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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
This one was so crazy that it was hard to to enjoy. Suzie and Jon both stop time when they orgasm. Once they find each other they decide to try and save the library by stopping time and robbing banks. Crazy, right!?!
I'd heard good things about this one when it released and the premise sounded really awesome: two people who can stop time when they have sex decide to use their powers for good. And the story itself is awesome - it's funny and smart and complex. The execution was flawed, for me, though; I often found it hard to follow. The delineation between present-day and flashback is not ever very clear and sometimes it was hard to tell who was supposed to be narrating a particular section. I'll be picking up the next volume; we'll see how it goes.
"Sex Criminals" was a disappointment from beginning to end. Matt Fraction and Christian Ward created ODY-C, which I enjoyed quite a bit, and they've received rave reviews for Sex Criminals, so I'll admit my expectations were high, but the bar would've had to be pretty low for me to love this. On the upside, it was pretty funny, and I like its frankness and its attempt to speak to the awkwardness and shame attached to sex (especially for adolescents).
Right away I could tell the art wasn't for me. The character designs are boring and lack style, and it was hard for me to tell characters apart. The effects they use for "The Quiet" or "Cumworld," as they call it, are tacky and superficial. In general, the art is meh at best and feels cheap at worst.
Also confusing is the general story format and layout. There are at least three, maybe four storylines spread throughout time, and it's hard to tell which one is happening at any given time. When the main female character described her late teen years, it took me a while to understand it wasn't happening in the present, because she looked the same and there was no difference in the artwork to indicate it. This happens repeatedly throughout the novel, and didn't ever really get better.
Another device that didn't work for me, related to the above, is the breaking-the-fourth-wall element. The main character speaks to the reader directly. She narrates her life, with several panels devoted to her speaking 'face-to-face' with the reader (and shows up, as an adult, in scenes from her childhood). But this only happens occasionally, and wanes as the story continues, until I'm not sure why they included it at all because it only made the beginning more confusing. And again, if they had clearly demarcated with the art what was happening and when, this wouldn't have been an obstacle. I wish they had done something with the art to separate either the narrative voice from the story or the different eras from each other. Even using a larger panel at each transition to clearly establish setting. Or anything to give the reader a sense of time, location, and weight.
The story premise is ridiculous, and I wish they had taken that absurdity and run with it, because there are hints of the silly hilarity that could have ensued. The real Cumworld (a sex shop they frequent) always has laugh-out-loud worthy videos and products. (My favorite porn section: "Obamacore - socialist/medical themed.") There are innumerable puns. Some of the characters are off-the-wall, but in the fairly grounded and serious setting, all these wild elements feel tonally out of place. I get that the story is, at its core, about the relationship between these two people, but it's also a story about people who can stop time when they have sex! And there's a sex-world police force! You can keep the serious, grounded characters and still have a zany, strange world, but I think the overall effect here is that there are some really weird, strange things that are played down or played straight when they should've been played up. It's a crazy world, but no one in the story treats it that way.
As I mentioned earlier, I like the cheeky humor throughout, and I do appreciate the attempt at an allegory for teenage sexual awakening. But the latter feels pretty obvious and unsubtle, so while I like the idea behind it, it didn't stick the landing with me.
Either way, it's not that bad. I was entertained. I just don't think it was very good, and I certainly don't have any desire to read any further.
Right away I could tell the art wasn't for me. The character designs are boring and lack style, and it was hard for me to tell characters apart. The effects they use for "The Quiet" or "Cumworld," as they call it, are tacky and superficial. In general, the art is meh at best and feels cheap at worst.
Also confusing is the general story format and layout. There are at least three, maybe four storylines spread throughout time, and it's hard to tell which one is happening at any given time. When the main female character described her late teen years, it took me a while to understand it wasn't happening in the present, because she looked the same and there was no difference in the artwork to indicate it. This happens repeatedly throughout the novel, and didn't ever really get better.
Another device that didn't work for me, related to the above, is the breaking-the-fourth-wall element. The main character speaks to the reader directly. She narrates her life, with several panels devoted to her speaking 'face-to-face' with the reader (and shows up, as an adult, in scenes from her childhood). But this only happens occasionally, and wanes as the story continues, until I'm not sure why they included it at all because it only made the beginning more confusing. And again, if they had clearly demarcated with the art what was happening and when, this wouldn't have been an obstacle. I wish they had done something with the art to separate either the narrative voice from the story or the different eras from each other. Even using a larger panel at each transition to clearly establish setting. Or anything to give the reader a sense of time, location, and weight.
