The Fix #1 Debuts in April

Writer Nick Spencer and artist Steve Lieber worked well together on The Superior Foes of Spider-Man during their 17-issue run from 2013-2015. Under them, a villain team-up book became a wacky heist series with a sardonic tone and imaginatively outrageous occurrences for its team of losers. However, that kind of thing doesn’t last forever when dealing with other people’s character property in a shared universe, so now Lieber and Spencer are doing something similar on their own turf.

The Fix launches April 6 from Image Comics. It’s the story of two crooked cops (those charmers on the cover) and the fixes they find themselves in. It’s narrated by a self-described “smash and grab” guy who’s cynical about everything, particularly his low status at the bottom of the criminal hierarchy and how he owes money to a pretty bad guy. This self-aware “I’m too jaded for anything” voice (and its profanity and obsession with talking about genitals) risks getting tiring after a while, but there are enough weird combinations — ripping off a senior citizens home? — to keep things darkly funny. You can learn more about what motivates Spencer in this short interview.

Because Lieber is good at drawing oddly cute stuff, there’s also a drug-sniffing beagle named Pretzels. More relevantly (so far), Lieber is also great at establishing an authentic world, with plenty of solid settings that keep the exaggerated violence and attitude down to earth. It’s because these characters act and move like real people in real-life environments that their behavior is amusing instead of appalling. Lieber talks about his goals for the title in this terrific column about launching a series.

The Fix #1 can be preordered now from your local comic shop with Diamond code FEB16 0465. (The artist provided an advance digital review copy.)