Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics, AIPT can share a preview of The Midnight: Shadows, a new graphic novel sci-fi adventure inspired by the poetic storytelling and the neon-soaked aesthetics of The Midnight’s music. Comprised of Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan, the graphic novel is written by Zack Kaplan with art by Stephen Thompson, Jahnoy Lindsay.
Before diving into the preview, read our short interview with Lyle and Kaplan below!
AIPT. What part of your music are you most excited to see translated into comics?
Tyler Lyle: We’ve been fortunate enough to have a decade in the sandbox, creating narrative themes in the shallow waters of song, where the ideas only live for a few verses and a few minutes, but with the graphic novel, to build an entire hero’s journey based in the mythology of The Midnight forced a lot of dense and fulfilling conversations about what it is we think we’re doing and why. What are the dangers of living mostly in the past? How does The Midnight function within a complete narrative arc- as narrator? As a time machine? As a Greek Chorus? Initially these were daunting questions, but to be able to tease them out with a gifted storyteller like Zack [Kaplan] has helped solidify what we’re doing and has given us the opportunity to be more ambitious in the future.
AIPT: Your music influenced the story and aesthetic of this graphic novel, do you think the experience of helping make a graphic novel will influence your music in the future?
Tyler Lyle: Absolutely. There is a distillation that is necessary when telling a single narrative. There is one story. One chance to get it right. The stakes are much higher than with an individual song. If a song fails in its mission, then the album might still work, but if the story fails, then that’s it. I think work on a single narrative has reminded us how important each moment of an album is. It’s helped refocus us and reminded us to abandon ideas that ultimately don’t serve the theme of the record and I think it just serves as more inspiration to grow into better songwriters and producers. Keep chipping away at it until it’s right.
AIPT: Zack, we’ve got two timelines going in this preview. Why is one set in 1999?
Zack Kaplan: We felt that 1999 was the sort of Midnight of the millennium, the complete bridge between two eras, and so it couldn’t have fit more perfectly to our stories’ themes. In addition, our main character grew up in the 80s and early 90s and now finds himself mourning the loss of that era. The year 1999 works out perfectly for the character’s journey; it’s fitting that he played video games, went to malls, and lived in that time. 1999 was a time of great excitement for the future, but it also represents a transition. And that is what this series is all about!
AIPT: If The Midnight: Shadows was a song, what would it be and why?
ZK: The graphic novel draws from so much of the Midnight music, but a fantastic starting point would be SHADOWS or JASON. Dive in and enjoy!
Join THE MIDNIGHT, one of the world’s top synthwave bands, comprised of Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan, on an electrifying and original sci-fi adventure inspired by the poetic storytelling and the neon-soaked aesthetics of their music.
Jason has spent his life running from his problems, but now he and his childhood sweetheart are on the precipice of parenthood, and he’s struggling with the loss of his adolescence. Then he re-discovers his favorite old video game, THE MIDNIGHT, a nostalgic 1980s fantasy adventure about a helmeted hero who travels to a cyberpunk world to save the people from eternal darkness. Seeking to repair his broken game, Jason ends up at a mysterious arcade in an abandoned 1980s mall, where he plays the old arcade game of The Midnight and suddenly he’s transported to…
…a post-apocalyptic Neverland in the year 2085. A world of perpetual night where time stands still. A final bastion of humanity in a glistening futuristic city. And a shocking reveal – they know him as the hero who once vanquished the shadow monsters, and they believe he’s returned to his true reality to do it again. More surprising, his wife is here, but only with a memory of Jason as this world’s hero. As this lost boy tries to embrace his new hero powers, with the help of his true love and her cyberpunk warriors, he must face the responsibility of protecting an entire world from danger and discover which world he truly belongs to.
The Midnight: Shadows
Writer: Zack Kaplan
Artist: Stephen Thompson, Jahnoy Lindsay
Cover Artist: Raymond Swanland
Genre: Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Publication Date: October 02, 2024
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