Last month, DC Comics announced an expansion to their Batman family line of comics with Gotham Academy and Arkham Manor, two new titles set in the world of the Dark Knight but not exactly starring the Caped Crusader. Now another title set in that world has been revealed, and this one will explore the more supernatural elements of Gotham City. Enter Gotham By Midnight, a new series from writer Ray Fawkes (Constantine, Justice League Dark) and artist Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Wormwood) that focuses on the GCPD’s version of “The X-Files” called The Midnight Shift.
“It has a very gothic, melancholy feel to it,” Fawkes told Blastr. “There are a lot of stories that will be more supernatural than horror, but when you get down to the core of it, the things these characters face and the decisions they have to make are the kinds of things you’d see in a really great horror story.”
The leader of The Midnight Shift is none other than Jim Corrigan, the police detective whose body serves a vessel for The Spectre.
“Jim Corrigan’s terrible secret is he carries the divine judgment of God around in his body, not of his own free will. So he’s better motivated than anybody to get involved whenever a big, supernatural monster shows up on the scene. If he doesn’t do something, sooner or later The Spectre is going to handle it, and he has an Old Testament way of handling things. We will be seeing The Spectre here and there, but that’s usually what happens when Corrigan messes up and doesn’t get it handled in time.”
Fawkes went on to detail the remaining members of “The Midnight Shift,” saying:
“Lisa Drake is another detective in the Gotham police force, and Corrigan’s partner in a weird sort of crew who skulk around in the night and chase ghosts. You will not have seen this Lisa before. There’s also a forensic investigator Dr. Szandor Tarr, a bit of a creepy dude but very reliable. Their religious consultant is a nun, Sister Justine, who has a very peculiar and particular talent.”
He also went on to praise Templesmith’s artwork for the series.
“I absolutely cannot believe we managed to get Ben Templesmith to draw this book. The stuff I’m seeing is mind-blowingly weird and horrifying and amazing. When readers see this book, their minds are going to be blown. There is no other book about Gotham that looks like Gotham By Midnight. I think there is really no other book in superhero books that looks like this.”
Check out some preview art for Gotham By Midnight below and pick up issue #1 when it hits stores November 26.
