Global Frequency
| Global Frequency | |
|---|---|
Cover of Global Frequency #1, by Brian Wood | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Wildstorm |
| Format | Miniseries |
| Publication date | 2002–2003 |
| No. of issues | 12 issues |
| Main character(s) | Miranda Zero Aleph |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Warren Ellis |
| Written by | Warren Ellis |
| Artist(s) | 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 |
Global Frequency is a comic book published by Wildstorm Productions, created and written by Warren Ellis. It is a science fiction series set in the present day, in the genre of "rescue fiction", consisting of single-issue, standalone stories. The first 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.
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.
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 wear 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.
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. Its popularity and critical acclaim has led some to hope that there may yet be a small chance for the show to continue. Some fans are also attempting to organize campaigns to get the series produced, or to have the pilot released on DVD. WB has not indicated if they are going to commercially distribute the pilot or produce a series.
References
- Global Frequency: Planet Ablaze (collecting issues 1–6) - ISBN 1-4012-0274-8
- Global Frequency: Detonation Radio (collecting issues 7–12) - ISBN 1-4012-0291-8