Incognito - A Comic To Read Every Month
There are certain titles that make you happy to be a fan of comics. Incognito, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, is one of those titles. It’s a great idea, a supervillain is placed into witness protection, and it’s fantastic execution. It has shades of the pairings’ work on previous hit, Sleeper, and it has noir elements, both pulp crime and sci-fi, and the art is always amazing.
This last week saw me pick up issue 3, of six in total, and I was not disappointed, as usual. It is the last thing I read in my pull list, everytime. I have been loving the work they have been putting into Criminal, with Bad Night being a stand out, but Incognito just takes it all home for me. It’s exactly what I would wish to write.
The characters are all so interesting, but none more so than the lead, Zack Overkill. He’s a villain that went into protection but now has found that some of his non-prescriptional pills are nullifying the effects of his government given power-taking pills. He has his life back, but he can’t go back to it because the big boss he turned witness against, Black Death, would kill him if he did. So there’s no life of crime for Zack, so he does the next best thing, he prevents crimes. It’s a great idea, but made better by the normal people Zack works with. The woman whose lovelife is a mess, through no help of her own, and the guy who wants to use these powers for his fratboy wants and desires. It all works so well alongside the super aspects of the tale. This is noir, and things never go right for the lead. Ever.
The other reason to read this every month, aside from the fact it is awesome, is the back matter which will not be replicated if you wait for the trade. As with Criminal, Incognito comes with an article at the back of each issue, and for Incognito they have master historian Jess Nevins waxing pulp about old noir heroes. He’s talked Doc Savage and The Shadow, which were cool articles, but this month went for someone I’d never heard of. The Spider.
The article is damn interesting and will open your mind, if you like I have never heard of The Spider, so that’s worth the price of admission alone. But mostly, read Incognito because it is so much fun.
What you need another reason? Fine, in issue three you see a topless woman laying down doing some leg stretches, totally risque. No, I’m not posting a pic of that one, go see it for yourself, pony up the cash.
Posted on April 22nd, 2009 by ryan
Filed under: comics
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