The story premise is ridiculous, and I wish they had taken that absurdity and run with it, because there are hints of the silly hilarity that could have ensued. The real Cumworld (a sex shop they frequent) always has laugh-out-loud worthy videos and products. (My favorite porn section: "Obamacore - socialist/medical themed.") There are innumerable puns. Some of the characters are off-the-wall, but in the fairly grounded and serious setting, all these wild elements feel tonally out of place. I get that the story is, at its core, about the relationship between these two people, but it's also a story about people who can stop time when they have sex! And there's a sex-world police force! You can keep the serious, grounded characters and still have a zany, strange world, but I think the overall effect here is that there are some really weird, strange things that are played down or played straight when they should've been played up. It's a crazy world, but no one in the story treats it that way.
As I mentioned earlier, I like the cheeky humor throughout, and I do appreciate the attempt at an allegory for teenage sexual awakening. But the latter feels pretty obvious and unsubtle, so while I like the idea behind it, it didn't stick the landing with me.
Either way, it's not that bad. I was entertained. I just don't think it was very good, and I certainly don't have any desire to read any further.
This didn't knock my socks off as much as I expected it too, since everyone is talking about how this is the new Greatest Ever. I don't really feel compelled by the motivation for the bank robbery, and hey, I work in a library. What this did get right in an amazing way is the thrilling time in your life when you meet someone that you think is awesome at sex and conversation and you want to spend every moment with them from then on. Everyone should have a relationship like that at least once in their lives, and I loved the way it was presented here. Although I admit I'm interested in the sex police & all that, I could absolutely get behind the rest of this series if it was nothing more than Suzie & Jon hanging out being all cute & new-coupley. Bonus points for when Suzie trots out the same tired trope of the porn star who was molested as a child & said porn star calls her out on it.
While it's true that books and sex are two of my favourite things, the combination of the two in this graphic novel did not exactly send me soaring, if you know what I mean. It might have been the balance - way too much sex, not enough books - or it might have been the somewhat repetitive nature of the narrative.
The narrative begins with an adolescent girl named Suzie who discovers that when she has an orgasm, she is able to enter a jewel-toned euphoric state in which time is frozen, which she calls The Quiet. She ends up masturbating a lot, and when she gets older, having sex a lot. She becomes a librarian, but then her library is threatened when they don;t have enough money to pay the mortgage. At a fund-raising party, she meets a guy named Jon who can quote Lolita and brings him home - where she learns that he can enter the same state, only he calls it Cumworld. I prefer her name for it, maybe because I'm a woman.
Next we are treated to a great many pages in which Jon tells Suzie every detail of his sex life to date, interspersed with what seem to be flashforwards to the two of them stopping time and trying to rob a bank, but being foiled by another woman who can function in The Quiet. This is the overly repetitive part I was talking about.
Then, because they didn't see the flashforwards, they start planning to rob the bank Jon works at so the library will get the money needed to pay the mortgage - which is owed to the same bank. So it turns out that there's such a thing as the Sex Police who monitor the behaviour of people who can do what Suzie and Jon do, and this is how our protagonists become sex criminals. Interesting story, but it still needs more books.
The narrative begins with an adolescent girl named Suzie who discovers that when she has an orgasm, she is able to enter a jewel-toned euphoric state in which time is frozen, which she calls The Quiet. She ends up masturbating a lot, and when she gets older, having sex a lot. She becomes a librarian, but then her library is threatened when they don;t have enough money to pay the mortgage. At a fund-raising party, she meets a guy named Jon who can quote Lolita and brings him home - where she learns that he can enter the same state, only he calls it Cumworld. I prefer her name for it, maybe because I'm a woman.
Next we are treated to a great many pages in which Jon tells Suzie every detail of his sex life to date, interspersed with what seem to be flashforwards to the two of them stopping time and trying to rob a bank, but being foiled by another woman who can function in The Quiet. This is the overly repetitive part I was talking about.
Then, because they didn't see the flashforwards, they start planning to rob the bank Jon works at so the library will get the money needed to pay the mortgage - which is owed to the same bank. So it turns out that there's such a thing as the Sex Police who monitor the behaviour of people who can do what Suzie and Jon do, and this is how our protagonists become sex criminals. Interesting story, but it still needs more books.
