The Midnight Suns…Are Doomed! The new team of Midnight Suns – Magik, Wolverine, Blade, Spirit Rider, And Nico Minoru – face their first brutal test when DOCTOR DOOM lays siege to Strange Academy! What is Doom after?! And an even bigger threat awaits IF they survive – a threat tied to the Sorcerer Supreme and one only the Midnight Suns have the power to overcome. Written by Ethan Sacks, with art by Luigi Zagaria, colored by Antonio Fabela, with letters by Joe Sabino.
Issue two begins in 1428 within a castle in the country of Transia, where a coven of witches is about to be attacked by an angry mob. One of the witches is a younger version of Agatha. I really love everyone’s purple outfits here.
In order to stop the mob, the witch coven is attempting to summon a being called Valtorr. Corina, another witch, is against summoning Valtorr, but Agatha and another witch known as Laveau are all for it since they are desperate to get the angry mob off their backs.
Speaking of Laveau, she seems to be Zoe Laveau’s ancestor but she looks too white for me to be sure. Laveau also has sinister intentions emphasized by a black mirror showing a smirking reflection as the real Laveau tries to justify summoning Valtorr. Despite agreeing with Laveau, Agatha is still angry with her because the plan doesn’t seem to be working. Laveau casually mentions that a sacrifice is needed to summon Valtorr.
Just then, a hooded shadow that resembles the one Zoe saw in her vision in the previous issue appears. It seems to go for Corina as Agatha screams her name as the flashback ends.
If the hooded shadow that appeared before Corina is Valtorr, then we finally have a name for the being threatening the Midnight Suns in the present day.
Speaking of the present, Agatha and Zoe Laveau teleport into the modern day run down version of the castle in Transia. Zoe asks why Agatha saved her even though Agatha saw the vision of Zoe possibly causing an apocalypse. Agatha says she has seen this happen before and wants to help Zoe survive. I don’t know much about Agatha as a character, but she might be helping Zoe out of guilt for what happened to her coven in 1492.
Back at Strange Academy, Dr. Doom has begun his assault on the Midnight Suns as he asks them to hand over Zoe Laveau. Starting with Wolverine, almost everyone tries to attack Doom one by one with little success. At least we get some snide comments traded between Doom and certain characters like Spirit Rider and Magik.
In fact, the dialogue of writer Ethan Sacks’ dialogue has been really amusing. Doom saying to Magik, “Your infernal energies seem diminished to my eyes.” and Magik responding with, “And what will your eyes tell you about my giant pointy sword when I gouge them out of their sockets?!” is priceless.
Luigi Zagara’s artwork, Antonio Fabela’s colors, and VC’s Joe Sabino’s letters are particularly great in these fight scenes. Spirit Rider’s hellfire looks great and makes a nice “VZYUUUM” sound as it tries to hit Doom. Likewise, Magik’s Soulsword hits Doom’s magic shield with a satisfying “KERRRANGG!” Soon the Midnight Suns regroup and decide to attack Doom all at once, but Doom summons Doombots to even his odds.
Back in Transia, Zoe Laveau is assuming that her friends at Strange Academy are safe since she isn’t there to put them in danger. Agatha Harkness promptly tells her to stop the self-pity party because Zoe is descended from a powerful bloodline. Agatha also magically summons Zoe’s favorite beignets to calm the poor girl, taking them from some restaurant and leaving money in their place. I chuckled when Agatha says take-out is one of the few positive developments of the past century.
Agatha then goes on to explain how the coven seen at the beginning of the issue attempted to summon Valtorr, a being that has granted power to generations of witches and sorcerers. However, that power has come at a cost and now it is time for magic beings to pay up. Agatha believes that the coven made a mistake long ago, entreating Zoe to help her and she agrees. It is ironic that the thing that the coven summoned in order to stop being persecuted has now caused an innocent young girl to be persecuted by her peers.
At this point, I have to say that I hope Zoe doesn’t actually turn out to be a harbinger of the apocalypse. It bothered me from the start of the series that Zoe Leveau, a descendant of a fictional character that is inspired by a real-life Marie Leveau, is reduced to possibly being a villain. Only time will tell, but this is something I can’t help criticizing as a Black comic book fan.
Returning to the rest of the Midnight Suns, we find them battling Doombots. They managed to get a few decent hits in before Doom gets fed up and demands them to tell where Zoe Leveau is. Before they can be finished off, a timely arrival zaps Doom and sends him crashing into the school.
Clea, the newest Sorcerer Supreme, says finding Zoe is her responsibility not his. Doom being outnumbered and outclassed causes him to retreat, but Clea soon tells the others to stand down. Magik pushes back since they were all in the vision with Zoe and Clea promptly zaps The Midnight Suns to The Dark Dimension.
Speaking of magic heroes in The Dark Dimension, this is also where Emily and her friends went to in the ongoing Strange Academy after fleeing from the teachers out of protest. I don’t know whether Midnight Suns and Strange Academy will crossover, but it would be nice to see the students and teachers tentatively coming to a truce to save the world.
The issue ends with The Midnight Suns minus Zoe Laveau trying to get their bearings in The Dark Dimension. Magik can’t teleport them out, so seeing how they will escape will make for an exciting next issue.
Latonya Pennington
Latonya Pennington is a freelance contributor whose comics criticism can be found at Women Write About Comics, Comic Book Herald, Newsarama and Shelfdust, among others.
