The Midnight: Shadows

The Midnight: Shadows
Date	October 1, 2024
Main characters	Jason
Page count	136 pages
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Creative team
Writers	Zack Kaplan
Artists	Stephen Thompson Jahnoy Lindsay
Letterers	DC Hopkins
Colourists	Thiago Rocha
Original publication
Language	English
ISBN	1506734162

The Midnight: Shadows
Date	October 1, 2024
Page count	152 pages
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Creative team
Writers	Zack Kaplan
Artists	Stephen Thompson Jahnoy Lindsay
Letterers	DC Hopkins
Colourists	Thiago Rocha
Original publication
Language	English
ISBN	9781506746487

The Midnight: Shadows is a graphic novel that takes place in the universe of The Midnight. Published by Dark Horse Comics, the graphic novel was released in bookstores on October 1, 2024, and October 2, 2024, at comic shops.

The graphic novel tells the story of Jason, a soon to be parent who is struggling with the loss of his adolescence. While playing a video game from his childhood, he gets transported inside the game and must fight to save the new cyberpunk city he's found himself in.

Synopsis

Join THE MIDNIGHT, one of the world’s top synthwave bands, comprised of Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan, on an electrifying and original sci-fi adventure inspired by the poetic storytelling and the neon-soaked aesthetics of their music.

Jason has spent his life running from his problems, but now he and his childhood sweetheart are on the precipice of parenthood, and he’s struggling with the loss of his adolescence. Then he re-discovers his favorite old video game, THE MIDNIGHT, a nostalgic 1980s fantasy adventure about a helmeted hero who travels to a cyberpunk world to save the people from eternal darkness. Seeking to repair his broken game, Jason ends up at a mysterious arcade in an abandoned 1980s mall, where he plays the old arcade game of The Midnight and suddenly he’s transported to…

…a post-apocalyptic Neverland in the year 2085. A world of perpetual night where time stands still. A final bastion of humanity in a glistening futuristic city. And a shocking reveal – they know him as the hero who once vanquished the shadow monsters, and they believe he’s returned to his true reality to do it again. More surprising, his wife is here, but only with a memory of Jason as this world’s hero. As this lost boy tries to embrace his new hero powers, with the help of his true love and her cyberpunk warriors, he must face the responsibility of protecting an entire world from danger and discover which world he truly belongs to.

For The Midnight fans and newcomers, created by rising comics writer, Zack Kaplan (Break Out, Mindset), artist Stephen Thompson (Star Trek, Batman Beyond), artist Jahnoy Lindsay (Superboy) and The Midnight, follow your dreams to a visually stunning cyberpunk metropolis, find love in the darkness, defeat shadow monsters and explore what happens when we hide in our fantasies. Are we escaping life’s monsters or simply escaping ourselves? The answers lie in the Midnight Graphic Novel.

Characters

• Jason - A down-on-his-luck auto mechanic who laments the loss of his youth. Works at Pizza Zone and is married to Crys, who he is expecting a child with. He is known as the "Lost Boy" and "The Comeback Kid" in the The Midnight video game.
• Crystalline - Jason's wife, commonly referred to as "Crys". She is expecting their first child. In the video game, she is one of the Nighthawks who helps Jason on his journey to save the City of Lights.
• Herc - Jason's boss at the Pizza Zone auto shop. In the video game, he is a member of the Nighthawks.
• Arcade Dreams employee - An unnamed employee at Arcade Dreams who Jason sees to repair his broken console. She is known as the "Glorious Seer of Tomorrow" in the video game.
• Chariot - Jason's Nighthawk vehicle in the video game which has the ability to talk to him.
• Shadow Jason - The main villain in the video game. He is a dark doppelgänger of Jason.

Groups/Entities

• Nighthawks - A defense unit tasked with fighting the Shadows and protecting the city in the video game. They are also referred to as "The Order of Knights" and "Defenders of humanity's last hope". Named members include Jason, Crystalline, and Herc.
• Shadows - Anti-matter beings formed from failed Syndicate experiments during the early 21st century. They can be seen floating high above and around the City of Lights. During Jason’s absence, they had mostly retreated from the city but returned upon his arrival, as he never fully defeated them.
• Medusa - A type of Shadow, characterized as having human-looking heads with snakes for hair.

Locations

• Mall - A desolate shopping mall in Los Angeles. In the video game, the mall still stands but is in a state of abandoned ruin. Arcade Dreams is located here.
• Pizza Zone - A combination pizza parlor and auto repair shop in Los Angeles. Jason and Herc work here.
• Jason's House - Jason and Crystalline's home, located in a suburban Los Angeles neighborhood.
• Arcade Dreams - An arcade and console repair shop located at the mall in Los Angeles and later the City of Lights. Houses many cabinets and machines, including The Midnight and later Dream Away.
• Keep on Trucking Stop - An old and abandoned service station located outside the City of Lights. Jason has his first encounter with the Shadows here.
• City of Lights - A futuristic and cyberpunk-themed city that stands in the ruins of Los Angeles in the year 2085; a “post-apocalyptic neverland” and the last remaining city on Earth. While the city itself is well-lit with many neon-adorned buildings, roads, and billboards, the overall area is in a state of perpetual darkness due to the presence of the Shadows.
• Lost & Found - A large nightclub in the City of Lights. The Nighthawks chase Jason through here upon his initial arrival to the city.
• Hall of Memories - A chamber of past and future memories. The Glorious Seer of Tomorrow is located here.
• Dark Mountain - A dark and ominous mountain that overlooks the City of Lights. The Shadows originate from this area, which is also home to Shadow Jason.

