Midnighter #12 Review

Some of His Best Work

Written by: Steve Orlando
At by: Aco, Hugo Petrus, Romulo Fajardo Jr, and Tom Napolitano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: May 4, 2016

I know that I have been singled out as the one guy who hates on Midnighter and I'll admit that at points, I have worn that tag as a badge of honor.  Believe me, though, I gave each and every issue the score I thought it deserved.  It's funny, looking back at my reviews as a whole, I had such high hopes for the series (I gave the first issue a 9.5/10), but things went south pretty damn fast.  While I kept hearing everyone go on about how great a book this was, I was thrown off by the crazy dialogue and the story that was going nowhere slow.  Oh well, that's water under the bridge and I have actually enjoyed the last couple of issues and again, have high hopes that Steve Orlando ends it all on a positive note.  Well, did he?  Let's find out...


It starts off promising enough with Midnighter looking deep into my soul and telling me to not piss him and Apollo off.  What?  He wasn't really talking to me?  Hey, you believe what you want and I'll believe what I want and right now, I want Midnighter to treat me like his little...whoa, that went to a place I wasn't ready for.

I mentioned in my review for the latest issue of Deathstroke that Kandaq was one of the worst places to go in the DCU, but after seeing Modora, I stand corrected.  I've heard of "...wouldn't want to live there", but you probably would lose your left nut just daydreaming about this place...which makes it a perfect place for Midnighter!  Him and Apollo get right to work coming up with a plan to take down the Unified and before moving on, I want to go on record one last time...that is one of the worst names for any villain ever.

We then see Amanda Waller and Bendix and SHOCKER, Bendix isn't on the up and up.  It's okay because out of nowhere (I really mean it, it is out of nowhere), Waller takes Bendix down and finds out that most of her support troops are Multiplex.  Funny, this is the type of thing that usually drives me bonkers with this book, but I love seeing Midnighter fight Multiplex.  The best part, Midnighter agrees with me.

The issue continues with Apollo taking the Unified for a little ride and Bendix waking up (from what I'm still not sure) and then dooring out after getting a swift kick to the face.  While she lets Bendix get away, Waller comes off as such a badass in this scene and I give Steve Orlando major props for it.

That continues as Apollo throws the Unified back into the fray and by fray, I mean Midnighter.  While the Unified boasts and declares, Midnighter tells him exactly what is going to happen and I loved every minute of it.  If Steve Orlando would have given us this every issue, I have a good idea that my overall score would have been much higher.  Yea, the art still gets too clever for it's own good and the scene ends in a rushed way that left me a bit confused, but it all lead to what everyone reading this book wanted...Midnighter in Apollo's arms.

If it wasn't already obvious that Steve Orlando is packing away his characters for someone to play with later, Midnighter heads to the God Garden to tell the Gardener that Bendix is still alive and then goes and sees his friends.  Yes, it still looks like there will be a Midnighter documentary (how does he remember the stuff that Prometheus stole???) and he is a much more loved man than when the series began.  It all ends with Apollo and Midnighter trying again and Midnighter showing us that he is still ready for action...maybe sometime soon.  Crazier things have happened.

This was my favorite issue of Midnighter since the very first one.  It was action packed with some pretty good character moments and the dialogue good as well.  Yes, things wrapped up a little too conveniently, but it was still satisfying,  Plus, everyone got a couple of scenes with Apollo and Midnighter getting sexy as a big bonus.

Aco and Hugo Petrus combine on art and it was seamless throughout.  However, as I mentioned earlier, the artists on this book tend to make things a little more confusing than they need to.  I understand that style is important, but helping tell the story should trump all of that and sometimes the art seems to be fighting against that.

Bits and Pieces:

I am sure that every Midnighter fan will love this issue.  Why?  Because I liked it and I am a miserable bastard who has been singled out as a Midnighter hater.  While the art continued to be too clever for it's own good at points, Steve Orlando's script was filled with good dialogue and character moments that made me care.  This was a very satisfying ending to a series and makes me hope we see Midnighter again sometime soon.

8.0/10