Suzie thinks she is a regular girl, living a normal life with typical teenage problems, but she has a very unique gift; when she has an orgasm time stops for a while. She calls this ‘The Quiet’; it is a time where she reflects on her life and the world without any interruptions. She can do anything and it soon becomes a solitude for her to escape the world around her. After having sex at a party she soon discovers her gift in not so unique, she finds herself in ‘The Quiet’ with her recent sexual partner Jon.

The two become close as they discuss their shared ability; no longer are they the only one that can stop time. As you can imagine they have so many questions but both are still trying to work out mysteries of this power. As they spend more time together, eventually they decide they could use this ability for personal gain. They can freeze time and rob a bank; there would be no one to stop them, or so they think.

I first discovered Matt Fraction when I read Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon and find his writing style appealing. He explores the more human side of a superhero or one with the ability to stop time. Sex Criminals had gotten a lot of good reviews and it sounded wacky enough to try. It is a bawdy and brazen sex comedy with a rather dated aesthetics. Artist Chip Zdarsky really brings a very seventies vibe into the graphic novel. The fashion and hair remind me of the era and ‘The Quiet’ has a technicolour vibe to it.

I suspect they (Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky) are paying homage to the 70′s as an era of free love and sexual freedom or they are both products of that generation. Either way, it seems to work well with the story. Sex Criminals is a rather odd series but I do enjoy the way it explores the world of these characters through sex and stopping time. It is pushing the boundaries of the comic world, exploring real life people and sexuality in a superhero kind of way. It did earn a banning from the Apple store for its efforts but was also named one of Time Magazine’s top 10 graphic novels for 2013.

This review originally appeared on my blog: literary-exploration.com/2014/06/04/sex-criminals-one-weird-trick-by-matt-fraction/