DC Comics
Review: Midnighter & Apollo #5
By Philip Schweier
February 7, 2017 - 13:01

DC Comics
Writer(s): Steve Orlando
Penciller(s): Fernando Blanco
Inker(s): Fernando Blanco
Colourist(s): Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer(s): Josh Reed
Cover Artist(s): ACO, Romulo Fajardo Jr.
$3.99



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Midnighter and Apollo are still in hell, battling for their souls against Neron the ultimate evil. It’s a classic case of pitting human concepts of battle against an all-knowing all-powerful being whose ability to warp reality is only exceeded by his desire to inflict misery. Midnighter may have a secret weapon, but is it enough to prevail against something that can never die?

I enjoyed this issue, brief thought it may be. What sold it for me was the dialogue of Neron. He is not boastful, just confident, like a parent explaining to a small child the basic facts of the gap between them. His vocabulary is very specific, conveying equally specific concepts perhaps too abstract for a mere human to grasp. I wouldn’t necessarily call it Shakespearean, but in my head, I heard a faux British accent. Might’ve been Ian McKellan, I’m not sure.

The artwork is polished, detailed, and in some places maybe a bit sloppy. But it seems as if that is by design, to reinforce the brutality of a fist-fight between man and demonic overlord.

As stories go, it's somewhat brief, ending rather quickly. Next issue is the final chapter in this 6-issue mini-series. Yet somehow, it seems as if there is too much to be done, too much to be contained in a single 22-page comic book. But I’m grateful the chapters I have read have taken an age-old concept – battling the devil – without resorting to clichés, such as chess  or mind games.


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