Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips are teaming up once more for The Knives, the next episode of their Criminal franchise, which will be published as an original graphic novel to be released in September 2025. Unlike most of the previous Criminal titles, The Knives will not be serialized first.
The Knives brings together three of the characters from earlier Criminal stories: Cartoonist Jacob Kurtz, Special Forces veteran Tracy Lawless, and Angie, the daughter of Greta Watson. Kurtz is in Hollywood, working on an adaptation of his comic strip, when he learns his elderly aunt has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. He enlists Lawless to help him deal with the situation, but Lawless has demons of his own. Meanwhile, Angie is looking for vengeance and she plans to get it by taking down the local crime kingpin.
“A few years ago someone reached out to me to return some of my uncle’s lost possessions, after his family estate had been plundered, and bizarrely, that sparked the inspiration for what I hope is the biggest and best Criminal book yet. A crime story about one generation growing up in the life, another growing older and trying to get out of it, and Hollywood, somehow, too,” Brubaker said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “This book is an epic, the longest original graphic novel we’ve ever done, and it’s been a joy to return to this series and these characters, especially after spending most of the last three years watching them come to life on set and screen. I can’t wait to get this book into readers’ hands.”
Although this is the first new Criminal in nearly five years, Brubaker and Phillips have been busy with other projects, including the graphic novels Houses of the Unholy (see “New OGN by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips”) and Night Fever (see “New Noir Thriller”) and the Reckless series. Brubaker’s crime stories are among the top-selling creator-owned graphic novels (see “Top Author Graphic Novel Franchises”).
Amazon Prime Video is adapting Criminal as a TV series (see “Emilia Clarke Cast in ‘Criminal’”), with Brubaker as showrunner.
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Source: ICV2
