Dark Horse Comics has announced The Midnight: Shadows, a new original graphic novel inspired by the music of synthwave band The Midnight.
The Midnight: Shadows arrives in bookstores on Tuesday, October 1 — and in comic shops on Wednesday, October 2. The 136-page cyberpunk-style sci-fi comic teams writer Zack Kaplan (Kill All Immortals, Break Out) with artists Stephen Thompson (Star Trek, Batman Beyond) and Jahnoy Lindsay (Superboy), colorist Thiago Rocha (Hacktivists), and letterer DC Hopkins (Nocterra, Star Wars). Dark Horse promises that fans of The Midnight and newcomers alike will “enjoy an immersive universe that is engrossing and visually stunning.”
Check out the cover art for The Midnight: Shadows below:
What is The Midnight: Shadows about?
“Twenty-something young man Jason is on the precipice of parenthood with his childhood sweetheart. Struggling with the loss of his adolescence, Jason is sucked back into THE MIDNIGHT, a cyberpunk game from his childhood,” an official synopsis for The Midnight: Shadows reads.
“As the helmeted hero who travels to the post-apocalyptic Neverland in the year 2085, he is the hero who once vanquished the shadow monsters, and they believe he has returned to his actual reality to do it again,” it continues. “With two different realities beckoning him home, Jason must reconcile which world he belongs to and how he can embrace adulthood without losing himself.”
The Midnight discusses the new comic
“The creative MO of The Midnight has always been to ‘combine not confine,'” The Midnight co-founder Tyler Lyle said. “We noticed early on that creative people in other fields were taking our music and adding video, VR worlds, digital art, photography and the world of The Midnight kept expanding. We were thrilled to be able to work with Zack and this amazing creative team to help to add even more flesh on our creative skeleton. What is nostalgia? Does it indicate an escape from ‘normal life’ or does it provide the wisdom to help us escape INTO it. The graphic novel is a medium that allows a much bigger and more complex story to be told and we couldn’t be more excited to watch that story slowly become real.”
“Visuals have always been a huge aspect of the world of The Midnight,” the band’s other co-founder, Tim McEwan, added. “From the very beginning, our fanbase joined in by creating videos and art that expanded on our music and visual aesthetic. It was natural to take it one step further and create a graphic novel. We’ve been lucky enough to have an incredible team of artists and creatives, headed by the talented Zack Kaplan, who skillfully helmed this ship from the very start. Partnering up with Dark Horse is a match made in heaven and we feel so blessed to see this creation come to life. Thank you to everyone who participated in making this a reality but thank you first and foremost to our amazing fans, without whom none of this would have been possible.”
The book’s creative team chimes in
“Before I got the privilege to write this graphic novel, I was a fan,” Kaplan said. “Intoxicated by the immersive beats and heartfelt lyrics since their very first demo. It was no surprise to me to see them become one of today’s best synthwave bands. Their presence is so narrative, that it was dying to be shared in this form. And it’s been a joy to bring it all to comic life, to partner with Dark Horse for such a vivid and mind-bending series, and to create this electrifying world with a powerhouse creative team, Stephen, Jahnoy, Thiago and DC, that will blow your mind with one visually stunning page after the next.”
The writer concluded, “Whether you are a listener of the music or you just love a good sci-fi adventure, we cannot wait to take you to that place half in dark and half in light, where arcade dreams are a reality, where heroes battle monsters. Get ready for a truly epic, synth wave adventure.”
“The Midnight has probably been the most challenging and interesting book of my career so far,” Thompson added. “The task of bringing Zack’s layered scripts to life, while simultaneously trying to evoke the flavor and atmosphere of the music of the band has been both a labor of love and a real artistic stretch for me. But the 1980s kid I am at heart felt right at home in this retro futuristic world and with the characters and vehicles which inhabit it. And high praise has to go to Thiago’s colors, which add so much to the aesthetic we’ve created here.”
The Midnight: Shadows goes on sale in October 2024 from Dark Horse Comics.
