Comics will just kill you. Hal Crane should know, he's been around since practically the beginning. Stuck at an out-of-town convention, waiting to receive a lifetime achievement award, Hal's weekend takes us on a dark ride through the secret history of a medium that's always been haunted by crooks, swindlers, and desperate dreamers.
[Brubaker] he blends industry lore, Comic-Con atmosphere and his own gritty view of human nature in a compelling, concise summertime thriller ... Because Brubaker knows his material so well, Bad Weekend is full of Easter eggs for sharp-eyed readers with some knowledge of the world of Comic-Con and comic art ... paints an acid-etched portrait of fandom, comics professionals and Comic-Con itself – one that rings true to anyone with connections to the industry and culture ... It’s also entertaining as hell. After more than a dozen years of the award-winning comics-noir series, Brubaker and Phillips know how to blend their art and storytelling styles into a polished page-turner.
With this Eisner Award–winning volume, expanding stories first serialized in the Criminal series, the incomparable team of Brubaker and Phillips once again prove themselves among the best creators of crime fiction in any genre.
... a welcome and beautiful edition to a sleazy, sordid bibliography ... a noir story with a human core. Crane and Jacob simultaneously conform to certain crime fiction archetypes (the alcoholic and the goon with the good heart) while also remaining unique creations ... shows off the talents of all three men who created it. Brubaker’s writing is as crisp and direct as it always is ... Phillip’s gritty pencils give real flesh and blood to Brubaker’s words, and illustrator and colorist Jacob Phillips mixes bright pinks, subdued blues and reds, and tons of black ... a near-perfect addition to the Criminal canon. It is a bleak tale with familiar faces, but not so in-depth that it could turn off first-time readers. Bad Weekend is crime comics at their finest, so why not waste a boozy weekend with this graphic novel.