This title is absolutely for mature audiences. [But if you didn't get that from the title and cover, then the premise of people freezing time when they have sex should have clued you in.] I, being an adult, thought it was hilarious and brilliant. The writing is as irreverent as it is honest. There were times I found myself cringing, but I was also usually laughing at the same time. These are stories about coming of age and coming to terms with sexuality. Fraction taps into the absurdity of the human sexual experience and makes it all very relatable. After all, we all have our own tales of sexual discovery, except ours don't involve freezing time. (Right? Right.) On top of some great writing, the art style is fantastic. It has a 70s disco quality that really adds to the dreamy feel of the work as a whole. The use of color alone is worth all the praise this title is receiving. In summary: if the topic of sex makes you uncomfortable you'll want to give this one a pass, but if you've ever traded funny sex stories with a friend this will likely have you laughing out loud.
I'm really torn over how many stars to give this book. On the one hand, I didn't really care for the story. But on the other hand, the art was spot on and pretty fantastic. (So an average? Five stars for outstanding art and one star for a did-not-like-it story equals six, divided by two equals three?) Anyway... Three stars is actually an okay rating, as I did sort of like it, enough to continue to the next Volume, at least.
The problem was that the comics just jumped around too much for me. My status updates (don't read them if you don't want to see potential spoilers) pretty much give away all of my feelings and frustrations; I don't want to write it all again. That said, I will say this...
It took me the first two issues to realize that the beginnings and the endings were in the future/present, while the bulk of the comic was in the past and leading up to that future/present. Until I had this "aha!" moment, I was pretty much lost. However, I remained pretty lost even once I had the "aha!" moment. There were a couple of places, notably in Issues #1 and #4, where I felt like there was a page missing. Granted, the first issue's "missing page" was simply the aforementioned closing-in-the-future gambit, but still... I was not a fan.
I was still confused by the time I finished Issue #5, but I figured I had enough of an understanding of how the comic was structured that I'd read [b:Sex Criminals, Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop|23228585|Sex Criminals, Vol. 2 Two Worlds, One Cop (Sex Criminals, #6-10)|Matt Fraction|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410891094s/23228585.jpg|42769900] before deciding whether or not I would continue the series.
UPDATE: I've now read Volume Two and I will not be continuing the series. If you're interested, you can find my review of Volume Two here.
EDIT: I feel like I should explain my choice in shelving this as "Features-Magicians." I labeled it such just because the stories are clearly (for me, at least) Urban Fantasy and Urban Fantasies generally have some sort of non-plain-human in them. And stopping time seems pretty magical to me, therefore Jon and Suzie are "magicians." ;-)
The problem was that the comics just jumped around too much for me. My status updates (don't read them if you don't want to see potential spoilers) pretty much give away all of my feelings and frustrations; I don't want to write it all again. That said, I will say this...
It took me the first two issues to realize that the beginnings and the endings were in the future/present, while the bulk of the comic was in the past and leading up to that future/present. Until I had this "aha!" moment, I was pretty much lost. However, I remained pretty lost even once I had the "aha!" moment. There were a couple of places, notably in Issues #1 and #4, where I felt like there was a page missing. Granted, the first issue's "missing page" was simply the aforementioned closing-in-the-future gambit, but still... I was not a fan.
I was still confused by the time I finished Issue #5, but I figured I had enough of an understanding of how the comic was structured that I'd read [b:Sex Criminals, Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop|23228585|Sex Criminals, Vol. 2 Two Worlds, One Cop (Sex Criminals, #6-10)|Matt Fraction|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410891094s/23228585.jpg|42769900] before deciding whether or not I would continue the series.
UPDATE: I've now read Volume Two and I will not be continuing the series. If you're interested, you can find my review of Volume Two here.
EDIT: I feel like I should explain my choice in shelving this as "Features-Magicians." I labeled it such just because the stories are clearly (for me, at least) Urban Fantasy and Urban Fantasies generally have some sort of non-plain-human in them. And stopping time seems pretty magical to me, therefore Jon and Suzie are "magicians." ;-)
Aside from a few shitty things that made me feel a bit weird, this was a really funny, entertaining read and I'm looking forward to continuing the series.