One of the most extreme and uniquely dark anti-hero of DC or any comics gets his own new series this June – one of 24 new books following Convergence.
You might call Midnighter a hybrid of Batman/Wolverine/Captain America but he’s very unusual and distinct as one of the few openly gay heroes and he’s an extremely violent hero.
Midnighter debuted in Stormwatch, then co-starred with his future husband Apollo in The Authority, had a brief solo Wildstorm. In teh New 52, Midnighter was part of a revamped Stormwatch and recently clashed with super spy Dick Grayson in Grayson.
He’s one of our top picks for a GLBT DC character to star in their own television series.
Writer Steve Orlando explains why he’s taking on Midnighter in a new DCComics.com interview:
“I’m most excited about the character’s unique blend and style—all of those proto-masculine, John McClane-esque traits, applied to a character that is unabashedly gay. I think that’s what makes him unique. When I was thirteen, that was what was appealing about the character for me. There is no one way to be LGBT. There is no one way to be queer. He can do all these things and command this respect, without having to shield any part of his life. The character is out of the closet in every way—there is no hiding that he is a super hero and there is no hiding that he is a gay man. I think that’s something that is pretty powerful and unique about the character.”
Midnighter and Apollo were married in the Wildstorm Universe but when the characters debuted in The New 52 version of Stormwatch, they were just starting to get to know each other but it didn’t spark. Don’t expect a happy reunion in the new book.
“They’ve been on the rocks in Grayson and they were on the rocks in Stormwatch, and all I will say about that is that I think that their relationship is a kick off point and a driving force of the series, whether or not they are together. The feeling and the specter of that relationship is going to be there, regardless of whether Apollo is physically there or not. They’ve been together on and off basically exclusively since they came out of the closet. I think that happens with real people. It happens in real relationships. You realize that you don’t know how to define yourself as an adult without this other person and that’s not healthy. It’s something that anyone faces. He has decided he’s going to be Midnighter all the time, but he doesn’t even know what that means. Midnighter doesn’t know if he likes to play pool. He doesn’t know if he likes bagels. He doesn’t know anything besides that he knows how to fight, and we have to solve that.”
Midnighter by Orlando (Undertow) with art by Aco arrives June 3rd. You can see the entire interview at DCComics.com.
The success of Midnighter could lead to more GLBT characters in leading roles and comics and the move to television and film.
By Editor