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Captain Midnight Archives Volume 1: Battles the Nazis
From the glory days of World War II comes the unstoppable patriotic superhero Captain Midnight! Volume 1 features selected tales compiled from the original 1940s-era comic book featuring the adventures of the Captain and his sidekick, Sergeant Twilight, as they battle bad guys from the Axis of Evil with art by comics greats Jack Binder, Mac Raboy, Dan Gormley, and others! Collecting selected stories from The Funnies, Popular Comics, and Captain Midnight issues.
* Reprints one of the greatest military superhero comics of the 1940s!
* Complements new Captain Midnight stories coming from Dark Horse!
* Reprints one of the greatest military superhero comics of the 1940s!
* Complements new Captain Midnight stories coming from Dark Horse!
224 pages, Hardcover
First published December 17, 2013
11 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Various
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If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
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If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 8, 2020
A little tangent first: I really did enjoy reading this, though that has nothing to do with the book itself. This book (along with several other) showed up on a "free-on-kindle"-deal as a Covid-19 offer. I added them to my account without really thinking about it, but I got curious about reading comics on the kindle app for my phone. It turns out it's a breeze, as you can automatically swipe from one panel to the next. Due to this, reading this rather unknown American war-comic became my "go-to" phone activity, rather than some simple game. Perhaps its the same sort of mindless activity.
So back to the book itself: It's not all that good. The character itself is interesting as a piece of war time media and history, showing the ideals of the American 40s. The plots start out as somehow plausible, but at some point the amount of nazis operating in the US and their plots reach absurd levels. And as the war finishes, the comics turn more into ordinary superhero stories. But this is a compliation, and the choices made for what stories/volumes to have it in seems rather odd. You jump into the middle of some serialized stories, and the chronology sort of breaks down. After a while the stories gets more independent of each other and it matters less. The foreword is well written, but the author states plainly that he never really had much of a connection to the character. So all in all an OK read, but perhaps one that would have been better if the publication had been better complied?
So back to the book itself: It's not all that good. The character itself is interesting as a piece of war time media and history, showing the ideals of the American 40s. The plots start out as somehow plausible, but at some point the amount of nazis operating in the US and their plots reach absurd levels. And as the war finishes, the comics turn more into ordinary superhero stories. But this is a compliation, and the choices made for what stories/volumes to have it in seems rather odd. You jump into the middle of some serialized stories, and the chronology sort of breaks down. After a while the stories gets more independent of each other and it matters less. The foreword is well written, but the author states plainly that he never really had much of a connection to the character. So all in all an OK read, but perhaps one that would have been better if the publication had been better complied?
December 18, 2016
The Golden Age of Comics is best remembered for characters whose career and fame continued past the golden age: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Captain America come to mind. Few talk about Captain Midnight. I was vaguely aware of the character because I'd heard of his radio program. I knew he was a pilot of some sort and aviation radio programs and comics have never been my thing. So I picked this book up from the library on a lark and was surprised by what I found.
The comics contained in this book are in the same league as nearly any other comic hero of the time. Whether this was always the case would require some research. The stories included here are cherry picked from the various books that the good Captain appeared in while many other heroes have had every appearance republished. Still, what we have is pretty good. While Captain Midnight is a pilot, he's also a costumed crime and Nazi fighter whose real identity is the inventor Captain Albright. In this story he faces off against not only Nazis but "gremlins," giant vampire bats, and man-made tornadoes. Captain Midnight has a good supporting cast that rotates including a kid sidekick, a dopey sidekick who disguises himself as Sergeant Twilight, and a super strong robot named Samson.
The execution on all of these elements is actually marvelous. The stories are great and the action sequences are really well-drawn. The book doesn't contain an origin story, so you'll leave with no idea why a famous inventor is disguising himself with an obvious pseudonym. Also, while the book references battling Nazis, there are many foes in this book, and Nazis are only one of them. That's just a minor quibble.
For fans of the Golden Age of Comics, this volume offers some great examples of the era at its best and a chance to explore a hero they may have never heard of but should have.
The comics contained in this book are in the same league as nearly any other comic hero of the time. Whether this was always the case would require some research. The stories included here are cherry picked from the various books that the good Captain appeared in while many other heroes have had every appearance republished. Still, what we have is pretty good. While Captain Midnight is a pilot, he's also a costumed crime and Nazi fighter whose real identity is the inventor Captain Albright. In this story he faces off against not only Nazis but "gremlins," giant vampire bats, and man-made tornadoes. Captain Midnight has a good supporting cast that rotates including a kid sidekick, a dopey sidekick who disguises himself as Sergeant Twilight, and a super strong robot named Samson.
