There was a time when Wolverine was really a loner. Sure, he was part of the X-Men, but in the hands of Chris Claremont he always seemed like a reluctant hero, never certain of just where he fell in with his fellow mutants. However, once Brian Michael Bendis made the character part of the New Avengers back in the 2000s, well, it seemed as though Logan was on every team you could think of.
These days we’ll mainly find the character back on Krakoa, a member of a few mutant teams, while also headlining his own book. This past week, though, Wolverine joined up with another group of heroes, timed to coincide with a video game that’s due out later this year.
Enter: Midnight Suns #1.
Here’s the logline: Rise of the Midnight Suns! A dark prophesy and apocalyptic new villains with horrifying powers the likes of which Earth has never faced before ordains a team of MIDNIGHT SUNS to rise and tear @#$% up: Magik, Wolverine, Blade, Spirit Rider & Nico Minoru. But what does this new threat have to do with the Sorcerer Supreme’s past? And why is Strange Academy student Zoe Laveau number one on the Suns’ list?
And here’s the trailer for the video game of the same name, set for release this December 2.
First, an admission. There’s nothing about the Midnight Suns video game that I’ve seen so far that appeals to me, other than the characters. Tactical RPGs just aren’t my jam. Comics are, though, so I was interested in reading Midnight Suns #1.
Written by Ethan Sacks and illustrated by Luigi Zagaria, Midnight Suns #1 is a strange comic book. It puts together a group of characters that don’t necessarily seem designed to work together as whole, but who’s interactions with one another in previous books manage to help the story make sense.
If you’ve been reading Strange Academy, Avengers, or any of the various X-books out there, you’ll know Magik, Blade, and Wolverine; and where they stand in the current Marvel hierarchy; they’re probably the biggest selling points for readers to jump into Midnight Suns #1, since Spirit Rider and Nico Monroe are hardly household names. To their credit, writer Sacks is given some time to establish all of these characters; meanwhile, Luigi Zagaria’s art is manages to be both comic and creepy, perfect for a supernatural tale that’s taking us into the fall.
While I was initially unsure if I’d want to keep reading Midnight Suns after its first issue, by the time I got to the cliffhanger ending I decided I’d want to see what’s happens next. Who knows, by the time this series is done I might even be up for playing the video game after all.
