Something Weird, Something Different, Something Corrigan: Gotham by Midnight #1 Review

Recently we learned hints and bits of information about the forthcoming series Gotham by Midnight from Ray Fawkes and Ben Templesmith, and I paid attention for three reasons; it was going to be set in Gotham, it was focused on Jim Corrigan AKA The Spectre, and it was heavily involving the supernatural. Those three factors got me excited for this new book, and on top of that, it didn’t hurt that it was being written by Ray Fawkes who is doing a fantastic job handling Constantine and Batman Eternal for DC Comics.

At New York Comic Con, were able to interview Fawkes about his new series and that only made the wait longer for this anticipated series.

[blockquote]”Some people have said this is GCPD by the way of H.P. Lovecraft and that’s a great way to describe it. This is a book about multidimensional horrors visiting themselves upon a setting that is familiar to readers but in a new way.”[/blockquote]

The book doesn’t bring Jim Corrigan into the picture until several pages in, but only builds his character and his importance to the team. Instead, this book opens similarly to Hellboy in terms of how we are introduced to the team. Instead of giving us the low-down from an insiders point of view, we see the team from an outsiders view by someone who is more of a cynic with regards to what they do. We are introduced to the series by an Internal Affairs officer named Sergeant Rook, who is investigating the ‘Midnight Shift’ for misappropriation of funds and is looking to shut down Corrigan and his team who have been given carte blanche by Jim Gordon to investigate and solve crimes that are more supernatural in nature. However, Corrigan has no arrests to speak of which is another point that is being investigated by Rook.

Corrigan will clearly be the focus of the series, as he uses the powers of The Spectre to work his cases. In no way will I spoil the greatness of his intro scene to the series, but I will say is that it’s awesome, and so is the way in which he gets his cases and how he deciphers which police files are supernatural and are a fit for his team.

Fawkes’ script for the first issue spends most of its time establishing the characters we are going to be following, and also firmly setting how much Rook doesn’t believe in what Corrigan and his 13th precinct are doing. However, that doesn’t mean that Fawkes doesn’t set in our minds the horrors that lie in wait for us or how seedy and sinister Gotham really can be. In the Batman books, yes, Gotham is a horrible dirty place where all manner of horrors occur, but even there it seems far cleaner than what is being established in Gotham by Midnight. In the first scene, Sergeant Rook pulls up in front of the 13th Precinct which is a run down building, seemingly in a part of Gotham that you would not want to be outside after dark for any reason.

Fawkes is a great choice to write this book as he has shown a great penchant for the creepy and the weird having worked on Constantine, though don’t expect to see our favourite dabbler of the dark arts in Gotham anytime soon. Ray recently said on Facebook,

[blockquote]”The day I put John Constantine in Gotham by Midnight is the day The Spectre kills him.”[/blockquote]

So either that will be the coolest story arc ever, or a hint that Constantine will never work alongside the 13th Precinct. I’ll side with the latter.

Another key point is that the dialogue in the first issue is chilling and sets a fantastic tone. The premise to this book is awesome, and that’s about the easiest way to put it. Jim Corrigan is a underused protagonist to follow; drawing on The Spectre to work supernatural crimes in one of the seediest places in the DC Universe and the possibilities are endless.

The shining glory of this new series that made it even more of a solid read is of course, the artwork. Ben Templesmith has made this book something entirely different from nearly everything else in the DC line up. Instead of bright, shiny characters and backgrounds looking clean, we are brought a view of Gotham unlike anything we have seen yet in the New 52. The books artwork adds heavily to the creepy nature of the plot.

The pencil work by Templesmith brings this moody tone to the characters; there are a lot of dirty browns used and exteriors are bathed in pale moonlight that really makes the book like the scene from the Exorcist standing outside under the streetlamp; its creepy and you will feel unnerved knowing that some kind of horrors await inside. The characters are gaunt and unsightly, just like the city itself. Sergeant Rook looks as serious as the threats of shutting down 13th Precinct he utters, and looks incapable of smiling. The artwork alone will captivate you as you take a trip to some of the most horrific parts of the already dreary, dreadful Gotham.

Templesmith and his artwork is perfectly dialled into the plot, and will help bring the creep factor all the way up to ten on this book. That together with Fawkes scripts make this a series worth picking up.

This review was brought to you in conjunction with Sketchbook Comics and Games