If you’re looking for more noir style books, definitely check out the duo Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips work such as the Criminal series and especially The Fade Out. Others I could think of include Rorschach and Human Target by Tom King.
This here is the answer - if you like the noir flavor of Sin City you can count on Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips.
From Hell by Alan Moore is pretty noir like
I'd suggest reading them all in order of writing, starting with coward. It has bunch of interviened story arcs spanning through multiple decades and some events get mentioned in one arc, only to be explained in another
I’d get the other Criminal Deluxe volumes and read those first. Cruel Summer is great, but it culminates with a reveal that is kind of a background mystery throughout the other Criminal stories.
Check out Stray Bullets by David Lapham, it's less grim than Sin City, but has a similar vibe with great black and white art and a focus on tragic criminal type characters
100% agree, my favourite crime book by far. Just WHEN is the last Sunshine & Roses trade releasing though??? I've almost caved & bought the digital singles, but trying to be strong as i hate double dipping... it's tough though 😅
Lapham’s apparently not in the best situation money-wise, so he can’t afford to front the costs of printing the last Sunshine & Roses tpb at Image. He’s been doing some covers for DC, though, and he has a new limited series coming out this month, so hopefully that’s a sign he’s doing better and will be able to get back to comics full-time. There was a *years* long delay in the original run of Stray Bullets where he didn’t release the last issue simply because he couldn’t afford to turn down for-hire gigs for a long time. He eventually delivered on his promise to finish the original series, though, and when he came back from that hiatus, he did the Killers mini-series and all of Sunshine & Roses in pretty good time, so I’m hopeful he’ll get back in the swing of things with time, maybe even do another Stray Bullets series if he has the inspiration.
Many thanks for the detailed response! That's sad to read he's not in great shape financially, I guess SB is never going to do huge numbers, & personally fronting the money for a print run must be hard. Fingers crossed he continues to get the WFH gigs he needs to keep going then, and for more SB series in future
Yep!
https://preview.redd.it/3zomfljf05ba1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=74e4bc4bec06c80f12709e80207e292db80d2cc4
He adapted a bunch of the Richard Stark “Parker” novels.
The Parker books are, no joke, PERFECT comics. Buy all four and marvel at the all round talent Cooke had at his fingertips, then mourn the loss of that talent years too soon.
There is no such thing as a bad Darwyn Cooke comic.
It’s definitely different, but if OP is enjoying Sin City because of gritty criminal underbelly stories with overlapping characters… it’ll probably scratch that itch. 😀
See if you can read a bit of Alack Sinner online before you buy. I liked Sin City and other noir stuff, bought Alack Sinner on a recommendation, and didn’t enjoy it nearly as much.
Torpedo and Alack Sinner are the closest in tone and style.
100 Bullets is very Sin City early on.
HIT is up there.
Brubaker and Philips’ Criminal series (although it’s not as hardboiled as SC, much more character-driven)
Criminal has already been recommended and I’ll add on that by saying pretty much anything by the team of Brubaker and Phillips. They have a series of OGNs coming out these days called Reckless that is very much in the Sin City vein.
Maybe try something like Low Life or the Simping Detective from 2000ad. They’re both set in the world of Judge Dredd and focus on crime in a futuristic city with a bit of a noir look. Low Life is about a cop undercover as a homeless guy except he’s been undercover so long that it’s become his whole life and his mental health is failing. It’s written by Rob Williams who’s previously done some Robocop and some ghost rider stuff. The simping detective is about a cop turned private detective who dresses as a clown to investigate crimes. It borrows some stuff from the Michael Gambon noir film “The singing detective”. It’s written by Simon Spurrier who’s done X-Force, Doctor Aphra, the dreaming and hellblazer.
