Ed Brubaker is best known for two things, his landmark run on Captain America that saw him kill off and resurrect the sentinel of liberty, and his prolific work writing crime comics infused with superhero trappings, or vice-versa. With Greg Rucka he co-created Gotham Central, a police procedural series centered on the Gotham PD’s Major Crime Unit. He had an acclaimed run on Catwoman and followed Brian Michael Bendis’s landmark run on Daredevil without looking pale in comparison.
Together with artist Sean Philips Brubaker created the much acclaimed Sleeper, a DC/Wildstorm series that successfully combined Superheroes and neo-noir, focusing on a super-powered secret agent in deep cover in a criminal syndicate. The pair collaborated again on Criminal, a Marvel/Icon series focusing on subsequent generations of criminals in a fictional east cost city. The pair then created Incognito, which saw them return to the superhero-noir formula of Sleeper, combining it with the retro-futuristic style of the pulp magazines of the thirties.
The plot of Incognito is as follows; a former super-criminal is caught, and facing the prospect of life in prison, he opts to testify against his master, the supervillain called the Black Death, and enter witness protection. Zack Overkill’s death is faked, he is relocated, given a job as a file clerk in an office, and is periodically made to ingest drugs that nullify his powers.
While he once robbed banks and spread mayhem for a living, Zack Andersen now lives the life of just another white collar zombie, shuffling paper by day, tranquilizing himself with TV and meaningless sex with lonely women by night.
Eventually, resorting to hard drugs to make life bearable, he discovers that they counter the power-nullifying drugs, enabling him to regain his powers, oblivious to his handlers. Knowing a return to his former ways would alert his handlers and get him tossed back in jail, Zack becomes a vigilante, working off aggression and regaining a bit of who he was every night.
Naturally, this is the point where his former gang find out he’s still alive.
Incognito has been picked up for production by 20th Century Fox, so jubilation would be premature. Brubaker and Philips’ previous superhero-noir production, Sleeper, has been on the cusp of production five times so far, most recently by Sam Raimi and Tom Cruise, it might be the same case with Incognito. So far no director or cast has been chosen.
So in anticipation of any news, here’s who I hope to see picking up a ray-gun in Incognito.
Zack Overkill/Zack Andersen and Xander Overkill
Bred from infancy for super-crime, the Overkill twins were among the Black Death’s top agents, and together were responsible for over 200 hundred acts of super-crime the authorities know of.
Ava Destruction
The very embodiment of live fast, die young. A friend of Zack’s from his days as a super-criminal.
The Black Death
Once an escaped prisoner, the man once known as Kenneth Lee became the world’s first superhuman and supervillain over two hundred years ago.
Doctor Lester
Just your average mad scientist working for a criminal mastermind.
Zoë Zeppelin
Daughter of one of the Black Death’s enemies, and an agent of the SHIELD-esque SOS.
Phileas Farmer
Zack’s only friend as Zack Andersen.
Amanda
A girl working in Zack’s office who’d been changed by an encounter with Ava Destruction.