Review: It’s Opening Night At ‘The Midnite Show’

Welcome to the table,

Brian Hurtt is easily one of my favorite comic artists of all time. It’s a bold statement, I know. But the man’s work is exactly what I am looking for most of the time, and to date has never disappointed or failed to deliver exactly what the story needs. What he does is that beautiful blend of cartoon craftsmanship with the form and function of someone who understands how objects work in space. He does not do as many books as some of the other creators out there, but when he does drop a title you can bet I’m going to be there to see what it is all about.

Brian also has the added bonus of often working with one of my dearest friends, Cullen Bunn, and when the two get together and make something, it is always a show I want front-row seats for.

The team behind Dark Horse Comics‘ The Midnite Show — consisting of Bunn on script, Hurtt on art, Bill Crabtree on colors, and Jim Campbell on letters — delivers a top-notch horror book that showcases the best of what each offers creatively. It makes total sense that an all-star team is assembled to craft this book: it showcases an all-star lineup of film’s most well-known horror movie monsters. These are the people you want to weave a tale of terror and tension that speaks both to the horror of old and a modern sensibility. Plus plenty of twists and turns that will surprise and delight.

Over fifty years ago, Basil Saxon, a legend among horror fans, vanished during a freak accident on the set of the film that would have been his masterpiece. The cursed film, God of Monsters, was never completed and has never been seen. But when a film festival shows footage from the long-lost movie, classic horror monsters manifest in the real world to wreak havoc and terror on the unsuspecting populace.

Seeing vampires, a ragtag group of misfits must band together to stop the most famous creatures of all time and send them back to the realm of celluloid nightmares. Seeing a wolfman, gill-man, mummy, and Frankenstein-esq monster together in one story, all with that classic cinema tone, is nothing short of amazing. The gill-man in this book is one of my favorite creature design in recent years and deserves its own statue, action figure, and TTRPG mini to decorate my office.

The Midnite Show maintains its deep horror roots and pays homage to the classic creatures that reign across the genre as pop culture icons, all the while delivering a fresh new story that is full of delightful twists and turns. The team of Bunn and Hurtt are nothing short of magnificent as they deliver what will likely be one of the best new horror offerings of the year if not of the decade.

Until next time, the introduction of the werewolf is also seriously epic comic storytelling. This whole book is an instant classic and I can’t wait for more!