Oh my god.
Midnighter/Apollo is OFFICIALLY MY FAVORITE SUPERHERO COUPLE and by that I mean the only superhero couple I like and ABNETT HAS MADE THE AUTHORITY DECENT AGAIN, best writer since Ellis dropped it and indeed the first writer since Ellis who has made me give a damn.
World’s End is the arc that happens after many, many, many talentless assholes have had their turns with The Authority. The world has gone post-apocalyptic after their shiftship the Carrier has hit London and fucked up everything, including causing ruptures in the Bleed that’s fused different realities with Earth and London in particular. An acidic smog has risen up, obscuring most of Earth from the sun. Jack Hawksmoor, king of cities, has broken after all cities have gone kaput and the Carrier–itself a city–has died. EM pulses have disrupted the Engineer’s nanomachines and put them into hibernation. Jenny Quantum, spirit of the 21st century, has disappeared. The latest Doctor, Habib Ben Hassan, has gone mad under the planet’s pain and vanished.
Darker and Edgier, but in a good way. Only the Midnighter and Swift can use their powers as normal; Apollo needs to spend most of his time near the sun or else he dies, see page to the left. This arc is supposed to be about them restoring Earth.
But what it really is about is the great, deep, devoted love the Midnighter has for Apollo. Everything else plays second fiddle to that.
It’s always been remarkable to me that–despite the hacks taking their turns shitting on The Authority, despite worthless maggots like Mark Millar having a go at the series–Apollo and the Midnighter have for the most part remained consistent. Nobody has tried to turn them straight, or even slightly bisexual. There’s an unfortunate tendency to kill Apollo off in alternate Authority realities but their real canon selves stick together through thick and thin. There’s something about them, from the understated moments in the original Ellis run to the panels of them in bed together (with the then-little Jenny Quantum snuggling up with them), that turns just about every panel they show up together into a lovely, touching moment. Including when Apollo fries enemies while the Midnighter rips out their spines, because that’s love.
There’s a reimagined special of them as feudal swordsmen in Japan. In it, Apollo’s analogue dies. The Midnighter’s analogue–and I am really quite glad both of them are made East Asian in that special, not inexplicably white–lures swordsmen to Apollo’s grave and kills them all, then rips out hearts to pile them on the grave. “Every year I bring my lover flowers,” you see. I’m annoyed that Apollo dies again but, man, it’s so sweet!
Right, World’s End arc.
I WISH YOU WERE WITH YOUR HUSBAND TOO, APOLLO ;____;
Because all communication channels have died, the rest of the team can contact Apollo only by sending up Swift, or with balloons. At a certain point Apollo goes missing, so the Midnighter does this:
BALLOONS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME FOR ME AGAIN, NEVER. ;__________; THE HEART-WRENCHING TEAR-JERKING SADNESS OF THIS CANNOT BE PUT IN WORDS.
A bunch of things happen, Apollo gets infected with a super-virus, and the Midnighter spends the rest of the arc finding a way to cure him. It’s so beautiful. And the very last page of the arc ends with them reuniting. Crowning moment of heartwarming, best of, ever. Worth noting is that, throughout all the series, they are really the only people with anything like a functional relationship. The Engineer and Jack are on-and-off and, ehhhh, not exactly what you’d call the closest couple. The rest of the team are more or less romance-free.
Unfortunately, after Abnett’s run the storyline heads in a direction that means Apollo and the Midnighter are dropped from the storyline. Which leaves… er, a bunch of boring people I no longer give a shit about. And downsizes the couple’s screen-time to fuck-all.
Well, better that than one of them being killed, I guess. But you know what? I’d totally read a series featuring just this pair. I would in a bright, hot minute. But in the meantime I will just look upon this and dream of what might one day be.
Neo-Prodigy
/ August 4, 2011“Well, better that than one of them being killed, I guess. But you know what? I’d totally read a series featuring just this pair. I would in a bright, hot minute.”
THIS!!!!!!!!
acrackedmoon
/ August 5, 2011I’m really sad the Midnighter spin-off doesn’t feature anywhere near enough Apollo. Siiiigh.
