The biggest news in the comics industry recently was indeed the debut of Marvel’s “Midnight” imprint, focusing on the X-Men, the FF, and Spider-Man!
WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?
As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, the launch of “Midnight” was something unique for the House of Ideas. Rather than print a whole bunch of other books along with those three number one’s, Marvel released only those books, so the attention, particularly if you are a Marvel fan, was solely on them. That seemed to work very well!
Marvel accomplished one important thing—many fans stopped talking about DC’s “Absolute” books, even if it was only for one week! (We’ll see if that continues in the weeks ahead!)
I saw that some stores really had to hustle to display all the various covers for the three issues, which did take up a lot of shelf space! I was entertained that some fans who complained bitterly about the various number of alternate covers on “Absolute” books were suddenly very quiet when Marvel put out a large number of covers on the “Midnight” imprint. Don’t worry, though—several Marvel fans said that Marvel didn’t make “the same mistake DC did” even though there seemed to be many more covers than some fans expected. (As one friend of mine said, though, “What do you expect? They were all number one’s!”)
I was also intrigued to hear that next month, all three number 2’s will hit the shelves on the same Wednesday, although there will be other Marvel titles coming with them this time.
MARVEL’S ‘ABSOLUTE?’
I’ve been reading some of the reaction to “Midnight,” and like all comics, some of the response has been mixed. One person called it “Marvel’s ‘Absolute’ books” since he noticed some similarities in the stories along both lines. Example: We see various familiar characters in unfamiliar roles or situations. That apparently bugged him.
Many fans noticed that, like “Absolute,” Marvel is starting with a smaller number of books in the imprint. Depending on the response, the House of Ideas is expected to expand that offering in the months ahead. (That’s a safe bet they will, in my opinion.)
One fan expressed concern with the catchphrase, “The Light Had Its Turn.” He was afraid that some fans of Marvel might think, especially given that they only released “Midnight” books that week, that the “regular” Marvel Universe had ceased to be. However, they need only wait one week before many more books from Marvel will be joining “Midnight” on the stands, though.
HOW ‘ABSOLUTE’ WILL MARVEL GO?
One of the things I’ve noticed, especially in Absolute Batman, is that the creative team has been slowly retooling previously known Bat-characters and making them debut almost on a monthly basis. A recent example truly could be “The Bat,” formerly known as Batgirl in what is now apparently known as the “All In” universe or “our” universe.
I think Scott Snyder has done a great job of not making it the “new revamp of the month” each issue. He’s really put Bruce Wayne through his paces over the issues, so when someone steps up to help him, I’m actually cheering for that person.
If I were in the House of Ideas, I would look over the “Absolute” books if for no other reason than I would know what I should NOT do. For instance, if “Midnight” Hawkeye ends up chasing one specific bad guy for a long time while we don’t know just who he is right now, I’d be very concerned!
IT HAS TO HAPPEN!
However, there are certainly some things we as comics fans can expect to take place in the months ahead. Just as “Absolute” Batman was compared to “All In” Batman in that new comic on Batman Day, we can almost be certain that “Midnight” Spider-Man will eventually, on some level, team up or appear with “our” Spider-Man. I’d almost be ready to lay down some money on that!
Then, too, we should expect to see the “Midnight” characters bump into each other at some point. “Absolute” has had Batman meet the Wonder Woman in his world, and there are more team-ups on the way for sure. As I always like to point out, when characters work with or oppose each other, that’s fun for us readers because we get to see them in different lights. We learn about them, and I always like that experience.
Of course, given the response to “Midnight” already, we can expect that other Marvel characters will get the “Midnight” treatment as well. Who? Your guess is as good as mine, but some might not work with that setting. Captain America? I don’t think so. On the other hand, Captain Marvel, who isn’t quite as popular as she was a few years ago, might give “Midnight” an alien spin that could work.
Also, there’s a debate happening among fans as to just which “Midnight” title debuted the best. Personally, as a Phillip Kennedy Johnson fan, I’m still in the Spider-Man camp, but I’ve seen a lot of fans feel that the FF was the strongest of the books.
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