#marvel midnight

[dd-the-man-without-fear]

I'll probably pick this one for Jonathan Hickman, but come the fuck on man.

[thefablechronicler]

So Marvel announced their new "Midnight Universe" yesterday.

Apparently it's their attempt at their own Absolute Universe, let's just ignore the fact they already had something like that in the form of the New Ultimate Universe.

You know, the Marvel Universe that kind of drove DC to make The Absolute Universe in the first place to my knowledge.

The same one that Marvel's recently brought to an end after three years instead of carrying it on for whatever reason.

I mean, I ain't as knowledgeable about comic writers as my older brother, who's a giant comic book nerd, but this looks like a good bunch of writers for these new books.

That being said, looking at the descriptions of the books makes me a bit, weary, I guess but I'll get to that in a second.

Midnight X-Men

First off, Midnight X-Men: Midnight X-Men. The X-Men are hiding in the shadows alongside the vgampires in NYC, with a tennous peace between the two groups of people but a war is brewing.

So, I like the looks of both Ororo and Kurt in this image and the idea of a Vampire Storm is terrifying.

This woman is a borderline if not outright physical Goddess in the main universe, her powers would make it very easy for her to counter the whole Can't-go-out-in-the-sun thing.

And Kurt as usual for our favourite fluffy blue Catholic looks badass as well, he very much looks like a Priest here and that sword of his looks beautiful.

I like The X-Men and I liked the concept of the Krakoa era even if the execution wasn't always the best. I'm curious to see how they do things here.

Midnight Fantastic Four

Of course the Founding Family of Marvel is going to be one of the first books for a Universe like this, especially since they were essentially shafted in the New Ultimate Universe's run with only Reed having a major role.

Cuz the others were dead thanks to The Maker.

The description for Midnight Fantastic Four talks about an obsessive scientist who delves into the secrets of the Universe which leaves himself and three others horrifically warped. Now they must explore this new dimension they've discovered

So, one of the things that drew me to The Absolute Universe was Absolute Green Lantern because I loved Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk run and when I'd heard he was doing a Lovecraftian esque Green Lantern story I was immediatley interested.

And the description of this story definitely brought Absolute Green Lantern to mind so, this one has my curiosity the most.

Benjamin Percy talks about reimagining the FF's story into one of Lovecraftian dread which certainly sounds interesting and I can't believe Marvel haven't done this until now (to my knowledge).

Midnight Spider-Man

It's description talks about a young Peter Parker being transformed into a hideous Spider hybrid by Oscorp in their pursuit for immortality and Peter has to stop them using the abilities granted by his new body.

First off: so, this is just a more monstrous version of the Oz formula from the old Ultimate Universe?

You know? The same attempt at a Super-Soldier serum that turned Osborn into this abomination:

And also granted anyone who had the serum in their system a form of resurrective immortality? Hence why Norman and Peter would not stay dead?

Now onto my concerns

So as you all know, The Absolute DC Universe and The New Ultimate Universe are Universes that had been created/taken over by a villain and molded in their image.

The New Ultimate Universe was taken over by The Maker, the old Ultimate Reed Richards who turned it into his fascistic dystopia and prevented the world from having it's Heroes.

The Absolute DC Universe was created by Darkseid who created a world where the odds are against the Heroes, they don't have the same resources or allies that they tend to have.

Both are basically worlds where Evil has won but not for long.

Because Tony Stark does start giving the Heroes their powers, he frees Cap from the ice, liberates Thor and Sif from prison, releases America Chavez from her containment, he gives Peter the Spider.

T'Challa takes the fight to Khonsu and Ra alongside Killmonger and Storm.

Logan is freed from the control of The Rasputin siblings and joins the resistance.

Peter takes on Fisk and his empire.

The Ultimates begin a world-wide resistance to bring down The Maker and his council.

