Posted in: Comics, Image | Tagged: criminal, ed brubaker, guardian, sean phillips

Ed Brubaker And Sean Phillips' Criminal Ads In The Guardian Newspaper

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Criminal ads from Image Comics in the Guardian newspaper

Published Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:58:04 -0600

Article Summary

Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips gets a UK newspaper ad campaign via Image Comics.
Image Comics promotes Criminal in the Guardian ahead of the Amazon Prime series launch.
The series originally started at Marvel’s Icon imprint in 2006 and explores gritty crime stories.
New Criminal collections and a graphic novel are out to coincide with upcoming TV adaptations.

Thanks to Danny Conway for letting me share this, as it seems that Image Comics is advertising Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' comic books in the Guardian newspaper in the UK, ahead of the Amazon Prime series launch of Criminal. That's after I just saw Dog Man adverts on the London Underground.

Ed Brubaker And Sean Phillips' Criminal Ads In The Guardian Newspaper — Photo by Danny Conway, used with permission

Is this what an exclusive comic book deal with Image Comics gets you? What did the series' original publisher, Marvel Comics, offer in terms of profile-raising publicity? Full pages in the NYT or Washington Post? I haven't seen them… has anyone else seen similar ads in their local broadsheets? Do let me know…

Criminal began in October 2006 from Marvel's Icon imprint, as a meditation on the clichés of the crime genre while remaining realistic and believable. Pickpocket Leo Patterson got involved in an armoured car heist that is not what it seems. Tracy Lawless infiltrates his brother Ricky's former gang to find out who murdered him. More stories spilled out of these, in the Center City, the same bar, and a common history of two generations of crime, as Tommy Patterson, with his partner Ivan, ran the city's most proficient crew of pickpockets and taught the trade to his eight-year-old son, Leo. When Tommy was arrested and imprisoned for the murder of Teeg Lawless, Ivan took care of Leo and explained to him how following certain rules can keep a criminal "out in the world", out of both prison and the morgue. The series returned in 2019 with Teeg Lawless, and more series have kicked off since, with new collections this year to coincide with the upcoming TV series, along with a new graphic novel, The Knives, published in August. The TV series created by co-showrunners Ed Brubaker and Jordan Harper stars Charlie Hunnam as Leo, Richard Jenkins as Ivan, Adria Arjona as Greta, Kadeem Hardison as Gnarly, Logan Browning as Jenny, Emilia Clarke as Mallory, Luke Evans as Tracy Lawless, and Gus Halper as Ricky Lawless. The series has yet to be scheduled…