Midnighter #6
2 December 2009 01:15![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
argurotoxosLast time, I presented a summary and scans of my favourite Midnighter issue. This week's issue is on the opposite end of the spectrum. I wouldn't exactly call it terrible, but it's full of WTFness and unintentional hilarity. It's also one of the few Midnighter issues to feature Apollo (yay!), but neither Midnighter or Apollo are very in-character, even by alternate universe standards.
What kind of alternate universe, you ask?
Feudal Japan.
The story title of this issue is "Flowers for the Sun," which isn't an entirely accurate description as will be seen below. On the creative team we have Garth Ennis (writer), Glenn Fabry (art), Randy Mayor (colors), Jonny Rench (colors), Phil Balsman (letters), Kristy Quinn (assistant editor), and Scott Dunbier (editor) with Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, and Brian Stelfreeze on the cover. This is actually the last issue that Ennis wrote for Midnighter, but I'll cover the others (#1-5) in a separate post. Finally, there's more blood and gore in this story than in #8, but none of the five or so shots of decapitated heads (the vast majority courtesy of AU!Japanese!Midnighter) made it into my selected scans.
I like cover's take on Midnighter's samurai-style helmet better than the story version's, which looks like a black alien butterfly suckered itself to Midnighter's face. Not sure why they went with green eyes for AU!Midnighter. Ironically, both eye colours are incorrect; Mid's eyes are brown. (Maybe it was fun with contacts day to go along with Midnighter's ever-changing hair colour.)
Our story opens with AU!Japanese!Midnighter sitting on a hill strewn with skeletons and addressing a group of men I assume are rōnin. AU!Mid is very polite, informing the rōnin that they are standing below his lover's grave before going into story mode. The rest of this issue is mostly told in flashback with periodic jumps to AU!Mid talking to the rōnin in the present.
Just like regular Midnighter, we learn that AU!Japanese!Midnighter has no memories of his youth, but is nevertheless a highly skilled fighter. He catches the shogun's eye after gruesomely dispatching an army of soldiers outside his castle and the shogun orders his servant, who doesn't look conniving at all, to hire AU!Japanese!Midnighter. (AU!Japanese!Midnighter will henceforth be known as simply AU!Mid for shortness' sake.)
Things go well until someone new shows up in town . . .
Unlike AU!Mid, AU!Apollo looks pretty much like regular Apollo right down to the triangle on his chest. The only physical differences I can see, besides the lack of a corona (I assume both AU!Mid and AU!Apollo are still fully human), is that his his eyes aren't blue and his hair is straighter than his non-AU counterpart's. [The man in the second panel on the far right is AU!Mid and the grey-haired man next to him is the shogun.]
The swordsmen keep badgering AU!Apollo to fight them until, after a single emo tear (I'm not kidding), he takes out his sword and kills them. AU!Mid goes after AU!Apollo and they briefly come to blows. Meanwhile, in the present, rōnin are disgusted when they learn that AU!Mid sleeps with men, even going so far as to use a Biblical insult!
(I really don't know what to make of Ennis' writing here. Despite supposedly being feudal Japan, the rōnin's homophobic quips are awfully similar to the quips modern day soldiers used in Ennis' previous story arc. My best guess? Ennis thought it would be cool to see Midnighter with a katana and the rest is just for drama. Very unhistorical drama.)
AU!Apollo joins the shogun's inner circle alongside AU!Mid.
AU!Apollo strikes me as too idealistic and naive here, even for him. That, or the inspiration speech is far too forced, especially the "We were not born to scrabble in the dirt" part. Cynical!AU!Mid is cynical. On the other hand, nearly-nude Midnighter and Apollo? Not something you see all that often.
In the last panel there, Mister I-Don't-Look-Conniving-At-All sends in a hoard of ninja to attack sleeping AU!Mid and AU!Apollo. (Not making this up either.)
(In the fight pages that I didn't scan, AU!Mid and AU!Apollo are apparently wearing modern briefs that match their respective hair colours, which are also visible in the scan below. I'm not sure if this is adorable or weird.)
Sadly, AU!Apollo is killed, but you already knew that from the grave at the beginning.
Poor AU!Apollo and AU!Mid.
AU!Mid reacts predictably, which is to say that he leaves the shogun and kills Sir Nope-Still-Totally-Not-Conniving. (AU!Mid drowns him instead of slicing him open, saying "I would not soil my blade," which is a nice touch.)
Flashback over, we catch up to present AU!Mid and his group of rōnin. AU!Mid tells the rōnin, "I bring him [Apollo] flowers. Defend yourselves, my lords." He then proceeds to cut bloody swaths through the group and kills everyone.
And so, as you can see, the title of this story should have been "Eviscerated Hearts for the Sun." Guess it just doesn't have the same ring.
[The connection between Apollo and the sun is both a play on Apollo's name and a reference to non-AU!Apollo's reliance on solar energy. Also, Apollo and Midnighter's chest insignia are a full sun and a sickle moon, respectively.]
Poor alone AU!Mid, although I don't know if AU!Apollo would be too happy about his grave's annual blood soaking. (I really likevejiicakes's parody doodle at the end of her reaction to this issue.)
There you have it, the crackiest of all the Midnighter issues.
