What's that old phrase? Movie deals are what happens when you take a break from Criminal? Well, in this case, it's true. Word from Deadline.com is that Fox has greenlit a film adaptation of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Icon series Incognito. The series' first and (currently) only arc tells the story of Zack Overkill, a former supervillain who ends up in witness protection, de-powered and pushing the mail cart at in a white collar office setting. When he regains control of his super strength and dexterity, he takes on a new career as a costumed vigilante.
No cast or director has been announced as of yet, but playwright Robert Schenkkan is typing up the screenplay.
We here at iFanboy generally dug the series, though not nearly as much as we've enjoyed Criminal overall. That said, Incognito makes a hell of a lot of sense as a film. Brubaker's writing for both Icon series harkens not only to pulp comics, but to the crime films of the 60s and 70s. Phillips' art is likewise incredibly atmospheric with great attention to noirish lighting. The translation from page to screen seems altogether natural. With appropriate emphasis on that cinematic tradition and on the crime and pulp heritage, this has the potential to be a very different kind of superhero movie, especially with regard to tone. Zack Overkill was a great antihero and his very untraditional route to his career as a masked avenger is 180 degrees from the origins we typically see on screen. Bring it.
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If they put the right crew on this it could be truly great. Can’t wait.
Thats so awesome! This was probably my favorite mini ever. I was Zach Overkill for Halloween. Hopefully they just get some good folks to work on this project.
@Avenger117 You were Overkill? That’s pretty darn nifty.
Really? I thought this mini was utterly forgetable. Maybe I’m in the minority though.
As long as Fox let’s this movie be made creatively and not the "To many cooks in the kitchen" which fox has been known to do, we could get a damn good film.
Very exciting!
It’s interesting (to me, anyway) that after two consecutive weeks of hearing, "That comic book movie / animated DVD underperformed," Fox would choose this moment to make this particular deal.
Considering it’s Fox and the underperformance of other "gritty" comic movies, I’m predicting either a small budget or (more likely) a PG-13 rating.
If it were a longer running series, I’d say this would make an awesome AMC series.
Cool news. I’m in agreement with Kahuna that with the right people this has real potential.
@OttoBott Agreed. Both Criminal and Incognito would make great cable tv series.
Awesome news. I enjoyed the monthly, but loved it in trade form. It got me excited for comics in a way I haven’t in a while. I can’t wait to see what happens with this. Hopefully they put decent talent on it rather than screwing it up the way most non-A-List comic properties are. Plus, this is Fox, and they screw up most things, so we’ll see…
Robert Schenkkan wrote the Pacific (yay!)
Robert Schenkkan wrote The Andromeda Strain tv movie (gulp)
I haven’t read the book yet but this always seemed like an interesting story. This could totally work as a film. Just need a right crew and director, cause the writer isn’t enough for me to think positively or negatively.
You know someone famous said something about the comic book industry being a pumpking patch fo hollywood, where big executives just come along whenever and pluck ides for themeslves… really makes you think
Incognito was definitely in my top 5 fav comics when it was coming out last year. So fingers crossed Fox doesnt screw this up
@kahunablair yeah, it was pretty cool. I tried to get my girl friend to be eva destruction but she wanted to be atom eve from invincible.
This could end up being better than the comic.
@Paul I thought Conor and Josh didn’t care for Incognito. I could be remembering wrong.
Well they certainly didn’t hate it. But the "we" describes more than just Josh and Conor, so…
Sorry. I only know based on what I hear from the podcast.
Looking forward to this, I liked the series and looking forward to the next one. It’s what made me finally check out Sleeper.
I’ve been meaning to buy this, maybe Saturday’s the day.
@OttoBott & @vinh: I think this would make a better TV series than movie as well. I just glad it getting some kind of on screen treatment. I think AMC, FX, or Fox could make a good series out of this.
Very cool!
Super excited for this.