The Boysbecame a huge success thanks to its very R-rated take on superheroes, but it isn’t the only property out there that shows the ugly side of the capes-and-tights crowd.Incognitois the perfect series to read for fans who have finishedThe Boysand are eager for more superhero stories with an ultraviolent edge.
Coming from the acclaimed creative team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips,Incognitotells the story of henchman Zack Overkill, who is placed in witness protection after informing on his supervillain boss. Similar to thecreative team’s earlier workSleeper,Incognitowas a journey through the underworld, showing off a side of superhero comics rarely seen in mainstream comics.
Consisting of the first six-issue miniseries and the five-issue follow-up sequelBad Intentions, the entire saga was eventually collected in the over-sized hardcoverIncognito: The Classified Editionin 2012.
Meet Zack Overkill
The Morally-Ambiguous Center ofIncognito
The first miniseries introduces the reader to Zack, one half of the Overkill Twins. A pair of brothers who share their powers, the Overkill Twins were in the employ ofthe Black Death, the most dangerous supervillain in the world ofIncognito. After the Black Death is finally caught by the authorities, the villain decided to tidy up his operations by killing off his subordinates to prevent them from also being captured. This winds up backfiring on him, as while his twin was killed, Zack Overkill survived.
Incognitowas originally published by Marvel Comics, under their creator-owned imprint Icon
Zack winds up turning state’s evidence against his former employer to avoid any jail time himself, and is eventually placed into witness protection. Given drugs to suppress his powers, Zack is then given a mundane office job as a file clerk, where he longs for his old life of death and terror. Yet when Zack discovers that his recreational drug use has counteracted the drugs the government gives him to suppress his powers,he decides to put on a mask and take to the streets as a vigilante to stave off his boredom.
Related:Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips Return to CRIMINAL Just in Time for New TV Show
Zack’s after-hours activities eventually put him on the radar of the Special Operations Service, a clandestine organization founded by Professor Zeppelin, the greatest hero of the world ofIncognito. The S.O.S is now run by Zeppelin’s daughter Zoe, who eventually pulls Zack out of Witness Protection and into the field to help out against his old supervillain buddies. Zack almost grows a conscience before it all goes haywire, andthe former henchman finds himself on the run from both sides in a world where the good guys aren’t much better than the bad.
Pulp Inspirations
IncognitoPulls from More than Just Superheroes
Much likeThe Boys, a big part of the fun ofIncognitois seeing the twisted and often violent spin the creators put on classic superhero tropes.Yet where Brubaker and Phillips’ work is different lies with the inspirations the creative team pulls from. Instead of the expansive superhero universes of Marvel and DC,Incognitois mainly inspired by old pulp heroes such as Doc Savage and the Shadow, who themselves wereprimary influences on the likes of Superman and Batman. Brubaker and Phillips take the apocalyptic threats of the old pulps and transplant them violently into the twenty-first century.
One example of how the creative team turns these old concepts on their ear is Professor Zeppelin,Incognito’s answer to Doc Savage. While he’s dead by the time Zack’s story takes place, Zeppelin’s method of performing brain surgery to reform his villains is a major story point, and something pulled directly from theoldDoc Savagepulps. While those more innocent stories of the 1930’s portrayed this as a humane, almost childlike approach to ridding the world of evil,Brubaker and Phillips show the darker side by having Zeppelin lobotomize his enemies, leaving them as barely-coherent zombies.
Incognitoalso pays homage to another giant of the field: the Wold Newton family tree, as envisioned by sci-fi author Philip José Farmer. Farmer took a real-life meteor landing in the 1795 and used it to tie together all of literature’s greatest heroes, fromTarzan to Sherlock Holmes to Doc Savage. Brubaker and Phillips take this same concept and apply it tothe world ofIncognito, where a meteor landing winds up giving an unknown man extraordinary powers.That man eventually becomes the Black Death, and ultimately leads to the birth of all super-humans inIncognito.
“The true power ofIncognitolies in its exploration of the murky area between hero and villain.”
The creative team also finds ways to homage important works beyond just superheroes and science fiction. In perhaps the series’ most clever homage, Zack is given the job as a mail-room file clerk, the same job ofAmerican Splendor’s Harvey Pekar. In that way, Zack is taken from the “mainstream” world of comics and hidden away in the world of underground comix. Referencing more than just the obvious touch-notes givesIncognitoits own unique identity that elevates beyond mere superhero fare.
Incognitois Perfect for Fans ofThe Boys
Putting a dark twist on classic archetypes is only part of the fun ofIncognito, asBrubaker and Philips take their patented hard-boiled approachand apply to a world of ray guns and zeppelin battle fortresses.Incognitohas enough twists and turns to satisfy even the most avidfilm noirfan, with each twist only making things worse for series protagonist Zack.Through the eyes of the main “hero,” readers are exposed to the dark underbelly of the supervillain underworld. The complex morality gets really interesting here, as readers learn that even villains have their own camaraderie, untrustworthy as they may be.
The true power ofIncognitolies in its exploration of the murky area between hero and villain. While Zack develops a newfound conscience throughout the entire series, perhaps the greatest lesson he learns is that – in the world ofIncognito–the only true distinction between the heroes and the villains is who is left standing at the end of the fight.That complex, more adult-oriented storytelling is what madeThe Boysa success, so readers eager for more R-rated superhero fare should definitely check outIncognito.
The Boys
The Boysfranchise is a satirical and dark superhero series based on the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. It explores a world where superheroes, or “Supes,” are corrupt, violent, and morally bankrupt, all controlled by the powerful corporation Vought International. The story centers around two opposing groups:The Boys, a vigilante team aiming to expose and defeat the corrupt heroes, andThe Seven, Vought’s elite team of Supes led by the ruthless Homelander.