The execution on all of these elements is actually marvelous. The stories are great and the action sequences are really well-drawn. The book doesn't contain an origin story, so you'll leave with no idea why a famous inventor is disguising himself with an obvious pseudonym. Also, while the book references battling Nazis, there are many foes in this book, and Nazis are only one of them. That's just a minor quibble.
For fans of the Golden Age of Comics, this volume offers some great examples of the era at its best and a chance to explore a hero they may have never heard of but should have.
June 30, 2020
I don't know anything about Captain Midnight and after reading this hodge podge collection of his comics I still don't know anything about him. Captain Albright (say, does he even have a first name? Or is Captain his actual name?) is an American inventor and aviator, but when danger calls he becomes Captain Midnight. Why, I don't know. There's no origin story here. Several other people know of his dual identity, people like young Chuck, Joyce (who at least knows how to handle herself in a fight), and comic-relief Ichabod Mudd. Captain Midnight is the leader of the Secret Squadron. Why are they secret? I don't know. Midnight has no superpowers but he does have the skills to quickly change outfits, leap from plane to plane, and use his doom beam which is.... I don't know what it is. It looks like a flashlight.
As the loosely connected collection goes along, Midnight goes through changes. He starts out wearing a jaunty bomber hat, which is really the only way I can tell him apart from the other characters because everyone looks the same. Later on our hero gets a snazzy new red jumpsuit. Unfortunately his eyebrows become so thick and heavy his eyes are condensed into a perpetual squint. In the post war years his head morphs into an almost perfect square. I suspect this is a result of all those times Captain Midnight was knocked in the head by the bad guys.
Look, my criticism isn't against the character of Captain Midnight himself. He do what he do. My problem is with the powers that be behind this book. They could have put in a little bit more effort.
As the loosely connected collection goes along, Midnight goes through changes. He starts out wearing a jaunty bomber hat, which is really the only way I can tell him apart from the other characters because everyone looks the same. Later on our hero gets a snazzy new red jumpsuit. Unfortunately his eyebrows become so thick and heavy his eyes are condensed into a perpetual squint. In the post war years his head morphs into an almost perfect square. I suspect this is a result of all those times Captain Midnight was knocked in the head by the bad guys.
Look, my criticism isn't against the character of Captain Midnight himself. He do what he do. My problem is with the powers that be behind this book. They could have put in a little bit more effort.
April 25, 2019
2.5 Stars
I really couldn't quite get into this one, but these are very early Golden Age superhero comics so I sort of knew what to expect. Comics were still pretty primitive then and the storylines were still mainly aimed at children. The art wasn't bad, I especially liked the way the bad guys went flying when Captain Midnight punched them. Also, this collection did suffer from a lack of chronology. Most comic archive editions start with the first appearances of the characters and then continue in order, but this was a random collection from different points in time and the lack of continuity really hurt. Granted, back in the Golden Age continuity probably wasn't all that tight anyway, but still. If you're a die hard golden age comic fan you'll probably like this, but I think most modern readers may find this a little tedious.
I really couldn't quite get into this one, but these are very early Golden Age superhero comics so I sort of knew what to expect. Comics were still pretty primitive then and the storylines were still mainly aimed at children. The art wasn't bad, I especially liked the way the bad guys went flying when Captain Midnight punched them. Also, this collection did suffer from a lack of chronology. Most comic archive editions start with the first appearances of the characters and then continue in order, but this was a random collection from different points in time and the lack of continuity really hurt. Granted, back in the Golden Age continuity probably wasn't all that tight anyway, but still. If you're a die hard golden age comic fan you'll probably like this, but I think most modern readers may find this a little tedious.
July 3, 2020
AN inventive man fights the Nazis.
Good color artwork. Freebie. I couldn't help but feel that captain midnight needs more armor for the back of his head. He gets knocked out just about every issue. Probably had to retire from all the concussions.
Good color artwork. Freebie. I couldn't help but feel that captain midnight needs more armor for the back of his head. He gets knocked out just about every issue. Probably had to retire from all the concussions.
March 22, 2020
An intriguing look at Amwrica during World War II through the early 1950s through the lens of an aviation adventure comic book series.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews