By Dustin Cabeal

After getting caught up on the first issue, I’m jumping in for a review of the second issue. Please feel free to check out our review for the first issue… here.

Midnight Task Force is an interesting combination of concepts and genres that have all found their way into one story. At the moment, it’s not too crowded, but there are inklings that there’s possibly too much going on in this story. The main character is an ex-military man, and his secret is that he carries around three primary colored bottles that contain the minds of his three fallen comrades. If you’re looking for more answers there, then you’re not alone, but that hasn’t been revealed in the story just yet.

Our main guy Detective Aiden McCormick has been given a high-profile serial killer case. The public has caught wind of it, and so now the lone wolf detective has a deadline to solve the crime before the city is locked down. McCormick gets a lead when the latest victim contains a clue from a sloppy kill. This sets McCormick on the path to a bomb maker and club owner.

The story is set in the future which bears mentioning because Mark London does a solid job of making a story that follows a familiar formula, but does feel futuristic. There are some pacing problems in this issue in which we spend a lot of time with McCormick as he meets with a man on a roof and the two exchange a lot of exposition and then another scene in which we learn that McCormick is in AA and gives zero fucks about being there. Then there’s the way that McCormick talks to his assistant, at least I assume it’s his assistant. He always yells at her, and it’s strange until she pulls the chief into a broom closet and gives him a blow job. Needless to say, I have no idea what this scene had to do with the plot, but I’m willing to see if the assistant story plays out in later issues.

The dialogue is a bit cheesy at times and never really sounds natural. The narration, on the other hand, is good. We have four narrators, so that makes it interesting and adds different insights. London manages to make each of the four personalities sound different. The problem is, these four characters are better developed than anyone else in the story.

The artwork reminds me a lot of what Radical Comics would do, in that it’s mostly 3D renders and composition artwork. It’s not bad and a lot better than anything that Radical would make, but it’s also not my favorite. It makes the storytelling a little stiff as the panels end up being a lot bigger than needed in a lot of cases. The action sequences could use a few extra panels to make the flow smoother but overall, it’s not bad.

I’m curious to see what happens with the story. I’m not in love with it quite yet, but there’s enough here that’s caught my attention. There’s a lot of familiarity with the story, but time will tell if the creative team can add something new and stand on its own. If you like lone wolf cop stories set in the future, check out Midnight Task Force.

Score: 3/5

Midnight Task Force #2
Writer: Mark London
Artist: Alejandro Giraldo
Letterer: Andrew Zea
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios