that "public enemies, Ma Baker and her sons, Bonnie and Clyde" 1930's/40's gangster theme. I figured the fade out isn't like that but I was reading the description of Pulp and it seems it may have that gangster style of story in it. But I'll know truly when I read both
I loved the art in the Fade Out. It complimented the story so well.
Where are you getting your dates on Criminal from? Most of it came out way before 2015.
https://imagecomics.com/comics/list/series/criminal/collected-editions
Ah right, those first six trades were originally published by Icon a good few years prior to that
I haven’t read them all, but Kill or Be Killed is probably my personal favorite. It has a dash of everything: trippy, horror, crime, slice of life. I had a blast reading it and polished the whole thing off in a matter of days.
Honorable mention for Incognito and Criminal, of course.
Bad Weekend and Cruel Summer are parts of the '19-'20 run of criminal, not new stories (though Bad Weekend is slightly expanded). My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies is also part of the Criminal series.
As for ranking all of Brubaker's Image (some of them weren't originally Image series, but they've all been reprinted by Image) series, I'd say:
Criminal (counting all as one big megaseries)>The Fade Out=Kill or Be Killed=Fatale>Pulp>Incognito>Velvet>Scene of the Crime.
I haven't read Reckless yet, so it's not in the list.
Criminal
The Fade Out
Velvet
Gotham Central
Fatale
To Kill or Be Killed
Sleeper
Criminal still stands out as his greatest work. Vol 2. - the most recent arc is so packed with fatalism, moral ambiguity, dark humor, rich characters, urban decay, and clever subversions that I always look forward to Brubaker and Phillips re-visiting it. Some of the best noir storytelling out there and certainly the best in the past decade or so.
Sleeper
Criminal (the entire criminal universe. It’s hard to pick an individual favorite story)
His run on Daredevil
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Incognito
Fadeout
Velvet
Kill or be Killed
Fatale
Reckless, Pulp I need to reread and digest more before I can rank them with the rest of his work. I’m also leaving off earlier work like Scene of the Crime.
I’m partial to Sleeper because it was my first Brubaker story I ever read and I loved the mixture of noir elements and super heroes. And the story is so damn good.
However there is nothing that has Brubaker’s name that I won’t buy. He is hands down my number one author.
For me:
Criminal
Gotham Central
Kill or Be Killed
Pulp
Reckless
Fatale
Batman: Man Who Laughs
Captain America
The Fadeout
Daredevil
Scene of the Crime
Sleeper
Incognito
Honestly though, I've loved everything, and even the stuff at the "bottom" of my list are incredible comics. Have not read Velvet or his Catwoman run yet, nor some of his other smaller works.