Midnighter (2006 comic book)

Last updated

Midnighter
MDNTR-Cv1 solicit.png
Cover of Midnighter #1. Art by Chris Sprouse.
Publication information
Publisher WildStorm
ScheduleMonthly
Format Ongoing series
Genre Superhero
Publication dateNovember 2006 – June 2008
No. of issues20
Creative team
Created by Warren Ellis
Bryan Hitch
Editor(s) Scott Dunbier
Scott Peterson

Midnighter is an American comic book series published by WildStorm, first issued in November 2006. It is a spin-off from The Authority (which is itself a spin-off from Stormwatch ), a superhero team comic book created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, and follows the solo adventures of Midnighter, "the greatest tactician in the history of mankind". The first six issues were written by Garth Ennis, followed by three issues made by different writers; the last eleven final issues were written by Keith Giffen. Midnighter ended with its twentieth issue, followed by the limited series Number of the Beast . The series is also known as Midnighter (Volume 1) to differentiate itself from the character's 12-issue latter series first published by DC Comics in 2015.

Contents

Three Midnighter trade paperbacks were originally released. In July 2017 the complete series was released for the first time in trade.

Background

Midnighter was released in November 2006 as a part of the Wildstorm Universe "soft reboot" Worldstorm, which included the relaunch and debut of many titles under the label. It was originally intended as a six-issue miniseries written by Garth Ennis only, but later was expanded to be an ongoing series, with following issues penned by other writers. [1] The book was officially announced at the Wizard World Los Angeles 2006 Comic Con, together with The Boys , another Ennis project originally for WildStorm. [2]

Conception and development

"I think the Midnighter is very much his own man; his sexuality is just one part of that. Never mind the fact that he doesn't kill people, would Batman do the things we’ve seen the Midnighter do? Batman fights for the status quo, the Midnighter fights to make the world better. Simple as that". [2]

— Garth Ennis on Midnighter being seen as "the gay Batman".

Midnighter idea came when Ennis was having a lunch with other WildStorm people. Beside his A Man Called Kev and Battler Britton vanity projects, Wildstorm editor Scott Dunbier asked Ennis to also do something a bit more commercial in return, so the writer suggested to "go straight for the jugular and give the best character they’ve got his own book", which in his opinion would be Midnighter. Ennis described the character as "utterly lethal and he tells it like it is. He's got a nice dark sense of humor, too". About Midnighter's sexuality, the writer stated that "his sexuality is not a complex issue: he likes screwing men. He likes screwing one man in particular — but that doesn't mean he wants to be around the guy 24/7, hence the solo book". At Midnighter presentation, Ennis said that he could do more than six issues, something that didn't happen, and would try to maintain it as a solo book, without "any major appearances by The Authority in general" ("superteam, yawn"), "Apollo in particular" ("boring blond twat") or crossovers ("They can get someone else in for that"). [2]

Keith Giffen became the ongoing writer for Midnighter's last ten issues after a request from Dunbier, since Giffen previously expressed desire to write The Authority. According to Giffen, the idea was to keep Midnighter's consistency in characterization while adding his own different feel to it. He said Midnighter was an interesting character to him because he "never quite understood his power": "The idea of somebody who faces you down, and two seconds after meeting you, knows how to defeat you? That's kind of intriguing. Just playing around with that will be interesting". The writer expressed similar feelings to Ennis about keeping Midnighter on his own and "pull him back from The Authority", saying that he didn't want "that kind of feel that Midnighter is an extension of The Authority book". Giffen also added that he wished "to keep [writing Midnighter] until they throw me off the book". [3]

Story arcs

The Killing Machine (#1–5)

#TitlePublication date
1"The Killing Machine (Part One)" [4] November 1, 2006
2"The Killing Machine (Part Two)" [5] December 6, 2006
3"The Killing Machine (Part Three)" [6] January 4, 2007
4"The Killing Machine (Part Four)" [7] February 7, 2007
5"The Killing Machine (Part Five)" [8] March 7, 2007

Single-issue stories (#6–9)

