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Incognito (comics)
Encyclopedia
Incognito is a six-issue comic book
limited series
written by Ed Brubaker
with art by Sean Phillips
, It was published by the Icon Comics
imprint
of Marvel Comics
.
A second six issue miniseries, Incognito: Bad Influences, was released in late 2010.
. It returned in November 2010 and ran for another five issues.
Each issue featured an article written by Jess Nevins
on the pulp characters The Shadow
(#1), Doc Savage
(#2), The Spider
(#3), Operator No. 5
(#4), Fu Manchu
(#5), and Zeppelin Pulps (#6). The articles in the second miniseries focused on The Phantom Detective
(#1), G-8 (#2), Captain Future
(#3), Nick Carter
(#4), and Pulp Supervillains (#5).
Fu Manchu did not appear in pulps.
The comic deals with former science villain Zack Overkill, who is in the Witness Protection Program after giving testimony against The Black Death. Zack is required to take a drug that eliminates his super abilities and given a job delivering mail in an office.
Trying to escape the boredom of a normal life, Zack experiments with illegal drugs. It quickly becomes obvious they interfere with the power-blocking drug and he once again has his super strength. He begins wearing a mask again and searches for action in the streets and back alleys acting as a vigilante rather than a supervillain to avoid being arrested for violating his parole agreement. His actions reveal to Black Death that he is alive. Several of Black Death's soldiers attempt to kill Zack for his testimony.
During the story, Zack learns the truth about the origins of the science hero
es and villains, and his own connection to one of the first and greatest. After working with Professor Zeppelin's daughter Zoe, Zack decides to work with SOS at least until Black Death stops trying to kill him.
In the second series, Bad Influences, Zack is now an agent for the SOS, and given a new assignment: appear to go rogue so he can go underground and bring back an SOS agent who infiltrated Level 9, a science-villain organization. But while doing so, someone is using the identity of Lazarus to wipe out science villains. Is it Zack or someone else? In the end, SOS incorrectly believes Zack had gone rogue, and he is imprisoned in the same prison as Black Death.
:
, with Robert Schenkkan
penciled in as the screenwriter.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
written by Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and cartoonist. Brubaker first early comics work was primarily in the crime fiction genre with works such as Lowlife, The Fall, Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives and Scene of the Crime...
with art by Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips is a British comic book artist.He is best known in the American comic book industry for his work on DC Comics' Sleeper, WildC.A.T.s, Batman and Hellblazer.-Career:...
, It was published by the Icon Comics
Icon Comics
Icon Comics is an imprint of Marvel Comics for creator-owned titles, designed to keep select "A-list" creators producing for Marvel rather than seeing them take creator-owned work to other publishers.-History:...
imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
.
A second six issue miniseries, Incognito: Bad Influences, was released in late 2010.
Publication history
The first series was published in December 2008 and ran for six issues. The title took a seven month hiatus while the creaters worked on the third volume of CriminalCriminal (comics)
In 2009 the first three trades were also repackaged in a 432 page "Deluxe Edition" hardcover . Included in this edition are a number of extras, including three of the original backpages "essays" with all 13 original accompanying pieces of art, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund short story No One Rides...
. It returned in November 2010 and ran for another five issues.
Each issue featured an article written by Jess Nevins
Jess Nevins
John J. Nevins, MA/MS, is an American author and librarian, born 30 July 1966 and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the World Fantasy Award-nominated Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana , and other works on Victoriana and pulp fiction...
on the pulp characters The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
(#1), Doc Savage
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
(#2), The Spider
The Spider
The Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
(#3), Operator No. 5
Operator No. 5
Operator #5 was a pulp hero that appeared in his own ten cent pulp magazine. It was soon renamed Secret Service Operator #5 and was published by Popular Publications between 1934 and 1939.-Characters:...
(#4), Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu is a fictional character introduced in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century...
(#5), and Zeppelin Pulps (#6). The articles in the second miniseries focused on The Phantom Detective
The Phantom Detective
The Phantom Detective was the second pulp hero character published, after The Shadow. The first issue was released in February of 1933, a month before Doc Savage, which was released in March of 1933. The title continued to be released until 1953, with a total 170 issues...
(#1), G-8 (#2), Captain Future
Captain Future
Captain Future is a science fictional hero pulp character originally published in self-titled American pulp magazines during the 1940s and early 50s.-Origins:...
(#3), Nick Carter
Nick Carter (literary character)
Nick Carter is a fictional character who began as a pulp fiction private detective and has appeared in a variety of formats over more than a century.-Literary history:...
(#4), and Pulp Supervillains (#5).
Fu Manchu did not appear in pulps.
Plot
The comic is set in a world in which larger-than-life pulp heroes and villains have existed since the early 19th century. The original super was an escaped convict named Kenneth Lee who went by the name the Black Death. His powers came from a radioactive object which landed in New England over 200 years ago. Other notable supers include the descendants of the soldiers who were chasing him including the Doc Savage-esque "Professor Zeppelin," the Shadow-esque "Lazarus". After WWII, the SOS agency created by Zeppelin has kept most stories about the supers out of the news.The comic deals with former science villain Zack Overkill, who is in the Witness Protection Program after giving testimony against The Black Death. Zack is required to take a drug that eliminates his super abilities and given a job delivering mail in an office.
Trying to escape the boredom of a normal life, Zack experiments with illegal drugs. It quickly becomes obvious they interfere with the power-blocking drug and he once again has his super strength. He begins wearing a mask again and searches for action in the streets and back alleys acting as a vigilante rather than a supervillain to avoid being arrested for violating his parole agreement. His actions reveal to Black Death that he is alive. Several of Black Death's soldiers attempt to kill Zack for his testimony.
During the story, Zack learns the truth about the origins of the science hero
Science hero
Science hero is a term coined by Alan Moore in his work for America's Best Comics to describe fantastic heroes. This includes those that have a science fiction explanation for their powers, as well as magical and non-powered characters. The term is used extensively throughout the ABC titles,...
es and villains, and his own connection to one of the first and greatest. After working with Professor Zeppelin's daughter Zoe, Zack decides to work with SOS at least until Black Death stops trying to kill him.
In the second series, Bad Influences, Zack is now an agent for the SOS, and given a new assignment: appear to go rogue so he can go underground and bring back an SOS agent who infiltrated Level 9, a science-villain organization. But while doing so, someone is using the identity of Lazarus to wipe out science villains. Is it Zack or someone else? In the end, SOS incorrectly believes Zack had gone rogue, and he is imprisoned in the same prison as Black Death.
Collected editions
The original mini-series was collected into a trade paperbackTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
:
- Incognito (144 pages, November 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3979-6)
- Incognito: Bad Influences (2011, ISBN 978-0-7851-5155-6)
Film adaptation
Incognito was optioned for a film by 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, with Robert Schenkkan
Robert Schenkkan
Robert Frederic Schenkkan, Jr. is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor, perhaps most recognizable as the character of Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick in Star Trek: The Next Generation...
penciled in as the screenwriter.