Introduction: Closing the Gap Between Crime Fiction and Crime Comics

Let’s start with a basic question: What are crime comics? This might sound like I’m using a straw (hit)man as an opening but I have actually spoken to a few mystery and crime fiction readers over the years who don’t know the answer. At its simplest, crime comics are the genre of crime fiction (and all of its subgenres and adjacent genres) told in the medium of comics. That’s it.

In his Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, Barry Forshaw wrote, "The genre is a broad church." For fans of crime fiction, the genre currently consists of two main mediums. The first is written (novels and shorter fiction) and the second is visual (films and TV shows). For fans of the genre there is an intermingling of the two approaches. They have favorite thriller novels, noir films, gangster stories, and crime shows.

Crime comics are a third medium that combines the written and visual forms. For many crime fiction readers, crime comics have been hiding in plain sight. They might be unaware of the new releases that come out each year, some of the crime comic classics, the deeper cuts, and comics that are in a sub-genre they love.

Coverage of crime comics has mostly been limited to comic book publications and reviewers. Comic book reviewers cover the genre of crime comics within the scope of their already existing comic book coverage. With the exception of some high profile titles, series, and creators that have broken through and received coverage or mentions, crime fiction reviewers and publications don’t offer as much coverage to crime comics compared to what other mediums like novels, film, and TV might get.

Crime fiction fans and comics fans absolutely have overlap, but they are mostly separate audiences. Fans of crime fiction novels, movies, and TV shows may not even be aware of many of these comics titles and creators. Comics readers may not even be aware that they can scratch that same crime fiction itch with selected novels. (though I suspect the former is more true than the latter).

The goal of this project is to start with the base of the more well known crime comics series titles and expand from there, introducing crime comics to crime fiction readers and to expand the crime comics knowledge of even the comics collecting faithful. Whenever possible, I’ll offer up crime novel, film, and TV comparisons too.

The scope of this project includes crime comics that came out in the mid to late 1970’s, when the production code in the United States was starting to crumble, and goes all the way up to the present, including titles that are still ongoing, and translated comics from around the world. Let’s say, roughly fifty years of crime comics. Here is where I’ll also state that vintage crime comics are not my thing. I like much of the imagery but often not the stories. If you dig into them, you’ll likely find that classic crime comics don’t hold the same appeal as classic crime films. I’m sure they’ll come up some but don’t expect much there. I’m much more interested in this second wave of crime comics, international comics, and more recent comics.

I want to look at crime comics in all its various forms. Stories that are firmly grounded in reality, cross/multi genre stories, stories where crime fiction intersects and interacts with other genres, and stories that are more high concept or are working in a heightened or exaggerated reality. I want to look at crime comics in various subgenres like heist, mystery, detective, thriller, suspense, and noir and hardboiled. I also want to look at the wider world of crime comics including bande dessinée, manga, manhwa, and webtoons. Finally, looking at crime comics in unexpected places or working in unexpected modes, like slice of life, BL (boys love), yaoi, and shojo.

This won’t be comprehensive. It’s a selected guide based on what I’m reading. A comprehensive work would be massive, containing over a thousand titles and many more than that in issues and collected volumes. If a favorite title isn’t here, I wouldn’t read much into it and you can feel free to suggest it. While some trends may be discussed or noted, this isn’t an academic work, a formal study, or a history. It’s a guide for a general audience containing information, reviews, quick takes and capsule reviews, and some opinions. It’s aimed at comics fans, readers of all stripes, and especially crime fiction fans. Readers can expect a series of posts that group together some capsule reviews of titles, longer reviews of individual titles, and posts that group titles together in a more considered or thematic way. Through these posts a picture of crime comics will emerge.

Simply put, what I want to do with this project is recognize that crime comics are a body of work worthy of consideration as a whole and to also look at them as crime fiction, separate from the medium they are written in. I also want to extend the conversation beyond the handful of well known titles and creators. Finally, I want to get away from a U.S. centric perspective and shine a light on translated crime comics from other parts of the world.

Basically, let’s read some crime shit and talk about it. As Mr. Forshaw stated, it's a big genre.

Next scheduled post: Sin City, Criminal, 100 Bullets, Scalped, and Stray Bullets