Secret Crisis Comics is a comics and collectibles store in Chelsea, Michigan. The origin story: In the 80's, Marvel's Super Heroes Secret Wars and DC Comics Crisis on Infinite Earths cemented a life-long passion for comics, and the owner wanted to commemorate these titles. To me, 'Secret Crisis' elicited thoughts of three-letter government agencies that smuggled secrets over the Berlin Wall, or perhaps Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy. In a world of full-blown comic color, we reduced the identity to white and black, where information is currency. I created a brand character named 'Agent Smith' (homage to the Matrix) that was bent on the co-opting of popular culture for his own nefarious gains. His voice is used in all communications.
Our redacted theme extended to all communication. Even the title of the owner was changed to ‘Chief of Station’, a term used for team leads of defensible outposts in foreign countries.
To extend the branding in store we stamped brown paper bags to suggest a clandestine handoff of secret documents.
