nixsight

Incognito #1 – Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips

“Incognito” is the latest collaboration by Brubaker and Phillips, and is being released alongside their noir masterpiece “Criminal”, through the Marvel imprint Icon.

This book, however, is a return to the smart, hard-nosed real-world super-hero narrative of their earlier work on “Sleeper”.

“Sleeper” was a gem of a book, making tough choices issue after issue with the pre-existing Wildstorm Universe, that was only minimally limited by the requirements of working with franchise characters – mainly because Brubaker and Phillips invented most of the ones that they used in the book, and mainly because Brubaker is that damn good at this, and very versatile.

However, there was always the fact of that broader continuity pressing down on the book, and while it didn’t affect one’s enjoyment of the series, it did mean that it was hard to see it entirely apart from the rest of that universe.

“Incognito” is something entirely new, and at this point totally self-contained, and it benefits from this from the off. This isn’t Brubaker scratching at the fringes of someone else’s superhero world, and forcing it into his vision, it’s him building his own from the ground up. Or from the protagonist out, really.

Brubaker’s usual superb characterisation is at play again, here, as he explores an intriguing idea – what if there was a “witness relocation” programme for super-villains, but one of them got bored? – which might be cool but ultimately gimmicky in another writer’s hands, but in his becomes a very real and layered examination of a nihilistic and misanthropic psyche, the nature of villainy, and of boredom, and otherwise a damn good yarn.

It always feels like Sean Phillips is upping his game when you see a new book by him, but then, it always feels like he is, and if one looks at his work between books, I think the quality is actually pretty consistent. I think this is just what it looks like when someone is really very good at their craft – a natural born artist.

Which isn’t to say that it doesn’t take a lot of work – Phillips has been doing this for a lot longer than one would think, considering his age – but every illustration, and the layout of every panel, is so well considered and beautifully drawn that it’s as if he’s doing it purely by instinct – comic art as air.

There is prettier art, but hardly anybody straight up draws comics as well as the man, and maybe the feeling that he keeps getting better is actually that the level of his storytelling is so consistently great compared to the rest of the field.

I actually can’t wait to see what happens next.

Kick-Ass #5 – Mark Millar & John Romita Jr

John Romita Jr is another example of a great artist who favours storytelling over bells and whistles, and I am a long time lover of his art, but I have to admit that his work on “Kick-Ass” hasn’t been my favourite of his, up till now.

However, I don’t know if it’s the remains of the Christmas spirit, the relief at finally seeing a new issue, or a nonsensical and uncharacteristic amount of goodwill built up in me for Mark Millar by the not-actually-awful “Wanted” movie – nonsensical because I’m deeply aware that the good things about the movie were mostly where the film totally deviated from his comic – but I really enjoyed this issue.

After a really reaching and agitating couple of issues, things seem to be moving again, and the book is living up to it’s potential strengths once more. The “real-life” aspects of the titular character’s life once again ring true – to at least a “decent teen drama” level, if not a really authentic teen lifestyle one.

I was particularly enamoured of the dilemma of what to do when faced with performing a potential act of heroism that wouldn’t involve simply beating up a street thug, and as such could potentially be instantly and arbitrarily fatal – though I think the fact that Millar couldn’t resist slipping a particular and hackneyed superhero rescue trope in there, as if treading hilarious new ground, was a sign that he hasn’t dropped all of his bad habits overnight.

But yeah, I really liked this issue. On balance, I think this series is going to make an at least enjoyable trade paperback.