| Title | : | Midnighter, Vol. 1: Out |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1401259782 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781401259785 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 144 |
| Publication | : | First published February 17, 2016 |
A theft at the God Garden has unleashed a wave of dangerous biotech weapons on the world, and Midnighter intends to put that genie back in the bottle by any means necessary. But something else was stolen from the Garden as well...the secret history of Lucas Trent, the man Midnighter once was!
Midnighter, Vol. 1: Out Reviews
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I’ll Burst Your Eyeballs and Punch My Fist Into Your Liver!
The last time I came across the Midnighter was more than a decade ago, back when Ellis and Millar were still writing The Authority. I remember being quite fond of the title at the time, so this new volume looked like a great opportunity to catch up and get reintroduced to one of the team’s lead characters. Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be the kind of reintroduction I had been hoping for.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have an openly gay, proud, sexually active superhero around - and even better that DC decided to give him the spotlight of his own title. I wish this was the norm by now, rather than a cause for headlines. What I don’t get is why the character is also cast as a sadistic sociopath who loves nothing more than butchering what he considers “bad guys” (and girls) while shouting “I’m not one for staying away when I have a chance to crush the temples of low-rent mercenary pantloads” or “Hell is finding out how many of your teeth I can manually extract before you lose consciousness” or “I’ll burst your eyeballs and punch my fist into your liver.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this does not sound like a mentally stable person to me, and at the very least I’d like to know what turned the Midnighter into such a disturbed, twisted butcher. The thing is, though, the book does not portray the Midnighter’s behavior as problematic at all. Instead, it portrays his sadism and cruelty as fun and cool and sexy, and this is where my problems with the book really start. Considering its official claim to sexual equality and tolerance, Midnighter: Out feels surprisingly arrogant, mean-spirited and stagy. -
rep: gay mc
I LOVE MY GAY MURDER DAD
(i also love seeing all those 1 star reviews from comics dudebros who, i can only assume, are outraged by the shamelessly gay character lmao) -
Superhero team comics have never been my thing. I’ve enjoyed the occasional X-Men adventure but I don’t think I’ve ever read a great Avengers or Justice League book. Somehow though, I loved The Authority. Maybe because they were subversive - two of its core members, Midnighter and Apollo, are meant to be Batman and Superman, but gay married - though it’s probably because my favourite comics writers and artists worked on the title.
Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch created the series, Mark Millar (back when he was still trying) and Frank Quitely took over, then Ed Brubaker and Dustin Nguyen, and then Grant Morrison and Gene Ha. Midnighter featured in Garth Ennis’ bloody brilliant Kev series before Ennis and Chris Sprouse launched the short-lived Midnighter solo series. What a roll call of the finest talent in the medium!
The last few years have been rough on Midnighter though. Keith Giffen did his best to make the character as boring as possible during his dreary Midnighter run and then the New 52 happened and Midnighter/The Authority became Stormwatch for no good reason. After a series of mediocre writers tanked the title, nothing was done until DC decided to give Midnighter another shot at a solo title last year - and it still doesn’t work!
Maybe it’s because there’s so much more attention on social minorities like gays these days that there was a lot of focus on Midnighter’s launch last year, or maybe it’s because Midnighter’s never had a gay writer until now, but Midnighter has ALWAYS been a gay superhero. He got married to Apollo years before gay marriage was legal! One thing’s for sure though, reading this? You won’t forget he’s a gay superhero!
It’s like New 52 Batwoman all over again where readers were constantly reminded that she’s a LESBIAN SUPERHERO! We are the amazing DC, look how progressive we are - isn’t that what you people want?! LOVE. US. There’s no coherent story to this first Midnighter volume (subtitled “Out” because did you know he’s a gay superhero?) - something about someone stealing people and experimenting on them like Midnighter was once experimented on, for some reason? - or any strong character development - if you’ve never read Midnighter before, you’ll be lost starting here - but he sure loves the dudes!
