Midnighter | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | WildStorm |
Schedule | Monthly |
Format | Ongoing series |
Genre | Superhero |
Publication date | November 2006 – June 2008 |
No. of issues | 20 |
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.
Three Midnighter trade paperbacks were originally released. In July 2017 the complete series was released for the first time in trade.
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]
"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]
# | Title | Publication 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 |
# | Title | Publication 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 |
# | Title | Publication 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 |
# | Title | Publication 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 |
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]
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]
|
In 2008, Midnighter received a GLAAD Media Awards nomination for Outstanding Comic Book, but lost to Strangers in Paradise . [52]
Credits and personnel adapted from the series issues.
The series has been collected into the following trade paperbacks:
Title | Material collected | Publication date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|
Midnighter: Killing Machine (Volume 1) [53] | Midnighter #1–6 | November 28, 2007 | 978-1401214777 |
Midnighter: Anthem (Volume 2) [54] | Midnighter #7; #10–15 | August 20, 2008 | 978-1401216702 |
Midnighter: Assassin8 (Volume 3) [55] | Midnighter #16–20 | December 24, 2008 | 978-1401220013 |
Midnighter: Hard [56] | Midnighter #7–8 | October 19, 2016 | 978-1401264932 |
Midnighter: The Complete Wildstorm Series [57] | Midnighter #1–20 | July 12, 2017 | 978-1401267919 |
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, 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 1999. 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 the combining of the titles of the Jim Lee comic series WildC.A.T.S. and Stormwatch.
Keith Ian Giffen is an American comics artist and writer. He is 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.
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.
Glenn Fabry is a British comics artist known for his detailed, realistic work in both ink and painted colour.
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.
Cam Smith is a British comic book artist and inker known to British comic book readers for his work on 2000 AD and in the American comic book market for his collaborations with Gary Frank, inking that would earn him an Eisner Award nomination.
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.
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 and Marvel Knights series. The story functions as an origin story for Nick Fury and takes place before he joined the Howling Commandos.
The Boys is a comic book series, written by Garth Ennis and co-created, designed, and illustrated by Darick Robertson. It was originally published by WildStorm, before being cancelled after its first volume, and revived by Dynamite Entertainment, who published the following eight volumes. Debuting in October 2006, the series concluded in November 2012 with the release of the 72nd and final issue. 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 January–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.
Joel Gomez is an American comic book artist, known for his work on books such as WildStorm Productions' Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs.
Fury is a 2001 six issue miniseries about Nick Fury written by Garth Ennis. The series was published under Marvels MAX imprint and featured much harder violence and explicit material than was common at the time which 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.
DC/Wildstorm: DreamWar is a six-issue comic book limited series writer by Keith Giffen, drawn by Lee Garbett and published by DC Comics. The series is a crossover between the DC and Wildstorm Universes.
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.
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.
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.
The Punisher is an American comic book series published from 2014 to 2015 by Marvel Comics featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the vigilante the Punisher. The series lasted 20 issues and was written by Nathan Edmondson, with art by Mitch Gerads.
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 Vietnam 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.