My 36th book for the year is one I couldn’t find images to tweet about and even had trouble grabbing a featured image for to top this blog post.  That’s because the book – volume one of Sex Criminals written by Matt Fraction with art by Chip Zdarsky – is a ridiculously funny, raunchy, frequently inappropriate, yet oddly touching story of two people who can stop time by reaching sexual climax (even trying to write about this book gets tricky).  Susie calls the state she enters at these moments The Quiet (I can’t tell you what Jon calls it) and this first volume comes mostly from her perspective as she narrates how she discovered this ability, what she has done with it in her life, and what happens when she meets Jon – the first other person she has met with the same ability to stop time.  By the end of the book we also learn what happens the first time that they encounter the Sex Police, a group of people attempting to reign in the exploits of those who possess this time-stopping power.

At several points in this book I laughed out loud; Fraction’s writing and Zdarsky’s art pair wonderfully in realizing this tale.  The premise is absurd but the execution of the story makes this (almost) believable, especially as we get to know Jon and Susie’s backstories and as we begin to see already the likely problems toward which they are heading.  Like many of the other books I’ve read lately this volume is available on Comixology Unlimited so for a small monthly fee you can dive into this enjoyable story and many others.  I expect to come back for more of this book that leaped to cult-status popularity during its initial run and that continues to draw critical and fan praise.  Not for the easily offended, but if you can handle the raunchiness you’ll be rewarded with a funny and deep story.