Broken Frontier

Meet Zack Andersen. He could be the guy working in the cubicle next to you. However, unlike yourself, he is an enhanced meta being hiding in a witness protection program. He may have the same job, but he is better than you and he knows it.

Criminal is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ love song to hard-boiled crime, whether it be the Noir of the ‘40s or the exploitation of the ‘70s. Like a Tarantino film, it is an homage that becomes significant in its nuance. That book is steeped in its reality. When things become less tangible, it is through the filter of broken sanity.

Incognito is its superpowered companion. Brubaker has called it "Apocalyptic Pulp Noir." With its dark milieu, internal narration and underworld type story, it certainly meets the qualifications of Noir. Pulp is a little harder to grasp. It is an illusive genre that was made up of many. However, the modern adjective usually refers to supernatural heroes (The Shadow) or scientific adventurers (Doc Savage).

Given the importance of the pulp sensibility on the Superhero genre that remains the dominant force loading a spinner rack, it is fitting that these masters of serial graphic media bring the archetype full circle. Bring those superpowered guys back to their roots. Not happy at just making Zack Overkill (Andersen’s hidden identity) a scientifically altered being. Not just making him a hero of sorts with a dark past. Brubaker also works in important tropes of the depression era mystery magazine. Giving this story a frame. A device that gives the plot a starting point as well as a climax to reach. With it comes an exciting introduction that captivates the audience before settling into the dirty work of letting the reader know exactly who Zack is and how he got to this place.

In many ways, Zack is the antonym to one of comics' more notorious creations of recent times. In Wanted, Mark Millar took the desk jockey and showed him that he could be more. Wesley was thrown headfirst into a world that destroyed his preconceptions and allowed a certain amount of depravity to seek in. The reader saw a relatively mundane guy turn into a killer who pitied his former self. Zack has been drugged into submission as part of his rehabilitation and must reside in our monotonous world. Wesley hated the world for being boring and was set free. Zack has been forced to live in the chains of the common world. The smug disdain he shows his damsel in distress is as unnerving as the lengths Wesley allowed himself to be perverted.

Phillips does his normal superb job here. Crisp action and realistic alleys are what he does best. Seeing him do it with a guy who wears a turtle neck with his domino mask is just a lot more fun. His line and storytelling enhance Brubaker’s script. In much the same way, Val Staples enhances Phillips’ art. She makes it pop, adding a dark hue, the glow from a street lamp or somehow unobtrusively distinguishing the present from the flashback.

The three creators together are something special even apart. All are at the top of their game. They are as marquee as the modern comics professional can be. However, together they become something more. There is something so much more to their collaborations. It is like how Loeb and Sale become so much more when they collaborate. Their work somehow manages to become more than their resumes would suggest. This team should be held in the same regards as Stan Lee/Jack Kirby or Marv Wolfman/George Perez.

The nature of this piece means that it will be unable to escape comparisons to Criminal. This review has already made note of the other book. While this first issue of Incognito doesn’t quite live up to that pedigree, it is not to say that is not a great book or even a lesser work. The former’s reputation and acclaim is widely noted. This new book does, however, have certain bit of more anticipation with it though. There is the close relationship to the capes and tights that it is sharing the shelf with. There is also promise of its decidedly more fantastical approach to the seedy underside of the world. What is lacking is the meat and detailed world of Criminal. This issue is all exposition. It is sure that substance will follow and that makes the perfectly executed introduction here all the more exciting.