CRIME DOES NOT PAY 125
Vince Locke, were later adapted into successful fi lms, but earlier Paradox Press titles,
including La Pacifi ca (1995, written by Joel Rose and Amos Poe, with art by Tayyar
Ozkan), Family Man (1995, written by Jerome Charyn, art by Joe Staton), Hunter’s Heart
(1995, written and illustrated by Randy Du Burke), and Green Candles (1995, written by
Tom DeHaven, illustrated by Robin Smith), were all solid eff orts as well. Th e excellent
Irish mob tale Skreemer (DC, 6 issues, 1989) by Peter Milligan, Brett Ewins, and Steve
Dillon anticipated the creation of DC’s “mature reader” Vertigo line, which has since fea-
tured strong crime stories, including writer Brubaker and penciler Michael Lark’s Scene
of the Crime (4 issues, 1998–99). Undoubtedly the most successful Vertigo crime comic
has been writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso’s 100 Bullets (100 issues,
2000–9), which slowly developed an intricate plot out of what initially appeared to be
an intriguing gimmick, the off er to a series of desperate characters of an untraceable
gun and bullets by the mysterious Agent Graves. Risso’s striking art is among the few
examples of an appropriately noir style that incorporates color successfully.
Th e fi rst decade of the 21st century has continued to produce a steady stream of noir
comics, often in the form of graphic novels indebted to cinematic precursors: Matt Frac-
tion’s Last of the Independents (AiT PlanetLar, 2003) evokes both classic Hollywood
Westerns and heist fi lms, aided by Kieron Dwyer’s widescreen, sepia-toned illustrations.
David Lapham has continued to reinvigorate the thriller in his graphic novel Silverfi sh
(2007, DC/Vertigo), and Kevin Golden’s Fishtown (2008, IDW), originally a Xeric
Award–winning web comic, is a simultaneously sensitive and troubling depiction of a
senseless teenage murder. Joe Kubert’s Jew Gangster (ibooks, 2005) is an oddly nostalgic
look at a brutal past. Brubaker and Sean Phillips’s Criminal (Icon/Marvel, 2006–) con-
tinues the tradition of the roman noir, focusing on marginal fi gures caught up in desper-
ate situations they cannot control, and a variation on the formula such as Jason Aaron
and R. M. Guéra’s Scalped (DC/Vertigo, 2007–), set on a fi ctional South Dakota Oglala
Dakota Indian reservation, relies upon a rich evocation of its grim setting and social
realities. Whereas a 2009 series of “noir” interpretations involving many of Marvel’s main
characters seemed to misunderstand the style being appropriated (with muted but still
colorful comics), other work points to sustained quality in crime comics: in 2009 Darwyn
Cooke released Th e Hunter (IDW), the fi rst of his adaptations of Richard Stark’s series
of Parker novels, just before the new “sub-imprint” Vertigo Crime released its inaugural
graphic novels, Filthy Rich by Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos, and Dark Entries by
prominent crime writer Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera. Once again, while always
shared with other media, the crime genre is central to comics.
Selected Bibliography: Benton, Mike. Th e Illustrated History of Crime Comics. Dallas:
Taylor Publishing Company, 1993.
Corey K. Creekmur
CRIME DOES NOT PAY. Crime Does Not Pay, the fi rst crime comic book series, was
published by Lev Gleason from 1942 to 1955 and was loosely based on the successful
