Rarely does a magazine or book or comic or movie jump at me at the shevles. So much so I have to buy it at least for the cover alone. Rarely are any magazines a work of art these days. Unless you’re talking about Vanity Fair magazine. It’s pure art direction, in my opinion, at it’s finest. First start with a highly skilled photographer and a photo that has all the right ingredients. A gorgeous face, classic look, stunning color, and enough “white” space for you to add copy over. Many magazines do get up to this point and then fall short with either an over abundance of type or too many fonts, making your head spin, or even more so get lost, in a see of nothingness. But Vanity Fair uses classic typefaces with a semi timeless logo. They’re not afraid to use size and weight and more importantly color that allows your eyes to pass through into the photography but at the same time grabbing you with key words on topics you’d want to read. As a designer, when purchasing magazines (to an extent) these are the things running through my head.

I knew this was a mistake, too. Knew it could get me in real trouble.

But I did it anyway.

And afterward, I didn’t regret a thing.

INCOGNITO #1 by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Val Staples.
Published by Marvel Comics/Icon

What Incognito essentially boils down to is a super villain hiding out in a witness protection program. He’s given meds to control his super powers and tries to work his way into civilian life. It’s a story of how a villain becomes part of society, how that society is effecting him, and if some of the good is going to rub off on him. That’s the setup. Is it worth the price of admission? I think so. I can honestly say I’m going to miss Criminal more than usual in the next five months that this is published but I’ll live.

Brubaker keeps saying that he’s never seen this premise before, what he’s doing, and to that I say I’ll have to wait and see. Because outside of the office setting, essentially becoming a drone, outside of all the little nods, I feel like this has been done before. But maybe that’s just in my head. It’s super hero meets noir meets pulp. It’s the life I’ve been writing the past year so maybe that’s just it, although what I’m doing is less super hero and more military hero. I guess you could sort of describe his take on things as Lobster Johnson meets Superman meets pulp.

You’ve got a character who has been living the “good” life for the past three years and he’s just itching to be done with it. Not so much the good at this point but to just get away from the every day. To break out. And this being a Brubaker yarn one of the ways he does this is to go on more not so legal medication. He’s floats out into the ether as he says. He lets his life drift by. Except the fact that the medication he’s taking cancels out the other and it brings his powers back online. He goes out one night and saves somebody’s life. A woman in a back alley and one of the best lines, at least I think, is him questioning just why this woman is walking down a back alley, at night, and by herself.

All through this we’re interwoven into the bigger picture. The villains, the organizations, the handlers, some of his back story in glimpses which could be made into bigger stories later, and the whole bit.

It’s by no means a comic for children. One scene takes place a Christmas party where he sees two drunken co-workers getting it on. The one playing Santa passes out in the bathroom and he, our anti-hero, takes the costume and fills in without her being the wiser. And he’s got no regrets about it.

There are some downsides to this book. Val’s colors are phenomenal as usual, setting a nice mood, to each scene making them their own. BUT the book is too glossy. It takes away from the pulpiness of it all. It takes away from that classic feel. There aren’t any border lines on the panels either. Now I’ve written C.T. without the borders. It’s part of the whole look. But mix it with Incognito’s vibrant colors and white paper borders, and it falls short of what it could be. If you want to go noir then go on black to the edges.

To me lettering is an art form in and of itself. It has to have the right feel and it has to compliment the artwork. It should never distract or be too much or stand out clamoring for attention. I love the way Criminal is done, so much so I’ve purchased the font for my own work. Sean has always drawn in his own word balloons and digitally lettered later. It’s the same font as usual. But here there’s a multitude of fonts and digital lettering in perfectly round balloons and it just doesn’t work for me. I could see it as so much more. So much better.

Each issue of Incognito is going to have a pulp backup. Issue One is the history of The Shadow. It has a great double page spread of the character by Sean but then you turn the page and it’s just type. Small type. No other imagery or design. Maybe it’s planned that way (I’m sure it is) but as a reader, and a creator who wants to do something similar in his own book…it could be so much more.

I do recommend this book. I’m even going to go so far as to say there’s going to be a hell of a lot more happening in the coming issues and we’ll probably be blown away by the story, as usual for Brubaker. But as a first issue. I wanted a little more in the design department. If we’re going pulp then I want to be hit over the head with it. Show readers why it’s so special. Sure you’re going to bring in the usual, and maybe some of the Super-hero crowd. But you need to show people who we love this genre so much. Show them why, during a time long ago, pulp was THE entertainment of the day. Millions of people were drawn in. I just don’t get that here.

