Review by Frank Plowright

As Bryan Hitch astutely notes in his sweary introduction, Mark Millar is a master of coming up with ideas that seem obvious, yet are his own work, or in the case of Super Crooks, his own amalgamation. It transfers the crime story standby of a gang pulling one last heist before getting out of the business to super villains and mixes in a little Guy Ritchie gangster chic.

When elderly scammer Carmine is caught and needs to raise an impossible amount of money in a month he heads to Johnny Bolt, whom he once mentored. Johnny’s just completed a five stretch, which has given him plenty of time to figure out where he’s been going wrong. Why has he been using his powers in the USA where there are plenty of superheroes to stop him? Why not go to Spain where there aren’t any? The complication is that there now is, the Praetorian, recently cleared against all the odds of excessive brutality, and now employed by Johnny’s planned target, the biggest crook of all, the Bastard.

It’s a first rate set up, and is brought to life by seasoned superhero artist Leinil Francis Yu near the top of his game in a concise four chapters. The sample art shows superhero Gladiator going about his business before Johnny’s epiphany, and there’s plenty of similar quality as the crooks are introduced over a busy opening chapter before decamping to Tenerife in the second, while the plans are laid out in the third before, of course, going very wrong.

Along the way there are plenty of examples of Millar’s clever plotting, sidetracks and distractions. Why’s the Bastard still the Bastard in his old age? Just ask Danny Dubrovny, now minus around 250 friends, acquaintances and folk he once worked with. The Gladiator, presumed only needed for the introduction, has a far larger role, and Millar always has a nasty turn of mind that results in some stomach-turning moments. The first time you see the Deisels in action is bloody, but the second…

Co-plotter Nacho Vigalondo’s involvement comes via Super Crooks being conceived as comics and a film, which Vigalondo planned for a cinema screen near you. It didn’t work out that way, and Super Crooks eventually became an animated series looking at the past before seguing into the story told here.

‘Smooth’ doesn’t begin to cover it. Super Crooks is a joy from start to finish.