Midnight Strikes!

A few weeks back, as you might recall, I mentioned that I was going to be writing some Captain Midnight comics.

Well, big news, folks: at the request of Joe Gentile at Moonstone Books, I'm now the editor of the forthcoming Captain Midnight prose anthology, too.

Remember Captain Midnight? Well, even if you do, there's the matter of which Captain Midnight you remember.

There have been lots of very different versions of the Captain Midnight character over the years. First there was a weekly radio program broadcast from 1938 to 1949, then there was a movie serial from Columbia in '42, then a comic book from Fawcett, and finally, a TV show in the 50's. In each version the Captain was portrayed differently. On radio he was first an independent adventurer and then an airborne spy. In the comics, he was a crime-busting super-hero in red longjohns. On TV, he was a gadget-toting sci-fi crimefighter with a "Squadron" of Ovaltine-drinking children.

Rather than pick the radio, TV, comic book or serial version of the character to go with, I’ve tried to take the best and most interesting elements from each of those incarnations and create an amalgam Captain Midnight. Sort of like what the creators of the Batman animated series did with the Caped Crusader in the 90’s.

Anyway, as I was the one who suggested the property to Moonstone last year and I was the one writing the Moonstone CM "bible," I originally offered to be a consultant on the anthology. But since Joe and his staff are already handling so many projects, and I have some previous editorial experience, I was asked to take over the main editing chores on the book.

Now, I didn't go after the job – lord knows it doesn't pay, and I definitely don't need more non-paying work – but I couldn't bring myself to refuse, either... if only so that I could ensure that nothing in the anthology contradicted or undermined the Captain Midnight comics scripts I'm writing for the company.

As it stands, all the authors have already been chosen by Moonstone, so I have no say in that – unless someone drops out. If that should happen, I have several people in mind to recruit. The author list is a particularly strong one, though, so I have no complaints with their choices.

The authors that Joe lined up for this are: Martin Powell, Robert Jeschonek, Tim Lasiuta, Tom Defalco, Bob Greenberger, Win Eckert, Mark Justice, Max Allan Collins, Steve Mertz, Trina Robbins, Howard Hopkins, Joe Gentile and... me.

Pretty cool, no?

So, mix yourself an ice cold glass of rich, chocolately Ovaltine and get your Code-O-Graph decoder ready for future dispatches... Captain Midnight and the Secret Squadron flies again!