Bad Night (Brubaker, Phillips)

This is more like it. Issues 4-7 of volume two of the Eisner-winning Criminal collected into a trade. Every time I pick up an issue of Criminal I have to ask myself why on earth it isn't on my pull list and the only reason I can come up with is that it's even better when you've got a complete story.
The last time I saw a writer and artist working in such perfect harmony it was Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. The comparison is apt; what the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is for the pulps, Criminal is for film noir.
This particular tale is about comic strip writer and artist with a long-buried criminal past and whose life has been taken from him by a terrible accident. Now he's an insomniac, wandering the city at night. And one night, one bad night, he walks into the wrong night cafe at the wrong time and starts down a path to counterfeiting, robbery, kidnapping and murder.  As the back cover copy says it's "an explosive tale of sex, crime, insanity and cartooning" and it's brilliant.  If you like "The Wire" or "The Shield" you'll love this - it would make a great gift for someone who thinks they won't like comics because they don't like superheroes.