It’s come down to this. After receiving great professional and personal loss, Jim Albright (aka Captain Midnight) finds himself fighting for his life (as well as the whole world) against his once best friend and former partner Chuck Ramsey. This is the big battle that has been building for a while and it is the wrap up arc before the final one of the series. And with that said, I must say that this battle is EPIC! The fight choreography is the best of the series to date and it lives up the hype that has been building up the last couple of issues. These two guys with their super suits, super brains, and super skills beat the hell out of each other and open up a dimension between space and time. The fists are flying and the pyrotechnics are mega explosive in this battle for all the marbles.
Or is it? During the battle, Ramsey and Albright exchange lots of dialogue that brings forth a teaser to the upcoming final arc that unleashes a whole new element to the story that we have been following. And, it ties in elements of the Project Black Sky universe at the same time. Pretty big stuff here is at play.
But that’s the future. With this issue, the fight is the rock star. It takes up the vast majority of the pages with the exception of a flashback opening and a buildup ending. This one is about the fisticuffs and it delivers on that level. There have been a lot of fights and battles in the title over the last 18+ issues, but this one is the best. It really has the flair of a superhero smack down.
That being said though, I was a little bit disappointed at Chuck Ramsey’s portrayal. I know throughout the building issues, we were given small tidbits to Chuck’s psyche and motivations. But during the course of the battle, things seemed to shift much faster than would have been expected. I just don’t know if it was as believable as it could have been.
But with that small exception, this was an absolute kick ass issue. It really brought down literal thunder… and lightning… and inter dimensional wormholes. I really dug on what I read and writer Josh Williamson should be proud of his work here as he displayed one hell of a fight and didn’t drown it out with irritating dialogue. It was all well placed. He let the action do most of the talking and it worked well with the nature of the story.
Artist Francisco Dagnino likewise pulled open all of the stops and drew out a classic battle scene. It was impressive and aided exponentially by the coloring of Javier Mena who blows up an already solid run of color strokes with this issue. It makes for a symphony of the eyes that is rich, colorful and flat out bad assed to the max.
With the final arc Marked for Death approaching, I find myself a little bit sad. Captain Midnight has been a shot of adrenaline to Project Black Sky and it has been well worthy to be the flagship carrier of the whole Dark Horse Comics’ dabble into superhero fare. Midnight is an old Golden Age classic that at one time had been the most popular comic in America, but had slipped away into history for many years. No more however, and these new adventures show that age isn’t nothing but a number with the right creative team at the helm. Let’s go onward to the last arc. Hiya!
Score: 4/5
Writer: Joshua Williamson Artist: Fernando Dagnino Colorist: Javier Mena Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 1/28/15 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital