Classic Comic Compendium: MIDNIGHTER AND APOLLO

“Then it looks like a lot of people are going to get their wish… I’m finally going to hell.”

Batman and Superman is likely to be comics’ best couple. The World’s Finest. Even in the event that they’re technically not a pair. While it is likely to be materials ripe for an Elseworlds story, we do get an in canon analogue from the pages of The Authority in Apollo and Midnighter. They might have began as extremely violent parodies, however they grew to way more as showcased in Midnighter and Apollo, by Steve Orlando, Fernando Blanco, Romulo Fajardo Jr., John Rauch, and Josh Reed.

Following on from the twelve-issue Midnighter collection, Midnighter and Apollo units up a state of affairs that asks the query of how far you’d go as a way to save the person who you’re keen on. In the case of Midnighter, the reply is to the depths of hell as he searches to avoid wasting the soul of Apollo. Whether intentional or not, there’s some symbolism right here of the darkness going to the farthest reaches to retrieve the sunshine.

One of the issues that I like that Steve Orlando does with this story is firmly set up it inside the shared universe of the DCU. On prime of working in a department of the Subway Pirates from Manhattan Guardian, the Lords of the Gun and Mawzir from Hitman, and the New Guardians’ Extraño, there are a number of appearances from characters throughout the DC Universe. It’s a storytelling model that was once frequent, however you don’t actually see as a lot any extra. James Robinson and Grant Morrison have a tendency to make use of it rather a lot, although not distinctive to them, with a web page or two that offers a cross-section of throwaway encounters with completely different characters. It provides a pleasant depth to the universe.

I really feel like Fernando Blanco’s ascent as a prime tier artist actually began within the final half decade of the 2010s. He was all the time a stable inker together with his work with David Lopez and Javier Pina, however his line artwork in its personal proper actually took off on Batwoman, Batman and Robin Eternal, and right here. I’m glad that he’s lastly getting extra recognition for his work with Ram V on Catwoman and past. There’s a thick-lined grit to it right here that jogs my memory of disparate artists like Barry Kitson and Matthew Dow Smith, like being drawn with a thicker marker, whereas many of the shadows appear to be introduced in color holds from Romulo Fajardo Jr. and (within the last chapter) John Rauch. Along with the inset panels and distinctive layouts, it’s additionally harking back to ACO’s work on the Midnighter collection, exhibiting a pleasant logical circulate within the art work from title to title. There are additionally some good sound results from Josh Reed that work properly with the layouts, enhancing the motion.

Orlando, Blanco, Fajardo Jr., Rauch, and Reed present us in Midnighter and Apollo that the world’s best couple have come removed from their origins, discovered a spot inside the DC Universe, and belong in a method that maybe different Wildstorm characters didn’t earlier than, exterior of the shadows of Batman and Superman.

Midnighter and Apollo

Midnighter and Apollo
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Fernando Blanco
Colourists: Romulo Fajardo Jr. & John Rauch
Letterer: Josh Reed
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: July 26 2017
Also obtainable in Midnighter: The Complete Collection