Smooth Criminals #1
Boom! Box at Boom! Studios 2018
Created & Written by Kurt Lustgarten & Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith
Illustrated by Leisha Riddel
Coloured by Brittany Peer
Lettered by Ed Dukeshire
There are certain things Brenda expects to find while hacking: money, secrets, occasional pictures of cats. She is NOT expecting to find a cryogenically frozen master thief from the 60s. Mia is everything Brenda is not—cool, confident, beautiful. And utterly unprepared for the digital age. Despite their differences, the two will need to team up to find out what happened to Mia—and how to pull off the heist of the century.
First I am surprised this from the Boom! Box imprint as I thought were more aimed at a younger all-ages audience and somehow two women who are going to try and pull of a string of thefts while dodging the men chasing them seems a bit more grown up in concept and execution. That being said what a fun book this is! I wasn’t sure what to expect but if I am honest I found to be humorous along the lines of Future Man, which if you never seen fix that. It is kind of funny that this is set in 1999 because honestly I don’t remember it being anything special our groundbreaking about it. Sure Y2K was coming but that’s all I can think of. I guess hacking was big but I thought that was earlier in the 90’s.
Okay so the way this is structured is very well done. The opening is superb and I love seeing this woman blading through the streets of San Francisco while Brenda narrates. Of course learning what her narration really is however is something I am not soon likely to forget. It is great though because it introduces us to one of the main characters and gives a brief synopsis of her life and how she is seen by others. Also in some regards that she is what we consider nowadays to appear to be on the spectrum and is socially awkward and doesn’t stand up for herself but is completely confident in her abilities is a nice dichotomy.
The introduction of Mia as well was something that I feel I’ve seen before, or at least something like it. Regardless it’s handled very well and I think her actions speak volumes about the type of woman she is. Then it gets really interesting. The way the book flows and how we see Brenda flourish in her element and as desperate as she is for a friend I think she’s getting in way over heard but I am looking forward to seeing how this pairing is going to play out. Through the ever evolving characterisation it’ll be interesting to see how they develop as characters.
The interiors are really rather very nice. The linework is sensational and I like how the varying weights are utilised in both the characters and the world around them is spectacular to see. The overall effect of the linework and the colours is something that creates a warmth and comfort that helps with how we see the ease of the story unfold. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a solid eye for storytelling. Backgrounds are utilised fairly well and they in panels than I had expected so they do a really nice job in expanding the moments and giving us a size and scope of the story.
It is a great premise and it has a strong presence about it so that the base characterisation laid down is nicely done. How the story is so in sync with the visuals in being able to move it along and engages the reader is extremely well done. This is a delightful surprise that takes a different look at the meaning of partners in crime.
Boom! Box at Boom! Studios 2018
Created & Written by Kurt Lustgarten & Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith
Illustrated by Leisha Riddel
Coloured by Brittany Peer
Lettered by Ed Dukeshire
There are certain things Brenda expects to find while hacking: money, secrets, occasional pictures of cats. She is NOT expecting to find a cryogenically frozen master thief from the 60s. Mia is everything Brenda is not—cool, confident, beautiful. And utterly unprepared for the digital age. Despite their differences, the two will need to team up to find out what happened to Mia—and how to pull off the heist of the century.
First I am surprised this from the Boom! Box imprint as I thought were more aimed at a younger all-ages audience and somehow two women who are going to try and pull of a string of thefts while dodging the men chasing them seems a bit more grown up in concept and execution. That being said what a fun book this is! I wasn’t sure what to expect but if I am honest I found to be humorous along the lines of Future Man, which if you never seen fix that. It is kind of funny that this is set in 1999 because honestly I don’t remember it being anything special our groundbreaking about it. Sure Y2K was coming but that’s all I can think of. I guess hacking was big but I thought that was earlier in the 90’s.
Okay so the way this is structured is very well done. The opening is superb and I love seeing this woman blading through the streets of San Francisco while Brenda narrates. Of course learning what her narration really is however is something I am not soon likely to forget. It is great though because it introduces us to one of the main characters and gives a brief synopsis of her life and how she is seen by others. Also in some regards that she is what we consider nowadays to appear to be on the spectrum and is socially awkward and doesn’t stand up for herself but is completely confident in her abilities is a nice dichotomy.
The introduction of Mia as well was something that I feel I’ve seen before, or at least something like it. Regardless it’s handled very well and I think her actions speak volumes about the type of woman she is. Then it gets really interesting. The way the book flows and how we see Brenda flourish in her element and as desperate as she is for a friend I think she’s getting in way over heard but I am looking forward to seeing how this pairing is going to play out. Through the ever evolving characterisation it’ll be interesting to see how they develop as characters.
The interiors are really rather very nice. The linework is sensational and I like how the varying weights are utilised in both the characters and the world around them is spectacular to see. The overall effect of the linework and the colours is something that creates a warmth and comfort that helps with how we see the ease of the story unfold. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a solid eye for storytelling. Backgrounds are utilised fairly well and they in panels than I had expected so they do a really nice job in expanding the moments and giving us a size and scope of the story.
It is a great premise and it has a strong presence about it so that the base characterisation laid down is nicely done. How the story is so in sync with the visuals in being able to move it along and engages the reader is extremely well done. This is a delightful surprise that takes a different look at the meaning of partners in crime.
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