History ComicBook / SexCriminals

* YourCheatingHeart: Myrtle Spurge, married with two kids, sleeps with Dave in order to get her hands on Jon's psychiatric records. [[spoiler: Kuber Badal later uses this to blackmail her into compliance.]]

''Sex Criminals'' (2013-2020) is a creator-owned Creator/ImageComics series by writer Creator/MattFraction and artist Creator/ChipZdarsky. To say the premise is a little out there would be putting it mildly, it's...sort of a crime/romance/sci-fi story.

''Sex Criminals'' is an ongoing (2013-present) creator-owned Creator/ImageComics series by writer Creator/MattFraction and artist Creator/ChipZdarsky. To say the premise is a little out there would be putting it mildly, it's...sort of a crime/romance/sci-fi story.

* BiTheWay: Jon is shown in early issues as having sex with a guy named George. While speculated on for a while by fans, in the letters section of Issue #13, writer Matt Fraction cleared up the confusion by stating that "Jon would categorize himself as bisexual. There were more men than George. I don't know if we'll get to all of them. I guess I thought including George in his list addressed his sexuality."

* IntroductionByHookup: Suzie and Jon meet at a party she's throwing to raise funds to save her local library. [[OneThingLedToAnother One thing leads to another]], and they find out they have the same ability.

** When Jon finds out that his therapist is ignoring everything he says, he winds up storming outside and screaming [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Shit on a dick!" in public.]]

* BigBad: With [[spoiler: Mrytle's HeelFaceTurn]] in issue #25, Kuber Badal is shaping up to be the series' chief villain, especially with the implication that [[spoiler: his meddling with the stock market may been the ultimate cause of the murder of Suzie's father.]]

** [[spoiler: Mrytle and the Bus Driver eventually turn against Badal themselves in issue #25.]]

** [[spoiler: Susie and Jon's crime spree gets a lot of people with orgasm-powers very pissed off at them. Sure, their motives might be good, but they're committing crimes, potentially exposing everyone, and they have little if any sense of restraint -- they're a disaster waiting to happen.]

** [[spoiler: Susie and Jon's crime spree gets a lot of people with orgasm-powers very pissed off at them. Sure, their motives might be good, but they're committing crimes, potentially exposing everyone, and they have little if any sense of restraint -- they're a disaster waiting to happen.]]

* ArcWords: "Don't judge me/us."

* HeelFaceTurn: Seems to be happening with Alix as of issue #19. She was already becoming disillusioned with Kegelface and Badel's actions, but appears to have been legitimately angered by Badel's insinuating that he could use his wealth to harm Jon.

* ChekovsGun: Suzie still doesn't know that the Sex Police primarily figured out her and Jon's bank-robbing scheme because a worried Rachelle called the cops (which would have been bad enough, but it was Kegelface, the precinct receptionist, who answered the phone).

[[caption-width-right:350:''Did [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure za]] [[MemeticMutation warudo]] move for you, too?]]

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sexcriminals_5611.png]]

* GenreBusting: It's a Romantic Crime Drama with elements of Sci-Fi. It's telling when TheOtherWiki simply lists it as "Crime" when it's really not exclusively that.

* PubertySuperpower: In middle school, Suzie learns that she has the ability to freeze time when she has an orgasm. Averted with Ana, who suffered a nerve-damaging groin injury as a child to her genitals that made it extremely difficult for her to orgasm; she never actually had one (and didn't discover her power) until filming her first porno film during her early 20's.

* {{Asexuality}}: In the third arc of the series, we meet Alix, an asexual person. Not only is her story incredibly touching and heartbreaking, but we learn that she accesses her orgasm-power via base jumping. Way to introduce a great new character [[spoiler: who resolutely decides to kill our heroes.]]

* OddFriendship: Suzie and Rachelle didn't get along in middle school, but later became best friends and are roommates in the present.
* PairTheSpares: [[spoiler: Rachelle and Robert hook up in issue #10.]]

* PubertySuperpower: In middle school, Suzie learns that she has the ability to freeze time when she has an orgasm.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Averted and how. Neither Suzie nor Jon are fundamentally bad people, but they are screwed up, and that factors into their sex lives. Played with in [[spoiler: Rachelle and Robert's relationship]]; she's ''much'' more experienced than he is (the implication being that he spent most of college actually doing schoolwork, while she was a party girl), and says he's afraid of being too "vanilla" for her. So far, he hasn't been, as she seems to like being able to take it easy.

* [[WhamEpisode Wham Issue]]: After a nasty argument several issues prior where Suzie found out Jon was lying to her, the end of issue #19 shows her [[spoiler: taking an interview with the owners of a library in another city, and saying that she'd be willing to relocate. And then on the very back page, Rachelle finds out she's pregnant.]]

''Sex Criminals'' is an ongoing (2013-present) comic series by writer Creator/MattFraction and artist Creator/ChipZdarsky. To say the premise is a little out there would be putting it mildly, it's...sort of a crime/romance/sci-fi story.

* CommonalityConnection: Several. Jon works for the same bank that Suzie's dad worked for; one of the bank's owners is a member of the Sex Police; Suzie's temporary OB/GYN is a childhood friend of Jon's, and all seven of the main characters(Suzie, Jon, Rachelle, Robert, and the Sex Police) live in the same town.

