Midnight (DC Comics)

Midnight
Midnight on the cover of Smash Comics #46. Art by Alex Kotzky.
Publication information
Publisher	Quality Comics/DC Comics
First appearance	Smash Comics #18 January 1941
Created by	Jack Cole
In-story information
Alter ego	Dave Clark
Team affiliations	UXAM (Radio Station) DC version only Freedom Fighters
Notable aliases	The Man at Midnight, The Man Called Midnight
Abilities	Hand Gun Expert fighter

Midnight is a fictional character owned by DC Comics.

Publication history

The character was intended as a simple replacement for Will Eisner's The Spirit while Eisner was at war, but took on its own life in later stories. He was created for Quality Comics by Jack Cole, who later that year would become famous for creating Plastic Man.

Midnight's first appearance was in Smash Comics #18 (January, 1941). The character was popular enough to become the cover feature with Smash Comics #28 (November 1941), a position he would hold for nearly eight years until the title's cancellation with issue #85 (October, 1949).

Fictional character biography

Dave Clark is a radio announcer in Big City. He is an actor in a show named "The Man Called Midnight", about a masked crime fighter. After witnessing the collapse of a twelve-story building, he finds out that it had collapsed as a result of deliberate criminal negligence on the part of its builder, Morris Carleton. Clark decides to fight Carleton and force him to admit responsibility. To do this, he puts on a domino mask and assumes the identity of Midnight himself. After succeeding, he chooses to continue to fight crime as "Midnight, the eerie friend of the needy." ^[1]

In Smash Comics #23, Midnight faces off against mad scientist Doc Wackey and his intelligent talking monkey Gabby. By the end of the five-page story, Wackey has reformed and joined forces with Midnight. Doc Wackey and Gabby would continue to serve as Midnight's sidekicks (and occasional comic relief) for the remainder of Midnight's run on the title. He was killed in Smash Comics #36, where he went to Hell at his own request so that he could continue to fight criminals.

Like the other Quality characters, Midnight was bought by DC Comics after Quality Comics folded in 1956, but has not been extensively used. Like most other Golden Age heroes, he made an appearance in Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron, which Thomas used to feature every Golden Age character owned by DC. He also worked with the 'Freedom Fighters' for some time.

In his sole post-Crisis appearance, a revised version of Midnight's origin written by Thomas and drawn by Gil Kane was published in Secret Origins #28. His base of operations was retconned into New York City. Midnight has not appeared since, and nothing is known of his fate after the 1940s.

A new Midnight was introduced in the 1990s in Ms. Tree Quarterly, but whether this Midnight has any connection to the original is unknown.

Other versions

• In the Elseworlds miniseries JLA: Destiny, by John Arcudi and Tom Mandrake, a version of Midnight exists in a world where Superman and Batman do not exist. This version of Midnight, named William Cole, is a former detective with the Gotham City Police Department and a senior member of Thomas Wayne's Justice League of America, formerly the Justice League of Gotham, as Midnight.

External links

• Toonopedia page
• Midnight by Jack Cole from Smash Comics #32 Originally Copyrighted 1942 E.M. Arnold
• Internationalhero page

References

1. ^ The DC Comics Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley Limited. 2004. p. 202. ISBN 0-7566-0592-x.