RELATED LINKS:
Incognito Teaser
Ed Brubaker
Sean Phillips Art Blog

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year. I bought myself a new font toy today and thought I’d share some of the dialogue!

Kelsey Halliday concept art by Simone Gugliemini. She’s one of my favorite characters in the comic, and one of my favorites to write. This is the first time we’re seeing art from the urban noir aspect of the comic that takes place during the ’50s. With some artists you expect to have a back and forth over design, and most times that’s a great thing, but Simone has nailed what I’m thinking every time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button…go see this movie…right now. An amazing movie that I think is going to end up one of the best films of the year and a modern day classic.

I’ve noticed a theme in recent movies I’ve been watching. It’s not about the things you have in life but the life you lead, the people you meet, and the raw human emotion you experience. That’s what life is essentially about. And as the movie says if people don’t go we’d never know how important they are to us.

Just some of the movies and books I was blessed with receiving this Christmas that you should probably expect me to review in the coming months. If you’re on Facebook I’ll be at least rating them as I watch them. These are what you would call the movies and books behind the movies and books.

The Asphalt Jungle, Gun Crazy, “Out of the Past”, “The Set-Up”, Murder, My Sweet

To Catch A Thief, and Rear Window (Hitchcock)
The Godfather

The Val Lewton collection consisting of 9 films such as I Walked with a Zombie and The Body Snatcher along with the Scorsese Documentary.

As far as books go…

Mickey Spillane’s The Mike Hammer Collection Volume one consisting of I, The Jury, My Gun is Quick, and Vengeance is Mine!

Richard Stark’s PARKER novels The Man with the Getaway Face and The Outfit

and a couple of bare knuckle Daredevil trades by Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker.

Not ten minutes after stepping foot in the door I flipped through my copy of Gigantic #2 that I bought today. I usually flip through a comic first pretty quickly. Not to spoil anything but to look through the design and letter pages in the back (for those comics that still run them). I was reading the letters page and lo and behold my name was staring right back at me. I had written Rick Remender on how much I enjoyed the first issue, but wasn’t expecting to, and in the scheme of things my e-mail ended up on the printed page with Pulp Tone is flashing lights. Well not really. But please do pick up this comic, even ahead of my review. It looks like great fun.

RELATED LINKS:
Gigantic #2 preview

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year to everyone! And a special thank you to Dave Flora for the wonderful Christmas present! I couldn’t have predicted it Dave. At all!

Exactly the look I pictured for the feel of the comic.

Behind the scenes when I’m throwing around names I generally take it from the perspective of making a movie. Who would I cast in the Sgt. Zero movie? Usually 5 or 6 names get thrown into a “hat” and I send out an email asking for opinions.

The general consensus was that Ed Norton would be playing Joseph Sinclair, aka Sergeant Zero. I originally casted Ron Livingston as our hero but I thought to expand his role as a government agent. The so called villian of the story although it’s a gray area more so than pitch black.

Lt. Francis Deargood has always been Donnie Wahlberg. A few other names were thrown out there for good measure but it was only to confirm that I wrote the part for him. Whatever you might think of his boy band the guy can act. Band of Brothers, if anything, proved that much.

Kelsey Halliday, who you have yet to see and the owner of the River’s End Diner, would be Lauren Bacall. Kelsey’s relationship, the way I see it, is so much like Bogie (who by the way could be an older version of Joe Sinclair) and Bacall’s. Both love each other but neither takes the other for granted or assumes their relationship is more than it is. Everything could be snuffed out in a single moment and they live their lives as such. But since that isn’t really a possibility to cast Bacall as her younger self I got to thinking tonight, when her part is cast for an actress today, who it could really be. I don’t know yet. Michelle Monoghan? I’ve seen a few of her movies and she really has the emotional range to play Kelsey.

Then there’s characters like The Green Knight and the Dime Store Saints who I have yet to cast, and in some cases write their story.

This is what I think of when I write. I just don’t write down their words and actions. I write down who they are, how they talk, and everything about them. I write it as if I was directing them on screen. And if a movie is ever made rest assured these are the people I’d want. Great actors. Not to flashy. Real life souls.

What do you think?