The powerhouse creative team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have been publishing all their recent work -- Fatale and The Fade Out, namely -- with Image Comics, so it seemed pretty clear that it'd only be a matter of time before what's arguably the duo's most recognizable creator-owned noir title, the hugely acclaimed and award-winning Criminal, currently published by Marvel's Icon imprint.

In January, the series will make the big move with a new one-shot, a magazine-sized bonus edition of that one-shot, and a trade paperback of the first Criminal mini-series, "Coward." Colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser will stay with the book at its new home.

Here's what Brubaker had to say about the new story:

We've been planning the return of Criminal for the past year, and I couldn't let the launch go by without returning to our underworld for a new story. With Fatale and The Fade Out, we've been hearing from a lot of new readers, so it couldn't be a better time to get the thing we're most known for back on the shelves.

And here's Image's description of the one-shot:

It's 1976, and Teeg Lawless is doing 30 days in county jail with a price on his head; his only safe company from the savagery: a beat-up old comic magazine his dead cellmate left behind. It's Criminal like you've never seen it before, with a comic within the comic and all those slick ‘70s thrills!

One has to wonder whether Brubaker and Phillips' other Icon title, Incognito, will make the move as well, but there's no word on that at this time. Criminal joins Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon's Casanovaand J. Michael Straczynski and Mike Deodato's Dream Police in moving from Icon to Image.

Check out the regular cover to the one-shot, the special magazine cover, and the cover to the trade paperback collection below. You'll notice that the trade dress has been updated pretty substantially, possibly to give it a more Image-y look. Criminal relaunches at Image on January 28.

 

loading...

loading...

loading...

More From ComicsAlliance