Criminal 7: Wrong Time Wrong Place
I’ve mentioned before how bleak the Criminal comics are. I don’t know if Wrong Time Wrong Place is any worse in that regard, but it’s a real downer. After surviving a brutal stint in prison in the mid-‘70s, Teeg Lawless takes his little boy Tracy on a road trip that’s directed toward various violent and criminal ends. The upshot of it being that Tracy realizes his course is already set in life and he’s just going to end up the same as his dad. It’s sad, but credit to Brubaker and Phillips for conveying that message so effectively.
It’s a simple story, padded out by lengthy fragments of comics that are being read by Teeg in prison (a Conan rip-off called Zangar the Savage) and Tracy on the road (a Werewolf by Night crossed with Shang-Chi effort called Fang the Kung-Fu Werewolf). This is a bit of self-regarding fun that the creators have indulged throughout the series, from the Frank Kafka strip in Bad Night to the Archie-style flashbacks in The Last of the Innocent. Unlike with those earlier examples though, I didn’t think the comic-within-a-comic thing served much of a purpose here. I suppose the comics are just meant to be escapist fantasies that also make some glancing comments on the action. Teeg is Zangar and Tracy is Fang, without the same scope for heroic action.
A coda has Teeg stealing some Christmas presents for his two boys that turn out to be girls’ toys. Another heist gone wrong in Center City, leaving everybody worse off and unhappier than before.
