Chip-Zdarsky

Reading Sex Criminals Vol 1, one almost feels like Fraction and Zdarsky never expected to be able to get away with this comic. It’s almost even neatly wrapped up by the end in the sense of one of those stories that leaves more questions unanswered than answered. In fact, Suzie makes fun of this in the first page of Volume 2. Viewed from another perspective, the story that is the basis of Sex Criminals is so insane (even though, as I noted last time, contains a great many wonderful metaphors), that Fraction and Zdarsky were forced to cram lots of story in those first five issues in order to keep readers from giving up on the bizarre concept. In contrast, this volume seems to be the creative team stopping to catch its breath; It’s not a bad thing. The story begins with Jon and Suzzie deciding they are done with robbing banks and will try and save the library in a normal way. Then it’s time for personal growth for Jon and Suzie as well as the return of Rachel and the introduction of Robert Rainbow.

We are used to comics containing metaphorical representations of puberty. With the X-Men it is no coincidence that the mutant powers kick in when the characters reach puberty. There’s no better metaphor for the inexplicable changes the body partakes during puberty than to suddenly start shooting lasers out of your eyes. Let’s not forget Rogue’s power. Her near killing of a boy when acting on the urges that come from puberty is the perfect metaphor for promiscuity. Elsewhere in the Marvel Universe, we have Spider-Man. He is doing stuff in his room that he doesn’t want his Aunt May to discover. And, I think it’s pretty obvious what Spidey’s webbing is a metaphor for. With Matt Fraction’s Sex Criminals the puberty metaphor is completely stripped away although new metaphors about sex come to the fore.

I’ve bee waiting for this series ever since I first heard about it. It has Matt Fraction (who I LOVE from Hawkeye, Fantastic Four, and The Defenders) and it has a ridiculously fun sounding premise. Suzie has a secret. When she has sex, she stops time. She’s alone with this secret until she meets John, a young man with the same “gift.” In the new Image Comics series SEX CRIMINALS by Matt Fraction (SATELLITE SAM) and Chip Zdarsky, Suzie and John embark on a journey of self-discovery, intimacy, and… well, actually, they do what every time-stops-when-you-have-sex couple would do: They rob banks. ...