Promising 'Last Days of American Crime' needs concept development

When Radical first announced its "The Last Days of American Crime," Comics Guy was immediately anxious to read it.

The combination of Radical's production values, fan-favorite crime comic writer Rick Remender and an epic story concept had the promise of producing the crime story to end all crime stories.

Indeed, the idea behind "The Last Days of American Crime" is a doozy: In the not-too-distant-future, the U.S. government has generated major controversy by announcing the abolition of paper money in favor of federally operated charge cards - the logic being that the elimination of paper money will put an end to drug trafficking and bank robberies. No one will get paid off the books anymore. Every purchase will be recorded, tracked and taxed - and as a result, most criminals are about to be put out of business.

Career criminal Graham Bricke feels he can take advantage of the situation by stealing one of the new charge machines without anyone being the wiser.

However, the Washington Post soon reports that the controversy over the transition from paper to electronic money was designed by the U.S. government to keep everyone occupied so it could enact its real plan: to eliminate domestic terrorism and crime by secretly broadcasting a signal that prohibits citizens - neurologically - from engaging in unlawful behavior.

With the clock ticking (the signal will be broadcast in two weeks), the country spins into chaos. People with any criminal compulsion are giving into it. Hookers are servicing their clients on front porches, not wanting to waste time, and the cops have their hands full.

With everyone looking for one last score, Bricke is still determined to pull off the score. In short, one charge box, hacked correctly, can provide him with unlimited U.S. currency. With time running out, he enlists the aid of Kevin Cash and the beautiful Shelby Dupree and asks them to accomplish in two weeks what would take the best hackers in the world two months.

The stakes are high. Everything has to be done just right for them to be able to sneak into Canada, which has put its border security on steroids after news of "the signal" becomes public.

Sad to say, despite the cool concept being played out in its pages, Comics Guy finds "TLDAC" a disappointment.

Not only is there no one to root for, there is no one to even respect because there is no one here who seemingly respects themselves.

Also, Remender never gives us a sense in this first issue of the grand scope of "the signal" and the effect it is having nationwide. From riots in the streets to overwhelmed police to savvy politicians trying to put spin on such an Orwellian plan, there were a lot of angles and points of view he could have included that would have really made the story epic.

Instead, we get three small-time cons trying to pull off a heist of breathtaking scope and complexity. Not only have they given no indication as yet that they have the skills to pull this off, but the scenes come off as clones of other crime comics and TV shows.

Radical is promoting this as a 64-page book for only $4.99 as part of its "Bigger Books! Bigger Value!" line. But there are only 48 pages of story. The rest are sketches, extras and house ads. Sorry, but if you're promoting the book as a 64-page story, then Comics Guy feels there should have been 64 pages of story.

Comics Guy also thinks Radical would have been much better off pushing the 48-page book for only $3.99. They would have snagged more readers that way, especially with Remender somewhat hot right now.

"The Last Days of American Crime" isn't terrible, but with the cool concept and Remender crafting the story, more should be expected. Maybe the next two issues will fulfill some of the book's promise.

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