Fusing The 1960’s And 1990’s In Smooth Criminals #2
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
We jump back to 1969, the night of one of Mia’s scores before returning to the present, well 1999. Brenda has to go to work, but she leaves Mia nearby to learn the ways of 1999. Mia wants to just go back to her own time and finish her heist of the Net of Indra from someone called the Ice Man (ice referencing diamonds in this case). After a day of work, Mia forces Brenda to hunt down the time machine she found. However, when the return to the store room, it’s gone.
Smooth Criminals #2 allows us to learn some of Mia’s history while allowing us to see how she and Brenda get along. There are some clashes, but they become allies quickly.
Both women are innately dissatisfied with the state of their lives, with Mia constantly striving for more and Brenda having been left in the dust of her dreams.
They make for a charming duo, and the frequent use of 1960’s and 1990’s colloquialisms makes for especially fun dialogue.
The concept of pairing an old-style criminal with one from the internet age is a pretty clever complex on the face of it. That’s before we get to the characters themselves, and, as we’ve already established, Mia and Brenda are great characters.
We get a brief view of some of the potential antagonists of the series too, though we don’t learn a lot about them beyond one being a thief and the other being a scientist.
Leisha Riddel’s artwork is once again dynamic, inclined towards displaying motion, and cute in parts. The visual design is quite solid, and the design of Mia’s catsuit is quite good. Brittany Peer’s color work is vibrant and looks great.
Smooth Criminals #2 is another charming and energetic issue of this fledgling series. Brenda and Mia continue to be entertaining characters, the artwork continues to impress, and this issue earns a recommendation. Check this one out.
Smooth Criminals #2 comes to us from writers Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith, artist Leisha Riddel, color artist Brittany Peer, letterer Ed Dukeshire, and cover artist Audrey Mok.