Myles (@Vundal)
/ August 6, 2011I LOVE that you are reading The Authority! its a great take on super heroes. and even better, Midnighter and appolo are actually joining the DC universe when it restarts later in the year. :D
acrackedmoon
/ August 6, 2011I can’t generally stand superheroes, actually; I only read it because of Warren Ellis.
Caio Marinho Ribeiro (@caiomribeiro)
/ August 9, 2011Ever read anything by Alan Moore?
acrackedmoon
/ August 9, 2011V for Vendetta. I actually mostly liked it, though some things about it bothered me. Couldn’t make it through Watchmen.
Saajan Patel
/ September 24, 2011So far, Authority in DC Reboot is, well, weak. Only one issue, but it really wasn’t very compelling. Thanks for this review though, will have to track down the World’s End stuff.
Tristan J Nankervis
/ November 22, 2011Huh, I was always put off The Authority because the premise of ‘It’s Superman and Batman, but they’re gay and a couple! Also, these are superheroes, but much more cynical and violent!’ sounded like an excuse for childish shock value humour in the vein of Garth Ennis (not to mention that people who praise Ellis tend to praise Ennis in the same breath). Based on your review, I might actually give it a look.
acrackedmoon
/ November 22, 2011I don’t personally have much time for superheroes period, but the idea of homophobic fanboys breaking into hives at the idea of Batman/Superman reimagined as a gay couple makes me chortle in glee, if that’s what you mean by shock value.
Saajan Patel
/ November 22, 2011“sounded like an excuse for childish shock value humour”
The violence part I get, but the gay couple thing – Well, I’m straight so I can’t comment overly much on the veracity, but I thought from the beginning that was one of the most interesting relationships in the book.
Hell, looking back on it, outside Vertigo it is one of the few really well done relationships in cape comics that I can think of.
acrackedmoon
/ November 22, 2011That and the connection between “childish shock value humor” and “gay couple” strikes me as a backward one. Distrust that Ellis might be homophobic–and thus turn it into a childish joke or whatever–is one thing, but you know.
Saajan Patel
/ November 22, 2011Yeah Tristan, I don’t think you meant it that way but as much as a straight guy has validity saying this your connection between the two felt off to me as well. It implies the inclusion of gay characters has no purpose beyond shocking the straight readers.
To be clear, not trying to get on a pedestal. I get called out on stuff I say all the time – stuff so boneheaded after-the-fact that I can’t believe it came outta my mouth. As a friend explained to me, the point isn’t castigation but awareness.
Tristan J Nankervis
/ November 23, 2011Sorry, to clarify: I hadn’t read The Authority at the time I made my original comment. I heard about it, and that it had ersatz-Superman and ersatz-Batman in a relationship, which really interested me. But because people who say ‘Warren Ellis is a brilliant, funny, clever writer’ also tend to say ‘Garth Ennis is a brilliant, funny, clever writer’, I assumed The Authority would be pretty much like this: http://ferretbrain.com/articles/article-417
Also: definitely did not mean to say ‘All fictional gay relationships exist to shock straight readers’. I really wish more homosexual relationships were casually presented as normal in fiction, so I feel bad for implying otherwise.
acrackedmoon
/ November 23, 2011There’re Ellis series that read like grimdark-edgy crap, such as Gravel, but his better works aren’t so much focused on the grim-dark-edgy paradigm. The Authority is considered fairly conventional superhero fare actually, according to reviews from people better acquainted with superhero fare than I am. It’s somewhat gory, yes, but that’s about it.
Apollo/Midnighter as a couple during Ellis’ run is if anything understated; Mark Millar’s run is shit about it and about everything, and Abnett’s run doesn’t go anywhere in edgy region. I mean, hello, balloons.
Saajan Patel
/ November 23, 2011The Boys…liked it to some extent, there’s some characterization in there that is good, but once someone explains male gaze and manpain to you it shows how subpar the work is.
Gravel, imho, is a treatise on how not to use magic. Protag runs out of bullets? No prob, guns shoot flames because it is *magic*.
