Most comic readers prefer to get their issues from a local shop instead of a faceless retailer. But there’s one series with a title so embarrassing, so shocking, that some sheepish fans would prefer the anonymity of Amazon over the discomfort of buying in person. That series is Image Comics‘ Sex Criminals, by writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky.
Soon, however, Amazon is going to spread the discomfort into the world of television. Prime Video plans to adapt Sex Criminals to live action, produced by writers Emily V. Gordon and Tze Chun and actor/comedian Kumail Nanjiani, the last of whom will also appear in the show.
Sex Criminals follows a young woman named Suze, who discovered during adolescence that time stops when she climaxes, literally. As she grew into adulthood and took a quiet job as a librarian, Suze just assumed that her weird trick was hers alone. But during a one-night stand with an actor called Jon, Suze learned that her new partner had the same ability. The couple decides to make money by sneaking into bank bathrooms, getting it on, and taking money during the time-stopping afterglow. However, their actions run afoul of a group of S&M-wearing secret police, who want to punish Suze and Jon for their crimes.
The series was a critical smash, regularly appearing atop best of lists and earning a Hugo Award nomination. Sex Criminals is a true dream team comic, as both Fraction and Zdarsky have done excellent work for the big two publishers in the past. Fraction wrote the classic Iron Fist and Hawkeye series for Marvel, and is currently writing a masterpiece in the making with Batman at DC, and Zdarsky’s Daredevil run may be even better than those by Frank Miller and Brian Michael Bendis.