Sex Criminals #6
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Chip Zdarsky
Publisher: Image Comics
With issue #6, Sex Criminals begins its second arc, moving the story of Jon and Suzie away from their ill-fated bank robbery and into the fallout of their run-in with the Sex Police.
Shaken up enough to call an end to their Bonnie and Clyde days, the couple find themselves settling into the routine of normality (well, as normal as you can get, anyway, when your orgasms stop the passage of time). The money they did manage to steal has bought Suzie’s library extra time with the bank, and she quickly throws herself into a fundraiser to make up the deficit.
But Jon’s not adjusting well to this new stage of their relationship. It’s obvious from the first page – he’s in black and white, for starters, and he’s experiencing a horrifying Ken-doll complex of sorts. For the first time, Jon himself draws this to the attention of the reader, as Suzie had done in the first arc. Does this mean a switch in focus for the next few issues? For the moment, it certainly seems that way, spending most of the issue growing more obsessive and less affable. Did they really escape the clutches of the Sex Police? Or are they in fact being watched? Just because you’re paranoid…
It’s a credit to the world that Fraction and Zdarsky have created that at no point does any of the above seem out of place or outlandish – it’s wonderful that such literal methods of storytelling can be used and yet somehow seem fresh. Once again, Sex Criminals displays its uncanny ability to take a set of real, genuine fears and translate them wholesale into its fantastical world. Jon is black and white because he’s levelling out, forced to take medication to control his mental disorders. His problem down there stems from his anxiety over Suzie’s slowing libido post-honeymoon stage. The issue of one partner finishing before the other during sex is even explored – for Jon and Suzie, this means only one of them entering The Quiet, alone and awkward.
Luckily, the serious nature of the main plot doesn’t mean a reduction in the 
series’ trademark humour. There are several laugh-out-loud moments in this issue, particularly Jon’s descent into hypochondria. Czarsky’s artwork, as always, compliments Fraction’s sharp writing, juggling several stark contrasts in colour as the plot jumps around in time and space, and his visual gags are spot on.
There’s a definite emphasis here on character development over plot (and when it’s this well written, that’s not a criticism), but by the end of the issue it’s obvious where the creative duo are taking the immediate story. What makes Sex Criminals such a wonderful read, however, is the knowledge that it doesn’t really matter – for both the answers, and the journey to reach them, will be anything but.
