Enigma (Vertigo)

Enigma is an American comic book series written by Peter Milligan, with art by Duncan Fegredo, featuring a superhero named "The Enigma". It was published as an eight-issue limited series as part of the launch of Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics, in 1993.[1]

Enigma
Cover of the Enigma trade paperback
Publication information
PublisherVertigo
ScheduleMonthly
FormatLimited series
Publication dateMarch - October 1993
No. of issues8
Creative team
Created byPeter Milligan
Written byPeter Milligan
Artist(s)Duncan Fegredo
Letterer(s)John Costanza
Colorist(s)Sherilyn Van Valkenburgh
Editor(s)Art Young
Collected editions
EnigmaISBN 1-56389-192-1

Publication history

Writer Peter Milligan and artist Duncan Fegredo originally created Enigma for Disney Comics' planned Touchmark comics imprint. When the Touchmark line was canceled, the project moved to DC's developing Vertigo line, where it was one of the imprint's first limited series.[2] A new edition of Enigma was released in 2015.[3] A new hardcover edition was scheduled in 2019 by Dark Horse Comics' Berger Books imprint for Fall 2020.[4]

Plot

The story focuses on Michael Smith, a compulsive, late-20s telephone repairman living a highly structured life in Pacific City, California. His father was killed in an earthquake, and he was abandoned by his mother around age nine. Smith meets Titus Bird, a writer of the superhero comic book series The Enigma. The Enigma himself is a man born with seemingly omnipotent powers who adopts the identity of a comic book superhero. He is an essentially emotionless being and unfamiliar with the concepts of right and wrong. One of the minor characters in Enigma, named Envelope Girl, made an appearance in Peter Milligan's run of Animal Man.

Reception

Steve Faragher reviewed the Enigma graphic novel for Arcane magazine, rating it a 6 out of 10 overall.[5] Faragher comments that "This graphic novel features a deliberately bizarre mish-mash of styles and reminds me of avant-garde Italian literature that I was forced to read at university. It turns the genre on its head, attempts to explore the relationship between author and reader within the context of the story and challenges many of our preconceptions about the relationships we have with our heroes."[5] A 2007 review by Comic Book Resources praised the series for the handling of its subject matter.[6]

Collected editions

The series has been collected into a trade paperback.

  • Enigma (208 pages, DC Comics, August 1995, ISBN 1-85286-615-2, DC Comics, December 1993, ISBN 1-56389-192-1)
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References
  1. Irvine, Alex (2008), "Enigma", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 66, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015
  2. Boney, Alex (July 2012). "From Such great Heights: The Birth of Vertigo Comics". Back Issue!. TwoMorrows Publishing (57): 68–69.
  3. Adair, Torsten (14 March 2014). "New Titles From DC Comics! Fall 2014! And Spring 2015!". The Beat.
  4. "NYCC '19: Milligan and Fegredo's ENIGMA comes back into print from Dark Horse". www.comicsbeat.com. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
  5. Faragher, Steve (January 1996). "The Great Library". Arcane. Future Publishing (2): 90.
  6. Burgas, Greg (February 18, 2007). "Comics You Should Own – Enigma". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
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