COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Captain Midnight #2
In less than a week, Captain Albright has jumped through time, got captured in the present, encountered three people trying to kill him, faced an FBI agent whose mission is to capture him, met a fanboy pilot and the granddaughter of his love interest in the past. Phew that’s a lot! Dark Horse‘s Captain Midnight #2 tackles the hero’s next move, which would be to take on an old enemy that also leap through time.
The second book picks up where the first issue left off. After taking care of some glowing skull villains, Captain Jim “Red” Albright tries to figure out what his next mission is. Making it clear that he’s not the dangerous guy the government thinks he is, the Captain also now has to build up trust with his new allies, especially with FBI Agent Jones who was tasked to take him into custody. The issue also sheds some light on Fury Shark’s past, how the sexy Nazi made her way to the present and even end up as one of the most celebrated elites as the head of SharkByte Technology.
Joshua Williamson was able to continue the pace that he set up in the first one. There’s a decent amount of action and development for a second issue where the story’s actually just covered the span of at least three days. The issue might have built up more on the cliches set in the first issue, the out of time hero and FBI Agent on a mission thing, but still the issue made up for it by covering more character depth. Captain Midnight shows his arrogance and sense of machismo befitting that of a war veteran from the 1940s. It’s also funny how he reacts to the modernization that he missed and for a genius like Albright, there’s a lot of things about the present he has yet to learn. Other characters have been built up more, too. Example of which would be Charlotte Ryan who not only shows some hint of irritation at Captain’s either sexist or flirty remarks but also makes it a point that the hero knows the lady can stand up on her own.
As for the art, I’d say Fernando Dagnino did a better job here compared to the previous one. That in conjunction with Ego‘s solid colors make the comic more big and engaging this time. There’s a clear definition between the normal panels and the big moments where the art’s more clean and crisp. That part where Shark rocked with her guns really looked good but what really piqued my interest is the dogfight scene moving towards the end of the story. Dagnino captured the feeling of those planes maneuvering in the air while engaging in aerial combat. Of course he has to since before anything else, Captain Midnight’s a pilot and perhaps it would be great to see more of those dogfights in the future.
Captain Midnight #2’s able to keep the level going while adding some more depth and even improving on the art on its action panels. A lot has been unraveled here as we see more about the characters, the evil behind everything that’s happening and what would seem to be next for our hero. The plane has taken flight but it can also be said that it hasn’t reached enough altitude yet. Going towards the end of this book, it seems there would be some heavy development in the next issue and that I’ll look forward to.
Review Score:
8/10
Got my copy of Captain Midnight from Comic Odyssey! Visit the nearest branch and read up on Captain Midnight!
