Gay comic-book readers and fanboys rejoice. Midnighter has arrived, or returned, depending on your perspective. Launched in early June just in time for Pride month, the Midnighter series, written by out writer Steve Orlando, heralds the first gay male superhero to headline a mainstream comic. If Midnighter's name is familiar, he's been around and gay since the late 1990s, marrying his husband Apollo in 2002. But in the hands of gay writer Orlando, and with his own saga, Midnighter is going to be doing things he's never done before, and going places he's never been.
Gregg Shapiro: Do you remember the first comic book you ever read?
Steve Orlando: Yes I do, actually. It was West Coast Avengers #16. It features Hellcat and Tigra having a fight over who gets to be Tigra, and was called A Tale of Two Kitties.
Did it have a profound effect on you?
Yes, but comics in general have. That was a book I bought at a flea market in New York. It's not like it was a new-run book, like on new comic-book day. But the excitement and what I now know as the modern-day takes on myth (at the time I thought it was cool, people punching each other) appealed to me. It drove me to buying more modern books. When you're young you don't know a lot of things, and I didn't realize they were making new versions of these things. Once I walked into a Waldenbooks, which I think is a fossil company now, and started buying comics off the spinner rack, I got into the serialized aspect and discovered a kind of storytelling that I really enjoy.
Do you describe yourself as a comic-book geek?
Maybe more of an evangelist about why new people should try comics. I'm often the nerdiest guy in the room. I've sometimes brought up characters in editorial that are deep in the book. Those are the characters I love. There are no really bad characters, they just haven't found the right take yet. I do love digging deep in the book and finding something that can have new life breathed into it.
For people who aren't comic-book fans but are excited about the prospect of Midnighter, a gay character, having his own book, where can they go to get the complete back story?
All you'd really need to do is read any of the collections that put together The Authority, Issues 1-12. You can buy it on your iPad or phone, or find it in hard copy, The Authority by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch. They're the creators of the character. If you wanted extra credit, you could get the previous volume of Stormwatch from 1998, the character's first appearance. If you wanted extra extra credit you could read select issues of the previous Midnighter series before the character was bought by DC Comics. I specifically like Midnighter 8 by Christos Gage and John Paul Leon. It's a story like the one we're doing in the book now, it acknowledges his grander scheme as this world-exploiting character, but it's also a very human story, it understands the caring underneath his violent exterior. If you read all of those, you'd be fantastic.
What's the genesis of the name Midnighter?
When I read it, I always thought they were playing off Batman and Superman. Superman is the sun god, so you have Apollo. I took Midnighter as being a play on the opposite. Midnighter also means when you're working overnight or starting at Midnight. When Warren was creating the character, it seemed as though he was going for these primal-type names. Saying them evokes the primal sense of the character. Midnighter is the last guy you want to see in the middle of the night. That's what the character, and I think his name, is about.
Midnighter was in a long-term relationship that has since ended.
Yes, before the character was bought by DC and integrated into the DC Universe, he was in a long-term relationship.
He is now single and playing the field. Is it necessary for Midnighter to take any precautions when being intimate with others, or is he immune from STDs?
Definitely not. There is a shot of him using condoms and being safe. I think it's important to know that he's being safe, but I think it's important to have a sex-positive book because it's a problem that's coming up in the community. There's nothing wrong with confident gay male sexuality. In the context of the story, when you met Apollo and Midnighter in 1998 they were already together off-page for five years. The fact is, real relationships are work, and sometimes people move too fast. From my point of view, since Apollo was Midnighter's first boyfriend ever, I love the way they bounce off each other. You get to see how they learned to become the people they are.
Is there a target audience for the Midnighter series?
We are looking to give a sort of icon to the queer community. It's vitally important that he's a gay man in the book. The messages I've been getting from people since Issue 1 came out have been wonderful, people saying they didn't have the strength to come out and after they read the book they were able to. People have said that they've been waiting 30 years to see someone like them lead a book. To me, that's what comics should do. In the 1930s it was Superman. He was an immigrant, and we had a strong immigrant population saying, "This guy's fighting for us!" In the 60s you had Peter Parker [Spiderman], who had all of these superpowers, but had trouble with his girlfriend. A reader could think, "Oh, he has problems just like me." You pick up this pop-culture myth, and wow, you can see yourself in it. That wow moment is something that everyone deserves. This is something for the queer community. That's comics doing the job of comics. At the same time, I don't want people to read the book simply because it has a gay male lead. That implies there's not anything else interesting about him.
Do you listen to music while you draw?
My true understanding of Midnighter is related to music and to punk. If you've read interviews with Henry Rollins, he talks about how people always ask him if he's gay. I read one where he finally said, "If I was gay, it wouldn't be a problem. If I was gay, there wouldn't be a closet. I would have exploded the closet and kicked down the door and used the shard to stab someone in the face." That broke me and how I understand Midnighter today. There's no closet for him. He's out as a gay man, as a superhero. He's not lying about himself ever, he never does.
On a day-to-day basis, I have really weird habits as to what I'm listening to. A lot of people need silence. For whatever reason, I listen to a fair amount of white noise. I'll put on long dramas that I don't have to worry about, so I can calm my mind and focus it. Lou Reed was a strong influence when I was trying to find a point of view for the character. Lou is a good role model for Midnighter. He was experimented on as a youth, and his past is robbed, and that's what turned him into Midnighter. Lou Reed was given electroshock therapy when he was young. There's a through-line there.
Between Fun Home and Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, non-traditional illustrated characters are having an impact on theater. What do you think about that?
I think it's great! Comic characters are like these pop-culture totems. Comic books are their natural habitats, but seeing them break out into other mediums is not a bad thing. Movies are a communal experience, and the same goes for theater. Seeing that these characters can do great in places other than comic books is great. You're bringing the characters' themes to a new medium, allowing people to experience them with other people.
If there's a Midnighter movie, who would you want to play the lead?
I've seen people online saying they would like to see it be Tom Hardy. Probably because he's reportedly had same-sex experience and likes to take seminude selfies and commits himself to roles. That would be a great idea. When I first started thinking about it, I took the easy answer and thought it might be fun for Matt Bomer to play him because he's like a Greek god. I think I like Hardy more because there is an edginess and danger to Midnighter that I think he could get across. Matt Bomer is gorgeous, but he looks like he should be piloting a yacht instead of blowing one up.