Midnighter is a title that knows what it is and what it’s aiming for. It is a comic about a gay superhero designed for a gay and bi male readership but with plenty to offer every other reader too. The artwork is inventive and gorgeous, even as it depicts gruesome violence. It knows how to use a metaphor in clear, nuanced ways. It balances grit, hard choices, and vigilante glee.
Midnighter #6 is exclamation point after exclamation point with jaw busting action and intense layouts from ACO, colors from Romulo Fajardo that punctuate the big moments in the issue, and a loose, emotional script from Steve Orlando loaded with amusing one-liners and some backstabbing reveals. Reading Midnighter is like getting a new action movie each movie with a well-developed gay protagonist, who is both confident and vulnerable.
Midnighter #2 has attention grabbing layouts and fight choreography from Aco, bold colors from Romulo Fajardo, and witty one-liners that leave both James Bond and John McClane in the dust from Steve Orlando. However, it’s the quiet moments between the mayhem that make Midnighter such a relatable character and set it apart from other superhero and action comics.
Sorry James Bond, Jason Bourne, and even DC Comics’ poster boy Batman, Midnighter makes those chumps look like Muppet Babies. Midnighter #1 acts as an effective and thrilling introduction to Midnighter’s personal and professional life displaying both his unique abilities and how he hits on attractive men. Yes, Midnighter is one of the few high profile LGBTQ characters created by the Big Two, and he is the first gay superhero to get a solo series published by DC Comics. Writer Steve Orlando crafts a character, who is a total badass (and will tell you about it while punching you in various organs), but is vulnerable when it comes to matters of the heart because he is newly single after breaking up with his long term boyfriend.