Sex Criminals, Vol. 1: One Weird Trick
Written By: Matt Fraction
Art By: Chip Zdarsky
Suzie and Jon both have the same bizarre ability: when they have an orgasm, they stop time. They meet at a party Suzie has thrown as a benefit for the local library, which is being closed because a bank is foreclosing on the property. As a librarian I have difficulty imagining any way this could happen in the real world, but I suppose stranger things have happened. Anyway, it explains the "criminals" part: the couple are robbing banks to pay off the bank loan and prevent the foreclosure.
The robbery of the big bank branch (where Jon works, and Suzie's father was killed) drives the action of this entire first arc: it's foreshadowed in the first sex scene, on the third page of Issue 1. The story immediately shifts back to the death of Suzie's dad, her home life afterwards, and her discovery of her weird ability. Puberty is confusing enough, but Suzie has this additional complication to figure out. It takes her awhile to establish that stopping time during sex is not normal.
Jon had a similarly confusing time understanding what was going on. Naturally when they get together, they immediately form a powerful bond. So it's a love story. But there's an additional complication, in the form of the Sex Police (yes, they actually call themselves that). Apparently there are others with the time-stopping power, and they show up at the big bank robbery, complete with white uniforms and tazers.
Jon and Suzy manage to pull the Sex Police out of The Quiet (which is what Suzie calls the feeling of stopping time) and escape. We haven't learned much about the SP, and they appear to know a lot about The Quiet, so this will clearly be a big part of the ongoing story. Jon also has a medical condition that he has stopped taking medication for, so that's another part of the narrative. Not bad for a series that Fraction and Zdarsky never thought would make it past five issues. As Fraction said in a panel at the 2014 HeroesCon: "So, I guess they don't get caught?"
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The trade also includes a bunch of cool extras. There are a couple of pages of alternate captions that weren't used in the comic, and the script of a radio drama created online to promote the first issue. Zdarsky contributes a couple of pages about his process, and a page showing how one of the alternate covers was Photoshopped. Last but not least, nine reprint and variant covers are reproduced.
I read the first few issues of this and kept waiting for something to happen. It never did, and I stopped reading.
I read the first five in one sitting (after sampling the first one on Comixology). By the time you get to the end of the first arc quite a bit has happened, but I could see how the pace might be too slow month to month. I'll grant that they could have gotten to the bank robbery faster than five issues, and might have if they expected it to be the runaway hit it became.