Opening story, he’s in bed with a guy - and they’s nekkid! Then he’s flashing back to his breakup with Apollo - a dude! Then he’s going on a date - with another dude! Then he’s kissing a guy, another guy, yet another guy, they’re getting nekkid in his kitchen, they’re dancing in a gay club, hallelujah, it’s raining men! Midnighter is a GAY superhero. It’s subtle but that’s the message here. He’s gay. And a superhero. But mainly gay. So gay.
There’s a team up with Dick Grayson because Midnighter cameo’d in the Grayson series… for no reason. Because Midnighter is a Batman knockoff and Dick was once Batman’s sidekick? I wonder if the only reason these two are paired is cos straight female/gay male readers want to see these two lookers standing around with their shirts off?
There’s some nonsense about vampires and a totally uninteresting betrayal and then the book’s over. Did I mention that Midnighter is a gay superhero? Because that’s the only important thing to remember about this book. I hate to sound cynical (he says unconvincingly) but this reads less like Steve Orlando had a great Midnighter story to tell (if so where was it?) and more like DC were ticking a box on an equality spreadsheet.
Really wasn’t impressed with the art either. “ACO” crams in tons of tiny panels into each page, possibly to give the impression of a lot happening quickly or the various calculations Midnighter’s implants are doing before he fights, but all it does is look messy as hell. I had no clue what was going on in the fight scenes, just that Midnighter was standing around at the end with his opponents on the floor unconscious – very unexciting to read.
Steve Orlando just isn’t a very good writer which is why his Midnighter is so boring. By all means let’s have more gay superheroes but don’t make their sexuality the whole purpose of their books - let’s remember to have a good story/characters first, because that’s the main reason readers, whatever their sexual orientation, are picking up these books in the first place; not to make a statement but to be entertained. If you want to read a great Midnighter book that does justice to the character, ignore this crap and find Garth Ennis’ one instead. -
This just wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. I like the idea that he could see every move you are going to make before you make it so it made his fighting skills better.
I also liked some of the graphics.
*I would like to thank Netgalley and DC Entertainment for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.* -
This book starts out awful. Steve Orlando tries so hard to write the snappiest, hippest dialogue he can and fails miserably. Midnighter just rattles off nonstop snark as if he's a British Spider-man, which doesn't fit his character at all. It gets better once Grayson gets pulled into the book and Midnighter has a foil to play off of. I have to say I was truly surprised by the twist at the end of the book and it works quite well. Romulo Fajardo coloring ruins this book for me. It's such a garish and yet dark color palette. It completely obscures the art. In the smaller panels, I just find myself staring at them, trying to figure out what's even going on. It totally takes you out of the book.
Received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. -
What confusing writing. Also what a bland character. I found him more interesting in his seven pages in Grayson than here. Here he's all mighty, knows everything, can't lose. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I can't even recapture details about the story cause I was confused as hell. I didn't know what the hell was happening half the time. And when it settled down it added nothing to the character. His love life felt forced in, when we should have felt some type of connection or drama.
To have a badass main character who is openly gay sounds great but man oh man did this fail to do anything for me. Easily one of the worst comics I've read this year. -
This "DCYou" title stars Midnighter, a former member of Stormwatch and lately seen mixing it up with Dick Grayon over in his title. Someone has stole some artifacts from the God Garden, including Midnighter's secret origin. Along the way, now that he's no longer with former beau Apollo, Midnighter also has to navigate his way through his new life as a single man.
As expected from a book about a fighter, Midnighter is pretty violent and bloody. It works here because we get a glimpse of Midnghter as a man. He's not an abstraction or enigma, like Moon Knight. Even with his computer brain which allows him to see every outcome of every move, he's still got some vulnerability and it's a humanizing effect. It's easy to care about Midnighter and hope he works out all these issues.
As DC's only openly gay lead, there is a lot of pressure on writer Steve Orlando to make Midnighter not just LGBT friendly, but also outwardly proud. This is a very open book about Midnighter's sexuality. So many gay males in comics are basically eunuchs, perhaps scoring a chaste kiss here and there. Orlando makes Midnighter a sexual person, as much as Batman is, and we see Midnighter using Scruff and hooking up and then starting a relationship. The openness is refreshing.
