Good, but not as good as the first volume. The latter part of the volume really makes you think. ( )

A super-villain, caught, and now hiding in witness protection, has his cover is blown and then is recruited to help catch bad guys. It should be easy, since he used to be one of them, but now he's been infected by empathy, and it's harder than he thought.

Zack Overkill, Zoe Zeppelin, Lazarus, and Simon Slaughter are just some of the characters inside this pulpy, noir, empathetic super-villain story from the super cool Mr. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. What fun! ( )

Pulp fiction material in graphic form. Solid, noirish, crime reading, which falls in line with books like Sin City, The Road to Perdition, and Bronx Kill. ( )

After I put down Incognito a few months back, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the sequel. Unfortunately, I was on the bottom of the list when it came to borrowing it from my local library. Instead of running to my local Chapters and snagging it as soon as possible, I opted to wait. I received the email that it came in last week and raced downtown to snatch it.

The saga of Zack Overkill (still, one of the best names in comics) continues with Bad Influences. This time around, Zack begrudgingly joins forces with the S.O.S. agency and is given the task of infiltrating an opposing organization. The task in question involves bringing in an undercover rouge agent that well.. stayed rouge.

While all of this is happening, a hooded vigillante is scouring the streets dressed as famed 1930s super-hero killer, Lazarus. While some believe it to be Zack himself, no one knows for sure. Struggling to avoid returning to his old super villan ways, can Zack bring back the S.O.S traitor and escape with his life?

Despite the fact that I gave this book 1 star less than Volume one, I'm hoping it doesn't reflect poorly on the quality. At this point, it's really difficult for Phillips and Brubaker to combine their talents and put out something that is anything less then stellar but while this story is enjoyable, it just falls short of the awesomeness of the original.

That being said, there are some excellent dialogue heavy scenes within these pages:

The problem with the world? Not crime or corruption or poverty or greed.. or all the gray areas that tie them together. No the problem is the people who allow those gray areas to exist in the first place. Because they're a lie, there is no gray in the world. There's only good and evil. Right and wrong. And people who are too weak to believe the truth.. even when it's right before their eyes.

It's time to stop pretending they're innocent.

Brubaker and Phillips are collectively, the man.

PS. There is quite possibly, the BEST introduction I've read attached. Joe Hill writes what is basically a love letter to comics. ( )

Derivative is the best way to describe this: derivative of Brubaker's earlier Sleeper, and derivative of even the previous volume of Incognito. It's not without its moments, but it feels more like retreading already well-worn ground than having anything new to say. ( )