Midnighter #1

Midnighter #1

I’ve always thought that Midnighter was a cool super hero for years. If you’re not aware, he’s basically a more bad-ass version of Batman (it’s true!). And as much as I liked the most recent Stormwatch series, at times it read a little too complex for my personal taste.

So the new Midnighter series by Steve Orlando definitely got my attention. What I liked about this first issue was how much it focused on Lucas, the man behind the mask.

I think this might be the first time where I read the character being vulnerable. I mean, as far as the combat scenes were concerned, he completely kicked ass. The fight sequences by artist ACO look like they were inspired by Mortal Kombat. Anyway, Midnighter’s vulnerability is on display as we take a glimpse into his dating life. He has met a guy online and the first date is ruined by a group of terrorists running amok in the restaurant that they just happen to be eating in. Comics everyone!

But as the issue goes on, Lucas starts getting attached to his new love interest and goes as far as embeds him with an emergency communications link. And just as his personal life starts coming together, he’s whisked away to the God Garden to save his spiritual benefactor the Gardener.

Midnighter looks to take a complex character and put them into an even more complex world, balancing his romantic life with his super hero responsibilities. But what makes this stand out from the million of other similar themes is the fact that he is gay and ultra-violent. Midnighter is just a fascinating character and I can’t wait to see where this goes. This is definitely the type of series that lends itself to binge reading (or trade waiting), as there is just a lot of stuff going on. But don’t let that scare you. It’s good stuff.

Captain Atom: Armageddon

Captain Atom is one of the misused characters in the DC Universe. He’s the freaking nuclear man. Captain Atom: Armageddon is his time to shine, as he gets sucked into the Wildstorm Universe. It’s actually one of the best universe/crossover mega series I’ve ever read.

Captain Atom gets sucked into the Wildstorm-verse, which is a whole lot darker than the good old DCU. Super heroes aren’t that well liked in these parts. To make matters worse, the longer he stays the more likely he is to destroy their universe. Eep. The Wildstorm heroes really aren’t sure what to do with him, other than kill him. The plot is simple; Captain Atom has to figure out how to get home, all the while running from the WildC.A.T.s, the Authority and Mr. Majestic, who are all willing to kill him if it means the universe will be safe.

The only person who trusts Captain Atom is a paramedic named Nikola Hanssen, who seems to have an important destiny of her own.

Armageddon is the perfect title for this. Will Pfeifer’s writing makes this really suspenseful, with Captain Atom being hunted as well as the looming apocalypse. The Nikola subplot is very interesting, as well as the subtle love story between the Captain and the Engineer,the  nanotech woman from the Authority. Artist Giuseppe Camuncoli deserves a lot of credit as well, as his art looks awesome.

Since Captain Atom got sucked into a new reality, he gets a new look. Camuncoli modified his appearance from the Kingdom Come mini series, adding some design elements from the Steve Ditko/Charlton costume. I really like it a lot. It combines the same basic designs of his proper silver costume, but a color scheme and pattern that just pop out. Now he doesn’t look like a naked silver guy like in the old JLI books. This look got immortalized in one of the DC Universe figures that was a must buy for me. Maybe I should take some pictures to share in the next week.