Over in Grayson, Midnighter and Dick Grayson have had some heavy flirting going on. Grayson guests in a few issues here, and it was nice to see the same banter. Grayson and Midnighter make an excellent fighting team together, playing off of each other's strengths.
I think I loved this book so much because it's fast paced, and Orlando weaves Midnighter's personal life and his public life in and out seamlessly. It really works well. Artist ACO and others have innovative layouts which visualize how Midnighter's computer brain works. The coloring is top notch as well, and just can't find any negatives here at all. I'll be reading this again soon. -
I've been meaning to read this comic for so long! I read the first few volumes of the New 52 Stormwatch which is where I met Midnighter for the first time (I only started reading comics about 5 years ago). The third volume was not the greatest, so I skipped the last volume and jumped into Midnighter's solo run.
I liked that Midnighter was so openly out (gay) and about with the characters he interacts with. It was interesting to see him try so hard to get over Apollo, and it was especially cool to see him start to invest in people close to someone he finds important.
I will say that there is a very strong emphasis on his sexuality which isn't a bad, but it takes a lot of space without developing his character all that much. It's brought up a lot as he sleeps with a couple of different people, rather than being just one portion of who he is as a person. It's basically that he likes to fight and he likes men. So there isn't a whole lot of depth, I found, but I still had a good time. I read the first volume of Grayson to find out how Midnighter and Dick Grayson would know each other because I like Nightwing. Their crossover is fine but a bit random. It's mainly just Midnighter being a bit creepy toward Dick. I also felt like the issues were a bit jumpy, requiring me to flip back and make sure I knew what the heck was going on.
All that said, I do like Midnighter when he's interacting with people important to him, especially Apollo. I have the second volume and the volume following Midnighter and Apollo after that. I wish gay supers were given more issues to delve deeper into a story and really establish characters, but that's wishful thinking. -
3.5 stars.
I don't know if I was just in a mood or what but I couldn't really follow the plot of what was going on in this book. I won't detract from it because I still don't entirely understand Midnighter's powers. That's my fault for being a noob but I'm still not entirely clear on them having read this book. But I'm not entirely sure as to what his goal was and if the antagonist in issue 7 had been building to a conclusion or it was just a couple issues and I missed the signs? I am unsure.
That being said, I really like this character. Midnighter has a real personality that sort of reminds me of Starbuck from the one episode I saw of Battlestar Gallactica. He's brash, unashamed and protective of smaller people. He sleeps around a little bit but it's clear he doesn't just abandon these men after he's been with them. He has a soft side to him and I liked that this was all conveyed in one volume and you don't have to read a few to see it.
I must give kudos to DC for either allowing Orlando to add as many m/m scenes as he wanted or just not paying attention because I was pleasantly surprised by it. Most comics just fade to black or have the characters hold hands and tell you they slept together. This book shows not only a beginning sex scene between Midnighter and Jason but the softer moments after. We see the easy affection there which is why I get so pissy when we ask for more representation and people are like "we can't have them fucking". Affection isn't just sex and this book gets that.
I loved the issues with Dick. He and Midnighter have great series and if DC every wanted to do a short team up book with them, I would totally be on board.
So, this is an interesting book and if you like DC comics and are looking for lgbt rep, this is a great book to check out.
3.5 stars. -
My knowledge of midnighter is kinda limited i know of him and the general gist of the guy but i hadn't read any midnighter prior to this. So picking this up doesn't really tell you anything about the guy, the plot was weird i'm pretty sure even the most avid midnighter fan couldn't explain that plot or what little plot it had, it was all over the place. The best it got was when grayson showed up to help the plot seemed more together but then he goes and it quickly goes back to what the heck is going on here? Why did i keep reading this...the last issue was weird. The artwork is great though and i just want to know more about the character without having to go through his back catalogue (that's not a euphemism) Vol 2 needs a completely new plot that is separate from on going plot in grayson, or just explain what the hell is going on better. Even reading what this book is about i'm like none of that happened. Midnighter sleeping about may piss some people off i thought the guy was settled down with his husband and a kid so obviously i'm way off. I could only say pick this up if you love midnighter because it offers little to anyone else.
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It is not a bad book, i like it, but it didnt excite me. I like when i cant stop read a book and with this one I was always wondering how many pages were still left to read. Also, I didnt care that much about the characters. I think Midnighter (the character) its pretty cool tho! And the art was good (for the most part...).
Im gonna read vol 2 , its the last one so... Hope it gets better! -
This book was so awesome! It was great to see a character pushing the boundaries of expectations in terms of being a protagonist in a superhero solo series. Midnighter is a super fun character, and he's a badass! He reminded me of a mix between Batman and Deadpool, with Wolverine's past (or lack of). The art in this book is stunning, but I did find it hard to follow at times, especially the action scenes. The Midnighter/Grayson team up issues were my favorite, and the twist with the antagonist definitely got me! I will be reading the next volume, for sure! 4/5 stars!
EDIT — Upon rereading, I enjoyed this less. I found it extremely hard to follow, which says a lot since this was my second time reading it. I enjoyed the art and Midnighter as a concept and character, but I didn’t feel connected to him at all. The romance was lacking, and I just felt like I didn’t know any of the characters. Stuff happened, and it was gay. All the elements for a stellar book were here, I just don’t think they were executed very well. 3/5 stars. -
All the negative reviews of this one were right, unfortunately. I went in with low expectations, but as a huge fan of Warren Ellis's original run of The Authority, and the significance of the first (to my knowledge) openly gay super-couple, originally parodying Batman and Superman, I wanted this to be good. I don't know anything about Steve Orlando's personal life or affinities, but he really screwed this book up from the first issue and didn't improve it much by the end.
There are so many lines and scenes highlighting Midnighter's gayness, and it's great that they avoid a lot of stereotypes and tropes that older media have almost always focused on, and gay male visibility in superhero comics is a good thing. But almost none of the romances or flirtations in Midnighter's life aroused much emotion or excitement in me. They seemed frequently forced, and mostly unbelievable except as plot devices. It's possible my bias is showing here, though. I'm mostly a lesbian, and when it comes to men I find myself attracted to, macho beefcakes with no sensitivity are last on the list. I would much rather see (or just imagine) Tom Hardy's MMA fighter, Dave Bautista's Drax the Destroyer, or even Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk as violent masculine archetypes who shed powerful tears and might not be straight.
Midnighter worked well in dark contrast to his teammates in The Authority - similarly to Wolverine in X-Men or Deadpool in Uncanny X-Force. As a lone mercenary who insists on re-explaining his powers in every fucking confrontation, he's just not interesting to watch.
I almost tossed the book aside a few issues in, but I glanced at the last page of that chapter and saw Grayson's name, and decided to stick with it to see if he would help improve the chemistry of the book. He does, and it's only because of the team-up between Midnighter and Grayson across the remaining issues of this arc that I'm giving the book 2 stars instead of 1. But it's not enough to make me want more Midnighter comics.
If we could actually see a well-written, extensive face-off between Midnighter and Batman, I would read that. Or if DC brings back Hawskmoor or any number of the other former Authority or Planetary characters and puts them together, that *could* be good. Not this though. -
Area Man Tries Desperately to Fall in Love Again by Sleeping With as Many Dudes as Possible. He has a Computer Brain. Russia.
Besides being cocky, Midnighter had no personality. We get it, you have a computer in your brain and you like to punch things. He’s basically every tough guy superhero we’ve ever seen, with the exception being that he’s gay and a whole lot more sadistic. In juxtaposition with the violence, it only took him a single panel to fall in love, which rather than painting him as well-rounded, just came off as poor character development. I am all for the LGBTQA community, and I am huge fan of DC’s move towards recognizing that community, but Sleeping with Dudes isn’t a personality trait, and neither is I Kill People, Fuck You.
Why is every second word of dialogue bolded? I hate it when writers try to pound a point into my head like that.
