Written By: Ray FawkesArt By: Juan Ferreyra
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: August 26, 2015
TV Will Rot Your Brain
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
Our Precinct Thirteen is in a heap of trouble because while hunting down and killing supernatural beings that threaten the lives of humanity is a great way to spend your time, the paperwork is a bitch and a lot of questions have been raised by Internal Affairs as to what the Midnight Shift is all about. I would have thought that Sergeant Rook's time with the group might have swayed his opinions, but it turns out that getting put face to face with monsters and almost dying doesn't bond people the way I would have thought. If that wasn't bad enough, it seems that our team hasn't quite recovered yet from Sister Justine's death and the idea that Jim Corrigan can go all wrath of god out of nowhere and vaporize everyone around him. It's a weird working environment, but I hope it continues as our team faces a new threat, while dealing with their current problems. Let's check it out.
Explain It!:
Our story begins in downtown Gotham, where busy people make their way through the wanna-be Times Square to wherever they have to go and while city folks always seem a bit high strung, on this night all of their aggression is going to cut loose. Not only are the people walking shoulder to shoulder down the street, but it's 95 degrees and nobody likes to be hot and crowded....... What I'm getting at is that these people begin to attack one another like Gotham just became the set of The Crazies. Detective Drake had called Corrigan right before hand because she felt something stirring and with her having that scream that announces death, she's someone that should be taken seriously. It's too late though and she gets attacked as all of Gotham seems to go insane and after the riot has died down, Corrigan gives Detective Drake the night off to heal while he meets Dr. Tarr at the scene of riot, where his "Spectre sense" tingles. Yeah, the people just didn't go all punch happy because of their rude neighbors or because of the heat, it seems that the TVs are broadcasting some kind of evil and Corrigan and Dr. Tarr head over to the GNN station to get to the bottom of what the hell is going on.
Throughout this issue we jump around to Sergeant Rook and his various meetings, discussing the fate of the Midnight Shift and with every conversation it looks worse and worse for our heroes....... because I'm saying that he needs to lock up the physical embodiment of his fears if he's ever going to be able to get on with his life and put the supernatural things that he's seen behind him..... That's just speculation on my part, but it makes sense to me. Rook is wary of going after Precinct Thirteen though because all the evidence against them is coming too easy and he feels that his partner and him are being setup and used and even though he wants to shut our team down, he has his apprehensions about it. While that's going on, Corrigan and Tarr get to the GNN building and find that it's a lot like the streets of Gotham. It's littered with bodies and apparently the only people that are still alive are the two news broadcasters who were on air when the violence began. Corrigan plans on facing them himself, but Tarr isn't about to let the Spectre out and have it go on a free for all, so he kicks Corrigan out before he can Spectre-Out and locks the doors behind him. I really like this aspect to the Doc because up until now, we haven't really had any interactions from him besides for his sorrow about Sister Justine's death........ that he still blames Corrigan for and him simply studying supernatural artifacts. So it's good to see Szandor standing out here...... even if he's in over his head and proves to be pretty useless........ that's a bit harsh, but he doesn't do much.
In the end, Dr. Tarr is affected by the broadcasters and begins to feel the rage, but before he can act on it, the broadcasters seem like they can't control their rage either and before they kill one another, we see that they're joined at the hip and have become some kind of monster since they sold their souls for fame and influence. Now that the threat is over, Dr. Tarr goes out and meets Corrigan and we see that our old friends the black flowers have made their return, but for some reason they're growing all around where Corrigan was sitting. As the issue closes our team head back to the office to figure out what the black flowers are warning them about, only to find Rook and his partner waiting for them with a warrant.
That's it for this issue of Gotham By Midnight and while I still like this series, it does come off boring at times, especially when we have this monster of the week story that either resolves itself like it did here or is simply defeated by the many appearances of The Spectre. Now I love monsters and the supernatural and even though it's the driving force behind this team and this series, it's just becoming less and less interesting when we have our team going through the continued grief of Sister Justine's death and Internal Affairs breathing down their necks. That's the story that I want to see and it's being pushed to the back burner so these supernatural tales that aren't that interesting can be told. You can say that the one story drives the other, but since the majority of these monsters are once and done stories, I would kind of like to have an issue that deals more with the people and less on what they're up against. Like I said though, I still like this series and the creative team behind it, it's just getting a bit redundant.
Bits and Pieces:
Not a lot new on the Gotham By Midnight front. A supernatural menace appears and our team takes it out, but we do have an interesting development with how our team will proceed in the future now that Internal Affairs is poking around and I hope that we deal more with that story than constantly forcing a monster of the week scenario. While you might get a "been there, done that" feel from this book, its' still enjoyable and the art continues to be great.
In the end, Dr. Tarr is affected by the broadcasters and begins to feel the rage, but before he can act on it, the broadcasters seem like they can't control their rage either and before they kill one another, we see that they're joined at the hip and have become some kind of monster since they sold their souls for fame and influence. Now that the threat is over, Dr. Tarr goes out and meets Corrigan and we see that our old friends the black flowers have made their return, but for some reason they're growing all around where Corrigan was sitting. As the issue closes our team head back to the office to figure out what the black flowers are warning them about, only to find Rook and his partner waiting for them with a warrant.
That's it for this issue of Gotham By Midnight and while I still like this series, it does come off boring at times, especially when we have this monster of the week story that either resolves itself like it did here or is simply defeated by the many appearances of The Spectre. Now I love monsters and the supernatural and even though it's the driving force behind this team and this series, it's just becoming less and less interesting when we have our team going through the continued grief of Sister Justine's death and Internal Affairs breathing down their necks. That's the story that I want to see and it's being pushed to the back burner so these supernatural tales that aren't that interesting can be told. You can say that the one story drives the other, but since the majority of these monsters are once and done stories, I would kind of like to have an issue that deals more with the people and less on what they're up against. Like I said though, I still like this series and the creative team behind it, it's just getting a bit redundant.
Bits and Pieces:
Not a lot new on the Gotham By Midnight front. A supernatural menace appears and our team takes it out, but we do have an interesting development with how our team will proceed in the future now that Internal Affairs is poking around and I hope that we deal more with that story than constantly forcing a monster of the week scenario. While you might get a "been there, done that" feel from this book, its' still enjoyable and the art continues to be great.
6.5/10
I thought the art was incredible in this, I just couldn't stop staring at the pictures. Reminded me of the old Dinosaurs Attack! trading card set by Topps that they did in the late 1980s. The story is okay, but man that art is so good!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's the saving grace of this series in my mind because even though we keep seeing the same type of story over and over again..... it sure is sweet to look at.
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