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Midnighter and Apollo #2 Review

Comic Books

Midnighter and Apollo #2 Review

After last issue we were reminded Midnighter and Apollo are great together, so of course the villain sends Apollo to Hell. There are going to be a lot of skulls to break for Midnighter now, but is it good?

Midnighter and Apollo #2 (DC Comics)

Midnighter and Apollo #2 Review

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So what’s it about? For the full DC summary just read this:

Midnighter’s got Henry Bendix in his hands at last-but will he have to let him go in order to join Apollo’s battle against the deadly Mawzir?

Why does this book matter?

Midnighter always seems to have a leg up on enemies–fighting is what he does best, but how does he tackle Hell itself? Clearly writer Steve Orlando is putting Midnighter in a position he’s never been in as he must save Apollo (a character who’s always more powerful than everyone on the playing field). The stakes are high folks!

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

Midnighter and Apollo #2 Review
And you’re an idiot for postulating like this.

Orlando does a good job opening the issue with Midnighter in distress which leads him to a character we actually saw in the last installment. This scene between Extrano and Midnighter reminds us a magical realm exists in the DC universe, but also does a good job making things trippy as Midnighter peers into Hell itself. Orlando reminds us Apollo is basically an angel as we get a cool sequence of him fighting for his life in Hell and this sequence does well to remind us Apollo has never been this weak and helpless before.

Fernando Blanco delivers a fantastic double page spread in the opening pages of the issue that quickly show us how good Midnighter is at kicking butt. A scene between Midnighter and Extrano is also quite good as it captures the characters’ emotions well while getting all kinds of magical trippy too. This scene leads to a moment in Hell Apollo is currently going through that captures the disgusting nature of demons and the power Apollo wields, even in spirit form.

It can’t be perfect can it?

Blanco’s lines (or maybe it’s the inks) are incredibly thick, which cover up the detail and realistic nature of the book. The colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr. are muddy and bleak, but together with the dark ink work make the book difficult to enjoy. Case in point, in a page that pushes in on Midnighter gripping Apollo in an embrace, the inks are so dark it’s hard to see Midnighter’s caring and pain (it doesn’t help it it appears as though Blanco drew them once and just pushed in on them though time is passing) losing the meaning of the scene entirely. They almost look tired rather than feeling any emotions. The montage I mentioned previously also has less detail due to the heavy inks which makes it look bland.

The plot of this issue also runs too slowly, with the entire thing boiling down to two sequences. I closed this issue thinking there should have been something more to flesh it out and I was left feeling as though it was slowing things down to fill out a trade paperback more than anything else.

Midnighter and Apollo #2 Review
Staplers are weapons people!

Is It Good?

Though the art bugged me for half the issue, and the general plot seems to have moved to a crawl, this issue still delivers interesting elements you just can’t find in other DC comics.

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