Also, who breaks up with the supposed love of their life and then immediately invites every guy to move in and start a life together? Each of Midnighter’s flings had the personality of a single oat from the same pack of all-natural oatmeal. Why/how am I supposed to care? It’s obvious they just spent this entire volume gearing up towards the re-introduction of Apollo, and it was so annoying having to sludge through pages of filler just for that reason.
Some of the dialogue was just so cheesy, especially by the end.
There has to be a better name than “Fight Computer”, my god. Although to be fair, Batman has the Batcomputer and Batarangs and I’ve never questioned them before...but come on, Fight Computer?????
Even though Dick Grayson is possibly one of the most well-known superheroes out there, a bit more of an intro on him would have been a better transition for his place in this volume. Dick’s role as a Spyral agent is a relatively new change, and those who haven’t been keeping up with him or the rest of the batfamily might be sitting here like, excuse me? Whom? His entrance came out of nowhere. -
Very happy to see a gay super-hero have his own title from DC comics. I'm not overly familiar with the character. I did read the early THE AUTHORITY collected editions but nothing since then. There were components of the story that flew a bit over my head.
I don't know anything about the personal lives of the creators of Midnighter but I'm betting they both are straight men. I don't think a gay creator would have unleashed this type of super-hero; a super-violent death-dealer I mean. Maybe. Maybe not. Just a thought that kept recurring to me as I read the book.
It's a good story here. Much better than any of the current Batman titles. -
I'm here for Midnighter's adventures in dating and him and Dick Grayson fighting a werewolf while handcuffed together, but the main story here is frankly a bit confusing.
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Breaking some genre tropes with psycho (and well-drawn!) fists!
Fun. -
A cool lead character and a few interesting ideas are done in by crap dialogue, dumb plots and an obnoxiously ridiculous secret supervillain reveal.
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Apolo e Meia-Noite foram o primeiro casal gay de super-heróis a trocarem alianças em uma história em quadrinhos. Nesta HQ, que eu tive de recorrer ao importado, por desistência da Panini Brasil em publicá-la, o Meia-Noite está "dando um tempo" no relacionamento com Apolo. Assim, como o personagem teve toda sua vida inventada depois que foi abduzido por alienígenas que o tornaram aprimorado, ele quer pela primeira vez viver uma vida "de verdade". E essa vida de verdade inclui sim, exercer sua sexualidade como gay. Portanto, essa é a história em quadrinhos de super-heróis que mais e melhor explora as nuances e as miríades dos relacionamentos gays. Pelo menos daquelas que eu li, e não foram poucas. Isso porque o roteirista, Steve Orlando, é bissexual assumido. O Meia-Noite voltou à cena porque o roteirista Tim Seeley passou a utilizá-lo nas histórias de Dick Grayson, enquanto ele trabalhava como espião para a agência Espiral. A HQ é, de longe, um dos melhores trabalhos de Steve Orlando, que já trabalhou com a Liga da Justiça América e com Supergirl. Midnighter também ganhou diversos prêmios tanto da mídia gay como da mídia tradicional de quadrinhos. Outra coisa que chama atenção neste encadernado é a arte e a narrativa de ACO, muito bem engendrada e tudo a ver com o personagem. Podemos definir a participação do artista neste encadernado como essencial para seu sucesso principalmente quando comparamos sua narrativa em quadrinhos com os demais desenhistas que se encarregaram de outras histórias neste mesmo compilado. Mas mais do que isso, mais do que a espionagem, a ação, a violência, Midnighter é um quadrinho sobre pessoas que passaram anos e anos em um mesmo relacionamento e, quando, por alguma razão, se libertam dele, passam a enxergar novos horizontes e novos mundos na frente de si. Por isso, ela fala muito também sobre frustração, a de não encontrar pessoas como aquela do relacionamento antigo, em quem podia-se confiar. Uma jornada não só de encontrar um novo "outro", mas como de encontrar um novo "mesmo" e isso também diz respeito a sua própria identidade e àquilo que você acredita que é. E deixei para o final para dizer que o encadernado encerra com um reviravolta mindblowing, que faz jus a todos os prêmios e críticas positivas recidas por essa HQ. Leiam. Leiam. Leiam! Panini, você foi uma PANACA em não publicar, confirmando sua fama de homofóbica! Beijinhos!
