Crossing Midnight
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''Crossing Midnight'' was an American horror/fantasy
comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
series set in contemporary Japan. It was written by Mike Carey and illustrated by Jim Fern and Eric Nguyen, with covers by
J. H. Williams III James H. Williams III (born 1965), usually credited as J. H. Williams III, is an American comics artist and penciller. He is known for his work on titles such as ''Chase (comics), Chase'', ''Promethea'', ''Desolation Jones,'' ''Batwoman'', and ' ...
. Vertigo, a
DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...
, published the series. Due to poor sales, the series concluded after 19 issues.http://www.mikecarey.net/forum/topic.php?id=189#post-2042 Carey has said the series was born out of his love for Japanese and Korean films, such as ''
My Beautiful Girl, Mari ''My Beautiful Girl, Mari'' (; lit. "The Story of Mari") is a 2002 South Korean animated film. It follows the story of a young boy during summer vacation and ascends into flights of surrealistic fantasy, which may or may not be dream sequences. Th ...
'', and horror
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
by creators such as Junji Ito,
Hideshi Hino Hideshi Hino (日野日出志 ''Hino Hideshi'', born April 19, 1946) is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in horror stories. His comics include ''Hell Baby'', ''Hino Horrors'', and '' Panorama of Hell''. He also wrote and directed two entrie ...
, and
Shigeru Mizuki was a Japanese manga artist and historian, best known for his manga series ''GeGeGe no Kitarō''. Born in a hospital in Osaka and raised in the city of Sakaiminato, Tottori, he later moved to Chōfu, Tokyo where he remained until his death. ...
. Carey's version, however, is still intrinsically western. It is, he says, "
Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
's ''
The Snow Queen "The Snow Queen" ( da, Snedronningen) is an original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in '' New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection'' (''Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samli ...
'' set in
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
".


Plot

''Note: The following synopsis broadly covers the events of the first four issues''.
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
twins Kai and Toshi are born either side of midnight, an unexpected result of their father's frivolous prayer at their grandmother's shrine. As they grow up, Toshi becomes seemingly invulnerable to harm; a fall onto railings as a child causes the spikes to bend while she walks away unscathed. Kai himself proves impossible to injure with a knife. Another strange event affects them years later, when they and a childhood friend, Saburo, find themselves entering a magical fantasy world through the Sannō Shrine. When Kai spots a strange man stalking them, the twins run back to the real world, accidentally trapping their friend behind them. Still later, as teenagers, they find themselves once more confronted by the man from the fantasy land. He is Aratsu, a god of swords, and has come to collect Toshi as payment for their father's prayer years before. Toshi refuses, so Aratsu kills her pet dog. This causes two policemen, the mysterious detective Sato and the mute detective Yamada, to investigate. They begin to follow Kai around and it is implied that they know more about what is happening than he does. After refusing Aratsu again, Toshi decides to rid herself of him by stealing a gun from a young thug named KK, who threatens to kill her in retaliation. Meanwhile, Kai finds himself taken back into the fantasy world by Saburo, who has not aged since he was last seen. Saburo now serves a red dragon named Lord Rinjin who is the mortal enemy of Aratsu. Rinjin tells Kai that if Toshi refuses Aratsu a third time, he will have to leave her alone. He tells Kai to ensure that this happens or there will be trouble. Toshi does refuse Aratsu a third time, shooting him for good measure. However, the bullets only graze him and he slices her mother into pieces as retaliation. Toshi follows Aratsu into his palace and says that she will join him provided he restores her mother to life. In her bedroom, Kai's mother's body reforms itself but she remains unconscious. The story ends with Toshi following Aratsu to begin her new life. Kai's mother is under observation at a local hospital, where she remains unconscious and covered with scars from Aratsu's swords. Kai's grieving is interrupted by a gang of evil imps, which start to consume pieces of his mother's memory. They run when Kai attacks them as they fear his touch, but soon find weapons in a part of the hospital that is closed for renovation. He is saved by Nidoru, goddess of needles, who dispatches them with ease. She reveals that she is aware of the debt owed by Kai's father to Aratsu. She also explains that the imps were attracted to his mother's soul, which was also cut apart by Aratsu's swords – shredded souls being easier to consume. She also explains that she and her master were the only 'shepherds of point' not to bow to Aratsu. As punishment, he killed her master. She says that if Kai agrees to help her take Aratsu down, she will sew his mother's soul back together and try to save his father, who is destined to die in a yakuza shoot-out that day. He agrees and his mother wakes up too late to stop him from walking off with Nidoru. In his mansion, Aratsu slices through Toshi with a special sword, cutting away both her past and future, leaving her existing in an eternal 'now'. He says that if she displeases him, he will allow that time to elapse and she will vanish. He also gives her a new name, Hasharito or 'little insect', and tells her never to think of her old name. Despairingly, she agrees.


Collected editions


Notes


References

*


External links


Review of ''Crossing Midnight'' #1




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{{Vertigo Comics Ongoing Series Comics by Mike Carey (writer) Fantasy comics