Comic Book Review: Midnighter #9

Midnighter #9

Script by: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti
Art by: Brian Stelfreeze
Colors by: Randy Mayor
Cover by: Chris Sprouse and Karl Story
Published by: Wildstorm Productions and DC Comics

Story: “The Hercules Virus”

Midnighter is easily the most interesting of Wildstorm’s team The Authority, so when I learned that he was getting his own series, I knew I had to give it a shot. When I learned that Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray were collaborating on the project, I got even more excited, having become a fan of their collaborative work from DC’s Monolith series. While having the occasional miss, Midnighter has proven to be a pretty strong title. While some stories, particulary the initial one, has lasted over a handful of issues, Midnighter’s solo title has several stand alone issues, which is a nice change to the multi-issue extravaganzas that we typically find.

This issue finds Midnighter sent to an orbiting space station because an alien virus has apparently run rampant and the government has lost contact. When Midnighter gets up there, he learns that the people on the space station have been mutated into “carnivorous lumpy monsters.” Midnighter fights through the monstrous horde and discovers a lone survivor. From her, he learns the truth about the virus…

Midnighter proves that you don’t have to have a convoluted plot to have an interesting story. All you need is a solid plot, action, and the interior monologue of a guy who doesn’t play and thinks what many of us think privately, but don’t share with others. The stories are topical, but not leaned to one political line of thinking over another. Midnighter, while typically simple in plot, is a carefully constructed series, tightly written series.

The only complaint I’ve ever had about this series is that sometimes the art doesn’t present the story as well as it should. In this issue, Stelfreeze and Mayor do a decent job, although some scenes appear flat. I’m lookining forward to seeing Chris Sprouse’s clean lines and Karl Story’s dynamic colors on the interior art.

Straightforward plot, exciting action scenes, and a hard as nails protagonist makes Midnighter a nice pick. Look for Midnighter #10 on August 1 when one of my favorite writers, Keith Giffen, joins Chris Sprouse and Karl Story take over the series. Midnighter will begin questioning his vocation.

Rating: 4 Worms. Solid story telling and decent art.