#TitlePublication date
6"Flowers for the Sun" [9] April 4, 2007
7"Fait Accompli" [10] May 2, 2007
8"Ordinary People" [11] June 6, 2007
9"The Hercules Virus" [12] July 5, 2007

Anthem (#10–15)

#TitlePublication date
10"Past Imperfect" [13] August 1, 2007
11"Anthem" [14] September 6, 2007
12"Foul Play" [15] October 3, 2007
13— [16] November 7, 2007
14"Life Choices" [17] December 5, 2007
15"Truth and Consequence" [18] January 4, 2008

Assassin8 (#16–20)

#TitlePublication date
16"VIII" [19] February 6, 2008
17"Melee" [20] March 5, 2008
18"By the Numbers" [21] April 2, 2008
19"My Town" [22] May 7, 2008
20"There and Back Again" [23] June 4, 2008

Critical reception

Midnighter received a weighted score of 7.9 out of 10 from review aggregate website Comic Book Roundup, indicating positive reviews, based on 8 reviews from comics critics. [24] Reviewing the first issue, Comic Book Revolution's Rokk Krinn considered it a "well written and exciting read". He added: "Ennis delivers an intriguing character in Midnighter and a story that is full of some serious violence". [25] Don MacPherson from Eye on Comics felt that "Ennis come through with a compelling script that demonstrates a real appreciation of the title character". He described the series as "a war comic", stating that this "makes this title book something that Ennis does better than most". [26] Leroy Douresseaux from ComicBookBin also praised Ennis writing during his Midnighter #5 review, saying that "in his comics, life is precious, making it all the more appalling that so many lives come to such horrific endings". Douresseaux was positive about Midnighter's characterization too, stating that Ennis "works Midnighter with dark edgy humor as Warren Ellis did in the early days of the character". [27]

Writing for Comics Bulletin, Bruce Logan complimented Midnighter #7 story: "The brilliance of Brian K. Vaughan's novel approach becomes evident when one reads it". About the series, Logan said that normally he "would object to so many changes in writers, but comic book titles don't normally have one excellent writer being replaced by another excellent writer(s)". [28] Karman Kregloe of NewNowNext criticized Midnighter characterization, noting that "Ennis appeared uninterested in writing a gay character who happens to be living happily with another man and raising a teenage girl. [...] To reduce his being gay to a few jokes or jibes, as gay-friendly as they might be intended, shows a reluctance (or an inability) to write a believable gay character". He also added that, in the series, "homophobia seems to be shorthand for 'bad guy', but it reeks of laziness from the writers; [...] it's a selective acknowledgment of the hero's sexuality that reduces what could be a complex, vibrant gay character to a conflicted, inconsistent curiosity". [29]

Commercial performance

On Diamond Comic Distributors best-selling comics ranking for November 2006, Midnighter #1 debuted at number fifty-three with 39,794 copies distributed, being the top WildStorm comic issue of the month. [30] Each Midnighter issue sold less than the previous, with the last one missing the 10,000 units mark in June 2008. [31] The series' first trade volume, Killing Machine, had 2,440 units accounted in Diamond distributed comic shops during its release month, November 2007, placing at number forty-four on trade paperbacks chart. [32] The following trade, Anthem, had 1,553 units accounted in August 2008 (Nº 67 on trade paperbacks chart), and the third and last one, Assassin8, had 1,159 in December of the same year (Nº 98 on trade paperbacks chart). [33] [34]

Midnighter: Physical sales per issue (in thousands)

Accolades

In 2008, Midnighter received a GLAAD Media Awards nomination for Outstanding Comic Book, but lost to Strangers in Paradise . [52]

Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel adapted from the series issues.

Collected editions

The series has been collected into the following trade paperbacks:

TitleMaterial collectedPublication dateISBN
Midnighter: Killing Machine (Volume 1) [53] Midnighter #1–6November 28, 2007 978-1401214777
Midnighter: Anthem (Volume 2) [54] Midnighter #7; #10–15August 20, 2008 978-1401216702
Midnighter: Assassin8 (Volume 3) [55] Midnighter #16–20December 24, 2008 978-1401220013
Midnighter: Hard [56] Midnighter #7–8October 19, 2016 978-1401264932
Midnighter: The Complete Wildstorm Series [57] Midnighter #1–20July 12, 2017 978-1401267919

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Action Comics</i> American comic book

Action Comics is an American comic book/magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics Inc., which later merged into National Comics Publications, before taking on its current name of DC Comics. Its original incarnation ran from 1938 to 2011 and stands as one of the longest-running comic books with consecutively numbered issues. The second volume of Action Comics beginning with issue #1 ran from 2011 to 2016. Action Comics returned to its original numbering beginning with issue #957.

