January Comic of the Month

Incognito #1

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips put their cult hit Criminal on hold to premier a 5 issue mini series titled Incognito. It has that noir feel that Brubaker’s writing and Phillips’ pencils mesh perfectly to create another surreal world. We follow Zack Overkill, an ex-super villain who is hiding out in the witness protection program. All Zack wants is to get back to the days when he roamed free and could be the badass he wants to be.


Brubaker presents us with the ending first, slowly working his way backwards and giving us Zack’s origin story. Capturing Zack’s “file clerk” job in a paperless world is exactly how desk jobs really are. Making us have sympathy for a super villain isn’t easy and right away you have a hard time pulling for Zack. But Brubaker does make it work with ease by presenting the world and everyone in it as complete pricks. Why should Zack care about anything when he attempts to lead a some what normal life only to be harassed and spit on by the world? Zack is frustrated with his place in society and eventually turns to drug use. While using, Zack realizes that these “fun” drugs are causing a reaction with his medication from the Feds. More importantly they cause the drugs which inhibit his powers to stop working. Now that Zack is free we find ourselves back at page one. With the story completed and now we can jump head first into issue two Brubaker doesn’t just leave us without a cliff hanger. That final page alone brings many possibilities of where the story can go. The only thing I didn’t really like was the story telling Brubaker used, it felt like if you read it in chronological order it would have worked just as well if not better.

Sean Phillips’ art is meshed wonderfully with the Val Staples colours, bringing a sense of realism and mood to the comic. While never using bright colours to offset the tone of the book, Phillips’ stark contrast brings a beautiful shade of grey throughout the entire book.

And a bonus is the back matter material, which many people know from Brubaker and Phillips’ Criminal. It is a quick history lesson on pulp magazines, written in an essay form accompanied by a Phillips art relating to it. We are treated to “The Shadow” by Jess Nevins.

4 out of 5
Colin Enquist