My Favourite Comic – Sex Criminals

I won’t lie, I don’t know shit about comics. I only started frequenting Soho’s GOSH! Comics for the sexy men and proximity to good record stores. Before I started lurking in the graphic novel section of Waterstones, I thought comics simply provided fuel for Marvel Studios to re-hash into a new blockbuster every summer. Don’t get me wrong, I know my Aquaman from my Iron Man, but beyond the necessary general knowledge to get me through a rogue DC/Marvel question during Mastermind, I just wasn’t interested. And I’m still not interested in the world of superhero comics, despite recent expansion from the cis white male template that the genre traditionally serves so well. The latest incarnation of Ms Marvel, written by a female Muslim convert, is a teenage Pakistani living in New York. Her parents are terrified she’ll have sex or not become a doctor.

Despite these totally identifiable themes, the stories themselves do little for me. I like sci-fi, but I also like comedy and beautiful pictures. I want mature stories, an exciting premise that can be snappily summed up in a sentence and a little bit of smut. Behold Sex Criminals. Forget stolen kisses between Superman and the odd mermaid, Sex Criminals provides it hard, fast and from page 1. With drawings by Chip Zdarsky who’s just been given the reigns by Marvel to reinvent Howard the Duck, and words from Matt Fraction of Hawkeye fame, it’s a fantasy comic by people who admit they don’t have a lot of loyalty towards the genre. And I think this shows, for the most part, making it a nice introduction for the comic novice. There are no backstories to get bogged down in, no arguing in the forums over nuances implied way back in ’87 and it passes the Bechdel test. The first volume, ‘One Weird Trick’, introduces our main characters, Suzie and Jon, who feel like the world stops when they get down on it. Except it literally does, so they decide to rob banks during their post-coital bliss.

This premise alone sold it to me, and as well as straight up sex jokes throughout, the subtle background puns make it a re-readable buy. Zdarsky’s futuristic and downright sexy layouts are the perfect complement to the cheeky content. At one point, Apple deemed it too rude to read on their devices, and prevented its download on iOS via iTunes or the huge comic viewing platform comiXology. This was a multifaceted error on their part; people weren’t stopped from viewing the first issue after Apple realised they didn’t want to publish the second and this arguably fuelled people’s intrigue.

Like anything forbidden, it became far more interesting. Plus, quite embarrassing for a forward thinking company that prides itself on empowering creative types to have banned Time magazine’s Comic of the Year. Most importantly, the decision was ill-informed. Sex Criminals is not for getting off on. Zdarsky uses his mates as models for Suzie and Jon, which he says limits the amount of gratuitous sexiness since he has to direct his friends into simulating said acts (Love Actually-style). It’s certainly not all smut, and the second volume that came out last week sees Jon and Suzie move beyond the honeymoon phase. The bank robbing has lost its shine and the young couple are suffering under all the strains that being able to stop time when you climax brings. There was more depth and humour than I was expecting in my first dalliance with comics, even if it’s too rude to read on the tube.

Sex Criminals: Volume 2 is out now on Image Comics