My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies
Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips
Image Comics, 2018
Didn't realize until I started reading this that it is subtitled "A Criminal novella." None of the recurring Criminal characters appear, but it does indeed feature lots of criminal behavior, so the connection is there. Ellie is the young woman with the hero worship of drug addicts referenced in the title. Shortly after the story opens we find her in rehab: but saying her heart isn't really in it is a massive understatement. Her fascination with junkies is fueled by older jazz and rock music created while under the influence, which she heard on the mix-tapes her mother had sent to her father while he was in prison.
So Ellie is just putting in time, and prides herself on being a bad influence on fellow patient Skip. There are intimations that she may have ulterior motives for seducing him, but nothing explicit. When they are caught outside after lights out, she convinces him to run away with her (with the additional motive that they are both likely to fail a drug test). They spend some time as romantic young outlaw lovers, crashing in vacated houses and selling drugs for money.
In the end Ellie's real agenda starts to become clear, but Skip is completely clueless until she sells him out. It is a surprising twist that is worthy of the Criminal series, even if much of the story is less involving than usual. In many ways this is more a story of bad family dynamics than criminal actions. But as always Brubaker and Phillips form a dynamic team, and the novella is well worth reading.
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