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