Happy to see a gay character in a solo series - Midnighter does a great job of fleshing out the title characters personality a bit more - he's a badass just looking for love and acceptance, which is the strength of the book. Dialogue got a bit repetitive and over the top in places and disjointed and awkward in others but overall I really enjoyed this and looking forward to more. ( )

I liked pretty much everything about this.

There's action, romance, mystery, diverse characters and relationships, inclusivity as a standard rather than as an anomaly.

My main complaint is inconsistency in the art. The art is great, just not consistent. One character, Jason, has like three different hairstyles throughout the volume. That's fine. I didn't realize it was him when I first saw the second style, but it's still fine. When characters look 25 in some panels and 56 in others, though, you lose me. That was why I didn't identify the character as Jason at first, not because of the hairstyle.

Sometimes the lines are really clean and the characters look about the age I assume they're supposed to be, and then they'll suddenly look 30 years older and the lines are more choppy. (I'm not referring to scenes where someone's going nuts and things are supposed to look warped, either.) That's something I've noticed in a lot of comics/graphic novels since I started to read them and not just manga and novels, and it's sort of become a pet peeve. I don't expect perfection, and it's certainly better than any art I could produce, but it loses some of the appeal when you go from one panel to the next and a character looks so different, whether it's because they look a different age or because the angle they're drawn at is funky. Some scenes just look like a lot of effort was put into them, but the next page...not so much.

The other thing that wasn't too great is how much the volume jumps around. It's a little incoherent sometimes, both when it comes to location and time. Random flashbacks are inserted in places that aren't always relevant, and I'm not sure if that's to act as a parallel to Midnighter's lack of memories of the time before becoming who he is now, or if they're just not done well.

I don't feel like the whole gay superhero thing was in-your-face. I know some have commented that the volume makes sure you don't forget it by writing in various lovers and romantic/sex scenes, but it really didn't feel any different from, say, a comic where a dude (super)hero gets a lot of girls. It reads as a portrayal of something normal, rather than something "controversial."

This sounds really nitpicky, but it didn't really detract much from my overall enjoyment of this volume. There was a lot to like. Like Dick Grayson. Oh man. ( )

A cool lead character and a few interesting ideas are done in by crap dialogue, dumb plots and an obnoxiously ridiculous secret supervillain reveal. ( )

New favorite character!
11:48 am 9 October 2016
Midnighter Vol. 1: Out - Steve Orlando, ACO
Midnighter is a character who has amnesia, is super violent, has a traumatic past including experimentation (and a supercomputer in his brain) and a heart of gold. Well, y'know, he saves people, especially kids. There are enough parallels - and differences from - Wolverine to make me perk up and pay attention. Like the things I just listed.

Except that while Wolverine is actively seeking to redeem himself and is constantly in a struggle to become less violent, Midnighter is at a point where he's just perfectly okay with who he is, thank you very much. He's a little less okay with being on his own, although he agreed that the breakup with Apollo was a good thing, a little time to be on his own.

He goes on dating sites, he throws himself into a new relationship, and he does so knowing what kind of life he leads and how it might creep into his relationship. He drinks when he's alone. He avoids talking about Apollo. He might not say he's not so okay with it, but it's there, in between the dialogue.

His dating profile is, by the way, one of the most hilarious things I've read recently. He's done everything you can think of, just with a lot of punching. Just when I was getting comfortable with Midnighter and his new life, how settled he and the new boyfriend had gotten, things took a dark turn that I simply did not see coming. Even when it all hinted that I knew what was going on, it turns out no, not at all.

I have to say, the flashbacks make me ship Apollo/Midnighter so hard, though. I'm still not at... ease with his haircut. Which I find incredibly stupid, but other than that, this was amazing. And I think I can overlook a truly monumentally dumb haircut given all the other awesome in here.
Graphic Novel DC lgbtqi favorite character i ship this read in 2016
17 ( )

Jumps around in time a lot and the art isn't super clear, so I spent a lot of time confused. Buuuut it's Midnighter, and no matter what else, I love me some Midnighter! ( )