Wildstorm Productions is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1998. Until it was shut down in 2010, the Wildstorm imprint remained editorially separate from DC Comics, with its main studio located in California. The imprint took its name from a portmanteau of the titles of the Jim Lee comic series WildC.A.T.S. and Stormwatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Giffen</span> American comic book artist and writer (1952–2023)

Keith Ian Giffen was an American comics artist and writer. He was known for his work for DC Comics on their Legion of Super-Heroes and Justice League titles as well as for being the co-creator of Lobo, Rocket Raccoon, and Jaime Reyes.

<i>The Authority</i> (comics) DC Comics comic book series

The Authority is a superhero comic book series published by DC Comics under the Wildstorm imprint. It was created in 1999 by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, and follows the adventures of the Authority, a superhero team mainly composed of Ellis-created characters from Stormwatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenn Fabry</span> British comics artist

Glenn Fabry is a British comics artist known for his detailed, realistic work in both ink and painted colour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midnighter</span> Fictional superhero

Midnighter is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books first published by WildStorm and later DC Comics once it absorbed the former. The character was created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Bryan Hitch. The character made his first appearance in Stormwatch #4, titled "A Finer World ". He went on to appear in various Authority books and other series, as well as his own eponymous ongoing series.

Óscar Jiménez is a Spanish comic book artist, penciller and inker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Sprouse</span> American comics artist

Chris Sprouse is an American comics artist. Sprouse has worked for multiple publishers and has won two Eisner Awards for his work on Tom Strong, a series he created with writer Alan Moore.

<i>Fury: Peacemaker</i>

Fury: Peacemaker is a six issue miniseries written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Darick Robertson. It was published under the Marvel Knights imprint and takes place within the same continuity as Ennis' other Marvel Max series. The story functions as an origin story for Nick Fury and takes place before he joined the Howling Commandos.

<i>The Boys</i> (comics) American superhero comic book series

The Boys is an adult superhero comic book series, written by Garth Ennis and co-created, designed, and illustrated by Darick Robertson. The first volume was published by WildStorm, which canceled it after six issues; the series was picked up by Dynamite Entertainment, which published the following eight volumes: Get Some, Good for the Soul, We Gotta Go Now, The Self-Preservation Society, The Innocents, The Big Ride, Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men, and The Bloody Doors Off. Debuting in October 2006, the series concluded in November 2012 after 72 issues were published. In the fourth volume, the series is revealed to be set in the same fictional universe as Ennis' previous 1995–2000 DC Vertigo series, Preacher, with former vampire Proinsias Cassidy cameoing as a bartender. Three 6-issue spin-off limited series were also produced during the series' original run: Herogasm, Highland Laddie, and Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker, with an 8-issue epilogue series, Dear Becky, published from June–December 2020.

Lee Garbett is a British comic book artist born in the West Midlands. He has worked on British comics. As of February 2011, he is working freelance after a period of exclusivity with DC Comics.

Simon Coleby is a British comic book artist who has worked mainly for British sci-fi comic 2000 AD and Marvel Comics.

Robert Loren Fleming is an American comic book writer. He is best known as the co-creator of Thriller with Trevor Von Eeden and for his collaborations with Keith Giffen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Gomez</span> American comic book artist

Joel Gomez is an American comic book artist, known for his work on books such as WildStorm Productions' Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs.

<i>Fury</i> (2001 series)

Fury is a 2001 six issue miniseries about Nick Fury written by Garth Ennis. The series was published under Marvel's MAX imprint and featured much harder violence and explicit material than was common at the time. This caused some controversy among fans and comic creators. The series takes place outside of main Marvel comics continuity and is interconnected with other series written by Garth Ennis under the Max imprint. It was followed by a prequel and a sequel.

