In 2023, trade reports revealed that Amazon Studios was developing a streaming series based on Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips‘ Eisner-award winning comic book series, Criminal. With Brubaker as its showrunner, he series went into production on 2024 with Charlie Hunnam in the lead as Leo, described as “a brilliant master thief who sees all the angles.” Adria Ajorna, Emilia Clarke, Luke Evans and Michael Mando joined the cast, giving it some serious star power but there’s been little news on when to expect it. However, it looks as though we can indeed expect it to arrive this year and , to prepare for it, Image Comics is giving the original comic series a “glow up.”
Per a press release from Image, “The bestselling, fan-favorite Criminal series by multiple award-winning team Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Reckless, Houses of the Unholy, Fatale) will get a glow up this year with trade paperback reprints featuring new cover art and design from Phillips and published by Image Comics.” Image will release 8 volumes of Criminal with the first trade paperback will be available in stores on January 22nd and subsequent volumes will become available each month through August.
While the release does not provide a premier date, it does indicate that “the first season of the TV show will cover the first two story arcs of the comic book series, Criminal, Volume One: Coward and Criminal, Volume Two: Lawless.” Given that info, we shouldn’t expect to see the series hit Amazon Prime until at least March.
Preparing for the wider world to discover Criminal as a TV series, Sean and I wanted 2025 to be a big celebration of Criminal, and I couldn’t think of a better way to start that off than redesigning the entire series from the ground up, with these amazing new covers that Sean has created.
-Ed Brubaker
Brubaker’s association with the show seems to have reconnected him to his own work.”Running the Criminal TV show was a life-changing experience, but it also made me appreciate the comics more than I ever had, at the same time, and I can’t wait for new audiences to discover this wide world of crime that Sean and I have spent all these years building,” said the showrunner.
And while he doesn’t say it, it sounds as though diving back into Criminal may have sparked some new ideas in Brubaker’s mind. “Our next step in the celebration is still a surprise,” he teased, “but expect to see it announced soon, too.” Could 2025 see new issues of Criminal in your LCS? We’ll know soon enough.
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