Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight #10

 Gotham By Midnight #10, DC Comics, cover-dated December 2015.

“Nothing Will Stop Us,” by Ray Fawkes, with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.

The opening page of each issue in this series contains four long panels that provide a thematic statement of sorts for the issue. It’s hard to construct a better summary of the concept of this series than the words that begin issue #10:

“In a city of horror, I (Jim Corrigan) swore to protect the innocent. When I failed, he (the Spectre) swore to avenge them.”

This issue picks up in the aftermath of last issue’s appearance of the Spectre in the small holding room where Corrigan was being interrogated by Internal Affairs. Detective Lisa Drake tries to calm him, before helping him make his escape.

Meanwhile, Dr. Tarr’s story continues, and we see him dealing with his feelings after Sister Justine’s death. In a creepy scene, he discovers that a sainthood cult is growing near where she died. She has been appearing to neighborhood kids, who have built a shrine to “The Nun of the Narrows.”

 While evading re-capture (in a wonderfully-drawn chase scene), Corrigan and Drake discuss who exactly is in control of the Spectre. Corrigan also tells Drake his origin story. He also convinces her that despite their careers being in shambles at this point, that the thing from the swamp that they’ve dealt with in prior issues, is still out there. As the end of the series approaches, the Midnight Shift still has work to do.

Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight #8

Gotham By Midnight #8, DC Comics, cover-dated October 2015.

“The Jungle,” by Ray Fawkes, with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Have you ever noticed how so many people who watch the news on TV become so angry? In this story, EVERYONE watching the news attacks each other at the same time, creating riots and fights across Gotham City. The news anchors sold their souls for fame and influence, and the consequences of that deal are manifesting, both in the news studio, and in the broadcast itself.

Detective Drake is injured in the midst of the riot. She  has tried to deal with the situation itself, warning Corrigan away. “The Spectre comes out here, we’re looking at a lot of bodies.”

Corrigan and Dr. Tarr head to the television studio, Corrigan admits he doesn’t know if the Spectre will come out, and Tarr has mixed emotions about this prospect.

“It’s a heady thing, to know I might be judged, that God’s agent might turn his gaze upon me … if that you claim is true.”

I like that Tarr doesn’t necessarily share Corrigan’s interpretation of the Spectre. His skeptical scientific mind is always at work. But he knows that SOMETHING might happen, and locks Corrigan out of the studio to handle the situation himself.

Similar to the annual and issue #7, the main story of this issue is a one-and-done. That is a nice change-of-pace, both for this title in particular, but also for modern comics in general. The story is wrapped up in this issue, although character arcs progress and subplots continue.

In the main subplot, the investigation into the 13^th Precinct continues. Agent Casimiro sums up her thoughts on this subplot. “This is Gotham City, sergeant … and the Midnight Shift are killers.” The issue ends with Corrigan being brought in by Internal Affairs for questioning.

Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight #7

Gotham By Midnight 7, DC Comics, cover-dated September 2015.

“Nobody Cares,” by Ray Fawkes, with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Precinct Thirteen is in trouble. They’re in trouble with Internal Affairs, as the team has lost their administrative protector. Lt. Weaver admits that “Gordon used to shield us. Didn’t matter how weird we were, or how low are numbers were.” But Kate Spencer, the special investigator, may not be buying it.

And they are all recovering emotionally from the loss of Sister Justine. The team is fraying, as is Detective Jim Corrigan’s sense of self. In the acts of cleaning up her apartment, packing her things, he ponders as he can only do when alone. He is working through things, and we see his private pain.

“I’m not supposed to have any regrets. I’m an agent of Heaven.”

He quotes St. Augustine, and then asks God for mercy. “Please,” he adds.

And then the team gets called in to tackle an eerie situation, because in Gotham City there is always another eerie situation for the team to tackle. People in an apartment building seem to have just given up on life, lying down and dying. Corrigan arrives, identifies the cause as a particular brand of demon, and orders his team to evacuate the building. The Spectre is coming.

And Ferreyra does a great job portraying the eerie power that the makes up the embodiment of the Wrath of God. Corrigan does not fight the transformation this time, and seems to revel in the destruction of this particular form of evil.

And again, Internal Affairs wonders exactly what happened. And Corrigan’s team wonders what will happen to the city if something happens to them.

Podcast #002: The Spectre's Wrath

In this all-new, super-special second podcast episode, Emily & Alan talk about the comic book character The Spectre, a superhero who is also the embodiment of God's wrath. 

They cover his 75+ years in comics,talking about stories from the Golden Age to the current day. Works from Alan Moore and John Ostrander are also covered. And (of course) the Constantine TV show.

Click on the player below to listen to the episode:

You may also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or the RSS Feed.

Link: Anderson Cale's music
Link: Johnny Cash: American IV

Special thanks to Michael Bailey for his vocal contributions.

Next Episode: The 2015 holiday special! (and feedback!)

We would love to hear from you about the Spectre, the podcast episode, or the podcast in general. Send e-mail feedback to dorknesstolight@gmail.com 

You can follow Alan on twitter @ProfessorAlan and the podcast @DorknessToLight

Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight Annual

Gotham By Midnight Annual, DC Comics, cover-dated September 2015.

“The Gentleman Ghost,” by Ray Fawkes, with art by Christian Duce. Cover by Juan Ferreyra.

There are a variety of ways that a comic book Annual can go. This is a pure stand-alone story, one that could serve a solid “jumping on point” to the reader who hasn’t been reading the ongoing series.

The plot is very simple, a mystery involving the Golden Age character Gentleman Ghost. Along with a mystery involving the valuable necklace The Tears of Eurydice, the story includes the New 52 origin of how Jim Craddock became the Ghost. 

This story does not feature the full cast of Gotham by Midnight. Detectives Only Jim Corrigan and Lisa Drake are featured. But the simple-sounding plot and small cast are not drawbacks, but in fact add depth to the mystery.

The Spectre appears, and suffice it to say that he doesn’t like ghosts. They represent a disorder in the afterlife; they are things that simply should not be. 

"Dead men lie down and rise not again. Thus speaks the Lord."

This is an interesting take. Comic book character routinely violate the Hebrews 9:27 process of "just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." It is wholly appropriate for the Spectre to be the one character who is made wary by the presence of ghosts. They are unduly delaying their judgment.

It is also an interesting commentary that despite the Spectre's distaste for such beings (and one would assume, the Spectre's Boss), that they nonetheless are allowed to exist in the DC Universe.

Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight #6

Gotham By Midnight #6, DC Comics, cover-dated June 2015.

“Return on Investment,” by Ray Fawkes, with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.

A funeral. In the rain. What a way to start an issue. But Sister Justine is dead, and the team is feeling her loss.
Now that the team has seen the Spectre in action, they have some questions. And Corrigan’s answers don’t satisfy.

“The Spectre is what he says he is, Okay? Divine judgment. Destroyer of sinners. Remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? That was almost Gotham City last Friday.”

We also learn the specifics of Detective Lisa Drake’s power. She has faerie blood, and is a harbinger of death. “You probably got swapped out as a baby.” Drake is shaken by this news, and asks Corrigan how he knows it.

“Friends in high places.”

Before they head off on to the case for the issue (a corporate ghost story), Dr. Tarr enters the church and has a few things to say to the crucifix, complaining that “it was Your name on the lips” of the founders of Gotham, on the Spectre when he was threatening to destroy the city, and on Sister Justine’s lips as she gave her life to save the city.

And we learn that Sergeant Rook is indeed working against our team. This should not have been a surprise, as this is what he was sent to do. But any hope that he had come over to their side is lost as this issue ends. As bad as things were at the start of this issue, they seem to be getting even worse as the issue ends.

This issue is the first to feature Ferreyra on art, and this change of style is noticeable. His art is still moody, and has a similar feel to Ben Templesmith, but is much less eccentric. He follows the template of what was done before, but brings a slightly more mainstream look to his work.

Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight #5

Gotham By Midnight #5, DC Comics, cover-dated May 2015.

“Judgment on Gotham,” by Ray Fawkes, with art by Ben Templesmith. Cover by Ben Templesmith.

This issue picks up exactly where the last one (reviewed here) left off, with The Giant-Sized Spectre taking on a similarly-sized Ikkondrid. As we learned last issue, swamp monster that has been tormenting the group this entire arc is the personification of the evil of Gotham City’s past, specifically its treatment of natives in the city’s founding.

So it’s a Spirit of Vengrance versus Spirit of Vengeance showdown for the right to judge a city. And since the city in question is Gotham City, Batman makes an appearance. In this story, Ray Fawkes moves from the tension of the “slow burn” he has built up for four issues to the intensity of a potential all-out city-smashing fight. A case could have been made that in the prior issues, not a lot “happened.”

All of the members of the Midnight Shift go work to protect the city, each in their own way. Including one team member pulling a gun on the comatose Corrigan. Maybe if the host dies, the Spectre stops? The team recognizes that a sacrifice of some sort must be made, that someone is going to die.

And Sister Justine does what she does best.  “Please, Lord. If I am a pure soul, as Corrigan says … please spare this city.” She stands in the gap, interceding for the city, asking the Lord to take her instead of the people of Gotham.

And as the Spectre turns toward the monster, thunder rolls, but it’s not really thunder. “Every window in the city shatters … and every living person falls to their knees.” The monsters don’t fight, which made the issue a bit anticlimactic, but the conflict does de-escalate.

