Incognito # 6 - Part Six

Incognito ends just as well at it started with a ending that ties up all the loose ends and sets up an even greater story idea for a sequel.  Zack's origins are revealed and they aren't dissappointing.  The book doesn't end on the prophecized Noir downer which any reader would have picked up on.  There isn't as much character build up as in previous stories as this issue is just supposed to be an awesome climax.  I'll be happy if Brubaker gets to do a sequel.

 I'm wondering if Brubaker knew this is how the series would end when he first put pen to paper. I've heard that sometimes a story can write itself and grow beyond the writer's initial intentions. Stephen King speaks of that sort of phenomenon all the time but not being a writer I wouldn't know it works.

I guess I'm mulling over this because I felt like this issue was out of sync with the mood and style that has been established over the past five issues. And if he had a story in mind from the get-go how come there was such a change within the last issue? Why did things feel crammed in? I felt like the story took a left turn and became more science fiction than an old crime noir. And I also felt like how the story was unfolding felt more like an ongoing series and not a mini.

I call Bullshit.

Maybe the answer to my rhetorical questions are that he wasn't sure at all what to do and by the time we arrived to issues five and six he had some explaining to do.

Like Zack and Xander's sudden origin explanation that has to do with an old hero who was named The Lazarus Man… Turns out this guy, who was also The Black Death's nemesis along with Professor Zeppelin, had a bunch of test tube babies that he kept growing at an accelerated rate and transferring his consciousness into whenever he became hurt. Hence his name and why all the tube babies were identical… And I guess The Black Death finally caught up to him, killed him, and started raising some of his test tube babies to be bad guys…

Doesn't really explain the "Twin Powers" thing between Zack and Xander nor does it explain why we've barely heard of this hero until now… Whatever.

And don't even get me started on a third identical brother that materializes from nowhere with a dual plan to frame Zack and also help The Black Death escape… And he's even MOAR evil than either Zack and Xander were…

This story wasn't just fun, it was fucking cool and interesting and had some inventive takes on why someone would go out and start fighting crime. And then something like issue five happens and all that coolness which has saturated every page is discarded for some extra action panels, some weird sci-fi twists on a guy's origin which never mattered to begin with, and a quick ending that leaves room for another mini-series…

But if this is the direction the book will start heading I think I might just jump ship right now and remember "Incognito" for what it was before issue five.Here's hoping for more of the same. At least we have a new Criminal mini-series on the way this fall.