COMIC BOOK REVIEW: SEX CRIMINALS VOLUME 2: TWO WORLDS, ONE COP / AUTHOR: MATT FRACTION / ARTIST: CHIP ZDARSKY / PUBLISHER: IMAGE COMICS / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 10TH
The second trade paperback in Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsk’s continuing Sex Criminals saga (dubbed Two Worlds, One Cop) continues to build on the funny, touching, and effortlessly perverted brand of storytelling for which they’ve courted acclaim and controversy alike.
Picking up with Suzie and Jon’s run in with the sex police, issues 6 – 10 focus on the honeymoon period; the hot and heavy making way for a side of relationships that often gets overlooked. This is mirrored in the writing, too; now that some of the dick jokes and cum gags are out the way, a poignant story starts to emerge.
It’s a more expansive effort than the first collection, which opens cumworld up and, inevitably, there are plenty of others with similar abilities. Where the first volume was more from Suzie’s point of view, this is told more by Jon and part of the power of the narrative is how it jumps about, exploring key moments in characters’ pasts and from different points of views altogether. Take Jon’s beloved porn star Jasmine St. Cocaine, for example; in issue 9 we’re given her origin story before she meets the dirty duo. And if the porn parody of The Wicked and the Divine doesn’t leave you in stiches, we don’t know what will.
The industry’s leading funny men really use the comic book format to its fullest potential. There’s no bullshit, it’s uncompromisingly explicit with full frontal birth and plenty of examples of dick pics. It’s a skewed view of American culture as seen through kink and prescriptions and crammed full of pop culture references. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Westeros’ iron throne made out of dildos.
Like with Deadpool and, more recently, the brilliant Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Sex Criminals does away with the idea of person-reading-comic, with the characters addressing you directly and with a cunning self-awareness. Zdarsky’s art is at all times flashy, elegant and playful. There’s subtle jokes tucked into the backgrounds, and will leave you lingering over every panel.
If the cliff-hanger leaves you wanting, the back matter might tide you over, with the fake interview with Playboy and the sex tips proving especially rib-tickling. Sex Criminals is a compelling and realistic take (despite the fantastical) on the crazy world of sex and love, nakedly honest, wonderfully odd and always frisky. Oh, and did we mentioned it’s utterly filthy?
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