History ComicBook / Criminal2006

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Hal Crane ended up being a scab, offering to replace his hero, Archie Lewis, after Lewis demands more ownership and health insurance. Lewis found out, and crashed his car with Hal inside. Hal survived and is forever haunted with guilt at being responsible for causing his mentor's death.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Riley Richards in "The Last of the Innocent" gets the girl, gets millions of dollars after screwing his father-in-law out of his business and all signs indicate that, despite the suspicions of the private detective hired to investigate his wife's death, will get away with murder and causing the death of his childhood best friend.]]

* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler: Freakout knew the Brookview Stalker was actually Principal Beezwax, but he kept mum because he eloped with Mrs. Murtry, whom he was fond of. He promises Riley that he, too, will keep his secret, but Riley can't trust a tweaker, even if he is his best friend, and makes sure he dies of an overdose.]]

* AssHoleVictim: Teeg Lawless. [[spoiler: Delron, Jeff, Seymour and Roy-L.T. Oh, and Sebastian Hyde. And everyone Father Mike's soldiers killed.]]

** Most of the characters in "The Last of the Innocent" are grown-up versions of characters from Franchise/ArchieComics transplanted into a noir setting and subjected to a process of {{deconstruction}}. A private detective also appears who is a grown-up version of Encyclopedia Brown. There's also a businessman who appears to be a grown-up version of Richie Rich.

* ThePlan: Leo comes up with these in his spare time. [[spoiler: Seymour and Jeff pull one on him one, however.]]

* Wrong Time, Wrong Place: Teeg Lawless is trapped behind bars with a price on his head, doing anything he can to survive, while Tracy Lawless celebrates his twelfth birthday riding shotgun on a mission of death.

So far, there are five volumes, with more to come:

* {{Expy}}: Delron seems to be an even nastier version of the mob enforcer played by Joe Don Baker character in the 1970s FilmNoir ''Film/Charley Varrick''.

* {{Expy}}: Delron seems to be an even nastier version of the mob enforcer played by Joe Don Baker character in the 1970s FilmNoir ''Charley Varrick''.

* ''The Last of the Innocent'': A {{Deconstruction}} of ''ArchieComics'' that follows former all-American teenager Riley Richards as he returns to his old hometown Brookview upon a family emergency and finds his memories of his carefree youth impacting on life with murderous consequences.

* BettyAndVeronica: Deconstructed in "The Last of the Innocent", and in particular deconstructing the TropeNamer; Riley Richards, a clear analogue of [[ArchieComics Archie]], after years of unhappy marriage to the shallow, manipulative and adulterous "Veronica", realises he really should have stayed with the "Betty" instead. His solution to the problem... gets ugly.

** Most of the characters in "The Last of the Innocent" are grown-up versions of characters from ArchieComics transplanted into a noir setting and subjected to a process of {{deconstruction}}. A private detective also appears who is a grown-up version of Encyclopedia Brown. There's also a businessman who appears to be a grown-up version of Richie Rich.

** Most of the characters in "The Last of the Innocent" are grown-up versions of characters from ArchieComics transplanted into a noir setting and subjected to a process of {{deconstruction}}. A private detective also appears who is a grown-up version of Encyclopedia Brown. There's also a buisness man who appears to be a grown-up version of Richie Rich.

** Most of the characters in "The Last of the Innocent" are grown-up versions of characters from ArchieComics transplanted into a noir setting and subjected to a process of {{deconstruction}}. A private detective also appears who is a grown-up version of Encyclopedia Brown.

'''Tropes used:'''

* AbusiveParents
* AnachronicOrder
* AnyoneCanDie
* ASimplePlan

* BlackAndGreyMorality

* TheCaper

* TheCon

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer

From writer Creator/EdBrubaker and artist Sean Phillips (who also did ''{{ComicBook/Sleeper}}'' and ''{{Incognito}}''), ''Criminal'' is a deconstruction of the crime genre, through the lens of thieves and [[ConMan con-men]]. Each trade paperback is a separate story arc, which can be read on its own, but each is a part of the same universe and take place in the same city. The same background characters show up, with characters going to the same bar.

From writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips (who also did ''{{ComicBook/Sleeper}}'' and ''{{Incognito}}''), ''Criminal'' is a deconstruction of the crime genre, through the lens of thieves and [[ConMan con-men]]. Each trade paperback is a separate story arc, which can be read on its own, but each is a part of the same universe and take place in the same city. The same background characters show up, with characters going to the same bar.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To [[Creator/FrankMiller Frank Miller's]] [[Comicbook/SinCity]].

* GoryDiscretionShot: Teeg's VillainEpisode uses this to keep him from being painted as a CompleteMonster.
* GenerationXerox: A recurring theme, as the modern day characters attempt to avoid the roles of their criminal parents. The [[BadGuyBar local]] bar isn't called the [[YouCantFightFate Undertow]] for nothing.

* SympatheticPOV: Considering the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin series title]], it's unsurprising that most of its cast has [[DarkAndTroubledPast pasts blackened by crime and violence]], but most of them are portrayed as making [[IDidWhatIHadToDo hard choices]] in difficult situations. Amazingly, Teeg Lawless, Tracy and Ricky's violent, alcoholic thug of a father, is referred to as a CompleteMonster by everyone who knows him, but the story that focuses on him depicts him as a tragic figure, hopelessly out of control in his life and in constant pain without understanding why.

* ''Coward'': Five years after Leo Patterson survived the disastrous "Salt Bay Job," another criminal named Seymour and Jeff, a crooked cop, try to recruit him for a plan to [[TheCaper heist]] diamonds from a police evidence truck. A notable deconstruction of ASimplePlan, when not only don't things turn out the way Leo thought, but [[ItGotWorse they get worse]].

* ''Bad Night:'' The writer of the comic strip [[FranzKafka Frank Kafka, P.I.]] gets drawn into a complicated scheme, involving impersonating FBI agents.

* ShowWithinAShow: ''Frank Kafka, P.I.'', written by Jacob K., a ShoutOut to FranzKafka and his type of stories.

* CompleteMonster: Delron. Gets off on torture? Check. Hinted to be a pedophile rapist? Check. Likes to sell children to Russian slavers? Check.

* MoralEventHorizon: Delron's plans for Greta's daughter. [[spoiler: Father Mike crosses it when he has one of his young soldiers murdered for saving Tracy Lawless]]

[[quoteright:297:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/criminal2.jpg]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Riley Richards in "The Last of the Innocent" gets the girl, gets millions of dollars after screwing his father-in-law out of his business and all signs indicate that, despite the suspicions of the private detective hired to investigate his wife's death, will get away with murder.]]

* XanatosGambit: Leo comes up with these in his spare time. [[spoiler: Seymour and Jeff pull one on him one, however.]]

* NotSoHarmless: Leo [[spoiler: is the one who killed Teeg Lawless. He goes on a royal rampage at the end as well]].

* ShowWithinAShow: ''Frank Kafka, P.I.'', written by Joseph K., a ShoutOut to FranzKafka and his type of stories.

From writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips (who also did ''{{ComicBook/Sleeper}}'' and ''{{Incognito}}''), ''{{Criminal}}'' is a deconstruction of the crime genre, through the lens of thieves and [[ConMan con-men]]. Each trade paperback is a separate story arc, which can be read on its own, but each is a part of the same universe and take place in the same city. The same background characters show up, with characters going to the same bar.