Has to fight one of the oldest magicians on the planet? – No prob, he just read one magic book over and over until he hit epic levels. (I get there was an anti-elitism thing going on here, but it didn’t work for me.)
IIRC he even loses an arm, then regenerates it between issues – it is sore, but otherwise no problem.
“I really wish more homosexual relationships were casually presented as normal in fiction, so I feel bad for implying otherwise.”
Yeah, it is hard to find which is why I come here to see what is being ignored or at least under-represented elsewhere.
acrackedmoon
/ November 23, 2011I recall a Gravel special or something about Gravel and a woman stuck in a jungle somewhere, and there’s a bit where a white man tells a WOC to take her clothes off. He then leaves her to be raped (?) and infected by his zombies, or something, after which she herself becomes one of the zombies–and then while fucking a male zombie she tears him apart.
Do not fucking want.
Saajan Patel
/ November 23, 2011Never got that far. Funny, I was feeling a little contrite given I recall Gravel recruiting POC to replace the evil wizards he kills. Now, not so much!
acrackedmoon
/ November 23, 2011Oh, all the replacements he recruits? Die. In, like, an issue later IIRC.
Saajan Patel
/ November 24, 2011Damn. Meh, fuck Gravel, would love to see more reviews on comics if you get the chance!
Oh, tying into your other reviews, it is interesting that Grant Morrison (who has some problems but overall I think is good and conscious about stuff) states that up to Red Son he was helping Millar with his work.
GM can come off as a blowhard, but I’ve never seen Millar deny this.
acrackedmoon
/ November 24, 2011Morrison also stated he’d like to run into Millar. In a car. At speed.
:’)
Plus:
Saajan Patel
/ November 27, 2011Warning: Talking about use of rape in comics.
Damn I wish I could reply directly underneath your post, FB won’t let me. Arg.
It is interesting to note that GM actually went out of his way to talk about how ridiculous he found the grimdark and the almost casual use of rape to further plot.
He does go a little into, well, not-true land when he says he never used rape in thirty years of comic crafting…though as a total outsider to the issue I thought the healing process to get past sexual abuse described in Doom Patrol was pretty beautiful.
I think because rather than magic as a deus ex machine it was more metaphorical. There was a push toward “forgiveness is great!”, which I think is a nice message. It was clear he wasn’t trying to blame the victim or castigate the victim, but these issues are so complex I feel iffy whenever they come up.
Saajan Patel
/ November 27, 2011Sorry, I meant:
“There was a push toward “forgiveness is great!”, which I think is a nice message BUT puts feels a little slanted.”
Apologies.
saajanpatel
/ December 16, 2011I was reminded today of a scene from the Wildstorm’s Mark of the Beast comic where two lesbians think the world is ending:
“Is God punishing us?”
“Let Him try.”
acrackedmoon
/ December 16, 2011Awwww. That is so sweet.
saajanpatel
/ January 13, 2012Was reading an essay by one Amy Poodle on Grant Morrison’s flawed but noteworthy attempts to include PoC and LGBT concerns in Invisibles. I don’t know if you’ve read it, but it might be worth checking out.
Though I did see more issues this time around than I did on my last reread, I do think you’d enjoy it.
acrackedmoon
/ January 13, 2012I tried to read The Invisibles and found the first arc to be about… a boy discovering he’s, like, a special chosen one who’s tutored by… some dude who’s dead, and then inducted into the fellowship of wtf. And I kind of lost interest, I’m afraid. I’ll definitely go through that essay, though, thanks for the link. :)
saajanpatel
/ January 13, 2012Admittedly IIRC I started on the arc from Volume 2 about the black woman who was going through an initiation, and then Volume 1 with the Brazilian transgendered person. :-)
There is payoff for the first arc, but it can be skimmed the first time around. I think GM did a more honest (but still flawed look) with a self-identified transgender person in Lord Fanny than Gaiman. Fanny doesn’t want an operation but identifies largely as a woman.
Again, I could be missing a lot and the work could be more offensive than I realize, but I have to admit I think GM is underrated given a woman inexplicably loving her rapist (Watchmen) is regarded as the high watermark of American published comics.