Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got one new comic plus a hard cover collection:

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

I like Brubaker and Phillips’ work. I’ve been buying it since they did “Point Blank” for Wildstorm years ago. I even bought Brubaker’s autobiographical comics back in the early Nineties when he was and alternative cartoonist. So it was a forgone conclusion that I would by the collection of their latest series.

“Incognito” is the story of a super villain who, a few years ago, entered the witness protection plan. He is now a file clerk in a small midwestern city living an everyday life. Of course that all comes crashing down around him otherwise there wouldn’t be much of a story. Well, Harvey Pekar could get a story or two out of that.

I’ve bought and enjoyed Brubaker and Phillips’ last four collections of their previous comic “Criminal”. The books left me I little cold though. They were well done but I had a hard time empathizing with characters who were all irredeemably bad. I didn’t have that problem with “Incognito”.

Though the lead character is an ex-super villain and not the greatest guy in the world he was at least likable. You can feel for him as he is caught between a rock and a hard place when he becomes a pawn and then gets caught in between the law and the law breakers.

The story takes place in it’s own super hero (or science hero) universe and a good job is done filling this universe with it’s own cast of characters. From the text piece at the end I know a few of the character were based on old, forgotten pulp heroes but, thankfully, we were spared the usual thinly veiled versions of Superman, Batman, and the rest of the JLA that have been plaguing the “alternate” super hero universes for the past decade or so.

Sean Phillips art is as nice as ever. He can draw and tell a story in a nice “Film Noir” style. The coloring is nice too. I like the look all around as I usually do.

Even though I always buy Brubaker and Phillips’ stuff I have to say that this book was especially enjoyable. A good read. Go pick it up.