* DeadpanSnarker: The letter column in the back features... questionable sex advice.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Averted and how. Neither Suzie nor Jon are fundamentally bad people, but they are screwed up, and that factors into their sex lives. Played with in [[spoiler: Rachelle and Robert's relationship]]; she's ''much'' more experienced than he is(the implication being that he spent most of college actually doing schoolwork, while she was a party girl), and says he's afraid of being too "vanilla" for her. So far, he hasn't been, as she seems to like being able to take it easy.

* OddFriendship: Suzie and Rachelle didn't get along in middle school, but are roommates in the present.

** When Susie and Jon tell Ana that they're bank robbers, her response is to tell them to get out- after all, they'd just made her an accessory after the fact, why would she want anything more to do with them?
** [[spoiler: Susie and Jon's crime spree gets a lot of people with orgasm-powers very pissed off at them. Sure, their motives might be good, but they're committing crimes, potentially exposing everyone, and they have little if any sense of restraint- they're a disaster waiting to happen.]]

* SexMagic: The premise is that certain people have a TimeStandsStill power when they reach orgasm(as it's not something they can just ask about and they're still preteens when they discover it, their names for it range from The Quiet to Cumworld). Two of them randomly hook up with each other (with a mutual "How the hell are you in here?!"), and eventually decide to use their power to rob a bank. However, there are others with similar powers, who act as a self-appointed police force.

* ParallelPornTitles: Surprisingly, they didn't go with the modern title standards of "This Ain't X" or "X: A XXX Parody" but instead have titles such as [[Film/BartonFink Hard-On Fink]], [[TheHurtLocker The Squirt Locker]], [[Film/KillBill Fill Bill]], [[Film/{{Moon}} Poon]] and surprisingly enough, [[Film/UpstreamColor Upream Colon]] to name a few. Issue 9 has a truly weird one in the form of "[[ComicBook/TheWickedAndTheDivine The Licked and the Divine]]," which we actually get to see some of.

* {{Asexuality}}: In the third arc of the series, we meet Alix, an asexual person. Not only is their story incredibly touching and heartbreaking, but we learn that their orgasm-power is to [[spoiler: FLY. They orgasm/get the thrill of an orgasm through base jumping.]] Way to introduce a great new character [[spoiler: who resolutely decides to kill our heroes.]]

* ParallelPornTitles: Surprisingly, they didn't go with the modern title standards of "This Ain't X" or "X: A XXX Parody" but instead have titles such as [[BartonFink Hard-On Fink]], [[TheHurtLocker The Squirt Locker]], [[Film/KillBill Fill Bill]], [[Film/{{Moon}} Poon]] and surprisingly enough, [[Film/UpstreamColor Upream Colon]] to name a few. Issue 9 has a truly weird one in the form of "[[ComicBook/TheWickedAndTheDivine The Licked and the Divine]]," which we actually get to see some of.

It was recently announced that Fraction and Creator/KellySueDeConnick will be producing a television adaption of the series (as well as Creator/KieronGillen's ''ComicBook/TheWickedAndTheDivine'') with Universal through their company Milkfed Criminal Masterminds -- no creative talent have been attached to the project as of yet.

In 1997, Suzie was a normal middle-class middle-school girl when her father was killed in a random act of workplace violence. In the aftermath of his death, Suzie's mother began drinking heavily and their relationship suffered; Suzie was particularly bothered that instead of talking, her mother would pretend she was fine and then wait until Suzie left the room to break down. Suzie found that if she drew a bath and ducked under the surface, she couldn't hear anything, and took to doing this at night so she couldn't hear her mother crying.

* AnachronicOrder: The first issue begins in the present, then loops back to the past, then to the present again, then the past again, and finally back to the present.

* BreakTheCutie: Suzie notes that her "whole world" ended when her father was killed.
** Jon gets hit with this hard: the Quiet detector/Cumpass prevents him and Suzie from enjoying sex, the relationship starts to cool down, he suffers so much stress and paranoia he gets a breakout of shingles - a conga line of problems that forces him to go back on his medication. Even this isn't a positive step; when on his meds, he's coloured in black and white and is completely numb to everything.
** And then [[spoiler: the Sex Police destroy Suzie's library out of sheer spite.]]
* CreatorCameo: Author Chip Zdarsky seems to love this trope. Lots of characters have more than a passing resemblance to Chip. Once he (alone, by the way) won the Harvey Award for Humor, he draws himself in the background of a coffee shop wearing a top hat, smoking a cigar lit off of a burning newspaper, and getting a foot massage from co-creator (and not Harvey-award-winning-humorist) Matt Fraction.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Suzie refers to the totally silent, frozen-time post-orgasm world as "The Quiet".
** Almost everything for sale in the sex shop Jon visited as a teen. There are boxes marked "Half a Tit: Because Why Not?" and "Sex Elbow: Have Sex with an Elbow!".
* ExperimentedInCollege: Going by the mental 'snapshots' of her former partners, Suzie has had at least one lesbian relationship. Jon has had sex with men, at first as a search for people who can enter The Quiet and then apparently explored more off-panel, as he is confirmed bisexual by WordOfGod.

* GoodBadGirl: Invoked; with the books "present" taking place in late 2013 and it having been probably 10 years since she lost her virginity, Suzie's been with around fifteen other people since then, but she doesn't consider this out of the ordinary.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Averted and how. Neither Suzie nor Jon are fundamentally bad people, but they are screwed up, and that factors into their sex lives.

* LivingADoubleLife: Suzie is a fairly average woman who likes books. In her spare time she uses her time-freezing power to rob banks so she can support libraries.
** Everyone in the book. The Sex Police [[spoiler: turn out to be little more than self-appointed busybodies.]]