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argurotoxosIn last week's Midnighter recap edition, I said I'd cover issues #7, #9, and #10-17 next. However, I decided to move #10-17 back a week so could I have a chance to re-read all the issues before final thoughts. I still doubt I'll be posting any scans from those issues, though, so the first issue of The Authority vs Lobo, titled "Jingle Hell!", will also be featured for the holidays. As it so happens, all of these issues are written by Keith Giffen.
I'll be out of Midnighter issues after next week, but I'd like to continue the weekly comics posts next year, most likely with The Authority, Stormwatch, and the occasional old Batman issue or Vertigo/DC title.
Today's issues are both one-shots by two different creative teams. Moreover, they both guest-star Apollo! I'll say right now that even though the concept of #7 is neat, I much prefer #9, which is my second favourite Midnighter issue.
Midnighter #7, "Fait Accompli" (a French expression meaning "established fact"), is written by Brian K. Vaughan, author of Ex Machina, Runaways, and Y: The Last Man. The rest of the team is composed of Darick Robertson on pencils, Karl Story on inks, Randy Mayor and Jonny Rench on colors, Phil Balsman on letters, Kristy Quinn as assistant editor, Scott Dunbier as editor, and Chris Sprouse and Karl Story on the cover art. This is the only Midnighter mid-series one-shot that made it into a trade (Ennis' feudal Japan AU was also put in a trade).
We begin with Apollo and Midnighter kissing on the Carrier.
Yes, that is the first page. You see, this entire issue is told backward to illustrate how Midnighter uses his computer implants to see the outcomes of battles before they even begin, something that is explained in more detail two scans below. As a result, you can read this issue either from front to back or back to front and the story makes sense either way, which is quite cool.
I debated over whether to include a scan of the first page as I have very mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I love the backdrop of planet Earth with the sun flaring behind and it's nice to see some physical affection between the husbands for the first time in Mid's solo series. On the other, I'm not fond of the character art in this issue and the Queen card is very awkward and unnecessary. (There's no need to yell 'Look! They're GAY!', which is how it reads to me, though it's possible Vaughan and/or Robertson might have meant it as an amusing visual pun with no underlying implications. Nevertheless, it makes me flinch.)
The next page:
Even though Midnighter isn't portrayed as the loner he was in Ennis' run, Vaughan's Apollo - still sitting up on the Carrier doing artistic activities, something that will be changed in Midnighter #9 - still feels a bit like Ennis to me. The same goes for the villains' dialogue, which continues Ennis' homophobic quips. On the other hand, I do feel the affection within Apollo and Midnighter's interaction, which is something that was lacking with Ennis.
And the last (or first, depending) two pages:
Not too much happens in between, other than Midnighter predictably beating the hell out of everyone. Midnighter strikes me as overly chatty throughout and the dialogue isn't as sharp or substantial as Christos Gage's from Midnighter #8 or even some of Ennis' pages. Overall, the unique story format is pulled off well, but I was left underwhelmed.
Midnighter #9, "The Hercules Virus," features Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Brian Stelfreeze (art), Randy Mayor (colors), Phil Balsman (letters), Kristy Quinn (assistant editor), Scott Dunbier (editor), and Chris Sprouse and Karl Story on cover art.
The story opens with Midnighter fighting mutants on a large space station. Rather than talking out loud to himself while progressing as in #7, #9 utilizes inner monologue in black text boxes, which feels much more natural.
To explain why Midnighter is up on this space station, we have a brief flashback.
I love a genre-aware Midnighter and how he's already surmised what's happened.
Catching up to the present, Midnighter's killing his way through more mutated humans and other creatures created by the virus, some so twisted that Midnighter admits 'it's enough to make even me want to puke. This is no simple virus. This is...well, it's pretty sick is what it is.'
At last, Midnighter finds the sole surviving human on board and it's revealed that Midnighter has been set up: instead of accidental infection during a soil sample research mission on Mars, the crew was intentionally exposed to the virus, actually a new government-developed bio-weapon. The plan was that Midnighter himself would become infected while on the station and his heightened immune system would provide the government with an antidote so the virus could be used in wartime with controls. Matters are complicated by the space station falling into Earth's atmosphere with downtown Boston as the projected crash site (this was actually established near the beginning).
Midnighter clarifies that nothing on board the station can contaminate Earth once it crashes, although it will, naturally, kill the thousands of people who live there if it's allowed to continue on its current course.
Which leads to . . .
Apollo! Who is drawn a bit weirdly on this page and has apparently just concluded a fight with a giant, but yay for an Apollo who actually goes out and kicks ass!
Midnighter informs Apollo of his plan, which the readers are left in the dark on until the end. Mid then goes back to the woman who set him up. She sics some robots on Mid that he quickly takes down as he informs her that he isn't infected with their virus.
Time to activate the plan . . .
I love the art in the second panel of the first page of the above scans; Apollo as gorgeously powerful is how I usually picture him in my head.
I also adore the last page so much -- the dialogue, the art, the epicness of Mid and Apollo working together to kill Jennifer Norton (that's the woman's name) with her own unethical creation by dropping a space station on her, Mid and Apollo's final reaction of 'Well, that was fun, now let's go home and get cleaned up.' It's a perfect example of why this is my second favourite Midnighter issue. Love the sci-fi aspects, love both Midnighter and Apollo being useful and intelligent, and really like the dialogue and art. And, for the first - and only - time in Midnighter, I remember why I loved Midnighter, Apollo, and their relationship so much in the first place.