In The Absolute Universe though, there isn't any sort of figure like Tony though because the timeline wasn't altered in that Universe. This unvierse was always meant to be one where Evil had won.

But despite it's best efforts though, it hasn't been able to prevent Heroes from rising against the forces of Evil.

Superman may not be Clark Kent but he is still Kal-El of Krypton. He maybe a more jaded from his experiences growing up on a dying Krypton and witnessing it's death, but he is still The Man of Tomorrow

And the people of Earth seem to be slowly learning that when you see this man, you just know everything will be okay.

Bruce Wayne isn't the peak of Humanity in both physical abilities or mental abilities, he's a working class Engineer who doesn't realize how bad of an idea it is to be standing behind a centaur.

But he is still The Batman. He is still the embodiment of Gotham's desire for justice and for a brighter tomorrow where no one has to walk the streets in fear.

Diana of The Wild Isle is still Wonder Woman. She's still that paragon of justice even if she wasn't raised in Themyscira. In fact, I'd argue she's not really changed all that much which works in her favour.

She's still that wonderful beacon of hope that she's always been even if she's now carrying an even greater weight than she normally has to, since she's now been raised to restore balance to the Universe and serves as the Paragon of the Heroes.

Despite everything these two Universes have thrown at the Heroes, despite the fact that the deck is so massively stacked in the favour of Evil, they cannot stop the rise of Heroes from happening.

Neither Universe can't stop The Wheel from turning, from Good rising up and drawing that line in the sand as it says "No, not one step further! This. Ends. Now!"

That's what I think makes both The New Ultimate and Absolute DC Universes so good. Yes, unfortuantely they're reflections of our world where Evil is in control.

Yes every victory comes at a heavy cost, each one is hard earned and there always seems to another battle right around the corner to the point that it makes you sometimes think "what's the point?".

But they show us that Evil can be slain, it can be defeated! But not through a single person carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Each hero of these two worlds have allies they can lean on for support and to fight alongside. Because change isn't going to be brought about by a single person.

No, change is brought about when people unite and work together to bring about that change.

And that's why I'm so weary of this new Midnight Universe because it talks about these dark reimaginings of The Marvel Universe, that it's a poisoned world.

It sounds like it's being edgy because it saw how popular Absolute is and wanted to cash in on that without understanding why Absolute was popular as it was.

Yeah it's darkly comedic seeing Bruce, who's a fucking mountain by the way, slap a life-vest onto a child trying to stab him then just kick the child into the ocean.

Yeah Absolute Brainiac's a neurotic demented nutter who cuts up people while they're alive and conscious and talks to their brains.

Not gonna deny that The Absolute Universe can be dark but that just means the moments when the light does shine stand out all the more.

There's a purpose to the darkness in it, it's not just edgy stuff for the sake of edge.

And the tag line for Midnight sort of rreinforces the idea that Marvel doesn't understand this: The Light had it's turn.

Like, again, I like the ideas the three Midnight books are presenting. They are very cool ideas and if the execution lands, I might just at the very least buy The Fantastic Four because I love Lovecraftian horror.

But the point of Absolute and The New Ultimate Universe wasn't that "The Light has had it's turn."

The point was "Evil has won, the flames of hope are down to a few embers and the grip of the vile monsters at the top have on the world is iron clad. But, so long as those embers still burn, the flame of hope can be ignited and Good can win."

Maybe I'm overthinking or worrying over nothing here. Maybe this new Midnight Universe will turn out to be stellar.

Or maybe it'll be just dogshit.

Or somewhere in between that spectrum.

I guess we'll see, but anyway, that's my two pence on the news. Hope you enjoyed this ramble.

[dailydamnation]

I swear to gods if a new Magik ongoing is not the centerpiece and crown jewel of this new line...

Do not fail me, Marvel.

(A "new universe" sounds like it may be separate, like Ultimate or Absolute stuff. But regardless. This has Midnight Sons/Suns vibes. Give us the Midnight Daughter.)