Corrigan awakens, believing that they are safe. For a while. But there was a cost. The team suffered a loss. Someone had to die.

God answered Sister Justine’s prayer.

Comic Book Review - Gotham By Midnight #4

Gotham By Midnight #4, DC Comics, cover-dated April 2015.

“We Fight What We Become,” by Ray Fawkes, with art by Ben Templesmith. Cover by Ben Templesmith.

The “slow burn” of the prior four issues seems likes it is continuing as issue five begins, as a drunk Jim Corrigan tries to convince Sgt Rook from Internal Affairs that they can be friends. Or at least that maybe Rook will not pursue his case against the Midnight Shift. But that changes quickly as strange things bubble out of Rook. At the same time, Dr. Torr and Detective Drake are fighting similar beings on the Gotham streets. And as the being attacks all over the neighborhood, Corrigan knows what this means.

“Get away. Get as far away as you can … judgment is coming. Divine judgment. I can’t hold it back this time.”

And finally it happens. After teasing and tempting us, Jim Corrigan finally “Spectres out.” One of the concepts that Ray Fawkes has included in this series is that Corigan barely controls the Spectre’s wrath, and ultimately can not control it. And this is the classic “Old Testament” version of God’s wrath, which may well level a whole city if the sins therein are determined to be too great. It is a sense of judgment not tempered by mercy. Ben Templesmith's art style portrays well this disconcerting image.

But we do get some great monologuing when the Spectre arrives.

“I am the Spectre. I am Heaven’s Blade … I am the storm. And you … Abomination.”

While that fight is going on, Doctor Torr has figured out the motives of the beings they’ve been fighting since issue 1. It has to do with the sins that arose from the founding of Gotham City. The beings are “psychic reminders of genocide.” And what do they want? For Gotham City to be judged.

And the Spectre is just the supernatural being to do it.

Sister Justine is (rightly) terrified of the prospect of the Spectre wreaking havoc in the city, but she and Lieutenant Weaver must hit the streets. “A lot of people are in trouble. It’s time to earn our pay.” So by the end of the issue, the entire team is out on the streets, and the Spectre is facing down a big ugly monster.

We end the issue with two great questions. “What’s going to happen?” “Who knows?”

Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight #3

Gotham By Midnight #3, DC Comics, cover-dated March 2015.

"We Become What We Fight," by Ray Fawkes, with art by Ben Templesmith. Cover by Ben Templesmith.

We continue to learn the origins of the members of Gotham City’s “Midnight Shift” in issue 3. This time, we get to know Detective Lisa Drake. We learn how the punk-chick undercover cop met Detective Corrigan – he was tied up in the trunk in a car and Drake was tasked by her drug boss to kill him. But she manifested an unexplained power, a sort of supernatural Black Canary shriek.

Corrigan recognizes Drake’s power, which she admits she’s been living with for years. “You start to feel sick sometimes, and you need to shout it out, right? It hurts, but not as bad as if you keep it in.”

I like that we are getting to know Jim Corrigan in this series as something other than JUST the Spectre’s host. He shows some real human decency in this issue, as well as useful management skills and well-earned wisdom. Yes, I do want the Spectre to manifest soon, but I do appreciate the patience that Fawkes has shown in providing us a slow-burn style of storytelling.

Corrigan does poke fun at the supernatural aspects of their group. Detective Drake asks “why are we here,” referring to Gotham County Hospital. But he answers as if she were asking a more cosmic question, answering that they were “fulfilling God’s plan, y’know, in, like, mysterious ways.”

I also like how this slow-burn style also impacts the introduction of the team member. The key is that Fawkes has been able to include this info while also telling the story of the particular case they have been investigating. Templesmith’s art is critical in keeping the issue visually interesting, even when the overall plot is only pushed forward a little bit. The world is so different from anything else in comics, and the story contains so much crazy stuff in it, that moving slowly enables readers to be comfortable in the world of this comic.

In terms of the longer arc, the case of Gotham’s stolen children continues, as the team is attempting to translate the strange language the children now speak. The children, under observation at a hospital, also seem to be manifesting weird shadows. By the end of the issue, the team is certain that Gotham is under attack. Doctor Szandor Tarr asks the sums up the situation on the final page.

“After seeing what this creature almost did, I shudder to think what’s next. But perhaps we can make ourselves ready?”

 

Comic Book Review - Gotham By Midnight #2

Gotham By Midnight #2, DC Comics, cover-dated February 2015.

"We Will Not Rest," by Ray Fawkes, with art by Ben Templesmith. Cover by Ben Templesmith.