I'll be out of Midnighter issues after next week, but I'd like to continue the weekly comics posts next year, most likely with The Authority, Stormwatch, and the occasional old Batman issue or Vertigo/DC title.
Today's issues are both one-shots by two different creative teams. Moreover, they both guest-star Apollo! I'll say right now that even though the concept of #7 is neat, I much prefer #9, which is my second favourite Midnighter issue.
Midnighter #7, "Fait Accompli" (a French expression meaning "established fact"), is written by Brian K. Vaughan, author of Ex Machina, Runaways, and Y: The Last Man. The rest of the team is composed of Darick Robertson on pencils, Karl Story on inks, Randy Mayor and Jonny Rench on colors, Phil Balsman on letters, Kristy Quinn as assistant editor, Scott Dunbier as editor, and Chris Sprouse and Karl Story on the cover art. This is the only Midnighter mid-series one-shot that made it into a trade (Ennis' feudal Japan AU was also put in a trade).
We begin with Apollo and Midnighter kissing on the Carrier.
Yes, that is the first page. You see, this entire issue is told backward to illustrate how Midnighter uses his computer implants to see the outcomes of battles before they even begin, something that is explained in more detail two scans below. As a result, you can read this issue either from front to back or back to front and the story makes sense either way, which is quite cool.
I debated over whether to include a scan of the first page as I have very mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I love the backdrop of planet Earth with the sun flaring behind and it's nice to see some physical affection between the husbands for the first time in Mid's solo series. On the other, I'm not fond of the character art in this issue and the Queen card is very awkward and unnecessary. (There's no need to yell 'Look! They're GAY!', which is how it reads to me, though it's possible Vaughan and/or Robertson might have meant it as an amusing visual pun with no underlying implications. Nevertheless, it makes me flinch.)
The next page:
Even though Midnighter isn't portrayed as the loner he was in Ennis' run, Vaughan's Apollo - still sitting up on the Carrier doing artistic activities, something that will be changed in Midnighter #9 - still feels a bit like Ennis to me. The same goes for the villains' dialogue, which continues Ennis' homophobic quips. On the other hand, I do feel the affection within Apollo and Midnighter's interaction, which is something that was lacking with Ennis.
And the last (or first, depending) two pages:
Not too much happens in between, other than Midnighter predictably beating the hell out of everyone. Midnighter strikes me as overly chatty throughout and the dialogue isn't as sharp or substantial as Christos Gage's from Midnighter #8 or even some of Ennis' pages. Overall, the unique story format is pulled off well, but I was left underwhelmed.
Midnighter #9, "The Hercules Virus," features Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Brian Stelfreeze (art), Randy Mayor (colors), Phil Balsman (letters), Kristy Quinn (assistant editor), Scott Dunbier (editor), and Chris Sprouse and Karl Story on cover art.
The story opens with Midnighter fighting mutants on a large space station. Rather than talking out loud to himself while progressing as in #7, #9 utilizes inner monologue in black text boxes, which feels much more natural.
To explain why Midnighter is up on this space station, we have a brief flashback.
I love a genre-aware Midnighter and how he's already surmised what's happened.
Catching up to the present, Midnighter's killing his way through more mutated humans and other creatures created by the virus, some so twisted that Midnighter admits 'it's enough to make even me want to puke. This is no simple virus. This is...well, it's pretty sick is what it is.'
At last, Midnighter finds the sole surviving human on board and it's revealed that Midnighter has been set up: instead of accidental infection during a soil sample research mission on Mars, the crew was intentionally exposed to the virus, actually a new government-developed bio-weapon. The plan was that Midnighter himself would become infected while on the station and his heightened immune system would provide the government with an antidote so the virus could be used in wartime with controls. Matters are complicated by the space station falling into Earth's atmosphere with downtown Boston as the projected crash site (this was actually established near the beginning).
Midnighter clarifies that nothing on board the station can contaminate Earth once it crashes, although it will, naturally, kill the thousands of people who live there if it's allowed to continue on its current course.
Which leads to . . .
Apollo! Who is drawn a bit weirdly on this page and has apparently just concluded a fight with a giant, but yay for an Apollo who actually goes out and kicks ass!
Midnighter informs Apollo of his plan, which the readers are left in the dark on until the end. Mid then goes back to the woman who set him up. She sics some robots on Mid that he quickly takes down as he informs her that he isn't infected with their virus.
Time to activate the plan . . .
I love the art in the second panel of the first page of the above scans; Apollo as gorgeously powerful is how I usually picture him in my head.
I also adore the last page so much -- the dialogue, the art, the epicness of Mid and Apollo working together to kill Jennifer Norton (that's the woman's name) with her own unethical creation by dropping a space station on her, Mid and Apollo's final reaction of 'Well, that was fun, now let's go home and get cleaned up.' It's a perfect example of why this is my second favourite Midnighter issue. Love the sci-fi aspects, love both Midnighter and Apollo being useful and intelligent, and really like the dialogue and art. And, for the first - and only - time in Midnighter, I remember why I loved Midnighter, Apollo, and their relationship so much in the first place.
