Image comics have announced the return of superstar creative team Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips to the world of Criminal with a brand new original graphic novel. The Knives promises a 200-page hardcover epic focusing on the stories of three shady characters. It will release August 27 to comic shops, with bookstores and online retailers following on September 9.
According to Image:
“It has been nearly five years since fans had an opportunity to revel in new Criminal material and this highly anticipated new story promises to be the darkest and most ambitious instalment in the critically lauded, contemporary classic yet.
“Cartoonist Jacob Kurtz goes to Hollywood in the era of peak TV to work on an adaptation of his comic strip, only to find himself caught up in the life of his aging aunt and the vultures circling her estate. Angie was raised at the Undertow, but now everything she loves has been taken from her. She’s on the streets with vengeance on her mind, her eyes set on the city’s kingpin. And finally, Tracy Lawless is home from the Special Forces, finally a civilian again, but he’s in bad shape and this city has always brought out the worst in him. These three tales collide in The Knives, a breathtaking noir story about greed, ambition, heartbreak, and blood ties.”
The award-winning noir team of Brubaker and Phillips has not been quiet on the comics front with their regular graphic novel collaborations hitting shelves at a near-annual cadence (their last book, Houses of the Unholy, released August 2024). This year, following hot on the news of a TV adaptation of their hit Criminal series, in production, a sweeping reprint of the eight-volume original comics run was rolled out. That said, the last new Criminal story to make an appearance was the final issue of a 12 issue miniseries released way back in January 2020. Criminal debuted in 2007.
Talking about the return, writer and co-creator Brubaker said:
“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.
He adds:
“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.”
