Supercrooks
Cover of collected edition for Supercrooks, art by Leinil Francis Yu.
Publication information
PublisherIcon Comics
FormatLimited series
GenreHeist, superhero
Publication dateMarch – August 2012
No. of issues4
Creative team
Written byMark Millar
Penciller(s)Leinil Francis Yu
Inker(s)Gerry Alanguilan
Colorist(s)Sunny Gho

Supercrooks is a four-issue comic book limited series by writer Mark Millar and artist Leinil Francis Yu. The series was published by the Icon Comics imprint of Marvel Comics from March–August 2012.

Plot

Johnny Bolt is a supervillain who tries to make money by committing robberies with other masked criminals. Each of these crimes fail due to the intervention of random superheros. In Bolt's latest robbery, he is stopped by the Gladiator and is sentenced to five years in prison.

After serving his sentence, Bolt returns to his ex-girlfriend and ex-supervillain Kasey, who now works as a waitress. Despite having psychic powers, she wants to lead a normal life and doesn't want Bolt back romantically. During their reunion, an elderly supervillain friend of theirs named Carmine informs them that he has been forced to raise $100 million for a Las Vegas casino because he was caught cheating with a man who has the power of foresight.

To help his friend out, Bolt comes up with a new plan to make money, involving a heist outside the superhero-filled United States. His research shows that Spain does not have superheroes and has a suitable target: the greatest supervillain of all time, the Bastard, who possesses great telekinetic abilities and has amassed a billion-dollar fortune.

Bolt manages to convince many of his fellow supervillains, some of whom are not even active anymore, to join his team of Supercrooks against the Bastard. The group consists of Carmine, Kasey, the Phantom (an ex-burglar), TK McCabe (an ex-supervillain with telekinetic powers), Roddy and Sammy Diesel (two semi-indestructible wrestlers who fight clandestine matches), and Forecast (an ex-supervillain who is able to change the weather). After they all arrive in Tenerife, Bolt manages to surprise the team by introducing one more member, the Gladiator, who has been blackmailed into joining.

With the help of each team member, Bolt manages to break into the safe under the villa of the Bastard, making off with $800 million dollars, or $100 million per Supercrook. To keep the Bastard at bay, Kasey uses her psychic powers to create the illusion of him being in his residence when in reality he is in another place.

To avoid retaliation by the Bastard, the Supercrooks carry out the robbery wearing the costumes of the supervillains to whom Carmine owed money, who are then tracked down and killed by the criminal boss, furious for the wrong he suffered.

Release

The first issue of Supercrooks reached #51 of US comic book sales in March 2012, selling approximately 34,673 copies through Diamond Comic Distributors.[1] World-wide sales of the first issue and additional copies sold after the first month reached up to 59,600 sales.[2]

To promote sales of the series' book, Millar held a contest for bookstores. Under the contest rules, the store that purchased the most copies of Supercrooks #1 would have Mark Millar personally visit for a book signing. The National Book Store in Manila, Philippines, won the contest.[3] Millar held the signing for the store in May 2012 alongside his Supercrooks collaborators, Filipino artists Yu and Alanguilan, and Indonesian colorist Gho.[4]

Reception

The comic series scored an average rating of 7.7 for the entire series based on 29 critic reviews aggregated by Comic Book Roundup.[5] The series was generally praised for the artwork by Yu,[6][7] but some reviewers found the characters unlikeable and forgettable.[7][8] It was compared, both positively and negatively, to Ocean's Eleven with superheroes.[7][9]

Adaptations

Supercrooks adaptations were attempted on two occasions, prior to an adaptation being released in 2017. In 2011, before the book was published, it was optioned to be a film directed by Nacho Vigalondo.[10] Those plans did not end up moving forward. Instead, in 2016, Waypoint Entertainment obtained the rights to develop a television series adaptation.[11]

After Netflix acquired Millarworld in 2017, the company developed an anime series adaptation titled Super Crooks,[12] which debuted in November 25, 2021, and served as a prequel to the comic, before overlapping with it in the final episodes.[13] In May 2021, Netflix released a Jupiter's Legacy adaptation, another Millarworld title. By June, in the same announcement that Netflix had cancelled Jupiter's Legacy after one season, a live-action version of Supercrooks was revealed to be in development, as a spin-off of Jupiter's Legacy.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Comichron: March 2012 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops". Comichron. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  2. ↑ Johnston, Rich (April 8, 2012). "Numbercrunching Supercrooks". Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press.
  3. ↑ "Comic book writer Mark Millar to visit PH". ABS-CBN News. March 1, 2012.
  4. ↑ De Vera, Ruel S. (June 4, 2012). "How Mark Millar conquered Manila". Philippine Daily Inquirer: Lifestyle.
  5. ↑ "Supercrooks Reviews". Comic Book Roundup. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  6. ↑ Duran, Aaron (March 24, 2012). "Newsarama.com : Best Shots Rapid Reviews: Supercrooks #1". Newsarama. TechMedia Network. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24.
  7. 1 2 3 Schedeen, Jesse (May 31, 2012). "Supercrooks #3 Review - IGN". IGN. News Corporation.
  8. ↑ Langton, Adam J. (March 24, 2012). "Super Crooks #1". CBR.
  9. ↑ Peterson, Matthew (August 25, 2012). "REVIEW: Supercrooks #4 (of 4) — Major Spoilers — Comic Book Reviews, News, Previews, and Podcasts". Major Spoilers.
  10. ↑ Anderton, Ethan (May 19, 2011). "'Timecrimes' Director Adapting Mark Millar's Comic Book 'Supercrooks' | FirstShowing.net". firstshowing.net.
  11. ↑ Busch, Anita (April 26, 2016). "Waypoint Acquires Properties From Mark Millar, Comic Book Writer Of 'Captain America: Civil War'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
  12. ↑ Webber, Tim (March 11, 2019). "Netflix Developing Supercrooks Anime Based on Mark Millar Series". CBR. Valnet Inc.
  13. ↑ Lacerna, Michael (September 30, 2021). "Super Crooks Anime Is Mostly a Prequel to the Source Comics". CBR. Valnet Inc.
  14. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (June 2, 2021). "'Supercrooks' Live-Action Millarworld Series Ordered By Netflix As 'Jupiter's Legacy' Releases Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
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