This was so fun! I've been meaning to read Criminal for years, so I had to jump at the chance to read this early. It really lived up to the hype! It told a ton of story in the few issues that this covers and made me really excited to see more of these characters in the rest of the series. I liked Ricky and Mallory a lot and seeing them get themselves into more and more trouble was a lot of fun. I also didn't know that the series is being made into a TV show in the near future, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. Just a request for the publisher, please allow your books to be read in a browser or have a send to Kindle option. I had to download Thorium Reader to read this on my laptop because the shelf app is only available on Android and Apple devices, and it was a giant hassle. Still, I loved the story and had a great time reading it, so thanks for the ARC!

I have been reading Criminal since the beginning, but this volume was something special. The art is amazing, I really like the choices Jacob Phillips made on the colouring, and Brubaker’s story kicked ass. An excellent addition to the overall Lawless story, or great as a standalone.

The upcoming <i>Criminal</i> show that will be streaming on Amazon Prime Video is already a success in my mind simply for prompting Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips to give us two new graphic novels about the Lawless family in the last year, first <i>The Knives</i> and now <i>Five Gears in Reverse</i>.

Broderick "Ricky" Lawless gives a master class in how not to be a criminal as he scrambles with his girlfriend Mallory through a series of bad deals in 2004 in an attempt to pay off a debt to a bookie. Drugs are consumed, mistakes are made, and people die, needlessly and bloodily, over and over.

Get your schadenfreude on as this trainwreck unfolds in a riveting spiral of love and violence.


Disclosure: I received access to a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: The High Roller -- The Bad Getaway -- The Trip -- The Girl from Nowhere -- The Way Some People Die -- Afterword

I love the Criminal series, so I’m always eager to check out a new one. As usual, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips don’t disappoint.

Five Gears in Reverse drops us back into the mess that is Ricky Lawless’s life, and it wastes no time doing it. The book moves fast, sometimes almost breathless, piling trouble on top of trouble as Ricky tries to pay off a mob debt while falling hard for Mallory. It’s fun in that grim, doomed way Criminal does best. You know this won’t end cleanly, and that tension carries the whole story.

It's amazing how much ground the book covers without feeling rushed. Brubaker sketches full lives in a few sharp scenes, and Phillips sells every bad decision with a look or a shadow. If there’s a weakness, it’s that the breakneck pace leaves little room to sit with the fallout.

Still, this was a great time. It’s a strong return for longtime fans and an easy entry point for new readers.

Note: I received access to read this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Man this series is consistent with its bangers. The pacing is so perfect. you're told just enough about these characters to root for them even though they're terrible people. I'm hungry for the rest.

Five Gears in Reverse: A Criminal Book by Ed Brubaker is a crime story filled with regret, bad choices, and facing consequences. It has strong noir themes and dark (although, very well done) artwork that keeps readers wanting more. The darkness of the story is not for every reader, but it was real easy getting drawn into Ricky Lawless and Mallory's story. It is truly amazing the situations that Ricky keeps falling into.

Another great read in the Criminal series from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. I always love these stories, and they always deliver. Can't wait to read another in the series. #FiveGearsInReverseACriminalBook #NetGalley

Five Gears in Reverse is a gritty noir-esque story about a miscalculating criminal trying to survive his past mistakes while doing right by the girl he loves. It is bloody, dramatic, and full of all the good trademarks of a noir or gangster film. The art lends to this atmosphere with an excellent rendition of 50s-60s noir films in full color. The story is fast-paced and a pleasure to read. High recommendation.

Even if you haven't been reading Criminal lo these many years, Five Gears offers plenty of pleasures; interlocking pulp stories with plenty of violence, humor, and a dash of minor key heart. If you're a long time fan, this book fills in a few blanks. Heartily recommended.

Brubacker and Phillips are a magical team. They have a truly unique way of shoving you down the slippery slope of the gritty, dangerous world of ordinary criminals. There are no great mastermind here, just fuck ups and violence.

The last installment in the Criminal series is just as good as the previous ones.

if you haven't read the previous books, this might not be the best entry point but it still works well as a standalone.

Thank you Image Comics for this ARC!

Loved every page of this. Ricky is at the same time the best and worst at what he does. He keeps trying to fix things only to make it worse and have to fix the fix while fixing the fix. This was great if you want a fun silly, spiraling book here you go.