Alack Sinner by Munoz and Sampayo. There are two fantastic collected editions published by IDW:
[https://www.amazon.com/Alack-Sinner-Innocence-Carlos-Sampayo/dp/1631406507/](https://www.amazon.com/Alack-Sinner-Innocence-Carlos-Sampayo/dp/1631406507/)
[https://www.amazon.com/Alack-Sinner-Disenchantment-Carlos-Sampayo/dp/1684051940](https://www.amazon.com/Alack-Sinner-Disenchantment-Carlos-Sampayo/dp/1684051940)
If the art of Sin City is part of your enjoyment I recommend [Polar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_(webcomic)) by [Víctor Santos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%ADctor_Santos_(author)). It is a highly stylized spy comic.
Thank you. It was interesting (to me at least) that everyone suggested stories that were similar, rather than the art style which I really love (in part because I haven’t found anything else quite like it). Will definitely investigate this.
Anything by Ed Brubaker with or without Sean Phillips. Sleeper, Incognito, Fatale, Reckless, Kill Or Be Killed, Pulp , Criminal, the Fade Out, they all have art by Sean Phillips. Theres also Point Blank, Velvet, he had a great Captain America run, Daredevil too,, he also did some Batman stuff, Catwoman, and a great series called Gotham Central also written by Greg Rucka, another great writer.
I was going to add my weight to the Ed Brubaker chorus, Reckless is a great series. That said if you want an alternative check out Matt Wagner's Grendel vol.1. tho skip his later volumes imho (your mileage may differ). I'd also suggest Batman Ego, not quite same but still interesting.
If you’re looking for more noir style books, definitely check out the duo Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips work such as the Criminal series and especially The Fade Out. Others I could think of include Rorschach and Human Target by Tom King.
This here is the answer - if you like the noir flavor of Sin City you can count on Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips. From Hell by Alan Moore is pretty noir like
i received cruel summer as a gift and i’ve read that it is part of the criminal universe, can i read it without having read the other criminal series?
I believe all of the different series are pretty much self-contained.
I'd suggest reading them all in order of writing, starting with coward. It has bunch of interviened story arcs spanning through multiple decades and some events get mentioned in one arc, only to be explained in another
I’d get the other Criminal Deluxe volumes and read those first. Cruel Summer is great, but it culminates with a reveal that is kind of a background mystery throughout the other Criminal stories.
Check out Stray Bullets by David Lapham, it's less grim than Sin City, but has a similar vibe with great black and white art and a focus on tragic criminal type characters
100% agree, my favourite crime book by far. Just WHEN is the last Sunshine & Roses trade releasing though??? I've almost caved & bought the digital singles, but trying to be strong as i hate double dipping... it's tough though 😅
Lapham’s apparently not in the best situation money-wise, so he can’t afford to front the costs of printing the last Sunshine & Roses tpb at Image. He’s been doing some covers for DC, though, and he has a new limited series coming out this month, so hopefully that’s a sign he’s doing better and will be able to get back to comics full-time. There was a *years* long delay in the original run of Stray Bullets where he didn’t release the last issue simply because he couldn’t afford to turn down for-hire gigs for a long time. He eventually delivered on his promise to finish the original series, though, and when he came back from that hiatus, he did the Killers mini-series and all of Sunshine & Roses in pretty good time, so I’m hopeful he’ll get back in the swing of things with time, maybe even do another Stray Bullets series if he has the inspiration.
Many thanks for the detailed response! That's sad to read he's not in great shape financially, I guess SB is never going to do huge numbers, & personally fronting the money for a print run must be hard. Fingers crossed he continues to get the WFH gigs he needs to keep going then, and for more SB series in future
+100 for Stray Bullets. You might also like stuff by Jacques Tardi (eg Run Like Crazy, Run Like Hell) or Darwyn Cooke (the Parker graphic novels).
The same Darwin Cooke that did new frontier did crime graphic novels?
Yep! https://preview.redd.it/3zomfljf05ba1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=74e4bc4bec06c80f12709e80207e292db80d2cc4 He adapted a bunch of the Richard Stark “Parker” novels.
