Midnight Nation

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"By the creator of Babylon 5 and Rising Stars"--Cover.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Some great moments, but too many missteps to be really good. submitted by eknapp on December 23, 2012, 10:22pm David Grey, an LA detective conducting a murder investigation, pisses off some seriously weird mobsters. When he raids a suspect's apartment, they get fed up and steal his soul. He wakes up in a hospital surrounded by semi-transparent people who act as if they can't see him. Only one woman is aware of him, and what's more, seems to know what's going on. He learns that he has one year to retrieve his soul--and he has to walk to New York to get it--or else turn into a monster and spend eternity murdering and torturing.

Plotwise, I found Midnight Nation to be hit-and-miss. The dialogue is solid and it opens with a hell of a hook. The bad guy's monologue at the climax is pretty cool, visiting True-History-of-God-and-Satan "To Reign in Hell" territory. I thought it was a reasonably novel take. But there are constant references to a set of "rules" that must be followed, forms that must be observed, and they don't make a lot of sense. The book ultimately takes the shape of a year-long ritual that fails to justify its own existence.

There were bits of contrivance that constantly annoyed me. Laurel, Grey's guide and road-trip partner, first appeared sporting an absurdly-out-of-character whale tail. An early character, Laurel's apparent superior, lays down the law for Grey; but by the end of the book there's not only no reason for him to be handing out explanations, it's clear that if he just had to be shoehorned in, he should have been Laurel's subordinate at most. It's obvious that Straczynski didn't know where he was going when he got started.

Infrequent nudity is handled with clumsily placed shadows and dialogue boxes. I hate that shit...if you have to dance around it, the nakedness probably wasn't story-authentic in the first place. But aside from that misstep, I loved the art. The ubiquitous green demons are weirdly beautiful. The art team knocked it out of the park.