Lord praise 2026, because getting more CRIMINAL is exactly what the world needed.

This new volume, Five Gears In Reverse, proves why this series is the gold standard of noir. Ed Brubaker weaves a masterful, suspenseful storyline that starts with a slow-burn tension before shifting into a total frenzy. The plot follows an excellent cast of desperate characters caught in a high-stakes downward spiral, where every decision leads to a darker dead end. The first half meticulously sets the board, but the crazy second half hits like a freight train, delivering the kind of gritty, hard-boiled action that makes this series legendary. I love this fucking shit.

The payoff in this book is incredible, especially seeing the narrative deliver some visceral, well-deserved justice. Watching a rapist get beaten to death was a standout moment, cathartic, brutal, and exactly the kind of no-mercy storytelling I love.

It all builds toward a wonderful ending. This is an easy 4.5 out of 5, but the sheer impact of the finale has me bumping it to a full 5 stars. More of this please!

So here I am rereading all of the Criminal volumes as of February 2026 when I discover yet another Criminal volume will be out in June 2026--this one!--so thanks to (my pals, I wish!) Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Jacob Phillips for this early look at volume #12, entitled Five Gears in Reverse, with its focus on how (not quite) “high roller” (thief, actually) Ricky Lawless got together with Mallory, (also criminal; a match made, well, not in Heaven) whom we first meet in Volume 6, Lawless, introducing us to Tracy Lawless who went AWOL from Iraq to find out who it is killed his brother Ricky.

The colors by Jacob alert us to the fact that we are not quite in the sewer we usually find ourselves in the Criminal universe, but a neon world maybe owing some homage to the swanky colors of Darwyn Cooke (see his jazzy adaptations of thief Parker). Colorful. Not as yellow as the California colors that ironically illuminate the sad junkie story of Agnes in My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies. But still, light and bright, as in drug-induced turn-that-light-down-man, you’re killing my buzz.

The early images from Jacob and Sean feel mid-sixties, a touch of Rickky as wanna-be Bond to it, or maybe just Vegas grifter/hustler in a shiny cheap suit. Luxury hotels, playground for the rich. Ricky is out of his league and knows it, 25 k in the hole with some brutal bookie. Let’s see, how can we get the dough, and fast?! Well Ricky is a thief, a big time gambler is running a game, easy peasy, get into his hotel room and rob him when he gets back! But we learn repeatedly that as much as we like Ricky, he is a screw-up, always, so when he gets to the hotel room he finds the gram a buddy gave him is smack, not coke, oops, five miles in reverse going downhill begins.

He blows a gram as, get this, he listens on his ipod to an Agatha Christie novel, Evil under the Sun (1941), haw, and then he’s ordering shakes and burgers and watching Bad Santa on tv and falls asleep. When the guy comes in, he is still high, they of course fight, and Ricky ends up killin’ the guy.. . but oops, it is the wrong address, a rare purely comic issue in Criminal. Pulp fiction comedy!

As there are comics in almost every volume of Criminal, Ricky recalls watching cartoons (Danny Dagger) with his Dad, Teeg, which he says may be his happiest memory of his Daddio. Brubaker said he got the idea for this one-shot while working on the tv series, so expect to see it on the screen! Cannot wait!

In the second episode, Ricky and malory rob a store, but then they blow a tire and “of course it just gets worse from there.” It’s a Criminal version of Keystone Kops or something, where everything keeps getting worse. It’s Laurel and Hardy. . . except Laurel (Mallory) gets hurt, and we learn Ricky really does love Mallory, so we get a flashback to when they first met.. Of course, he screws things up with her, but recalls that first night, almost wistfully: “I wish we never got outta that shower.”

[There’s a Joni Mitchell reference in here, friend Jenna, “You don’t know what you got til it’s gone,” so here you go, fellow Joni fans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2595abcvh2M]

In the issue The Trip, Ricky gets paid by some boss (he needs to pay the bookie throughout this whole volume) to take a trip to free a lawyer who is himself a horrible human being. He does it, but the guy is such an asshole. . . . so the job gets blown, anyway.
We get an issue, The Girl From Nowhere, of background on Mallory, which Brubaker says will be part of the tv series.

Okay, that’s enough. Of the more than 400 books I read last year I said volume 11, The Knives, was one of the three or four books I read all 2025. What do you think this book is gonna be? You guessed it.