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‘Smooth Criminals #5:’ Comic Book Review

The quirky jewel heist/buddy comedy continues, as suave jewel thief Mia Corsair and socially awkward hacker Brenda (a.k.a. “Killa-B”) prepare to steal the famed Net of Indra in broad daylight from a museum exhibit. The two are still working to bypass the exhibit’s security system, but Brenda can’t seem to concentrate, as she’s too busy thinking about her secret crush, a woman named Tallulah Blue who posts in the same online forum as “Killa-B.”

Mia, being from the 1960s, has a hard time grasping online forums or the idea of friends you only know through words on a screen. She does know romance, though, and decides to help Brenda track down and meet this Tallulah Blue in the flesh—if only to get it out of her system, so she can focus again on the heist.

As always, the story is peppered with ’90s pop culture references. Mia and Brenda take a break from their heist planning to go to an arcade and play Dance Dance Revolution, while Brenda loans Mia her boxed set of the first five seasons of Friends on VHS. It seems time-displaced Mia is gradually growing more acclimated to the world of 1999. She can actually follow Brenda’s modern slang pretty well and even use it herself on occasion. The two are also growing closer. Despite Mia’s protestations that she’s only working with Brenda so she can pull off the heist, it’s clear that they really are becoming friends. Not that she’d ever admit it.

The story is a lot of fun. It can be funny, silly, sweet, and exciting, all in a single issue. It’s also pretty adept at balancing the heist plot with the friendship plot. This issue is mostly about Mia and Brenda’s evolving friendship, but it has a healthy dose of cool heist shenanigans and general intrigue, as well. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Creative Team: Kurt Lustgarten, Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith, and Amy Roy (writers), Leisha Riddel (illustrator), Raven Warner (additional inks), Brittany Peer (colors), Ed Dukeshire (letters), and Audrey Mok (cover)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Click here to purchase.

Steven W. Alloway, Fanbase Press Contributor

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