Ruse (comics)

For other uses of the word, see Ruse.
Ruse

Cover to Ruse #1
Publication information
Publisher Crossgen Entertainment
Schedule Monthly
Genre
    Publication date November, 2001 – January, 2004
    Number of issues 26
    Main character(s) Simon Archard
    Emma Bishop
    Miranda Cross
    Malcolm Lightbourne
    Creative team
    Writer(s) Mark Waid
    Penciller(s) Butch Guice
    Inker(s) Mike Perkins
    Colorist(s) Laura DePuy
    Creator(s) Mark Alessi
    Gina M. Villa

    Ruse is a comic book featuring detectives Simon Archard and Emma Bishop. Originally published by CrossGen, it was revived in 2011 by Marvel Comics as part of its acquisition of CrossGen titles.

    Publication history

    Ruse ran for twenty-six issues from November 2001 to January 2004 before it was forced to end by the bankruptcy of CrossGen. The first half of the series was written by Mark Waid and the last half by Scott Beatty; nearly the entire series featured pencils by Butch Guice. The critically acclaimed series was known for complex plots, the witty repartee between the two protagonists, and being of an unusual genre in comic books (Victorian-era detective fiction).

    The series also had three spin-off issues, each called Ruse: Archard's Agents and all written by Chuck Dixon.

    In 2010, Marvel Comics announced plans to revive CrossGen titles, and revealed that Ruse was scheduled to return as a four-issue miniseries in March 2011. Mark Waid was also announced as the writer.[1]

    Setting

    Original series

    The series takes place on the planet Arcadia, primarily in the fictional town of Partington, in a Victorian-era setting tinged with elements of magic and fantasy. The most visible difference from real London is that it has living gargoyles which are regarded by the populace as creatures as commonplace as pigeons.

    Revived series

    The revived series established the city of Partington as a settlement in Victorian England, and made no mention of the Sigils or Negation characters from the original series. References were made to events and characters from the Crossgen series.

    Characters

    The series focused on two primary protagonists: Simon Archard and Emma Bishop. The relationship between the two attractive leads is purely professional, although the two share great chemistry and other characters make numerous innuendos about their relationship.

    Simon Archard is a detective. He is a master sleuth and extremely competent. He has an eidetic memory. He is feared by the criminals of Partington, and his presence apparently keeps the crime rate low. He is close to emotionless, remaining utterly calm in situations of crisis. He is also emotionally distant from other people. His character is based on Sherlock Holmes. It is implied that Simon Archard is his world's Sigil Bearer, but he does not receive the mark from anyone at the beginning of the series nor does he seem to have any special powers except his mental abilities (he does however wear the Sigil mark upon his tie pin). It is possible that Simon received the mark before the series began, gets his abilities from it and is able to hide it from everyone (and wears the mark on his tie pin as respect for the powers it gives him).

    Emma Bishop is Simon Archard's assistant. She has mysterious magical powers which she is not supposed to use. Careful to maintain her identity, she conceals her powers (though it was revealed in the last issue of the series, #26, that Archard had secretly deduced her powers almost from the very beginning). The source of her abilities was never revealed in the series, though a reader familiar with the rest of the CrossGen Universe could deduce from her powers and her orange eyes that she was one of the guides that accompanied Sigil-bearers.

    Miranda Cross is the primary antagonist of the series. She initially appears to be a beautiful baroness; however, it is revealed that she is evil, many centuries old, and from a different world. She also possesses magical powers, which are at least the equal of and probably stronger than those of Emma Bishop. She is possibly a demon of some sort, though the exact nature of her identity is not resolved by the end of the series. Some readers consider her dialogue in Ruse #18 (April 2003) to possibly hint that she is a Negation Lawbringer.

    Malcolm Lightbourne is Simon Archard's former mentor and chief rival. Lightbourne's main goal throughout the series is the retrieval of the Enigmatic Prism, which Archard stole from him at the end of their partnership. Lightbourne also seeks to kill Archard and attempts to achieve both of his goals by destroying the city of Partington.

    The Consortium of Aggrieved Man Servants are a group of Butlers that strive to achieve the impossible; kill Simon Archard. This underground conspiracy has swelled in ranks over the years every time Archard has muttered the phrase "the Butler did it." Even though the consortium has made many (botched) attempts on Archard's life, he seems un-characteristically unaware of their existence or perhaps he just doesn't care.

    Archard's Agents are a network of people that Archard uses to gather information on cases. Members of the group include a former prize fighter, a child psychic, and a bearded lady.

    Plot

    While some issues were standalone issues in which Simon Archard and Emma Bishop solved some small mystery in Partington, most issues were concerned with the larger storyline running throughout the entire series.

    This storyline focused on a mysterious artifact called the Enigmatic Prism, which incited evil desires, such as hate, lust, and a need to do violence, within people. Miranda Cross wanted the Enigmatic Prism to do evil with, and to use it to return to her homeworld. Simon Archard and Emma Bishop sought to destroy the prism, to prevent the artifact from causing further harm.

    Quotes

    Collections

    Original series

    There have been a number of trade paperbacks collecting some of the issues:

    The following collections were solicited, but never published due to Crossgen's bankruptcy:

    Revived series

    Awards

    The series has been nominated for five Eisners and has won a number of awards, including:

    Film

    It was mentioned, in passing, that Siavash Farahani has written a Ruse film script for Disney.[2]

    See also

    References

    1. ↑ Ben Morse (2010-12-16). "Enter Crossgen". Marvel.com. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
    2. ↑ IGN: Exclusive: Sam Raimi's Pulp Fiction

    External links

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