Orlando Makes a Gay Icon of DC's "Midnighter" and a Frenemy of Grayson

[CBR News]

Steve Orlando discusses his brutally inventive anti-hero's rematch with Dick Grayson while trying to decipher Midnighter's place in the DCU.


Full article here.

[Andru]

Really love the story Orlando is telling, & he gives a great interview!

However, I am not a huge fan of the art. At times I like it, but the majority of it looks messy to me.

[Hypestyle]

what exactly is this character about? what is his backstory?

[Conquistador18]

Decent story but sales for number two pretty bad. http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomi...5/2015-07.html

[HellHere]

@Hypestyle - DC have mulched it up so much I'm actually not sure anymore. Once he was a superhero made (with Apollo) by a mad science guy called Bendix, then they got away from him and became heros living rough on the street together and then came to work for Stormwatch.

Now Midnighter was made by the God Garden (?), and doesn't really know much about himself other than he likes to beat people up, and he's just dumped Apollo because he felt he had to lie to him (the guy who can sit in the sun) so he'd think he was normal.

They were created to be a satire of Batman and Superman.

Orlando's basically rehabbing Midnighter, the Stormwatch comic DC put out just raked those two characters over the coals (at one point they were made by Space Owls...)

[NewMutant]

This series is amazing. The sales scare me. I'm buying it in two formats... which I never do. I'm a TPB waiter. Orlando is a rockstar. I want this series to have a lengthy run. DC is doing much to advertise it. Its only getting critical buzz.

[Wiccan]

I don't read so much DC and I already have comics enough to read, but maybe I'll try to get this one, I hope it is a success.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

It's probably the best take on the Wildstorm characters that DC's done since "Eye Of The Storm."

[The_Greatest_Username]

This book has been consistently good thus far, in my opinion. The sales bum me out a little, but that just gives me all the more reason to support it. I know two of my LCSs under ordered the series because they assumed it wouldn't garner that much attention of readers. One of them did say that they have some of the issues on back order because of how many people want to try it out now. I'm not sure if that's the case across the board, but it could explain the lower sales.

[Greg]

I am absolutely loving this book.

[Lady Nightwing]

The sales figures are worrying. They don't reflect the quality of the book at all. Midnighter and Grayson are my favourite books at the moment. Which is surprising because the first time I read about Midnighter was in Grayson. The writing is amazing in this book and I hope it won't get cancelled. How bad do figures have to get before a book is cancelled, generally?

[JasonTodd428]

I'm really loving this book a lot. Sales figures on it (as well as several other books) are a bit worrying though.

[FanboyStranger]

The sales figures are worrying. They don't reflect the quality of the book at all.

They rarely do.

How bad do figures have to get before a book is cancelled, generally?

Anything under 20,000 is in dangerous territory, but DC has historically let books hang around in the 15,000-17,000 range if there's a good amount of critical acclaim and solid trade sales. Even lower, as in the case of Phantom Stranger, but that seemed to be more related to the book constantly being a part of crossovers.

The themes of the series may also give the book a reprieve as Midnighter is the only superhero book from a major publisher that features a gay lead character. That's good PR as inclusiveness has been a major issue in comics over the past few years.

It probably won't last two years, but few books outside of major franchises do these days, regardless of how good they are.

[Lady Nightwing]

The themes of the series may also give the book a reprieve as Midnighter is the only superhero book from a major publisher that features a gay lead character. That's good PR as inclusiveness has been a major issue in comics over the past few years

Here's hoping! Maybe the upcoming Grayson crossovers will boost sales.

[FanboyStranger]

Here's hoping! Maybe the upcoming Grayson crossovers will boost sales.

I hope so, too. For starters, it's rare that we get a crossover between two very good books.