Captain Midnight #9

By Joshua Williamson, Fernando Dagnino and Javier Mena

If you’re looking for consistently fun superhero comics and are tired of DC and Marvel books, then either Dark Horse Comics or Valiant are your best bets – and one of the best titles from either publisher is Joshua Williamson’s Captain Midnight, and whilst the basic premise of the superhero – a World War Two soldier brought to the present, may seem like a ripoff of Captain America, Captain Midnight is anything but – this latest ongoing is one of the best comics from Dark Horse’s line-up right now and that is saying something, and thankfully – #9 continues the trend of high quality that was laid in the previous issues.

This time, Captain Midnight’s determined to find out what happened to his old sidekick, Chuck Ramsey – and the only person who has answers is his nemesis Fury Shark – a zealous patriot. This book is the first in the For A Better Tomorrow arc, and is actually a pretty good jumping on point if you’ve caught up on the recently released Volume 1.

The book itself is very pulpy and very fun, much like the current Captain America run  from Rick Remender – and of course there are a lot of comparisons to be made with that title, but despite that you never feel like you’re reading a direct copycat. Captain Midnight is his own hero and this book stands out incredibly well – with the For A Better Tomorrow arc getting off to a great start.

The artwork is provided by Fernando Dagnino and he really works wonders with adding to the fun pulpy style of the series, with several awesome panels that really help create a good atmospheric tone. There’s also Javier Mena, who puts out some excellent colours, meaning that the end result is very entertaining and the storyline is only enhanced by the fantastic artwork.

Captain Midnight is becoming the new anchor point for Dark Horse’s Project Black Sky and if you want to read what is arguably their flagship superhero title then you couldn’t have chosen a better time to jump on board. This book should also have readers itching to read more of their universe, and this book is proving to be a great success in that department.

So with everything covered, Captain Midnight #9  is a brutal, take-no-prisoners read that’s one of the best Dark Horse titles on stands right now. If you’re a fan of superhero comics but want to read something different from DC and Marvel and don’t have to worry about constant relaunches, creative team changes and new status quos – then Captain Midnight is your best bet – with #9 being another stellar addition to the Project Black Sky Universe.