April 16, 2013

Review -- CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

This Review Originally Ran on Comics Bulletin

Captain Midnight Special
(Brian Augustyn, Jay Piscopo; Moonstone)
4/5 Stars

In the name of full disclosure before beginning this review, I need to let you know that as far as I am concerned, Jay Piscopo makes comics just for me. I've never met the guy, but I swear he keeps having a hand in books that seem to come out of the daydreams of my childhood.  It's kinda creepy in a way, but I don't want him to stop.
The last Piscopo book I read was the wonderful Commander X All-Star Special #1. Now he's back with Captain Midnight Special. Though he's illustrating Brian Augustyn's story, the book's feel is all Piscopo and that's all right with me. 


The character of Captain Midnight has been around since the late 1930s as a radio serial, and has subsequently appeared in comic strips, movie serials, television, and a Fawcett Comic series, but this time, Captain Midnight inhabits the Piscopo universe. 
In Captain Midnight Special, the character is fighting alongside Commander X, Britannia, Airboy, and other heroes against Baron Hydro of Atlantis and the obligatory Nazi bastards.  It's adventure time plus one,  as our heroes battle Triebflugel Drones, Code Name Stukka, and an Uber-Armada with nothing but their fists, their planes, and, of course, an Electro-Magnetic Bazooka. It's all jet packs and Gliderchutes, "Ya-Hoo's" and "Himmel's,"  BRAKOW's and THWAMM's as the battle rages over the skies of London. It ain't serious business, brother, it's just keeping the world safe and providing some good clean fun entertainment.
Did I mention the fact that there is a moment in this comic where one of the characters screams, "We have devastated reality! Insanity reigns unchecked!"? If you know me, you can see why this comic appeals to me so much. I mean, how awesome is that?


So let Captain Midnight Special shine its ever-lovin' light on you. If you are looking for a clean, well-crafted sandwich of fun, this book is right up your alley. It's got all the right things going on in all the right places. Whatever those things actually are, and wherever those places may actually be.

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