Background and announcement

Beginning on January 22, 2024, several The Midnight fans reported receiving postcards in the mail that featured comic book style art on one side and a cryptic message on the other. The postcards contained a QR code which led to themidnightshadows.com. The site displayed nothing other than the band's logo and a message of "Coming Soon", with a form to sign up for updates. A hidden countdown timer was later found in the source code, which counted down to January 24. On that day, the message was changed to "There's a moment in time..." and a new countdown to January 30 was started. On each day, the site displayed a new message before eventually displaying all of the posted messages, which were also seen on the postcards. On January 30, The Midnight: Shadows was officially announced with a trailer and made available for preorder, with a deluxe bundle and both hardcover and paperback editions of the novel available.

The Shadows website on the day of January 29, 2024, showing all the messages in order.

On the day of the announcement, The Midnight's manager Justin Little answered fan questions about the graphic novel on Discord, revealing that planning for the project began in the fall of 2020. It was also confirmed that the recipients of the postcards were randomly selected from people who had ordered merchandise from the US online store. Tyler Lyle further elaborated on the graphic novel's release in a post on Threads, stating that the band "wanted to tell a big story" that was longer and more in depth than what could be expressed in a typical three-minute song.

In the official press release for the graphic novel, Lyle stated:

The creative MO of The Midnight has always been to "combine not confine". We noticed early on that creative people in other fields were taking our music and adding video, VR worlds, digital art, photography and the world of The Midnight kept expanding. We were thrilled to be able to work with Zack and this amazing creative team to help to add even more flesh on our creative skeleton. What is nostalgia? Does it indicate an escape from "normal life" or does it provide the wisdom to help us escape INTO it. The graphic novel is a medium that allows a much bigger and more complex story to be told and we couldn't be more excited to watch that story slowly become real.

Tim McEwan also said:

Visuals have always been a huge aspect of the world of The Midnight. From the very beginning, our fanbase joined in by creating videos and art that expanded on our music and visual aesthetic. It was natural to take it one step further and create a graphic novel. We've been lucky enough to have an incredible team of artists and creatives, headed by the talented Zack Kaplan, who skillfully helmed this ship from the very start. Partnering up with Dark Horse is a match made in heaven and we feel so blessed to see this creation come to life. Thank you to everyone who participated in making this a reality but thank you first and foremost to our amazing fans, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Further teaser images from The Midnight: Shadows were shared on the band's social media accounts on February 23, 2024, and March 1, 2024. On May 21, a preview of the graphic novel was published on comic review site AIPT, which included an interview with Tyler Lyle and author Zack Kaplan in addition to revealing the graphic novel's first ten pages.

Promotional media

Teaser graphic (January 24, 2024)

Teaser graphic (January 25, 2024)

Teaser graphic (January 26, 2024)

Teaser graphic (January 27, 2024)

Teaser graphic (January 28, 2024)

Load video

Local File

Local File might collect personal data.

ContinueDismiss

Announcement trailer

Teaser graphic (February 23, 2024)

Teaser graphic (February 23, 2024)

Teaser graphic (February 23, 2024)

Teaser graphic (March 1, 2024)

Concept art (March 19, 2024)

Concept art (March 19, 2024)

Editions

The Midnight: Shadows will be published in both paperback and hardcover editions. The paperback edition is expected to be available at most places where Dark Horse Comics are sold. The hardcover edition of the graphic novel is exclusive to The Midnight's online store and features an alternate cover, gilded magenta edges, and additional pages. The extra pages include bonus art, interviews, and a behind the scenes look at the graphic novel's creation. The hardcover edition is available with a signed art print or as part of a limited bundle set, which also includes a custom display case for the novel, a signed art print, a picture vinyl featuring a new song and a new version of Shadows, a postcard set, a black guitar pick, and a mystery trading card.

The Midnight: Shadows paperback edition

The Midnight: Shadows paperback edition

The Midnight: Shadows paperback edition inside

The Midnight: Shadows Deluxe hardcover edition

The Midnight: Shadows Deluxe Hardcover edition inside

The Midnight: Shadows Deluxe Hardcover edition inside

The Midnight: Shadows Ultimate Bundle

The Midnight: Shadows Ultimate Bundle box

The Midnight: Shadows Ultimate Bundle picture disc vinyl

The Midnight: Shadows Ultimate Bundle signed print

The Midnight: Shadows Ultimate Bundle postcards

The Midnight: Shadows Ultimate Bundle guitar pick