comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
limited series
In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...
written by
Ed Brubaker
Ed Brubaker (; born November 17, 1966) is an American comic book writer, cartoonist and screenwriter who works primarily in the crime fiction genre. He began his career with the semi-autobiographical series '' Lowlife'' and a number of serials i ...
with art by Sean Phillips. It was originally published by the
Icon Comics
Icon Comics was 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
Icon Comics was launched in 200 ...
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
.
A second five issue miniseries, ''Incognito: Bad Influences'', was released in late 2010.
The first series ran for six issues starting in December 2008, with a seven-month hiatus while the creators worked on another volume. It returned in November 2010 for five more issues. Each issue featured an article written by
Jess Nevins
Jess Nevins (born 1966) is an American author and research librarian best known for annotated guides and encyclopedias covering Victoriana, comic books, genre fiction and pulp fiction.
Criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
''. It returned in November 2010 and ran for another five issues.
Each issue featured an article written by
Jess Nevins
Jess Nevins (born 1966) is an American author and research librarian best known for annotated guides and encyclopedias covering Victoriana, comic books, genre fiction and pulp fiction.pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
* Pulp (band), an English rock band
Engineering
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
...
characters
The Shadow
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibs ...
(#1),
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a polymathic scientist, explorer, detective, and warrior who "right ...
(#2),
The Spider
The Spider is an American pulp-magazine hero of the 1930s and 1940s. The character was created by publisher Harry Steeger and written by a variety of authors for 118 monthly issues of '' The Spider'' from 1933 to 1943. ''The Spider'' sold well ...
(#3),
Operator No. 5
''Operator #5'' was a pulp magazine published between 1934 and 1939.
Publication history
In 1931 Street & Smith, one of the major pulp magazine publishers, launched ''The Shadow
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American m ...
(#4),
Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu ( zh, t=傅滿洲/福滿洲, p=Fú Mǎnzhōu) is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character f ...
(#5), and Zeppelin Pulps (#6). The articles in the second miniseries focused on The Phantom Detective (#1), G-8 (#2),
Captain Future
Captain Future is a Pulp magazine, pulp science fiction hero – a space-traveling scientist and adventurer – originally published in the United States in Captain Future (magazine), his namesake pulp magazine from 1940 to 1944. The character w ...
(#3),
Nick Carter
Nickolas Gene Carter (born January 28, 1980) is an American singer, the lead vocalist of the vocal group Backstreet Boys, and an alleged rapist. As of 2015, he has released three solo albums, '' Now or Never'', '' I'm Taking Off'' and '' All A ...
(#4), and Pulp Supervillains (#5).
Plot
The comic is set in a world in which larger-than-life pulp science heroes and villains have existed since the early 19th century. The original super was an escaped convict named Kenneth Lee who became 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" and the Shadow-esque "Lazarus". After World War II, the SOS agency created by Zeppelin has kept most stories about the supers out of the news, portraying them as freak weather events.
The comic deals with former science villain Zack Overkill, who is in the
Witness Protection Program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after trials, usually by police. While witnesses may only require p ...
after giving testimony against Black Death. Zack is required to take a drug that eliminates his super abilities and delivers mail in an office.
To escape the boredom of a normal life, Zack experiments with illegal drugs. He discovers that 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. 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 about the origins of heroes and villains, and his own connection to Lazarus. After working with Professor Zeppelin's daughter Zoe, Zack decides to work with SOS to avoid boredom and Black Death's agents.
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. SOS incorrectly believes Zack had gone rogue, and he is imprisoned in the same prison as Black Death.
Collected editions
Film adaptation
''Incognito'' was optioned for a film by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
, with
Robert Schenkkan
Robert Frederic Schenkkan Jr. (born March 19, 1953) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1992 for his play '' The Kentucky Cycle'' and his play '' All the Way'' earned the 2014 Tony Award ...
penciled in as the screenwriter. The film was picked up by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
, with ''
10 Cloverfield Lane
''10 Cloverfield Lane'' is a 2016 American science fiction horror thriller film directed by Dan Trachtenberg in his directorial debut, produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Damien Chaze ...
'' screenwriter
Daniel Casey
Daniel Casey (born 1 June 1972) is an English actor. He is best known for playing DS Gavin Troy, the original sidekick of DCI Tom Barnaby, for the first six series (and the first episode of series 7), with a guest appearance in series elev ...
writing the script and
Fede Álvarez
Federico Javier Álvarez Mattos (; born February 9, 1978) is a Uruguayan filmmaker. He is best known for directing the films ''Evil Dead (2013 film), Evil Dead'' (2013), ''Don't Breathe'' (2016), and ''Alien: Romulus'' (2024).
Early life
Álvare ...
directing.
See also
* ''
Criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...