If you frequent comic book shops and bookstores then you’ve probably spotted this shamelessly pink graphic novel on the shelves. You’ve probably taken a closer look (or pretended to “accidentally” glance at it) and found that the gold font on the cover says BIG HARD SEX CRIMINALS. And maybe you got curious about it but you just can’t bring yourself to actually pick it up and bring it to the counter. I know. I’ve been there too.
The thing with sex stories is that they have to be good. Otherwise, it’s just porn on print. What Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky did with Sex Criminals is pretty smart. Yes, the book has lots of nudity. Yes, the book is packed with silly sex jokes. Yes, there are pages that made me a little embarrassed to be reading it in public. But beyond all that, the characters are surprisingly relatable and the story does make enough sense for you to take it seriously.
What I liked the most is the way the characters break the fourth wall – that is, they literally speak to the reader in some panels – and it feels like they’re sharing their lives with you.
You become their confidant and you find yourself deeply engaged in their lives. You know their problems and frustrations, their fantasies and fears, their childhood stories of curiosity and discovery, and then you realize how honest the book is. That, although it is a wild, dirty, sex sci-fi story, there is something very human to it.
So you do the thing that humans do: you sympathize. And that’s when you realize you’re willing to tag along no matter where their sexed-up adventures take them. Sex Criminals is what you get when two very talented guys decide to get a little crazy – I really doubt you’ll read anything like it. So go ahead and pick up that pink book you’ve been eyeing. You might just find yourself quite satisfied once you finish it.
ReadWhatever 
I actually haven’t seen this at all….. it sounds scary and interesting at the same time. lol
I know how you feel. It’s probably not as scary as you imagine. Haha. And they’re actually planning to make a TV series based on the comic book. I must admit, I’m curious to see how they’ll pull off the small-screen adaptation. You can read more about that here: http://deadline.com/2015/02/matt-fraction-kelly-sue-deconnick-deal-universal-tv-sex-criminals-comic-series-1201380723/
Oh I shall. I have a strange feeling that I’ll have to watch it on mute.
Earphones and a locked door for me. Haha. Well, the book doesn’t need a mute button. Let me know if you ever decide to pick it up. 🙂
I will. If it is available here.
Awesome! If you can’t find it on display anywhere you can go to your local comic book shop and ask if they can reorder it for you. It’s what I do for titles that had been released several years back if I can’t find them on the shelves anymore. This one’s fairly recent so it shouldn’t be a problem for them. Happy hunting! 🙂
I live in India. I highly doubt I can find this anywhere. And there are no comic book shops here. I’ll have to rely on Amazon.
And you can rely on me for recommendations. I just put up a Contact page (don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier) so if you want to talk about what’s good in the genres you like, just send me an email and maybe I can suggest a few titles for you to look at. 😀
That’s great. I shall do that. I’ll be needing to pick up some titles around January so this would be great. Thanks a lot!
No problem at all. Send me a message anytime!