While being a destroyer of worlds is always a thrill, to see Corrigan and the Spectre in a more intimate relationship with day-to-day life is something sadly lacking in the DCU. One of the interesting things about how Fawkes is handling him (it seems) is that because he’s part of an actual police team, he’s well-tethered to Gotham in a focused way that goes back to his roots (as opposed to the more “cosmic” entity overseeing broader world events). Spectre’s been around briefly in the New 52, but he hasn’t really had a chance to show us what he’s made of. The long-anticipated return of Jim Corrigan to a regular series.
There’s a handful of things that makes this series really exciting for me: Maybe it’s just to remind us where we are, but I think the book doesn’t actually need much grounding. Meanwhile, Corrigan consults with Batman briefly at the set up. He’s convinced the whole operation is a lot of bunk and means to shut them down. The team also must contend with Sergeant Rook, on investigation from Internal Affairs. Their first case involves kidnapped children who have been returned with a “psychic infection” that causes them to babble in tongues. In this first issue titled “We Do Not Sleep”, Lieutenant Weaver, Lisa Drake, Jim Corrigan, Sister Justine, and Zsandor Tarr make up the team. So it doesn’t feel the least bit unnatural to meet the “Midnight Shift” special GCPD task force (created by Gordon himself), whose duty it is to mind the things that go bump in the night. It makes sense–the Dark Knight’s work in the shadows fosters a setting rife with spookiness. Some of its mythology has been more grounded, but occasionally it has entertained an out-and-out ghost story.
The supernatural has been a part of Batman’s world for at least the least the last 40 years with varying degrees of success. Ray Fawkes and Ben Templesmith have produced something in Gotham by Midnight that is as different as it is refreshing: a new lens with which to experience Gotham and all of its haunted underpinnings.
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