Set Description:
J. Michael Straczynski was having a pretty good run as a comic book writer. The adaptation of his acclaimed TV series, Babylon 5, was well-received (if uneven). After challenges with DC's editorial policies, he moved to Top Cow and was given his own Joe's Comics imprint for Rising Stars, his debut original-to-comics series. That sold pretty well, and in 2000, he followed it with this title.
Discussions of Midnight Nation often focus on the religious aspects of the story. And, yes, the Biblical Lazarus is a main character. There are angels. There's... the Other Guy. But this isn't a strictly religious story, anymore than Hellblazer is. Or TV's Supernatural. It's a story about heroism and self-discovery and love and sacrifice and of the dangers posed when our society forgets the least of us. JMS has repeatedly described it as the favorite of all his comic book work. I'm inclined to agree.
These days, of course, everyone wants to know about the chances for adaptations. It would make an excellent miniseries, I think, and was licensed for one circa 2016. But that didn't happen. Some Spider-Man missteps have taken a bit of the shine off JMS's comic-writing star, but perhaps someday?
In the meantime, this early 2000s book escaped the worst excesses of 90s Image. There are a few limited print foils, a couple reprints, and an early precursor of the modern store exclusive, but no holofoil jazz or other 90s gimmicks. The core series itself struggles to stay out of dollar bins, and most of the variants can be picked up for a few bucks. So, why go through the expense of slabbing these? First, I'm just a big fan. I bought the full run out of the Diamond boxes at the comic shop I worked in at the time, and I've recommended it to many others over the years. One of those was a good friend, several years back now. It was her first introduction to the comic book as a storytelling medium, and although she'd eventually read quite a few others, Midnight Nation remained one of her favorites. Sadly, cancer took her well before her time.
This set, which I do someday hope to have as 9.8s across the board, is for her... and me, and all the other good memories with friends that I associate with this title. And because it deserves to be better than forgotten dollar box dreck. I am more than certain I'll never be able to recoup the costs of slabbing these books. But that was never the point anyway.
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