Dark Horse Comics 2013
Written by Joshua Williamson
Illustrated by Miguel Sepulveda
Coloured by Javier Mena
Captain Midnight’s finally discovered what changed the world for the worse while he was gone. Ramsey and Shark had different motives, but both were preparing for a fight—a battle against a horror known as the Archon. The world is in peril, and it’s up to Captain Midnight to defeat the most sinister threat he’s ever faced.
The Secret Squadron HQ is under attack. Charlotte Ryan, Agent Jones, and Goody must hold off the Archon and his legion of Chosen until Captain Midnight can return with backup. But what is the New World Horror after?
Well with Archon attacking the Secret Squadron HQ Captain Midnight and his crew are rushing back to help those already defending themselves. Joshua really has this uncanny knack for great characterization and seeing the non-powered teammates defending the headquarters through words and Miguel’s artwork go a long way to demonstrating that heroes don’t need to wear spandex or high tech outfits they can be ordinary men and women trained to do the best they can.
Miguel and Javier make one heck of a team on the interiors too. I love the attention to detail the way they layout pages and panels to keep the action flowing in seamless ways and always highlighting what’s important and not letting the background or action get lost in it’s surroundings. Even the chosen who seem to be nothing more than disposable clones have that uncanny lookalikeness to them making them confusing and more formidable thanks to the vivid imagery.
While there really is a lot of fighting happening here it’s pretty darn nice to see that despite all the violence here Joshua still manages to throw in some twists, visiting characters and a lot of fantastic characterization. While this X crossover is almost over and the threat that is Archon is fast coming to an end it begs the question with so many people as his friends and allies like Skyman and X, begrudgingly, what will the next chapter bring, and that remains to be seen. Who will live and who will die and be left to take up new quests and make the future a brighter place we have no idea yet. Though it’s clear that this world needs heroes morethan ever.
Still there really are a few surprising twists that do happen this issue that really grab your attention nicely. I have to admit that I am a huge fan of Goody and a few characters that will be unlikely to see the conclusion of this one and I think their importance to JIm shouldn’t be underestimated. We saw his reaction to his friends death early on and what happened with his former sidekick but I still sometimes see more of a stoic mask from him rather than let others in on how he feels and that’s something I look forward to seeing explored.
Captain Midnight and this creative team have solidified Dark Horse’s place in the superhero genre universe. This book, this team and these characters need to be seen and enjoyed by all.