Broken Frontier

Toshi Hara confronts the Gleaner, the face of Death itself, with both her mother’s life and her own hanging in the balance.

Having breached spiritual etiquette and offending the Gleaner, one of the faces of Death, Toshi Hara must now face its challenge. The death-spirit’s hook is extended into the very heart of Toshi’s mother and its power will kill them both if she fails. Unfortunately, Toshi—now a slave to Aratsu, the Lord of Knives—does not remember her mother or even who she is. Her former life and that of her brother Kai is unraveling quickly.

Mike Carey is damn talented. Like many in the Vertigo stable, Carey understands the primal power of fantasy and the visceral grip of horror. He knows how to combine the two, to mix them like the ingredients of a fine stew, and serve them piping hot and rife with drama and metaphorical goodies. Such is the case with Crossing Midnight, his saga of a pair of twins born on either side of the witching hour. Part fairy tale, part horror story, with a dash of family and character drama mixed in, Carey’s series utilizes Japanese folklore and culture to tell a story of two different worlds and the hidden places where they meet.

Issue 9 concludes the opening story arc, "A Map of Midnight." While not quite bringing closure to the tale (there’s still much more to tell), there is a definite sense of a turning point being reached. Both twins’ paths have been chosen and the next part of their journey will soon begin. In the meantime, we get an exciting battle of wits with an incarnation of Death, another mystical threat to Miya Hara’s life (that lady just cannot catch a break!), and a surprise return of a dead cast member. Carey’s writing is excellent throughout. The Gleaner’s dialogue, in particular, drips with grandeur and menace and provides the story with a wonderful and unsettling mythic tone.

Jim Fern does an equally impressive job on the visual side of things with a clean and elegant line that is beautiful in its simplicity. His interpretation of the Gleaner is suitably frightening, a mass of blackness and tentacles and hooks. He also does a nice job conveying emotion and pain, subtle at times and (in Miya’s case) gut-wrenching at others. This is a series that most likely would have been rendered in a manga-esque style at another publisher, something I’ve always found to be an acquired taste. Fern however has done an admirable job bridging East and West while keeping true to his own style.

From the looks of things so far, Crossing Midnight is one of Vertigo’s strongest fantasy/horror hybrids since The Sandman. Cross over and see for yourself.