midnighter

Over the past eight issues, Midnighter has sent its title character on a grand tour of some of the weirdest corners of the DC Universe, pitting a leather-clad fighter with a computer brain against custom-made vampires, combination animals, an endless string of easily murdered clones, and more. And through it all, writer Steve Orlando and artists David Messina, Stephen Mooney, ACO and Alec Morgan have crafted one of the best books on the stands, full of adventure, action, and a surprising amount of gut-punching emotional content. It's a great book, which is why I spoke to Orlando about the process of fitting the Midnighter into a world that already has Batman, the big reveal in #6, the rocky relationship between Midnighter and Apollo, and the plans for the book's future --- which involve the Midnighter getting shot out of a giant gun into space. It's based on a true story.

Welcome to Cast Party, the feature that imagines a world with even more live action comic book adaptations than we currently have, and comes up with arguably the best casting suggestions you’re ever going to find for the movies and shows we wish could exist. This week I'm envisioning a gay superhero action blockbuster, whether Hollywood is ready or not. That gay superhero (gay Batman, if you want to get specific) is, of course, Midnighter. He was created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, but this movie will adapt the current Midnighter series written by Steve Orlando, with art by ACO, Alec Morgan, Stephen Mooney, and David Messina.

There are a lot of really great reasons to read DC's Midnighter ongoing series, but on the offchance that you needed a little extra push to get started, Steve Orlando and David Messina have provided a moment of pure, perfect beauty in the latest issue. When he's called in to investigate (read: punch) mysterious gigantic animals showing up in Rochester, New York --- apparently a burgeoning hub of super-crime --- our hero encounters a gigantic tusked leopard the size of an elephant. And in case you missed it, he throws an engine block right into its face. It's beautiful.

When Midnighter made his debut in the Wildstorm comic Stormwatch by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, he was a black ops Batman pastiche that played directly on the idea of the Caped Crusader as a humorless and violent bondage fetishist. Midnighter's romantic relationship with Superman analog Apollo was both the next step in the joke, and a step towards making the character more three-dimensional. Today, he's very much his own man, sharing less and less in common with Batman beyond an affection for the color black and an enduring interest in the activities of Dick Grayson. Oh, and the violence. With today's launch of a new ongoing Midnighter series from writer Steve Orlando and artist ACO, the leather-clad action man will hope to further distinguish himself. In the process he'll hope to prove that a gay superhero can find a place in the changing mainstream comics market. We spoke to Orlando about his plans for the series, the romantic future of the newly single Midnighter, and what Midnighter represents as a gay man.

Today we're inviting you to vote on one of the most contentious schisms in all of comics costume design history; yellow and blue Wolverine, or brown and tan Wolverine? Which is the greatest? And to round out today's selection, we have a selection of similarly angry chaps from the DC universe(s); Lobo, Midnighter and Orion. Because being good at fighting doesn't mean you're bad at dressing.

We are not the mainstream. That's a truth understood by anyone who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or in any other way queer. We are not the audience. We are not the market. We are not the people. It's also a truth understood by a lot of people with a passion for comics...

The most recent issue of "X-Factor" ended with two male team members, Shatterstar and Rictor, making out. While we'll have to wait till next month to find out whether they're gay, bisexual, or it's some sort of mind-control plot point, consider writer Peter David's track record of supporting gay characters in comics -- and the lesser-known fact that writers planned for the pair to hook u