<i>Fury: My War Gone By</i>

Fury: My War Gone By, also known as Fury MAX or Fury MAX: Cold Warrior is a 2012-2013 thirteen issue comic book limited series written by Garth Ennis and published by Marvel Comics. The series follow the character of Nick Fury during his military career under the course of the 20th century after the Second World War, when Fury participated in most of the United States' Cold War initiatives around the globe. Like most of Ennis's previous works on characters that are mainly figures in the world of superheroes so does the series do away with those elements, it instead fixate on the real life dealings of soldiers and spies in historical situations. It is a sequel to the 2001 series Fury and the 2006 series Fury: Peacemaker, both also written by Garth Ennis. The comic was drawn by Goran Parlov who had previously worked with Ennis on his Punisher series. The series garnered decent sales and critical acclaim.

<i>Midnighter</i> (2015 comic book) 2015 comic book

Midnighter is an American comic book series published by DC Comics and written by Steve Orlando that ran for twelve issues from June 2015 to July 2016, featuring Midnighter as its protagonist. The series is also known as Midnighter to differentiate itself from the character's previous series first published by WildStorm in 2006.

<i>The Punisher: War Zone</i> (2008 series)

The Punisher: War ZoneVol. 2, is the second volume in the Punisher: War Zone series is a comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics about the vigilante The Punisher. The series was written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Steve Dillon. Dillon also drew all of the covers to the series. The series is a follow-up to Ennis and Dillon's previous limited series work and marked the end of Ennis's eight-year-long run with the character.

<i>Punisher: The Platoon</i>

Punisher: The Platoon is a 2017 war comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics under the MAX imprint, the series centered around the character of Frank Castle during his first tour in the Vietnam War as a young man. It is written by Garth Ennis who has previously worked extensively on the character of Frank Castle, under the Punisher Max line and in mainstream Marvel comics.

The Name of the Game is a two-part graphic novel written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Darick Robertson that was released in 2006 by WildStorm and DC Comics as the first volume of the American comic book series The Boys. It consists of the two-part The Name of the Game, of which Part 1, This Is Going To Hurt, was released August 16, 2006, and Part 2, The Frenchman, the Female and the Man Called Mother's Milk, was released August 30, 2006, and the four-part Cherry, of which Part 1, The Seven, was released October 4, 2006, Part 2, Teenage Kix Right Through the Night, was released October 25, 2006, Part 3, Life Among the Septics, was released November 22, 2006, and Part 4, And I Always Wanted A Little Brother, was released December 27, 2006.

