Sex Criminals: The Comic

DISCLAIMER: If you have delicate sensibilities, and find sex-humour to be of bad taste, this comic probably isn’t for you, and this review isn’t going to convince you otherwise.

Sex Criminals is a comic book written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky. The first edition was released in 2013, and the writers have been gradually releasing subsequent issues since.

It follows a librarian, Suzie and a struggling actor, Jon – two 20-somethings who can both unexplainably stop time when they orgasm. They each thought they were alone in the world with this ability, until a chance encounter at a party causes them to hook up. They both consider it your average one night stand up until post-coital when they suddenly realise that what is usually a time of their own solitary contemplation, has now been invaded by another – that they both share the same ability, and can stop time together instead of alone.

Excited to finally meet someone else who understands, they immediately fall into a relationship and start swapping tales of their own time-stoppage. These stories are some of the most entertaining in the comic. They discover that Suzie calls the space within the frozen time ‘The Quiet’, while Jon, it a stereotypically manlike manner, calls it ‘Cumworld’.

It’s from these interactions that they decide to rob a bank. And it’s from that crazy plan that they run into the sex police, and the comic throws any shred of normalcy to the wind and fully embraces the weird.

The illustrations by Chip Zdarsky are exceptionally bright and colourful, especially when they enter The Quiet/Cumworld, where everything is covered in a eye blistering neon glow. The drawings are really well done, and my only problem is that everyone, especially Suzie, always look unintentionally sinister. This isn’t a crippling concern though.

In the end, your enjoyment of the comic is going to be largely dependant on whether you’d find an electric dildo taser amusing. For me personally, the novelty of the comic wore off pretty quickly, and I had to limit my reading of it to increments rather than let it overstay its welcome by marathoning it.

Whether you like it or not though, expect to see more of it on the distant horizon. In February of this year Matt Fraction announced a possible television deal with Universal Studios.

I wonder if the world is ready.

By Leo Alder