I’d like to say Brubaker has some kind of magic where he’s able to escape all the traps of a guy writing female narration. But he doesn’t.

It’s still a really good issue and Brubaker doesn’t make the frequent mistakes of female narration–he’s got a really good plot and he sticks to the events and his protagonist’s observations of them. Where it’s wrong is the texture… he never gets inside the character’s head. It’s no more personal a narration than someone giving a speech. There’s not one personal thing in it, other than the events she finds herself experiencing.

This finishes the informal arc of the second series of Criminal and it’s a depressing ending. The protagonist was seen dead in the first issue and seen murdered in the second. Brubaker’s revelations of the story behind her actions is problematic. He’s definitely seen The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.

What Brubaker does here–a sort of prequel to the second arc of Criminal and a concurrent, companion story to the previous issue–is even better than the previous issue… which I didn’t think Brubaker could do.

Brubaker had a hard time working out the setting for Criminal in the first arc and wisely left it mostly alone in the second. But here, instead of dealing with the physical setting, he’s dealing with temporal one and he’s doing a lovely job. The protagonist of this issue is the father of the protagonist from the second arc. There are parallels between how the two men end up, but Brubaker doesn’t draw any attention to it. I don’t even think he refers to the protagonist’s sons by name, even though they were just the focus of their own arc.

This issue finally shows Criminal’s full potential as a narrative engine.

Utter perfection.

Such a good issue….

Brubaker’s able to get more content in because he’s got an increased page count but also because he’s concentrating on doing a standalone story. It turns out it’s not exactly standalone, but the issue has a beginning, middle and end. There’s no messing around with being deceptive in the narrative, to find something to reveal.

As much as I like Brubaker’s work, his staple of revealing a hidden truth about something in the past gets old. Just having him write a story–a continuous narrative stroke, maybe flashing back to reveal information to the reader but not the protagonist–is nice.

At the core of this issue is the relationship between the characters. The dialogue in their conversations is some of Brubaker’s best; he establishes the characters, their history, their relationship, all in one issue.

The great Phillips art is just a bonus.

An excellent comic.

Now I remember this story arc and why I didn’t have any bad memories of it–because it’s great.

What Brubaker does in this arc is take a character who’d be on the periphery of another story–a bigger story–and examine him. Tracy’s a tough guy who’d be in one scene of a more traditional noir story and instead Brubaker turns him into the lead. Except he’s not some first person narrator, he’s still distanced. It’s wonderful and completely unlike the first arc.

I’m not a fan of the forced fictional cities and locales, but as Brubaker brings this arc to a close, with some beautiful Phillips winter art–I wish it could go on forever. Phillips and Brubaker work great together, but something about this issue in particular really syncs more than usual.

It must be the winter. Brubaker’s narration suggests it’s always slushy and cold and Phillips’s art shows those conditions.

It’s in film noir’s nature to have a double-cross, to have a secret inopportunely revealed and have it affect the protagonist’s plans, whether he be a good guy or a bad guy.

So I’m not surprised Brubaker has both of those elements in this issue (maybe twice for each). But Criminal isn’t a film. It’s not a standalone narrative, regardless of story arcs. It’s a serialized narrative, which means having a double-cross and revelation once a story arc is tiring. Even when it’s done well, like this issue.

It’s different, for example, from a TV show where there’s the weekly “eureka” moment, because those moments are part of the show’s package. I don’t buy Criminal to get a neat or funny double-cross.

That problem aside, this issue might be even better than the last.

Brubaker’s exposition is so well-written, the plot probably doesn’t matter at all.

In some ways, this issue is the first regular one of the arc. Brubaker’s not introducing anything startling, he’s just telling a story–he’s got enough established already he has material to work through.

The result is a very nice issue. The only negative thing I can think of to say about it is Phillips’s one panel with a smiling Tracy is a little weak, like Phillips isn’t used to drawing smiling people. He’s probably not. He also might have been trying to draw a fake smile, so it comes off even funnier.

There’s more good narration this issue. I paused to reread an exposition box, which I don’t do very often. Brubaker’s in a real stride here–again, it helps the protagonist is an AWOL soldier. It gives him a lot he can do with the character and he doesn’t have to be coy about him.

It’s rather excellent.