Incognito (ICON) – Comic Series Review

Ed Brubaker crafts a dark world of superheroes and villains with a gritty and realistic approach. While this may feature some familiar takes and setups on heroes, the atmosphere is much bleaker than most Marvel/DC presentations and centers on moral dilemmas, heightened violence, disturbing psychologies and controversial characters.

Zack Overkill misses his dead brother Xander, and his old life. He is such a nobody now that even new girl Amanda in accounting doesn’t even notice him or remember his name. His old life however was as a bank robbing, murdering, destroying total maniacal shit bag, hopped up on super powers that he didn’t understand, and shared with Xander.

After Xander was murdered, Zack took a deal with the Special Operations Service, or S.O.S. This required him to ingest drugs that would quell his power, and enter the rat race of a regular civilian, hence the desk job. He has a handler, and is monitored virtually at all times, but at least this keeps him safe from The Black Death, an ultimate powered super villain who thinks the Overkill brothers were killed at his request.

As Zack feels a calling back to his old ways when he stops taking his drugs and saves a woman in an alleyway, is he actually winding up on the side of good for once? I mean, probably not, but there at least is an attempt at reconciling with his past actions. As he dives head first into a double life again, what will he find out about his own past, as well as the past heroes and villains of the world?

Incognito is a nice short and sweet series that covers plenty of interesting ground. It builds a more grounded approach at super powers individuals and looks at some of the psychology and danger behind these people. While there is plenty of action, the story moves more like an old school detective tale as it delves into the back history of the main characters and builds on their personalities.

While only six issues don’t necessarily satisfy all the questions you may ask as a reader, the plot presented within is cohesive and entertaining. The characters are much darker than usual superhero affair, and may only be so enjoyable as people, but they make for compelling and gritty storytelling.