Captain Midnight v1: On the Run TPB

I had high hopes for this one. And while there were some entertaining moments, I’m afraid that Joshua Williamson’s story just never really hooked me.

Captain Midnight is sort of a jerk. He’s not quite as obnoxious as Mark Millar’s Captain America in the Ultimates, but that is the closest comparison as far as comic characters go. Midnight is a genius inventor who doesn’t really like listening to other people or considering anything besides his own opinion. I believe the reader is supposed to side with him over the surrounding government yes-men who surround him, but unfortunately I found myself not really rooting for anyone.

The villain, Fury Shark, other than having a hilarious last name, doesn’t have a ton going for her either. She didn’t have any sort of plan for world domination that I could discern. She is clearly a ruthless business woman and former Nazi, but it didn’t seem she had any imminent plans other than going after Captain Midnight.

Basically, the entire trade consists of Captain Midnight’s return, then a lot of running around to track him down. He does have a brief combat with Fury Shark’s underlings, but again, at no time did I detect a real sense of danger, for Midnight, his supporting characters, or the world.

I understand this is part of Dark Horse’s new super-hero line “Project Black Sky.” There is a mention of this organization. A strange, flare-using sniper named Helios apparently works for them. Not much more to sink your teeth into than that.

The art, by Fernando Dagnino, Victor Ibanez, Pere Perez, and Roger Robinson is fairly consistent. It seems most of the artists are going for a Paul Pelletier-style on Fury Shark, but a bit more of a DC house style on everyone else. I always enjoy Robinson’s art, so his pages were once again the ones that caught my eye.

Overall, this is a very skippable book. With so many other good trades and comics on the shelves, I’m afraid I can’t recommend this EVIL book over most of them.