The Marvel Universe has a multitude of defenders that protect against the threats of street crime, supervillains, and cosmic menaces, but who holds the line against the monstrous and magical horrors that lurk in the shadows? Since the '90s, that particular brand of threat has been the purview of an ever-evolving team of fan-favorite horror heroes known as the Midnight Sons, whose original ranks included characters who've gone on to become icons like Blade and Ghost Rider. This fall, a new iteration of the team will step back into the spotlight in a major way.
This September, the Midnight Sons will become the Midnight Suns in a five-issue miniseries from writer Ethan Sacks and artist Luigi Zagaria. The new series will bring together some of the cast of October's Marvel's Midnight Suns tactical RPG video game for an in-continuity adventure that finds the Marvel Universe at the mercy of a legacy-style supernatural threat. CBR spoke with Sacks about that threat, his cast of characters, and expanding upon the legacy of the Midnight Sons for a new era. He and Marvel also shared an exclusive look at some of Luigi Zagaria's artwork, and David Nakayama's cover for Midnight Suns #3.
CBR: Your series, Midnight Suns, shares a title with the upcoming video game featuring a multitude of iconic Marvel characters. Long-time comics fans also have an attachment to the Midnight Sons, Marvel's premier team of horror/supernatural heroes. So, what does that mean for your book?
Ethan Sacks: It's interesting because this series sort of has a legacy, but each generation of the Midnight Sons has been their own unique thing. So, I didn't feel beholden to it in the same way as if I was doing an Avengers book. I feel like I can pay tribute to the feel and provide some Easter Eggs here and there, but for the most part, I'm free to take it in a different direction. So, this book will have sort of the best of both worlds.
Your lineup does include nods to past incarnations of this team like Blade, who was a member of the original incarnation, and Kushala who represents the Ghost Rider legacy of the group.
I feel like if there's one character from the original Midnight Sons lineup that I gravitated towards, it's Blade. He's in the video game as well.
Kushala is interesting because I felt like we needed a Ghost Rider on our Midnight Suns team. One of the great parts of this book is [that] it's in-continuity and there's a lot going on with some other Ghost Riders like Johnny Blaze and Robbie Reyes. So, I love this character who is a fairly new Ghost Rider. She allows me to have a cool Ghost Rider on the team and a newer character. So there was a lot of thought that went into our lineup about having characters connected to the game and to the original legacy. It also gives us some freedom to add some slightly new faces into the mix.
Kushala is part of the Ghost Rider legacy, but she's also a former Sorcerer Supreme and a Native American time traveler who's lived both in the past and the present. So there are a lot of different aspects of her character. Which ones are of immediate interest to you?
I have to be a little cagey here, in order to not give everything away, but I love that person-out-of-time aspect to her. It's similar to when Steve Rogers first joined the Avengers. I really loved the digital Marvel series that focused on her. I love that she's someone who's getting used to a completely different time period. I don't know how deep I can dive into that in this initial series, but I hope that there is more to come. I definitely think this lineup could have a bright future in the Marvel Universe.
Your cast features two representatives from the mutant nation of Krakoa, Magik, and Wolverine. What made you want to bring both of them into the book?
Some of our lineup comes straight from the video game. We liked the idea of having a recognizable lineup if you were coming to the book from the game. From what we've seen of the game, Wolverine is obviously a major part of that lineup. This is not a tie-in by any means though.
Magik is one of my all-time favorite characters. So, to continue to play with her story is a lot of fun. I also like that she and Wolverine have a familiar relationship. We're also bringing in Nico Minoru who has taught with Magik at Strange Academy. So, even though the full lineup has never been together as a team there are connections between them.
What's it like writing Nico, who's usually a part of the Runaways, in the company of a different team?
I really related a lot to Nico. I'm currently writing the third script. So I might gravitate toward others as I get further along. This book finds her without her staff. So, it's set after the events of the most recent Runaways series. She's trying to establish herself without some of that legacy that she inherited from her parent's background. So, she finds herself at a crossroads, and I've enjoyed playing with that. She has a friendship with Magik, and she's very protective of Zoe Laveau who comes from a similar background; where your last name can be toxic based on what your ancestors have done with it.
Zoe is a new character introduced in the Strange Academy series. So, she strikes me as the character that will have sort of the fresh eyes perspective that's so useful in stories with fantastic and horrific elements.
Yeah, she's definitely a major part of this story. I don't want to get too deeply into how, but she is at the very center of the event that basically kickstarts the whole series.
What can you tell us about the brand new threat the team is up against?
It's a brand new one that's steeped in some magical lore from Marvel's past. So, I wouldn't say it's an entirely new threat. There's definitely a connection. That connection will become obvious pretty quickly.
This series is brought to life by artist Luigi Zagaria. His work for Marvel's Spider-Man office suggests that this will be a book full of kinetic action.
Yes! He's doing an amazing job. I'm getting these emails of inked pages almost every day, and the images are so fantastic!
There's a lot of action for him, but also fairly early on in the book, there's an apocalyptic two-page spread that's just stunning! It's the most nightmarish thing I can imagine being rendered. It's so scary looking!
The original Midnight Sons were very much in the supernatural corner of the Marvel Universe. It feels like with Midnight Suns that supernatural aspect is there, but it's being brought out into the middle of the Marvel Universe with characters like Wolverine, Magik, and Blade who's been a member of the Avengers for the past couple of years.
Yeah, the reason this particular lineup comes together isn't immediately obvious in the first issue, but it becomes clearer as the series moves forward. And Wolverine is a character who often gets drawn into things beyond his control. He's also very protective of Magik in this case, who is the closest thing to a team leader in this collection of characters who don't normally work together. So, Wolverine is doing the best he can, and the supernatural is obviously not his favorite type of opponent.
This series has some twists and turns that pay homage to things that I love about this genre of the Marvel Universe. This is my first book with magic. It's been great playing with some of those fantasy elements and some of the real-world horrors threaded in via allegory. That stuff made me a fan of Doctor Strange and the original Midnight Sons. So, it's been such a blessing to get to play in this part of the sandbox.
Finally, it's clear from your work on Star Wars: Bounty Hunters that you have an affinity for team books, and you mentioned you'd like an opportunity to write these characters together again. So if people show up for this Midnight Suns series you'd be interested in telling more stories with these characters?
I would definitely be interested. I'm working with one of my Star Wars editors, Tom Groneman, who's now in the Spider-Office. So, I'd jump at the chance to work with him again, and after getting this team together, I would definitely be interested in doing more with them.
I think Bounty Hunters helped get me into a frame of mind for writing team books. That's not the easiest thing to do because you have to give everyone an arc without sacrificing any of the larger story pieces. The analogy I always use is that it's like a band, and every musician needs their time for solos, but, at the same time, you can't lose the inherent melody that holds it all together.
Midnight Suns #1 is due to be released on Wednesday, Sept. 14.