[ankle-beez]

I know there's more to it and I'm open to it being good but it's really funny that Marvel's answer to the Absolute Universe was "what if Spider-Man was scary"

[siryapsa]

Marvels Midnight

Let’s talk about it

So for those of you who don’t know Marvel is coming out with a new universe called Midnight.

I’ve heard some people say it’ll be like DC’s Absolute Universe and their Vertigo Series, which I think will be so sick to see. As both of those stories and universe’s are so interesting and reads I’d absolutely recommend in a heartbeat.

I am afraid that it will be just some sort of cash grab where it will start strong and end too sone much like what I hear about their Ultimate Universe. I don't think them in some way chasing DC in this venture is a bad thing as long as they let their creative team actually do what they want for this. Marvel did say that they are going to give the creators free rein to reimagine the heroes their lives and their worlds to work on each story, but let talks about what we do know about the different stories.

X-Men: The shadows of New York City are stalked by vampires and the mutant empyres. The sword of Damocles hangs over the peace between these two species and the factions within them. An outright war is brewing and the unturned will be caught in the crossfire.

Jonathan Hickman, “I’m so enthusiastic about this project—it’s the most excited I’ve been in years. The conceit of MIDNIGHT X-MEN aligns perfectly with the kind of stories I like to tell. It has a rich, open-ended mythology that equally mixes old and new ideas into something that feels both familiar and original.”

Fantastic Four: an obsessive scientist delves into the secrets of the universe perhaps best left unknown to mankind, leaving himself and three others warped in strange and horrifying ways. What horrible secrets lie in the new dimensions they have discovered? And can humanity survive the discovery?

Benjamin Percy, "If you've read my work, you know that I see the world through a dark, disturbed lens. To me, it's always midnight,” Percy explained. “When Hickman called me, it was from a landline in the basement of an abandoned house with the wires cut. Blood poured from the receiver into my ear. I said yes.

“When I imagined this other version of Marvel—a terrifying, poisoned universe—my mind immediately went to the Fantastic Four. This is a title I have always loved, but would never be allowed to write otherwise. Now I could lean into my worst instincts and reimagine their story as one of cosmic, Lovecraftian dread. I am joined in this by the visionary Kev Walker, who is hard at work bringing a new origin story for Marvel's ‘first family’ to screaming life. I can't wait to share our nightmares with you.”

Spider-Man: a young Peter Parker is transformed into a hideous spider hybrid by the ruthless Oscorp Corporation in their pursuit for eternal life. When Oscorp begins to use the secrets unlocked by his mutation to create more human-animal hybrids, Peter embraces his grotesque new form to stop them.

Phillip Kennedy Johnson, “The work we’re doing right now on the Midnight line feels like history being made,” Johnson shared. “We’re all bringing creator-owned sensibilities to our projects, we’re redefining boundaries, we’re reinventing these timeless characters in a way that’s never been done. Midnight is nothing like the main line, nothing like the Ultimate line. You will see things in these books that shock you.”

“You don’t take on a job like reinventing Spider-Man to go halfway,” he continued. “I’m leaving it all in the ring with MIDNIGHT SPIDER-MAN and I know Jonathan and Ben are doing the same.”

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

call me cynical but i really can't muster up the excitement for the new jonathan hickman-penned universe with a gimmick when the previous jonathan hickman-penned universe with a gimmick is still not done dying.

like i just don't care enough to open these books at this point man. they truly burned out the good faith i had.

the idea that they did the ultimate universe, it didn't work, then they watched as across the street DC did Absolute because of them and then went "Oh, like that, of course" and then announced a "horror-themed universe" is so fucking funny, dude, just. house of ideas.

[geekcavepodcast]

Marvel Announces New Universe - Midnight

Marvel Comics is adding a new universe to its Multiverse - Midnight. Details for the new publishing line are to come.

(Image via Marvel Comics - "Midnight" Promo Image)