Are you a big fan of the Golden Age of Comics, but just don’t know what to do with all the new stuff?  Have you been looking for a modern title that has the spirit of a Golden Age piece, but is thoroughly modern in every shape of a way? Are you looking for an old public domain character that has long been forgotten be given an opportunity for the spotlight again? Are you tired of these questions and just want to read a review? Well Captain Midnight may just be a title for you. And here is the review. Bringing back the classic Fawcett Character for Dark Horse Comics, but with a nice modern twist, writer Joshua Williamson and artist Eduardo Francisco have created in Jim Albright (Captain Midnight) a good tale that mixes in modern storytelling with old school heroics that put the old Captain in a much more colorful role. The nice touch here with this series has been that Captain Midnight is still the original Captain Midnight. He disappeared sometime in 1944 and has only recently returned to the current time after being sucked into a vortex within the Bermuda Triangle.   Since reappearing, what he has discovered is that the Nazi menace may have been vanquished, but elements remained and corrupted his very own legacy by using much of his developed technology for individualized profit rather than humanitarian purposes, with the potential for much more sinister designs being implemented.

The good Captain must now figure out what is happening using the assistance of Rick, a Captain Midnight historian and great pilot on his own, Agent Marvin Jones, a hard boiled investigator, and Major Charlotte Lewis who is the granddaughter of a long-lost love. With the help of these three, Captain Midnight must battle an old foe in the form of Fury Shark who is behind the corruption of technology and in the mysterious company Black Sky that is utilizing that technology.

In this issue, a Mr. Hollow has been dispatched by Black Sky to terminate Agent Jones with extreme prejudice and we get our first good look at the Skyrocket, a highly advanced (though standard looking) World War II era plane that has been repaired and is ready for action. The mission here, dig deeper into Black Sky and discover the secrets that are being hidden at a secret locale in Washington, DC. Seems easy enough, but in Mr. Hollow, we see a hardcore super baddie that may have too much brawn over the brains of Team Midnight.  We will just have to see.

Williamson has done a good job in this series and his writing flows with gritty action and nice human interaction. Francisco’s artwork has been bold and powerful putting the Captain in a nice light that never looks cheesy for such an old legend that is reborn and redone. In short, Captain Midnight’s stoic and strong image of the past holds up and a new coolness has been added by the art of Francisco and the writing of Williamson. Well done guys. I also want to give big props to the colorist Stefani Rennee. Captain Midnight may be over seventy years old, but he has never looked better and the color just rocks in this retool of a classic character that also was a radio serial superstar back in the day.

I have been a huge fan of public domain reworks and I can simply find no fault in this title. It is entertaining, exciting, well written, with expertly driven artwork and color. Captain Midnight flies again. If events in this issue play out, Captain Midnight might just become known again, or not.  We are left hanging here, and I love it.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Joshua Williamson Artist: Eduardo Francisco Colorist: Stefani Rennee Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 12/18/13