We pick up where issue #1 left off, with poor Internal Affairs Agent Rook learning that “Precinct 13” really does handle the hard cases. During his first supernatural case in Slaughter Swamp, he reveals exactly where his head is at:

“Look, I’m basically an accountant … just shoot that thing!”

Fortunately, Detective Jim Corrigan is on hand to handle the witchy apparition of a creepy nun-like being. He’s freaked out, and realizes that he doesn’t have a lot of time. “The Spectre is almost here.” He is able to subdue the entity and free the children she was holding. But they are speaking the same gibberish language that the Attwood children are speaking.

Back in Gotham Heights, Sister Justine realizes that something terrible has been done to the Attwood children. In a flashback we learn how she met Detective Corrigan and his alter ego, and how she became part of the Midnight Shift.

Sister Justine recognizes five of the gibberish words as names. She’s heard them before. By the end of the issue, Corrigan sums up where we are and where we are going:

“Something big and bad is moving into Gotham. Something that’s either got five names or five bodies. Or both.”

Again, it’s hard to think a better artist that Ben Templesmith to introduce readers to the eerie weirdness of this title. Not only the supernatural apparitions themselves, but the human’s reactions to the apparitions are suitable creepy.

Sister Justine is the featured character in this issue. The idea that the Spectre saved her once both gives insight into her past, as well as asks questions about the Spectre’s relationship with Corrigan. Justine’s word bubbles are smaller than the others’, indicating that she is meek, perhaps still traumatized by her past. But Corrigan realized he needed her on the team, and that in itself is an interesting fact.

I like the fact that the Spectre is staying off the page, at least for now. The idea that what they have faced SO FAR is not worthy of the Spectre’s attention is a bit scary, as it means that something even creepier and more evil is on the way. This is the way that suspense is supposed to work, laying down one puzzle piece after the other.

This issue was slightly slower than the first, as it has to actually develop character, as opposed to just introduce characters. But it was quite a gripping read.

Comic Book Review: Gotham By Midnight #1

Gotham By Midnight #1, DC Comics, cover-dated January 2015.

"We Do Not Sleep," by Ray Fawkes, with art by Ben Templesmith. Cover by Ben Templesmith.

Batman has had an inconsistent history with the supernatural. Over his more than 75 years, along with much more common stories facing off against his cast of rogues and run-of-the-mill criminals, he has on occasion battled the unexplained. 

In one of his very early adventures (Detective Comics #31 & #32, cover-dated 1939) Batman traveled to Central Europe to battle a vampire who possessed werewolf-like characteristics. More than three decades later (Detective Comics #395, cover-dated January 1970), he found himself in a classic ghost story. But more often that not, Batman lets others handle Gotham's weirder cases.

Which is exactly where Gotham By Midnight comes in. Commissioner Gordon has set up this new task force, known alternately as "Precinct Thirteen" and "The Midnight Shift." Led by Detective Jim Corrigan, the squad includes Detective Lisa Drake, Sergeant Rook, forensics expert Doctor Szandor Tarr, and Sister Justine, the squad's resident nun.

Rook explains to Lieutenant Weaver, the internal affairs man who visits the squad this issue, what this team is about. In doing so, he also explains to readers what this series is about. "We're the guys who handle the strange stuff." Corrigan does have a brief interaction with Batman, but it is clear that he will be little more than an occasional guest in this series. It is unclear if the squad knows that Corrigan possesses the awesome power of The Spectre. At this point, I don't think so, but that will certainly be revealed in future issues. 

Weaver is not convinced. The squad has never logged a single arrest, and their case reports "don't make any kind of sense." He suspects accounting fraud. Until he sees the squad work, up close and personal. A pair of young children have begun talking in a strange language, and their parents suspect some sort of foul play. It turns out the language is "some kind of telepathic infection," and the clues lead Corrigan and Weaver to Slaughter Swamp.

Of course Gotham City has a place called "Slaughter Swamp."

As the pair approach a ghostly shack, Corrigan asks if Weaver is a religious man.

"People keep asking me that."

Then, as the kids at the house begin to scream, Detective Drake announces that death is here, and Sister Justine prays The Lord's Prayer. At the same time, in Slaughter Swamp, Corrigan and Weaver enter the shack, and on the last page they witness a ghostly schoool room, led by a ghastly teacher.

Corrigan gets the last words of the issue. "It's a hell of a job."

This is the series that I did not know I wanted, until I learned it existed. In retrospect, it's amazing how long it took for a book like this to appear. An officially sanctioned supernatutal detective squad inside the GCPD? It's a great idea.

In this first issue, Fawkes and Templesmith set the type of eerie tone that I hope they maintain as the series continues. Templesmith's art is reminiscent of his work on various Silent Hill comics, and is able to portray this stranger side of Gotham in a way that sets it apart from the mainstream DC Universe. An excellent start to what appears to be an interesting series.