Conspiracy: Doppelganger Adds New Chapter to Zenescope Series

CONSPIRACY: DOPPELGANGER is an offshoot of Zenescope's CONSPIRACY: THE ILLUMINATI. The nut of this story arc is that The Illuminati replace people with exact duplicates.

This first issue follows two plot threads. The first pertains to the reunion of two high school friends at the funeral of a third -- a funeral brought about because this former friend going off on a shooting rampage after a lifetime of being a peacenik. According to Taylor, this is because the dead man decided to listen to someone who advocated for the Second Amendment. Apparently this means he's programming people for The Illuminati, and it's enough evidence to nearly convince her friend Drew, who remains skeptical of the group's existence.

The other story centers on a Hollywood actor who has been asked to join the secret order. The nefarious thing they want him to do is--and this is where it gets truly diabolical--wear a pair of cufflinks and touch a microphone with his right hand during an Oscar acceptance speech. That's just a bridge too far for Tinsel Town's golden boy, Liam Jackson, who tells the gathering at a bizarre party in his honor that they can shove their invitation. That's when he finds himself face-to-face...with his face, worn by another person who speaks with his voice.

Hans Rodionoff and J.G. Miranda have the challenging task of making these less-than-threatening actions into a web of deception and secret world-domination. It's hard to convince people of a wide-ranging conspiracy when you have such bland elements to work with to prove its existence. The artwork is more than passable, but the dialogue could use a lot of work to make it sound more natural.