DESCRIPTION:
This edition includes reprints for all twelve issues and the special 1/2 issue in this comic
book series which also includes the covers and an afterword by J. Michael Straczynski.
MONICA'S REVIEW:
I have yet to read this book...
RELATED PRODUCTS:
There is another page that collects all the JMS trade
paperbacks in the J. Michael Straczynski section.
JMS AT SKETCH MAGAZINE SAID:
APR.10.2003
Midnight Nation, for instance, was one long argument with god about why
things are so screwed up. On the other, it was a love story that asked, "How much is love
really worth to you? What will you give up for the one you love?"
JMS AT RASTB5M SAID:
JAN.16.2003
Read the thing over last night, and I'm really very, very proud of it.
I've never previously read it straight through like that. One interesting thing, when I picked
up the book, I hadn't known they were goin to omit the front covers in between issues...meaning,
usually you hit the end of issue one, there's a cover/title page for issue two, so you know
there's a transition. Here, they ran it straight together, with the cover pages as a bonus at
the end.
When I saw this, my heart skipped a beat for a second, because I wasn't sure if it would play
that way, if the jump from one issue to the next without any kind of warning would look jarring
or confusing. So I went through the whole book, page by page, issue by issue, and sonuvagun, it
all lines up fine even without the transitional pages. I was actually kind of surprised,
because even though they were written as an ongoing series, they weren't *intended* to go up
against one another that tightly.
So yeah, I was there, and yeah, I am most pleased.
JAN.6.2003
I don't generally hock my stuff around here, because I think it's rude.
But in all honesty, in many respects, from a sheer writing perspective,
Midnight Nation represents some of the best stuff I've ever done in the form.
It's something that I poured a lot of emotion into, a lot of personal feelings
and history and beliefs, covering life, death, religion, god, how we achieve
meaning...all balanced against a cross-country quest by two people, one out to
reclaim his soul, the other a woman sent to help him or kill him, depending on
how the story ends up.
It is also, oddly enough, a love story.
It's one of the things I'm proudest of as a writer, and I commend it to anyone
who found the ideas in Babylon 5 of interest. And the art by Gary Frank is
just gorgeous, and evocative, and full of emotion.
There's a great Cinescape review
of the book which contains spoilers, however, so if you want to hold off on some of the
surprises, you may want to just get it cold. The key part of the review,
though, says:
"MIDNIGHT NATION offered a unique twist on some very old cosmological concepts,
and managed to make the idea that "love conquers all" the very core of its
resolution without resorting to smarmy melodrama. That's a rare accomplishment,
and all the more reason why MIDNIGHT NATION will be remembered as one of the
most absorbing and emotionally moving sagas in modern comics history."
It's a nifty little story. Honest.
DEC.21.2002
What's happened to the Midnight Nation collected version that
was due last month?
Dunno...they've been sitting on it for months. Hopefully it'll be out soon.
JUN.15.2002
Midnight Nation is probably my favorite comics work to date because
there's a lot in it that I consider personal, it's a personal kind of story in
many ways. Even I can't read the last few pages, knowing what went before,
without losing it.
There have been some inquiries about optioning MN, but I've deliberately held
off listening to anything until the story was complete. I wanted nothing to
get in the way of just telling this story. Now that it's done, I'll be happy
to listen. It was a long journey and a hard write, but I think it was, and is,
one of the more worthwhile things I'e done lately.
