Dave-El's Book Report: The Knives by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

 

Hey, I think I'll post about a book and yeah, it's another graphic novel by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

I know you think these things are just fershlugginer comic books but these Brubaker/Phillips creations transcend that medium.

Take away the pretty (and not so pretty) pictures and you've got a novel on par with writers like Elmore Leonard or Donald Westlake.

Today's book from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is called The Knives and it's set in their Criminal universe.

First of all, what the heck is Criminal? 

Criminal is a loosely connected series of comics and novels about  different characters that inhabit the same world in fictional Center City.  They all hang out in the same bar and share a common history of multiple generations of crime.

A common threat throughout the narrative of these Criminal books is the Lawless family.  Some member of the Lawless clan will factor is as the protagonist of a particular story and other times are just present as a supporting character to someone else's narrative.  

Most of the Criminal stories are set in the past, primarily in the 1970's and '80's.  

The Knives brings the world of Criminal into the 21st century.

The Knives begins with Jacob Kurtz, the main character from  from the Criminal story called Bad Night.  

Jacob's the writer/artist of the Frank Kafka, P.I. newspaper comic strip which has appeared in various volumes of Criminal in the past.  Frank Kafka, P.I. has been picked up as a TV series which earns Jacob a relocation to Hollywood, a producer credit, a seat in the writer's room and with absolutely nothing to do. 

Showrunner Dan Rails has his own agenda on Frank Kafka, P.I. The TV Series and it's all shit, understanding nothing of what Jacob created.  

There's a 2 page sequence where Jacob is having what he thinks is a productive conversation with Dan on ways to make the TV show better. Only to find the conversation was one-sided, that Dan was on his Bluetooth talking to someone else about something else the whole time.  

One positive for Jacob is he reconnects with his Aunt Suzy, whose husband wrote B-movies. She decides to leave Jacob her huge place in the Hollywood Hills if he promises not to sell it or break it up.

Another positive in Jacob's life is his relationship with Dan's assistant, Karma. She's beautiful, witty, smart, empathetic and sexy as hell.

And she's playing Jacob for a sucker.

Next thing Jacob knows he's across the desk from Dan Rails being blackmailed into signing away all his rights to Frank Kafka, P.I. The TV Series or Karma will sue Jacob for sexual harrassment. 

Jacob slinks back to Center City but what does it really matter.

Frank Kafka, P.I. The TV Series is cancelled after 8 episodes.

It made the list for an article called "Shows That SHOULD Be Cancelled Too Soon".  

Meanwhile and elsewhere, at the Undertow bar, Angie Watson is on a downward spiral.  

Angie's erstwhile guardian Gnarly (aka Jake Brown) is dying of cancer.  The head of the Hyde crime family gave Gnarly the Undertow bar and the apartment over it. After Gnarly dies, the current boss, Brandon Hyde, refuses to keep any promises his father made to Gnarly and kicks Angie out of the bar and the apartment.  

Angie's tale intersects with Jacob when a mutual friend asks Jacob to give Angie a place to stay for a while.  

Angie flits in and out of Jacob's life for awhile.  At least one stay lasts a bi longer when the COVID pandemic hits in 2020.  But she resumes disappearing for a stretches of time until she returns to Jacob's home badly beaten.  

She's been breaking in to Brandon Hyde's penthouse apartment in revenge for kicking her out of the Undertow.

Hyde has his thugs beat up Angie in revenge for daring to think she could get revenge on him.

It's some messed up shit.

And Angie's assault is not the only problem facing Jacob.

And someone has kidnapped Jacob’s Aunt Suzy and is demanding a ransom he doesn’t have.

Jacob realizes he needs some muscle.

Time to reach out to some old contacts in the old gang of crooks.

Well, we can't have a Criminal story without someone from the Lawless family.

Tracy Lawless agrees to help Jacob with the kidnapping problem.

And once that's settled, Tracy Lawless and Brandon Hyde are gonna come to an understanding about Angie.

While a lot about The Knives is built on the foundation laid in previous Criminal stories, this new graphic novel stands firmly on it's own. It's enough to know these characters do have a prior history but the details of that history are not fundermentally crucial to understanding what's going on.

Ed Brubaker crafts an expansive tale of different characters and perspectives that come together in a satisfying resolution. These people are fucked up in ways we're all fucked up.  Just worse.

Well, I hope it's worse. If your life is as fucked up as Jacob and Angie, well, you really got problems.  

And Sean Phillips illustrates this story with with his usual attention to gritty detail and grim shadows. And his son Jacob Phillips colors the book with a varied palate of the gauldy pastels of life in Hollywood and darker hues of blue, orange and purple of real and metaphorical darkness.  

The Knives is perhaps the strongest Brubaker/Phillips collaboration since Reckless - Follow Me Down. 

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We're back tomorrow with a Christmas holiday themed Your Friday Video Link.