By Matt Vroom (@vroomatt)

MIDNIGHT MYSTERY is a four-issue limited series, noir thriller, published by Alterna Comics. It’s written and drawn by Bernie Gonzalez.

Issue one is currently available with the second issue coming out this upcoming Wednesday, December 19, 2018. Pick up your copy at your local comic book shop, Comixology app, or by clicking this link.

It has been a while that I have done a comic book review. However, I had begun following Bernie on Twitter before he had publicly made the announcement earlier this year that he would be having his comic published with Alterna.

Bernie’s art style is reminiscent of The Shadow and Batman: the Animated Series. That alone (as an artist) peaked my interest early on to want to check this series out. I needed to catch up on the first issue before getting the review of this follow-up. If you haven’t read the first already, then I highly recommend it because as first issues go, it got me hooked and set up the story. (Plus, spoilers to come.)

So go get that, and then come back to this review.

Midnight Mystery, follows the exploits of a near the end-of-shelf-life private eye detective named Zeke King. He was hired on by the former butler of the semi-famous narrator of a well known Midnight horror show similar to the Twilight Zone. His job was to find the late narrator’s son so that he may inherit his estranged father’s small fortune.

The first issue ends on a cliff hanger as the butler knocked out Zeke and the son, Conrad, with some sort of gas. For what purpose was left unsaid, and that is where the second issue picks up.

“Midnight Mystery, follows the exploits of a near the end-of-shelf-life private eye detective named Zeke King.”

In this second issue we discover that the late narrator, known best as Count Karloff, somehow has managed to escape death and have his soul trapped in a paper mache of a skull.

The purpose of finding his son was not to hand over his fortune, but to transfer his consciousness into the boy so that Count Karloff might continue to live. Some pretty crazy horror stuff right?

Now, I do not want to give up what happens in this issue, or whether Conrad was able to escape his father’s nefarious plans. Instead I want to focus on what this issue did well.

This is a good story, and the art style is perfect as this is very character driven. Much like Detective King says, in order to find the boy, you must first understand who his father is.

These two issues dive into a “mystery” of how a man desperate for fame, created a persona to help him escape his reality and become something more that himself. In reality, he does indeed lose himself, and gives into his own darkness.

There are many stories being released about escapism. People find different ways to cope with the cards they are dealt in life. Sometimes the cruelness of our circumstances shape us into the very monsters that we wish to avoid.

I do not think that there is any redemption in this story for the Count, but I do think it will be interesting to see what happens to Conrad and to the Detective in the remaining two issues. Will they need to address the darkness within themselves to stop a greater evil, or will they realize that life is valuable and that it is best to forsake their inner-demons? In Conrad’s case, that might be in a more literal sense.

I recommend Midnight Mystery for everyone that is already currently a fan of Alterna’s comics, and to those who like good ol’ character driven mystery noir. This is a good addition to your weekly indie comics pull-list.