References

  1. ↑ Dezago, Todd; Nolen-Weathington, Eric (June 9, 2009). Modern Masters Volume 21: Chris Sprouse. Vol. 21. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 73.
  2. 1 2 3 "WWLA: Garth Ennis Talks the Midnighter Ongoing Series". Newsarama . March 18, 2006. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ Rogers, Vaneta (May 22, 2007). "Talking Midnighter, Four Horsemen with Giffen". Newsarama. Archived from the original on May 24, 2007. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  4. ↑ Garth Ennis  ( w ), Chris Sprouse  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 1(November 1, 2006).WildStorm.
  5. ↑ Garth Ennis ( w ),Chris Sprouse ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 2(December 6, 2006).WildStorm.
  6. ↑ Garth Ennis ( w ),Chris Sprouse, Joe Phillips  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 3(January 4, 2007).WildStorm.
  7. ↑ Garth Ennis ( w ), Peter Snejbjerg  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 4(February 7, 2007).WildStorm.
  8. ↑ Garth Ennis ( w ),Chris Sprouse ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 5(March 7, 2007).WildStorm.
  9. ↑ Garth Ennis ( w ), Glenn Fabry  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 6(April 4, 2007).WildStorm.
  10. ↑ Brian K. Vaughan  ( w ), Darick Robertson  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 7(May 2, 2007).WildStorm.
  11. ↑ Christos Gage  ( w ), John Paul Leon  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 8(June 6, 2007).WildStorm.
  12. ↑ Justin Gray , Jimmy Palmiotti  ( w ), Brian Stelfreeze  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 9(July 5, 2007).WildStorm.
  13. ↑ Keith Giffen  ( w ),Chris Sprouse ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 10(August 1, 2007).WildStorm.
  14. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ), ChrisCross  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 11(September 6, 2007).WildStorm.
  15. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Rafael Sandoval ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 12(October 3, 2007).WildStorm.
  16. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Jon Landry ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 13(November 7, 2007).WildStorm.
  17. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Jon Landry ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 14(December 5, 2007).WildStorm.
  18. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Jon Landry ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 15(January 4, 2008).WildStorm.
  19. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ), Lee Garbett  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 16(February 6, 2008).WildStorm.
  20. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Lee Garbett ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 17(March 5, 2008).WildStorm.
  21. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Lee Garbett, Rick Burchett  ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 18(April 2, 2008).WildStorm.
  22. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Lee Garbett, Rick Burchett ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 19(May 7, 2008).WildStorm.
  23. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Lee Garbett, Rick Burchett ( a ). Midnighter ,no. 20(June 4, 2008).WildStorm.
  24. ↑ "Midnighter Comic Series Reviews". Comic Book Roundup. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Midnighter #1 Reviews". Comic Book Roundup. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  26. ↑ MacPherson, Don (November 6, 2006). "A Midnighter's Summer Dream". Comic Bento. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  27. ↑ Douresseaux, Leroy (April 29, 2007). "Garth Ennis: The Midnighter #5". ComicBookBin. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  28. ↑ Logan, Bruce (May 14, 2007). "Midnighter #7 Review". Comics Bulletin . Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  29. ↑ Kregloe, Karman (May 26, 2007). "Midnighter: DC's Gay Superhero Could Use Some Rescuing". NewNowNext . Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  30. 1 2 "Comic Book Sales Figures for November 2006". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  31. 1 2 "Comic Book Sales Figures for June 2008". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  32. 1 2 "Comic Book Sales Figures for November 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  33. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for August 2008". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  34. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for December 2008". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  35. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for December 2006". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  36. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for January 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  37. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for February 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  38. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for March 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  39. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for April 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  40. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for May 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  41. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for June 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  42. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for July 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  43. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for August 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  44. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for September 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  45. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for October 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  46. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for December 2007". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  47. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for January 2008". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  48. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for February 2008". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  49. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for March 2008". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  50. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for April 2008". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  51. ↑ "Comic Book Sales Figures for May 2008". Comichron. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  52. ↑ "GLAAD Media Award - 2008 / Winners & Nominees". Awards & Winners. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  53. ↑ Garth Ennis ( w ),Chris Sprouse, Joe Phillips, Peter Snejbjerg, Glenn Fabry ( a ). Midnighter: Killing Machine (November 28, 2007).Wildstorm.
  54. ↑ Brian K. Vaughan, Keith Giffen ( w ),Darick Robertson, Chris Sprouse, ChrisCross, Rafael Sandoval, Jon Landry ( a ). Midnighter: Anthem (August 20, 2008).Wildstorm.
  55. ↑ Keith Giffen ( w ),Lee Garbett, Rick Burchett ( a ). Midnighter: Assassin8 (December 24, 2008).Wildstorm.
  56. ↑ Steve Orlando, Brian K. Vaughan, Christos Gage, Peter Milligan  ( w ), David Messina , Hugo Petrus, Aco, Darick Robertson, John Paul Leon, Simon Bisley  ( a ). Midnighter: Hard ,no. (Vol. 2)(October 19, 2016).DC Comics.
  57. ↑ Garth Ennis, Brian K. Vaughan, Christos Gage, Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Keith Giffen ( w ),Chris Sprouse, Joe Phillips, Peter Snejbjerg, Glenn Fabry, Darick Robertson, John Paul Leon, Brian Stelfreeze, ChrisCross, Rafael Sandoval, Jon Landry, Simon Coleby , Lee Garbett, Rick Burchett ( a ). Midnighter: The Complete Wildstorm Series (July 12, 2017).DC Comics.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.