. . .
Next week's scans will be better. (Issues #1-5 will probably be next, followed by issues #7 and #9; I'm not scanning anything from #10-17, but might do a very brief reaction piece.)
What kind of alternate universe, you ask?
Feudal Japan.
The story title of this issue is "Flowers for the Sun," which isn't an entirely accurate description as will be seen below. On the creative team we have Garth Ennis (writer), Glenn Fabry (art), Randy Mayor (colors), Jonny Rench (colors), Phil Balsman (letters), Kristy Quinn (assistant editor), and Scott Dunbier (editor) with Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, and Brian Stelfreeze on the cover. This is actually the last issue that Ennis wrote for Midnighter, but I'll cover the others (#1-5) in a separate post. Finally, there's more blood and gore in this story than in #8, but none of the five or so shots of decapitated heads (the vast majority courtesy of AU!Japanese!Midnighter) made it into my selected scans.
I like cover's take on Midnighter's samurai-style helmet better than the story version's, which looks like a black alien butterfly suckered itself to Midnighter's face. Not sure why they went with green eyes for AU!Midnighter. Ironically, both eye colours are incorrect; Mid's eyes are brown. (Maybe it was fun with contacts day to go along with Midnighter's ever-changing hair colour.)
Our story opens with AU!Japanese!Midnighter sitting on a hill strewn with skeletons and addressing a group of men I assume are rōnin. AU!Mid is very polite, informing the rōnin that they are standing below his lover's grave before going into story mode. The rest of this issue is mostly told in flashback with periodic jumps to AU!Mid talking to the rōnin in the present.
Just like regular Midnighter, we learn that AU!Japanese!Midnighter has no memories of his youth, but is nevertheless a highly skilled fighter. He catches the shogun's eye after gruesomely dispatching an army of soldiers outside his castle and the shogun orders his servant, who doesn't look conniving at all, to hire AU!Japanese!Midnighter. (AU!Japanese!Midnighter will henceforth be known as simply AU!Mid for shortness' sake.)
Things go well until someone new shows up in town . . .
Unlike AU!Mid, AU!Apollo looks pretty much like regular Apollo right down to the triangle on his chest. The only physical differences I can see, besides the lack of a corona (I assume both AU!Mid and AU!Apollo are still fully human), is that his his eyes aren't blue and his hair is straighter than his non-AU counterpart's. [The man in the second panel on the far right is AU!Mid and the grey-haired man next to him is the shogun.]
The swordsmen keep badgering AU!Apollo to fight them until, after a single emo tear (I'm not kidding), he takes out his sword and kills them. AU!Mid goes after AU!Apollo and they briefly come to blows. Meanwhile, in the present, rōnin are disgusted when they learn that AU!Mid sleeps with men, even going so far as to use a Biblical insult!
(I really don't know what to make of Ennis' writing here. Despite supposedly being feudal Japan, the rōnin's homophobic quips are awfully similar to the quips modern day soldiers used in Ennis' previous story arc. My best guess? Ennis thought it would be cool to see Midnighter with a katana and the rest is just for drama. Very unhistorical drama.)
AU!Apollo joins the shogun's inner circle alongside AU!Mid.
AU!Apollo strikes me as too idealistic and naive here, even for him. That, or the inspiration speech is far too forced, especially the "We were not born to scrabble in the dirt" part. Cynical!AU!Mid is cynical. On the other hand, nearly-nude Midnighter and Apollo? Not something you see all that often.
In the last panel there, Mister I-Don't-Look-Conniving-At-All sends in a hoard of ninja to attack sleeping AU!Mid and AU!Apollo. (Not making this up either.)
(In the fight pages that I didn't scan, AU!Mid and AU!Apollo are apparently wearing modern briefs that match their respective hair colours, which are also visible in the scan below. I'm not sure if this is adorable or weird.)
Sadly, AU!Apollo is killed, but you already knew that from the grave at the beginning.
Poor AU!Apollo and AU!Mid.
AU!Mid reacts predictably, which is to say that he leaves the shogun and kills Sir Nope-Still-Totally-Not-Conniving. (AU!Mid drowns him instead of slicing him open, saying "I would not soil my blade," which is a nice touch.)
Flashback over, we catch up to present AU!Mid and his group of rōnin. AU!Mid tells the rōnin, "I bring him [Apollo] flowers. Defend yourselves, my lords." He then proceeds to cut bloody swaths through the group and kills everyone.
And so, as you can see, the title of this story should have been "Eviscerated Hearts for the Sun." Guess it just doesn't have the same ring.
[The connection between Apollo and the sun is both a play on Apollo's name and a reference to non-AU!Apollo's reliance on solar energy. Also, Apollo and Midnighter's chest insignia are a full sun and a sickle moon, respectively.]
Poor alone AU!Mid, although I don't know if AU!Apollo would be too happy about his grave's annual blood soaking. (I really like
vejiicakes's parody doodle at the end of her reaction to this issue.)There you have it, the crackiest of all the Midnighter issues.
. . .
Next week's scans will be better. (Issues #1-5 will probably be next, followed by issues #7 and #9; I'm not scanning anything from #10-17, but might do a very brief reaction piece.)
