Global Frequency

Infobox comic book title
title = Global Frequency


imagesize=200
caption = Cover of "Global Frequency" #1, by Brian Wood
schedule =
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limited =y
publisher = Wildstorm
date = 2002–2003
issues = 12 issues
main_char_team = Miranda Zero Aleph
past_current_color =background:#5be85b
writers = Warren Ellis
artists = Brian Wood, Garry Leach, Steve Dillon, Glenn Fabry, Liam Sharp, Roy Martinez, Jon J Muth, David Lloyd, Lee Bermejo, Simon Bisley, Tomm Coker, Gene Ha, Jason Pearson, Chris Sprouse, Karl Story
pencillers =
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creators = Warren Ellis
subcat=Wildstorm Comics
sort=PAGENAME

"Global Frequency" is an American comic book published by Wildstorm Productions, created and written by Warren Ellis. It is a science fiction series set in the present day, consisting of single-issue, standalone stories. The series of twelve issues was published between October 2002 and September 2003. Each issue was drawn by a different artist, with uniform covers by Brian Wood, and interior artwork colored by David Baron.

Overview

The Global Frequency is an independent, covert intelligence organization headed by a former intelligence agent who uses the alias of Miranda Zero. There are reportedly 1,001 people on the Global Frequency, forming an active smart mob communicating by specially modified video mobile phones through a central dispatch system coordinated by a young woman code-named Aleph, after the short story "The Aleph," by Jorge Luis Borges.

The purpose of the organization is to protect and rescue the world from the consequences of the various secret projects that the governments of the world have established, which are unknown to the public at large. The people on the Global Frequency are chosen and called on for their specialized skills in a variety of areas, from military personnel, intelligence agents, police detectives to scientific researchers, academics, athletes, former criminals and assassins. These threats that the organization deals with are equally varied and usually world-threatening, ranging from rogue military operations and paranormal phenomena to terrorist attacks and religious cults.

The existence of the organization is an open secret, but its membership list is anonymous, the identities of its field agents unknown to even each other before they meet on a mission. Often the only way to tell a member of the Global Frequency is by the phones that they carry or the Global Frequency symbol—a stylized sun—that they sport somewhere on their person.

Who exactly funds the Global Frequency is not known. Zero has said that at least some of the money comes from the G8 governments who pay the Frequency for not revealing the various secret horrors they deal with. Although the presence of an independent, unaccountable agency with strike capability makes some authorities nervous, they also recognize the fact that the Frequency has the skills, the reach and, more importantly, the will to act where they cannot. As a result, the organization gets tacit approval for its activities, and is sometimes called on by governments to deal with extraordinary crises. Mostly, however, the organization acts proactively as it discovers such threats.

In a departure from the usual serial nature of modern comic books, Ellis designed the comic like a television series with standalone "episodes", allowing the reader to come in at any point in the series and be able to understand what was going on. As a result, the only regular characters in the series are Miranda Zero and Aleph, with only a few other characters making a reappearance in the twelfth issue of the series. This also heightened the suspense, as the reader did not know if these characters would survive the mission, which sometimes they did not.

Collections

*"Global Frequency Vol. 1: Planet Ablaze" (ISBN 1401202748) Collects "Global Frequency" #1-6
*"Global Frequency Vol. 2: Detonation Radio" (ISBN 1401202918) Collects "Global Frequency" #7-12

Television pilot

Mark Burnett prepared a "Global Frequency" television series for 2005 with Michelle Forbes as Miranda Zero, Josh Hopkins as Sean Flynn, Jenni Baird as Dr. Katrina Finch and Aimee Garcia as Aleph. The characters of Sean Flynn, an ex-policeman who accidentally stumbled on a Global Frequency mission and Katrina Finch, a brilliant scientist with expertise in multiple fields, were created especially for the series.

Unlike the comic book, which had an ever-changing cast of field agents, Flynn and Finch were to be regulars along with Zero and Aleph, with other Frequency members coming in as and when necessary in supporting roles. This would allow for the character continuity expected of a television series and yet allow other characters to be killed off as in the comic book.

A pilot episode, based heavily on the first issue of the comic book, was produced, but WB (the original intended network) did not commission the series. John Rogers was the principal creative force behind the television incarnation, writing the pilot episode, with Ellis credited as producer and creator. Other writers waiting to come on board included David Slack, Ben Edlund and Diego Gutierrez. The pilot was directed by Nelson McCormick.

The unaired pilot was leaked onto the Internet in June 2005 and continues to be downloaded and shared, primarily via BitTorrent and other P2P networks. Although it was popular and critically acclaimed, according to Ellis himself the leaking of the pilot annoyed Warner Brothers to the extent that they killed the project. [cite web |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=5435 |title=Comic Book Resources - The Comic Reel |author=Hannibal Tabu |work=Comic Book Resources |date=2005-07-29 |accessdate=2006-12-27]

References

External links

* [http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,67986,00.html?tw=wn_2culthead "Wired" article on rejected pilot and subsequent BitTorrent leak]
* [http://www.comics2film.com/ProjectFrame.php?f_id=429 comics2film.com page]
* [http://www.badmouth.net/global-frequency/ badmouth.net page on comic and pilot]
* [http://www.technorati.com/tags/globalfrequency Global Frequency tagged blogs at technorati]