Ruse (comics)

Ruse was a CrossGen comic book title. It 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 was written by Mark Waid and the last half by Scott Beatty; nearly the entire series featured pencils by Butch Guice. The series also had two spin-off issues, each called Ruse: Archard's Agents. 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).

Setting

The series takes place primarily in the fictional town of Partington, in a Victorian-era setting tinged with elements of magic and fantasy.

Characters

The series focused on two primary protagonists: Simon Archard and Emma Bishop. The relationship between the two attractive leads remains purely professional throughout the series and never becomes romantic, 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 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.

Emma Bishop is Simon Archard's assistant. She also has mysterious magical powers, which she keeps secret even from Archard (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 powers 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 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.

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 evil 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 it and to use it to return to her homeworld. Simon Archard and Emma Bishop sought to destroy it, to prevent the artifact from causing any more evil.