Criminal Series Adaptation Ordered to Series at Amazon

On Monday, Prime Video announced it has ordered to series its adaptation of Criminal, Ed Brubaker’s and Sean Phillips’ long-running crime comic. Amazon Studios first announced the adaptation as in development in February 2023. The Criminal comic books weave a narrative tapestry out of the lives of various individuals committed to lives of crime who are connected by blood or consequence. Brubaker (whose other comics work includes an acclaimed run on Captain America) and Phillips will both be executive producers on the Criminal streaming series. Brubaker wrote the Criminal pilot’s script and will act as the series’ co-showrunner with crime author Jordan Harper (Hightown, Gotham, The Mentalist).

Brubaker and Phillips, who have worked together on comics for 20 years, launched Criminal in 2006 as part of Marvel Comics’ now defunct creator-owned comics imprint, Icon. Criminal has since moved to Image Comics, where it has shifted away from the monthly issues format and into graphic novels. Considered a definitive modern crime comic, Criminal examines and often subverts many of the assumptions and tropes that have defined the crime fiction genre for decades. Thanks to its shifting format, Criminal has won the Eisner Award for Best New Series (2006), the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series (Criminal: Last of the Innocent, 2012), and the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album – New (My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, 2019). The success of Criminal has earned Brubaker and Phillips a dedicated fan following drawn to their other work, including The Fade Out, Kill or Be Killed, Reckless, and Pulp. 

“Sean and I have been building this world in our books for over a decade, and now to be able to bring it to life for Amazon is just incredible. And to have Amazon support the project the way they have, and show so much faith in my and Jordan’s vision for the show is even more incredible,” Brubaker said in a press release.  

Harper is a television writer and novelist. His work includes the Edgar Award-winning novel She Rides Shotgun (which is being adapted into a movie starring Taron Egerton) and the critically lauded crime novel Everybody Knows.

“Criminal is a beloved graphic novel created by the most iconic team in the history of comics,” Nick Pepper, head of U.S. SVOD wholly-owned development at Amazon MGM Studios, said in a press release. “I know our global Prime Video customers will immediately embrace this story, and I look forward to working with Ed, Jordan, and the team to bring it to the screen.”

Brubaker and Harper are executive producing the Criminal series alongside Phillips, Sarah Carbiener, and Phillip Barnett. Legendary Television is also an executive producer. Amazon MGM Studios is producing.

Brubaker, who wrote DC’s Batman ongoing series from October 2000 until November 2002, is also an executive producer and the head writer of the upcoming . Originally set for Max, that series has since also moved to Amazon’s Prime Video service.