Another
day, another arc completed— and with the strong (yet subtle)
conclusion to Criminal: The Last of The Innocent, Ed Brubaker has
officially converted me to the series. With Brubaker's excellent
writing, accompanied by Sean Phillips artwork, the duo truly
delivers. And while it may not be the most exciting issues of this
short run (which doesn't say much anyway), it played its role and
served the rest of the series justice, and it is sure to please those
who have been keeping up with the four issue mini-series. For those
who haven't read this excellent run, be warned: spoilers lie beneath.
It's
been two months since Riley Richards had finally murdered his wife,
got the wrong man committed for said crime, received a fortune from
his in-laws, brought his rehabilitated best friend back onto drugs,
and started hooking up with his high school sweetheart (who says nice
guys finish last?). But with a private investigator on his tail,
Riley finds himself in need of tying some up loose ends.
One
thing that I have to give credit to Brubaker and Phillips for in
their Criminal run is consistency. Every arc this duo makes is gold,
and TLoTI is no different. Keeping with the same pace as the previous
issues, Brubaker manages to keep the reader enveloped with every line
coming from this despicable character's mouth, and the crazy part is
not only can you see from the same point of view that this murderer is coming from – you may even find yourself sharing this man's perspective, and in this aspect alone, the Criminal series really shines.
As
stated earlier, this final issue of TLoTI deals with Riley tightening
(and even cutting) some loose ends that reveal themselves in the
series' denouement, and I don't want to give anything away, but it
involves killing people (surprise, surprise). The only issue I could
find with the ending to the excellent run is that the ending is
extremely subtle, and very open-ended. While I enjoy trying to guess
what will happen next, as well as interpreting a finale for myself,
there will always be people who may dislike this sort of finish, so
be prepared.