What do you need to know first about the ICA? It’s a spy comic focusing around an agent named Eben07. You will immediately get the basic concept once you pronounce his name properly: ebb-in-oh-seven.

According to the new readers page, the Intelligence Cleaner Agency is mandated to to cover up, clean up and otherwise eradicate any evidence of “ultra-secret covert operation.” However, the Patriot Act requires that the secret archives of the ICA be realeased to the public. Since the law does not mandate a particular venue of information release, Agent Eben07 had the idea to portray it as a cartoon. Thus the law is satisfied and while still letting the ICA keep most of their secrets.

Here’s an important bit to remember from the readers page: “Comics are called declassifications and are set in “operations” which could be considered chapters, but are more like individual stories that sometimes intertwine.” Knowing that helps you understand the operations summary page at the beginning of each chapter. You’ll see an official ICA Operations Declassification Release Form - complete with a “Compliant with FOIA” statement. That’s an amusing detail. The summaries are nicely done for those of us reading the archives. We can get a sense of what to expect yet it’s written cryptically so if you want the juicy details you’ll have to read the comic.

Another amusing detail is found on the What We Do page. Among other questions (some of whose answers are deleted due to security reasons,) it is asked why the comic follows Agent Eben07. The answer is “Eben07 is the ACA (Assigned Cleaner Agent) for one of the most elite operatives of the British intelligence services. Due to his high profile assignment and recommendations for the declassification to be a “cartoon” his codename has also become synonymous with the declassification process.”

Naturally, there is a dossier page for those that wish to assess the character of the operatives. The two main operatives featured are Eben07 and Ninja Dan. Eben07 has specialties involving getting hit with tranquilizer datrs, cultures of the Middle East and Eastern Europe with a deep appreciation for “all things Soviet.” Ninja Dan has flashing swords, a stoic attitude, ninja skills and a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes. We also find their Operations Supervisor Clancy Ryan Ford, supernatural expert Janester and Research & Development specialist Emoticon.

If you read the Dossiers, you’ll see the term “waste management” quite a lot. It threw me at first, but I suppose that’s what “cleaners” do - they manage the waste. It therefore occurred to me that they are actually managing wasted intelligence, and I found that amusing in the context of the strip.

So what do Eben07 and Ninja Dan do? They use their skills, gear and gadgets to accomplish the mission of the ICA. One of my favorite (archived) operations is where the ICA has to undo something that Dr. Jones has done. In it, we learn about the ever nefarious Smithsonian organization and their desire to uncover secrets. The ICA cannot allow that - their whole purpose is to keep things secret. In later operations, Smithsonian operatives return to work their mischief.

The current operation “took agents Eben07 and Ninja Dan on a train ride via the Orient Express where they were assigned to clean a covert operation regarding Eben07’s Assigned Secret Agent. Eben07 fell incapacitated and Ninja Dan was left to sort out the conspiracy and revive his partner.” Each ICA agent has their ASA (Assigned Secret Agent) that they specifically clean up for as part of their general mission parameters. Unfortunately, Eben07 fell victim to the perils of Russian Literature and lapsed into a coma during the train ride to the mission. Ninja Dan is in the process of finding someone to revive Eben07 at the moment. Knowing that everyone who appears in the comic has a good chance of showing back up leads me to expect to see these … unknown gypsies … will appear in a later storyline. Eben07 is good spy-spoof fun. I give it five stars as an excellent example of its kind of comic. Rating:

I also liked all the little custom details on the website. Aside from what I’ve already mentioned, you see “operation navigation” instead of story archives and “security clearance required” instead of meta (where you log in, get the rss feeds, etc.) I also like the new title image. Note: They have just switched over to a wordpress install, so some features (like the villain’s dossier’s) are not yet up to date. It is much easier to use the website now than Eben07’s previous design, so get reading.

Intelligence Cleaner Agency
by (restricted information not available for the public)
http://www.eben07.com
review by Delos
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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