For anyone out there who has an interest in the Sly Cooper franchise but doesn't want to invest the time and/or money it would take to play one of the games, these comics are a great introduction. They were published by Sucker Punch (the company behind the original game trilogy) back in 2005 and are currently out of print. Both comics are pretty short; but they do a great job introducing the reader to the characters and making you WANT to see more of them.
tl;dr: If you love fun, cartoony, and innocent action shows in the vein of Ducktales or Talespin, you will like this. I promise! :)
More importantly, the comic book format allows the series' one female lead (Inspector Carmelita Fox) to be fleshed out in a way the games just couldn't do (since Carmelita wasn't a playable character in the games at the time). She's a great character in the games; but she just SHINES with awesomeness here.
Issue One (prequel to the first and second games)
....Did I mention that this book has GORGEOUS art? Because it does!
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Seeing the "Cooky Steelin' Plan" story in full (it was just a visual flashback gag in the games) was one of my favorite parts of the comics.
It bothers me a bit that the comics inserted swear words into Carmelita's dialogue. It just feels out of place since no one ever swears in the games and the series' target demographic is young kids.
It doesn't ruin the comic for me. It's just...kinda weird. :P
I LOVE the exchange between Carmelita & Sly on the top panel of the above page! I want to frame it and put it on my wall!
My favorite thing about it is the way it explains Carmelita's initial obsession with Sly. She's fixated on arresting him because she's royally pissed off at his smarmy hypocrisy and attempts to make his crimes seem noble. It's not because she thought he was a hottie and/or she was an anal retentive shrew with no ability to see shades of gray in people. She just thought he was a smug, insufferable douchebag. And I thought that was AWESOME! XD
That "dual perspective" layout in the flashback was a pretty cool design choice. Kudos to the artist!
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ISSUE 2
This one is set after the second game (which had a surprisingly dark ending...) and is meant to lead into the third.
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As much as I like Sly, that "watching you sleep" line is kinda creepy. >_<
*sniffle*
Poor Murray...
Anyhoo, these comics are a really great intro to the series. If you liked them, you'll definitely like the first three games.
....notice I said THE FIRST THREE GAMES. Don't touch the recent forth edition with a 50 foot pole. Seriously, just don't. Trust me on this one.
Special thanks to
this site for scanning these books so I don't have to!