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It's not often you see morally grey queer characters, so Midnighter's characterization certainly scratches an itch I've had for a while. However... I wish there was more to who he is, and that he had more to do. The character is still fairly new in my mind but I can see his whole thing getting pretty old if he isn't in the hands of talented writers. @DC how about you stop using him exclusively for queerbaiting every pride month and actually develop the guy? There's a lot of potential here!
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3.5⭐️ bumped up to 4 because I adore the Midnighter/Grayson banter
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I liked this a lot. At times it was laugh out loud funny, sometimes sweet, plus there's a scene where Midnighter and Dick Grayson fight bad guys wearing nothing but towels wrapped around their waists. 👍
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I've been a fan of Midnighter since I first encountered him in
The Authority several years ago. It seemed like he and Apollo might have come across as jokey characters "What if Superman and Batman were gay for each other?" the sort of immature humour that ends up hurting the gay character movement. But Warren Ellis wrote both Midnighter and Apollo as relatable people, they were gay but it wasn't a focus anymore than being straight is a focus for Batman or Superman.
Steve Orlando clearly gets this character, he writes Midnighter as a tortured man who was turned into a weapon who just happens to be attracted to men. He's written exactly as you'd write any straight character and that's exactly what people seem to forget whenever the topic of gay characters come up. He is no more overtly sexual than any other semi-slutty straight male comic-book character.
I read a review on here from someone who says the book constantly reminds you that Midnighter is gay. I wonder if that user would even notice if all of those 'references' were changed to a female. If Midnighter slept around with a couple of different women, if he'd started a an ongoing relationship with a woman, would people think that the book was constantly reminding readers that the main character was straight? I doubt it.
As for the story, I liked it but I miss the days when The Authority were separate from the main DC universe, it gave them more freedom, they could tackle issues that the DCU proper rarely does. It was nice seeing Dick Grayson but I'm not really sold on the idea of Midnighter and Apollo actually existing in the same universe as Batman and Superman.
I'm glad Midnighter has his own series, I just wonder what it would be like outside of the DC mainstream. -
All I knew about this character beforehand was that he was a sort of gay version of Batman.
Having read the book, I'd say that was a fairly close description (except for the fact he doesn't have the Bruce Wayne coffers).
On the plus side, I liked the art and the fact that Midnighter was out. There weren't any explicit scenes buuuut there were some bare buns here and there. I liked most of his personality as well.
On the minus side, the story's somewhat convuluted, or at least it felt like that to me. I also rolled my eyes every so often as he told Date no. 7458566 that he was still trying to get over his break up from Apollo.
TL;DR: A middle-of-the-road comic book for anyone who wants to see a gay hero kick villains ten ways from yesterday. The OTTness of the violence might be a deterrent to some. I borrowed this book from my local library and will read the second volume really soon. -
DRC provided by DC Comics via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Representation: gay white protagonist, gay white tertiary characters, gay Black tertiary character.
Content Warning: violence, death, homophobia, kidnapping, torture.
Midnighter, Volume One: Out, written by Steve Orlando and illustrated by Alec Morgan, Stephen Mooney and ACO, is the first part of a comics’ collection starring one of the best gay morally grey superheroes ever created, Midnighter, in a spin-off series of Grayson.
When God Garden is attacked, several weapons are stolen, but most importantly Midnighter’s lost history and memories.
