Michael Cray, Midnighter

Michael Cray 1-6

I reviewed this here just four months ago.  My opinion hasn’t changed since then.  There’s still something missing from each of the missions.  Substance. I want to see more of the planning; It makes sense that the takedown of each of these antagonists is short and sweet.  There’s an honesty to the brevity that I appreciate. Which means I need more in the setup, both on Cray’s side and the bad guy’s. Ellis’ story structure, which I laid out in the previous review, doesn’t allow for this.  

Though thinking about it more, that might not be it either.  Ellis has an excellent record of done-in-one issues (Planetary, Global Frequency, Fell, Secret Avengers...It’s a long record).  Two issues per kill should be plenty for Bryan Hill.

What else could it be?  The characters are all surly, none of them are likable or cool in a badass way - Michael Cray is coming across as a less impressive Frank Castle and his team has zero personality.  I only know them as male, male who pointed a gun at Cray, and female. And Christine Trelane is a blank slate.

The art is meh, too.  N. Steven Harris doesn’t suck, but replacement value sounds about right for me.  

Not even good enough for me to read the rest at a bookstore.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck (Cutting)

Midnighter 1-7, 10-15

Switching gears to another remorseless meta-killer.  

Two TPBs for 10 bucks, partially written by Garth Ennis.  Worth a shot.

It starts out okay and then gets worse once he hands the reins over to other people in the second volume.  Midnighter is coerced into killing Hitler, which...okay. Then he runs afoul of the timecops from the 96th century...suuuurrre.  Plus, there’s a comedic interlude with four Nazi kids defending Berlin as the Russians storm in at the end of WWII. Okay, that was actually funny, but I felt bad even as I laughed.  

Then Brian K Vaughan writes an issue in reverse, trying to illustrate how Midnighter always knows how a fight ends before it starts.  The fact that there’s nothing clever in either the story or the plot device keeps it from approaching the way more interesting Grayson:Futures End, which uses the telling-it-backwards conceit to far greater effect.  

Keith Giffen rounds out the last trade with a not-interesting battle against a nationalist insurance company that provides superpowered coverage from other meta activities, at the cost of personal liberty.  It’s just lame.

Worth trying for 10 bucks, but these are easy cuts.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine for the Ennis issues, Disliked for the others. (Cutting)