Author: Newsroom
PORTLAND, Ore. 04/30/2025 — Multiple Eisner award-winning team Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Reckless, Houses of the Unholy, Fatale) will bring an all new Criminal graphic novel to shelves this September from Image Comics with The Knives.
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 installment 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.
“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,” said Brubaker. “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.”
Further excitement surrounding Criminal has amped up since news hit that the television adaptation of this iconic series was in production last year with Brubaker serving as show runner, and is coming soon to Amazon Prime. The adaptation will star A-listers Charlie Hunnam, Luke Evans, and Emilia Clarke and the first season of the TV show will cover the first two story arcs of the comic book series, Criminal, Volume One: Coward and Criminal, Volume Two: Lawless.
Originally published in 2007, Criminal follows a cast of characters connected through a shared criminal history. For readers looking to catch up on the Criminal series, volumes 1-8 are available in “new edition” trade paperbacks, which feature new cover designs by Phillips, as well as in oversized, deluxe hardcover editions, Books 1-3. They can be found at comic book shops, independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones.
The Knives hardcover (ISBN: 9781534355590, Lunar Code 0525IM280) will be available at local comic book shops on Wednesday, August 27 and independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones on Tuesday, September 9.
Criminal is also available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.
Select praise for Brubaker & Phillips:
“Brubaker and Phillips’s books have always been about eight years ahead of their time.” —Brian K. Vaughan, SAGA, Paper Girls
“Brubaker & Phillips continue to make sweet music together, broadcast to you in the form of the best comics around.” —Robert Kirkman, Invincible, The Walking Dead
“Ed and Sean are that rare longterm collaboration that never become complacent, each project is a new revelation, the love visibly increased, the enthusiasm for the craft only growing over time. You don’t have to consider the purchase, you make it on instinct at this point.” —Rick Remender, Deadly Class, Black Science
“Like Scorsese and De Niro, Brubaker and Phillips are the unmatched masters of a certain kind of storytelling—those fables of doomed and deluded men who are ready to die bloody, defending the tatters of their soiled American dreams. A new title from the sharpshooters behind Criminal and Fatale is reason enough to go on living.” —Joe Hill, Locke & Key, Horns, NOS4A2
“Brubaker and Phillips have achieved the sort of creative consistency that’d justify critics filing their INSTANT CLASSIC reviews before they even read whatever they put out next.” —Kieron Gillen, The Wicked + The Divine, Die
“I’ve been reading Ed Brubaker comics since the first appearance of Ed Brubaker comics and every single time he announces a new title I mutter to myself: ‘ugh! I wish I would’ve thought of that!'” —Brian Michael Bendis, Powers
“I’m a pretty easy mark for any Brubaker-Philips creation…” —Jonathan Hickman, East of West, House of X
“Two of the best in the business, no contest.” —Kelly Sue DeConnick, Captain Marvel, B*tch Planet