I have loved Midnighter since I discovered of his existence while researching queer characters depicted in DC or Marvel comics, so I had basically no knowledge of whom he was or what he did exactly. This is indeed my first time reading, or better devouring, his comics. I had so much fun seeing him on the page though. -
Midnighter is a joy of a character: Batman done right, or a Punisher who also takes delight in things other than killing scum, and confrontationally gay to boot. So why didn't I enjoy this more? It wasn't even the pointless origin fiddling necessitated by bringing him into what passes for the DCU these days, or the issues where teaming up with Dick Grayson obliges him to be less killy. More that, after the character was defined by Authority runs with top-tier artists, none of the rotating art team here seem able to confer the requisite heft or menace. They're not all bad - there's a closing scene of late-afternoon chilling in a park which is gorgeous. But if that sort of thing is more an artist's forte than villains getting their faces kicked off, maybe a Midnighter book isn't their best deployment?
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I liked pretty much everything about this.
There's action, romance, mystery, diverse characters and relationships, inclusivity as a standard rather than as an anomaly.
My main complaint is inconsistency in the art. The art is great, just not consistent. One character, Jason, has like three different hairstyles throughout the volume. That's fine. I didn't realize it was him when I first saw the second style, but it's still fine. When characters look 25 in some panels and 56 in others, though, you lose me. That was why I didn't identify the character as Jason at first, not because of the hairstyle.
Sometimes the lines are really clean and the characters look about the age I assume they're supposed to be, and then they'll suddenly look 30 years older and the lines are more choppy. (I'm not referring to scenes where someone's going nuts and things are supposed to look warped, either.) That's something I've noticed in a lot of comics/graphic novels since I started to read them and not just manga and novels, and it's sort of become a pet peeve. I don't expect perfection, and it's certainly better than any art I could produce, but it loses some of the appeal when you go from one panel to the next and a character looks so different, whether it's because they look a different age or because the angle they're drawn at is funky. Some scenes just look like a lot of effort was put into them, but the next page...not so much.
The other thing that wasn't too great is how much the volume jumps around. It's a little incoherent sometimes, both when it comes to location and time. Random flashbacks are inserted in places that aren't always relevant, and I'm not sure if that's to act as a parallel to Midnighter's lack of memories of the time before becoming who he is now, or if they're just not done well.
I don't feel like the whole gay superhero thing was in-your-face. I know some have commented that the volume makes sure you don't forget it by writing in various lovers and romantic/sex scenes, but it really didn't feel any different from, say, a comic where a dude (super)hero gets a lot of girls. It reads as a portrayal of something normal, rather than something "controversial."
This sounds really nitpicky, but it didn't really detract much from my overall enjoyment of this volume. There was a lot to like. Like Dick Grayson. Oh man. -
CAUTION: this review contains some spoilers!!!
It was definitely satisfying to see an openly gay superhero (or anti-hero whatever you want to call him). And I liked that the writer and artist weren't afraid to hold back. There were sexy parts but nothing that happened inorganically. Normally based on the type of superpower he has, and the story I wouldn't go for this type of story. And I felt a little lost at times when certain former storylines were mentioned; so maybe I have to go back and read some Midnighter and Apollo comics before I read volume 2. That's really the only reason I give it 4 stars is that I wish his powers and some of the technology of his world were a little better explained.
I don't want to give too much away but like for example when Dick and he are going through the subway to find Akakyevich, they were fighting werewolves... but they weren't werewolves, they only looked like werewolves, because of the stolen technology... idk it was just a little complicated.
But otherwise overall some funny dialogue, great art and fight scenes and again, really nice to see a change with the main characters sexuality. As a gay man growing up I wish I had something like this in my teens to read and affirm that I wasn't alone and I had other people in the media that were forward thinking about inclusion and representation. -
Brilliant move to change the artist from one issue to the next. Seriously now, it's a horrible idea. The fights stand out as satisfyingly detailed. The author is quite inventive in the way bad guys are dispached by the main character, though it does get confusing at times. It's the same for the backup characters and their devices.
The timeline is the worst since I can barely tell what happened when and often feel like I'm missing something. Also I missed the memo that Midnighter is dating again. After a successful date where he beats up some interdimensional aliens he gets called on by the Gardener. She was attacked and left for dead by a mysterious man who also stole her weapons and wonders. One of them has Midnighter's past, so he agrees to recover Gardener's items. What follows is a whirlwind of bad comedy, utterly incomprehensible violence and romantic gay relationships.
