Read it: The Last Days of American Crime

Clawing my way through a veritable mountain of backlogged comic books, I took a quick detour to squeeze in the first issue of recently released The Last Days of American Crime.

Created by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini, TLDOAC came as a welcome kick to the groin following the hours of standard comic fare I had been gorging myself on.

In the not-too-distant future, the U.S. government is preparing to release a radio wave that will, quite literally, make people incapable of committing a crime. As the deadline for the switch approaches, the details of this top-secret event creep dangerously close to going public.

So, officials conveniently slip another story to the press to distract the masses: Paper money is about to become obsolete and all funds will be distributed by strictly controlled federal machines. With no paper money, there can be no drug deals or prostitution. There can be no cheating on your taxes. There can be no robberies involving cash. Not a single cent would be unaccounted for.

So, we’ve got money going out the window and, shortly after and unbeknownst to the public, people aren’t going to be able to do bad things to one another anymore. What is Graham, a federal employee/small time crook in charge of guarding one of the new money machines, to do?

You guessed it, pull off the biggest, and possibly last, heist of all time.

TLDOAC has a gritty, noir feel that drips off the pages. Tocchini’s art is striking, wet and perfect for the seedy world Graham lives in.

Book one opens with a fantastic, if not a bit cliché, mob-style questioning involving a lit cigarette and a carelessly sloshed jug of diesel fuel. The book continues to set up the score with Graham getting to know two of his three partners on the heist. Every damn character seems to have ulterior motives and there are dirty dealings aplenty. And this is just book one of three!

Issue one is 64 pages with no ads to break up the action, so you really get to dig into the story before being forced to wait two months for the next installment. At three times the content of a regular comic, TLDOAC comes in at just a dollar more ($4.99) than what you usually pay for 22 pages. In short, it’s terrific bang for your comic buck. It doesn’t hurt that the content is top-notch, either.