Review: Gotham by Midnight Vol. 1- We Do Not Sleep

Quick Summary

Pros: The characters and premise are very interesting. Horror is executed properly and leads to plenty of great moments. The artwork is a nice fit for the story being told.

Cons: One storyline is rather anticlimactic.

Overall: This is a solid beginning to a series that is sure to scratch the supernatural horror itch in any DC Comics fan. It starts with a peculiar concept and uses this to launch a great cast of characters and a compelling mystery. This evolves as the story goes along and deals out plenty of creepy moments and great character interactions along the way. Fans looking to experience Gotham City through the eyes of the occult should check this book out.

Story

The concept behind Gotham by Midnight is novel to begin with. Take a group of misfits and toss them together on a team designed to take on the supernatural elements of Gotham City’s nightlife. The actual execution of this concept is every bit as creepy and engrossing as one could hope for.

In We Do Not Sleep, writer Ray Fawkes combines crime scene thrills with the unpredictability of the supernatural. It is a volume that feels evocative of earlier works, such as Gotham Central and The X-Files, yet still manages to stand completely on its own. It also blends in plenty of horror and suspense into the mix, which turn it into an even more entertaining read. There are a few small flaws, including one story’s rapid ending and some awkward sentences, that prevent this from being something I would universally recommend. However, the book’s overall quality is good enough that it should easily appeal to anyone looking for a bit of spooky horror set in Gotham City.

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The volume starts by introducing the employees of Precinct Thirteen through the eyes of an Internal Affairs agent. This skeptic gives readers someone to relate to and allows us to experience our first meeting with the “Midnight Shift” in unison with a story character. Introducing everything in this way allows Fawkes to sell the unbelievable nature of the series right from the very start.

From here, the Midnight Shift goes on to deal with several strange threats throughout Gotham. The first involves a demonic nun who is stealing and brainwashing children. This conflict here is incredibly creepy and makes this one of the best moments in the collection. Another involves a strange shadow creature, which starts out with an equal level of promise but closes with a sudden and anticlimactic ending. Overall though, these stories are simultaneously scary and entertaining, making them a perfect match for this book.

While all this is happening, readers are also discovering the background behind the employees of Precinct Thirteen. Each of the characters has a well fleshed out personality and a unique history that explains their connection to the occult. The telling of these histories is just as frightening as the present day mystery, which helps add to the horror of the book as a whole. This volume has only just begun to explore these characters but is already showing a great deal of promise.

All of this leads to the collection’s finale, the showdown against the monster who has orchestrated all of the earlier threats. What I liked about this finale is that it eschewed the traditional approach of most fictional supernatural entities, while still allowing it to show a giant monster battle. Instead of simply trying to gather unlimited power or enslave all of humanity, this monster is attempting to justify the righteousness of its own cause. It “fights” with the Spectre on several great pages but the fight is more philosophical than it is physical. It allows the conclusion to be filled with drama and tension without feeling generic and overdone.

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Art

The artwork throughout We Do Not Sleep is unique in that it is deceptively messy and unprofessional, while actually being a wonderful fit for this collection. Ben Templesmith draws a book with harsh lines and a heavily stylized level of detail. This makes the artwork look rough and gritty, which matches the nature of Gotham City and the employees of Precinct Thirteen. In addition, Templesmith expertly uses color to set the mood of each panel, often leading to pages that look like stained glass windows. It isn’t the best looking comic of all time but it is a fantastic fit for the story being told.

The only significant place where the visual quality of the collection falters is in the reveal of the book’s final villain. The collection’s first few villains are depicted wonderfully; they are every bit as creepy and menacing as they need to be. All signs seem to indicate that the main villain will continue this trend, especially since the early glimpses we see are suitably grotesque. However, this monstrous creature ends up looking incredibly generic and does not inspire anything close to the awe it is intended to. This does not have a huge impact on the collection but it definitely takes some of the drama away from the book’s final showdown.

Continuity

Gotham by Midnight Vol. 1: We Do Not Sleep starts the Gotham by Midnight series. This series is somewhat of a spin-off resulting from the events of Batman Eternal Vol. 2 (Review), where the concept is first teased. However, this comic stands completely on its own and does not ever reference its ties to Batman Eternal.

The story started here continues in Gotham by Midnight Vol. 2: Rest in Peace (Review).