Horror series Gotham By Midnight coming to DC Comics

Books seem to come and go a lot since DC Comics first initiated their total universe reboot known as The New 52. Some of them were really great, some, not so much. One thing is for sure though; there has been no shortage of Bat-centric books. Well in a move reminiscent of DC’s Gotham P.D., a new Gotham themed book is on its way. However, instead of dealing with the usual weirdoes and deranged lunatics known to populate the grim city, this police squad will be dealing with something else that we haven’t dealt with in Gotham, the supernatural.

On November 26th DC Comics will introduce us to Gotham P.D.’s Midnight Shift, the supernatural squad who will star in the horror comic Gotham By Midnight. The team will be lead by Detective Jim Corrigan, who some may remember as host to the Spectre. The book spins out of Batman Eternal, and will feature the Caped Crusader, but Batman will play cameo roles as he hands off cases to Corrigan.

Website Blastr, who broke the story, are reporting that Constantine and Batman Eternal scribe Ray Fawkes will handle writing duties while Ben Templesmith of Ten Grand fame will handle art duties.

Speaking of Corrigan and the characters that will surround him Fawkes told Blastr, “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…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.”

 

Fawkes also interestingly points to the supernatural elements of Gotham as the reason why so many insane rogues seem to come from the dark metropolis, “Gotham City is a pretty sick place, and also a wonderful place, one of the greatest cities in the DC Universe. The tack that some of the characters in this book take is that people like the Joker, Two-Face and Batman may be symptoms of something wrong with Gotham, and that may have a supernatural root. For me, the city is very Gothic, dark and shadowy, and it’s sort of the perfect setting for things that creep in the night.”

He also teases a big bad at the center of it all, while still playing coy about whom or what that may be, “ Yes, there is a big bad thing, and it may be connected to something you recognize, but you won’t recognize it in this form. This is, after all, a story about police and detective work. They have to figure out what it is they’re looking at, and I want the readers along for the ride.”

Personally I was getting tired of the menagerie of Bat books that DC was pumping out on a monthly basis. This however seems like a really cool concept that strays away from the typical Batman Universe. Gotham By Midnight hits stores November 26th.