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Sometimes happy endings can be rather messy. There can just be so much to cram into what is sometimes a very tight space. The journey has been long and hard, but here we are, finally finished. While some succumb to the pressure and finish too early, getting to 69 was the perfect way for Matt and Chip to finish. Some might even say it was the only way.
Let’s do this one last time; Sex Criminals #69 was written by Matt Fraction with art by Chip Zdarsky. The main cover is by Chip Zdarsky, as is the variant cover in collaboration with Matt Fraction, in what is probably the most courageous, mortifying, daring, and insane cover anyone has ever attempted in comics. Oh, how I wish this were hyperbole, but no, bless those brave fools.
Going Out With A Bang
Sex Criminals #69 takes place three years and three months after Sex Criminals #30, a stupid kind of clever that I find almost embarrassingly hilarious. I really love using Bud and Dewey as pseudo-self-inserts here. Knowing that creators are having just as much fun making the book as you are reading is a great feeling. This is the afterglow issue of the book, you know, in the book that takes afterglow to whole new levels. It’s a wedding where everyone can be together one last time, at least for our eyes. Who knows what happens after that last page, but the sun is beginning to set on this tale.
The pacing of Sex Criminals #69 is functionally perfect. We go through the stages with Jon and Suze individually, seeing where they’re at these days, as well our beloved cast. The jokes are largely subtler this time, leaving space for you to feel the breadth of emotion this finale delivers. You see pages of love being celebrated, of family being cherished, and of friendship being reveled in. It brought me to tears.
It Was Always Going To End This Way
This was never a story about Jon and Suze trying to figure out how they could live happily ever after with each other. It was about they could live happily ever after with themselves. It’s more complex than simply Jon and Suze not ending up together. While that is true and might upset some people, this was just the natural conclusion for them. Such is life that sometimes people who love each other can’t afford to be together and also live their lives efficiently or even happily.
What’s important here is the growth of the characters. Jon has come into a career that was not even remotely visible to him at any point in the series prior, and Suze has found a way to live with her past, and most importantly, herself. And now that things are ended amicably between them, they’re able to spend time together and not be overwhelmed by each other. They can just enjoy each others’ presence, and the significance of that after everything they’ve been through can’t be overstated.
The Cover Of Sex Criminals #69
The main cover of this book is an inspired choice. The cover isn’t there to mislead you about the ending, but rather it’s celebratory of the time we spent with Jon and Suze together over the course of the series. The warmth, the joy, the love that the cover emanates is overwhelming with emotion.
It’s a beautiful, lasting image and one of Chip’s covers for the series, if not the best. It makes an excellent companion for the last page of the series as well. It feels almost reassuring in a way.
The Art Of Sex Criminals #69
Chip could never draw a comic again and still go out with his head held high because he never lost a beat from start to finish. This book could never have been the same with anyone else. Chip’s wit on art, from the clever shirts to small, hilarious background details, was essential to making Sex Criminals, in general, the hilarious success that it’s been.
Not only the humor but to mention the incredible work he put into the vibrant, layered colors used when characters used their “powers.” But in this issue, the mood he was able to capture, between utilizing body language and dramatic lighting, really gave those last pages the emotional punch they needed to knock readers out.
An Ending To Sex Criminals
It’s clear that Fraction had a journey that echoed across these pages, which makes the story that much more powerful and resonant. Maybe it isn’t the defining work of either creator, but I do believe it’s the most honest. Hell, it’s some of the most honest work of any creator, I’d say. One quote in Letter Daddies that Fraction responded to a letter with that hit me especially hard after reading this series,
“emotions never got in the way — emotions are the way.”
I think that perfectly sums up a lot of what I take away from this series. I loved this series. I loved this comic. There aren’t many works like this in the comic world that are able to tell a story so personal. Now that Sex Criminals is over if you still want to read more by Matt and Chip, they worked together on a story in the recent Detective Comics #1027 for Detective Comics, DC for short, some call them. Separately, Chip writes the consistently phenomenal Daredevil over at little-known publisher, Marvel Comics. At the same time, Matt is cranking out volumes of November with the fabulous Elsa Charretier for Image Comics.
