Midnighter #8
24 November 2009 01:13![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
argurotoxosEver since someone on the old Scans Daily posted a picture of Midnighter being hugged by a little girl for finding her cat, I've wanted to read the story. Sadly, it wasn't collected in any of the trades and I couldn't find it my local comic shop.
Last week, I found someone on Ebay who was selling 16 of the 20-issue series. The four missing issues didn't bother me - I had one in a trade and the other three were part of a story arc I wasn't remotely interested in - so I bid.
Having read all of the issues except for the last three, I can now say that the Midnighter-finding-the-cat issue (#8) is definitely my favourite. Love the writing, love the art, and gets bonus points for showing a more human side of Midnighter and featuring antagonists that never once stoop to using homophobic slurs. Moreover, you don't have to be familiar with the Authority or Midnighter to enjoy it and it's a self-contained issue.
I liked it so much that I decided to scan in my favourite pages and recap it below. "Ordinary People" is the title of this story and the creative team is composed of Christos Gage (writer), John Paul Leon (art), Randy Mayor (colors), Phil Balsman (letters), Kristy Quinn (assistant editor), and Scott Dunbier (editor) with Chris Sprouse and Karl Story on the cover.
The issue opens with Midnighter fighting the Suicide King in an aircraft flying over New York City. I have no idea who the Suicide King is myself, but it doesn't much matter. The Suicide King, true to name, decides he's better off leaping to his death . . .
I love Midnighter.
However, not everyone is pleased with him.
Midnighter's snark here cracks me up.
Jack (by the way, that's Jack, another Authority member, talking to Midnighter in the page above) takes Midnighter down to a street where we see a little girl and her mother hanging up posters of her lost cat. Jack dares Midnighter to help her, who initially scoffs at the idea but gives in when he sees the girl crying.
(One of the things I like most about Midnighter is the juxtaposition of being a bio-engineered badass with little qualm about killing and being a devoted lover and father who watches TV with his husband after a day spent tearing down dictatorships together, takes care of domestic chores, and has a soft spot for children.)
The girl's mother bring Midnighter to their apartment and points him to a litterbox when he asks for something with the cat's scent. Using his enhanced senses, he follows the cat's trail.
Have I mentioned that I love Midnighter?
Midnighter dispatches the cyborgs in a few pages and convinces one to tell him why they're stealing pets. Which leads him this guy . . .
Whirling blades, knives, and all manner of other devices extend from the "doctor"'s wheelchair. Midnighter's briefly caught, but escapes by sacrificing his coat and destroys the chair. However, instead of killing the mad scientist, Midnighter decides to hire him and let him experiment on the worst of the worst (serial killers, brutal dictators, and so on) that he collects on his missions. (According to Midnighter, this is "more scientifically useful. And more fun.")
And then comes the scene that led me to seek out this issue.
D'awww.
Up on the Carrier [the Authority's space ship], Jack greets Midnighter with: "That was adorable." After a bit of grousing, Midnighter admits that he had been getting out of touch with ordinary people. And then he gets his revenge on Jack for coming up with the whole idea.
I'm torn on whether I would have liked to see Cyberdog again, but as this was a one-shot, it never did return.
And there you have it, Midnighter #8. Hope you enjoyed.
Last week, I found someone on Ebay who was selling 16 of the 20-issue series. The four missing issues didn't bother me - I had one in a trade and the other three were part of a story arc I wasn't remotely interested in - so I bid.
Having read all of the issues except for the last three, I can now say that the Midnighter-finding-the-cat issue (#8) is definitely my favourite. Love the writing, love the art, and gets bonus points for showing a more human side of Midnighter and featuring antagonists that never once stoop to using homophobic slurs. Moreover, you don't have to be familiar with the Authority or Midnighter to enjoy it and it's a self-contained issue.
I liked it so much that I decided to scan in my favourite pages and recap it below. "Ordinary People" is the title of this story and the creative team is composed of Christos Gage (writer), John Paul Leon (art), Randy Mayor (colors), Phil Balsman (letters), Kristy Quinn (assistant editor), and Scott Dunbier (editor) with Chris Sprouse and Karl Story on the cover.
The issue opens with Midnighter fighting the Suicide King in an aircraft flying over New York City. I have no idea who the Suicide King is myself, but it doesn't much matter. The Suicide King, true to name, decides he's better off leaping to his death . . .
I love Midnighter.
However, not everyone is pleased with him.
Midnighter's snark here cracks me up.
Jack (by the way, that's Jack, another Authority member, talking to Midnighter in the page above) takes Midnighter down to a street where we see a little girl and her mother hanging up posters of her lost cat. Jack dares Midnighter to help her, who initially scoffs at the idea but gives in when he sees the girl crying.
(One of the things I like most about Midnighter is the juxtaposition of being a bio-engineered badass with little qualm about killing and being a devoted lover and father who watches TV with his husband after a day spent tearing down dictatorships together, takes care of domestic chores, and has a soft spot for children.)
The girl's mother bring Midnighter to their apartment and points him to a litterbox when he asks for something with the cat's scent. Using his enhanced senses, he follows the cat's trail.
Have I mentioned that I love Midnighter?
Midnighter dispatches the cyborgs in a few pages and convinces one to tell him why they're stealing pets. Which leads him this guy . . .
Whirling blades, knives, and all manner of other devices extend from the "doctor"'s wheelchair. Midnighter's briefly caught, but escapes by sacrificing his coat and destroys the chair. However, instead of killing the mad scientist, Midnighter decides to hire him and let him experiment on the worst of the worst (serial killers, brutal dictators, and so on) that he collects on his missions. (According to Midnighter, this is "more scientifically useful. And more fun.")
And then comes the scene that led me to seek out this issue.
D'awww.
Up on the Carrier [the Authority's space ship], Jack greets Midnighter with: "That was adorable." After a bit of grousing, Midnighter admits that he had been getting out of touch with ordinary people. And then he gets his revenge on Jack for coming up with the whole idea.
I'm torn on whether I would have liked to see Cyberdog again, but as this was a one-shot, it never did return.
And there you have it, Midnighter #8. Hope you enjoyed.
