Midnight Sky #7 is a new arc from Scout Comics’ series, publishing February 3. Writer James Pruett dives right into the conflict of the effects war has on people, especially families. Artist Scott Van Domelen showcases these effects by going into expressive detail on characters. It’s something that colorist Ilaria Fella by showcasing a spectrum of colors depending on the situation.
Background
Midnight Sky follows Jennifer and her children Elita and Alejandro, dealing with an invasion of changelings. These shape-shifting fairies long replaced many people, including Jennifer’s husband, and have taken over some government powers. More or less, the purpose is to weaponize hybrids like Elita, who can use magic to make their blood lethal.
Midnight Sky #7: Writing Family War Dramas
Midnight Sky #7 does not hold hands when it comes to how it presents its conflicts, and that’s a good thing. Like any war story, going into a conflict with only a general idea doesn’t actually prepare readers for it. The intense emotions that the characters speak displays how much everyone has been through. While the reader will question where Alejandro is away from Jennifer and Elita, they already have a good idea of how much this war affects them. Everybody is scared, for themselves and the people they love. When the reader finds how all sides are getting desperate, they find an empathetic link from Pruett that hooks them in.
Expressing Conflict
Van Domelen enhances this conflict even further by showing how emotional these characters get. By showing how Elita gets angry at how scientists are drugging kids on tables in a sequence of facial differences, it leads to a splash page where Elita unleashes her power. This very power that the scientists were trying to gather is destructive, highlighted by a bright red light from Fella. Because once that act is over, she feels the fatigue and shock of her actions accented by muted greens. Just these pages of Midnight Sky #7 are a display of the overall conflict of the series. If the story wasn’t enough to get readers invested, they will be after this.
The lettering by Van Domelen(?) in the meantime act as even further extensions of the issue. The word balloons do more than guide the reader through panels; they showcase different conflicts happening at once. As one wide panel show two sides of a setting’s conflict, the reader can look at adjacent panels that split apart rather than focus on one conflict by following the word balloons. That is until the panel gets wide again when the conflict intersects.
Get Into Midnight Sky #7
Midnight Sky #7 is a fine way of getting into a conflict that goes beyond the core cast. It captures the essence of war that inspires the reader to have empathy among the characters. Because in a war where conflicts are never so simple, looking at how it affects people is what keeps the reader’s attention.
