Smooth Criminals was created and written by Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith. Illustrated by Leisha Riddel, colored by Brittany Peer, and lettered by Ed Dukeshire.
The setting is in the year 1999, and the story follows a young woman named Brenda. Brenda is a college student and works in the science department doing coding. She’s also a hacker that goes by the handle Killa-B. Brenda’s boss decides to send her to work elsewhere for the day. She’s not thrilled about working in the old Science’s wing.
Once she arrives there she stars moving around some old tech. Looks like the place has just had things in storage for decades. While Brenda is cleaning she comes across something very curious. A large object that’s being hidden under a sheet. There’s a nice big sign that reads “US GOVT PROPERTY SEIZURE. DO NOT TOUCH.”
Well, Brenda can’t resist, and pulls the sheet off the object. Then discovers that there’s a computer that controls it. She decides to hack in to see what’s really inside. The door opens, and a woman emerges, and she takes off after asking Brenda a few questions.
Brenda laughs and stays in hot pursuit of the mysterious young woman. Killa-B is now in fill hacking and tracking mode. Before long she tracks down our mysterious 60’s looking woman. That’s when we find out about Mia, and that the last memory she has was in 1969. And, we also learn that her aesthetic was dead-on. Mia is the world’s best jewelry thief.
With new security protocols Brenda and Mia can be extremely useful to one another. Brenda can handle all the technical security aspects while Mia does her cat burglar deal. And, that’s exactly what this first issue is setting up for us. So, if you love a good story about complete opposites working together toward a common goal pick this title up.
Lustgarten and Smith did a great job in a sense of letting us know what personality types Brenda and Mia are. These ladies have strengths exactly where the other lady is weak. And, that couldn’t make a for a better team. The writing is also full of action, and humor.
Smooth Criminals sets the stage to for two totally different women to work together. I can’t wait to see these two get into some shenanigans.
Rating: 8/10