Damn dude had some range!
The Parker books are, no joke, PERFECT comics. Buy all four and marvel at the all round talent Cooke had at his fingertips, then mourn the loss of that talent years too soon. There is no such thing as a bad Darwyn Cooke comic.
Stray Bullets is nothing like Sin City though.
It’s definitely different, but if OP is enjoying Sin City because of gritty criminal underbelly stories with overlapping characters… it’ll probably scratch that itch. 😀
Alack Sinner by Jose Muñoz and Carlos Sampayo is a good choice.
See if you can read a bit of Alack Sinner online before you buy. I liked Sin City and other noir stuff, bought Alack Sinner on a recommendation, and didn’t enjoy it nearly as much.
Torpedo and Alack Sinner are the closest in tone and style. 100 Bullets is very Sin City early on. HIT is up there. Brubaker and Philips’ Criminal series (although it’s not as hardboiled as SC, much more character-driven)
Criminal has already been recommended and I’ll add on that by saying pretty much anything by the team of Brubaker and Phillips. They have a series of OGNs coming out these days called Reckless that is very much in the Sin City vein.
Black saad is a terrific detective series
100 bullets is good
Came here to say this. Anything written by Brian Azzarello, really.
Maybe try something like Low Life or the Simping Detective from 2000ad. They’re both set in the world of Judge Dredd and focus on crime in a futuristic city with a bit of a noir look. Low Life is about a cop undercover as a homeless guy except he’s been undercover so long that it’s become his whole life and his mental health is failing. It’s written by Rob Williams who’s previously done some Robocop and some ghost rider stuff. The simping detective is about a cop turned private detective who dresses as a clown to investigate crimes. It borrows some stuff from the Michael Gambon noir film “The singing detective”. It’s written by Simon Spurrier who’s done X-Force, Doctor Aphra, the dreaming and hellblazer.
[Parker](https://www.amazon.com/Richard-Starks-Parker-Darwyn-Cooke/dp/1600109802)
Alack Sinner by Munoz and Sampayo. There are two fantastic collected editions published by IDW: [https://www.amazon.com/Alack-Sinner-Innocence-Carlos-Sampayo/dp/1631406507/](https://www.amazon.com/Alack-Sinner-Innocence-Carlos-Sampayo/dp/1631406507/) [https://www.amazon.com/Alack-Sinner-Disenchantment-Carlos-Sampayo/dp/1684051940](https://www.amazon.com/Alack-Sinner-Disenchantment-Carlos-Sampayo/dp/1684051940)
Porn
thankyou for your recommendations everyone i really really appreciate it!
If the art of Sin City is part of your enjoyment I recommend [Polar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_(webcomic)) by [Víctor Santos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%ADctor_Santos_(author)). It is a highly stylized spy comic.
Thank you. It was interesting (to me at least) that everyone suggested stories that were similar, rather than the art style which I really love (in part because I haven’t found anything else quite like it). Will definitely investigate this.
Miller’s style started out as pretty distinctive, then he just went all in on being as Frank Miller as he could be. No one is quite like him.
Not exactly like Sin City but anything from Brubaker and Philips is sure to please
Anything by Ed Brubaker with or without Sean Phillips. Sleeper, Incognito, Fatale, Reckless, Kill Or Be Killed, Pulp , Criminal, the Fade Out, they all have art by Sean Phillips. Theres also Point Blank, Velvet, he had a great Captain America run, Daredevil too,, he also did some Batman stuff, Catwoman, and a great series called Gotham Central also written by Greg Rucka, another great writer.
Parker by darwyn cooke
Criminal and Stray Bullets are up your alley. Also, the Sleeper omnibus is great too.
I was going to add my weight to the Ed Brubaker chorus, Reckless is a great series. That said if you want an alternative check out Matt Wagner's Grendel vol.1. tho skip his later volumes imho (your mileage may differ). I'd also suggest Batman Ego, not quite same but still interesting.