Absolute vs. Midnight

DC Comics has been having a lot of success with its Absolute line, it seems, presenting a darker take on their name-brand heroes in a world essentially imagined by Darkseid. A whole line of books based in an alternate reality - at once a jumping on point for new readers stymied by the baggage of decades-long continuity, and a trendy reboot that refreshes concept for the present day - is nothing new. In fact. Marvel had a lot of success with their Ultimate line, to the point where a lot of the MCU movies pulled on its details. But Ultimate Marvel, while still in play, has had better days. It, too, became hampered by continuity baggage, and new readers just weren't hopping on after a while.

And so Marvel has just launched its OWN Absolute line with Midnight, featuring dark, horror takes on its name-brand properties. It's obviously inspired by Absolute's success, but of course, one could say Absolute is copying Ultimate Marvel. There are differences, of course. DC waited decades before launching Absolute, while Midnight is right on the heels of Absolute, a more obvious trend cash-in. I'm reminded of the aborted Frontier Comics initiative that sought to give Marvel its own Vertigo in the 90s. Between its four mini-series and one special, the line only included 15 issues total and never caught on. Perhaps it was because it was Marvel UK thing rather than getting a proper push from the American side. Perhaps because its creative teams didn't have the cred the UK invaders at DC did. And that's not to forget Clive Barker's Razorline at the time, too.

And Midnight is more like THOSE endeavors than it is Absolute, even though it DOES star versions of Marvel characters (Frontier featured Dr. Strange in one of its books, but that's it) - in that its key difference from DC's new line is that it's all HORROR. And different brands of horror, too. Fantastic Four is Lovecraftian. Spider-Man is body horror. X-Men mixes mutants with vampires for a more Gothic experience. These don't necessarily mesh into a cohesive universe, but I don't think Absolute does either (Superman presents a dystopia run by corporations, but it's not an element in, say, Martian Manhunter or Flash. It's all about theme. Absolute divests the heroes of their key "helpers" (at least, at first), with Batman being without a fortune, Superman without a human family, Wonder Woman without Amazon Island... and having to build from there. Midnight has taken a genre-focused route instead, giving us dark takes on core concepts.

I've been all in on Absolute to date (with Wonder Woman still a thing of beauty more than a year in), whereas I've only read the first issue of each Midnight book. My main takeaway at this very early point is that the art on two thirds of the line isn't that conducive to the material. Both FF and Spider-Man are too cartoonish to effectively do horror, and only X-Men offers the proper shadowy reality. Ironically, it's the story I'm least interested in. I've very little interest in vampires as a horror trope, and my X-days are far behind me. Nightcrawler on a mission from the Vatican has promise, so I'll stick around for a bit. I'm MUCH more interested in cosmic horror and Reed vs. Doom in this context makes sense. Spider-Man wants to be Akira, perhaps, with its Manga stylings and gross gore, but ends before Peter has become Spider-Man, so that's more of a work in progress.

Within a year, we'll know if the initiative worked and pulled some of the Absolute audience, because either the line will double, or the books will be retconned as mini-series. I was frankly surprised Absolute did so well (I thought it would be a 12-month project, ending with Darkseid's appearance and defeat), so there's hope for Midnight. But history also teaches us that readers don't always want the Johnny Come-Lately rip-off brand...