Ortensia Thomas, the woman in black, has discovered a peculiar church. Find out if she and her right hand man Alexander, can survive this house of God in Midnight Western Theatre #2 by Scout Comics!
MIDNIGHT WESTERN THEATRE #2 (OF 5)
Write: Louis Southard
Artist: David Hahn
Colorist: Ryan Cody
Letterer: Buddy Beaudon
Editor: Andrea Lorenzo Molinari
Publisher: Scout Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 30th, 2021
Previously in Midnight Western Theatre: Ortensia and Alexander have been traveling together in 1864 for untold reasons. In fact, we do not know very much about our protagonists quite yet. However, a church in the middle of nowhere can’t be a great place for this woman in black and her vampire companion.
HOLIER THAN THOU
Midnight Western Theatre #2 begins with Ortensia and Alexander being invited by a pastor to be cleansed at a church. Outside this building are skeletons and corpses hung on wooden crosses. The implication is that if the two do not get cleanse, then they are a sinner who must perish. Alexander believes he will die if he enters a church and Ortensia must convince him that the comment is hearsay. When they enter, they meet the “Divine Prophet”, a dog. As the dog barks, his followers bark with him.
Ortensia shoots the dog and causes an uproar among the cultists. She then demands the head priest to tell her where Daisy Gatz is, a missing young girl. Daisy was one of the corpses left to be crucified. The duo then begins to shoot, stab, and murder all the cultists. Ortensia then takes the corpse to bring to her home.
MIXTURE OF TONES
Midnight Western Theatre #2 premise is quite grim. We are shown bodies that have been hung to die in the sun. There are no apparent injuries or blood stains, so I am inclined to believe that they were left to die in the heat. This is balanced by a change of tone by having a dog as a prophet and Alexander having an irrational fear of churches. The jokes are used as levity for the content on the page, but it felt distracting from the plot. This is because there is not much about the characters or their overall goal. I am sitting here trying to figure out what is going on and focus on character motivations, but my concentration is broken by the humor.
I have a hunch that Midnight Western Theater is going to work better in a trade paperback over individual issues. There was a moment in the beginning where we had a flashback that I think was referenced in issue #1 but I don’t remember it. Maybe as the miniseries progresses, I’ll be able to sit back and see a cohesive story that I am just not getting yet.
BOTTOM LINE: POOR EXECUTION
This comic looks like it has great ideas and I think the plot could be interesting. But this comic wasn’t well executed on the page. Hopefully next issue we will learn more about our two primary characters or at least understand their motivations a little bit better. Midnight Western Theatre #3 is a 3 out of 5 from me.
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Midnight Western Theatre #3
Midnight Western Theatre #3 has excellent ideas but seems to have a hard time focusing on what is important.
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Writing5
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Art7
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Coloring6
Christopher Rondeau is a storyteller based in Tulsa, OK. Finding himself with little work, he ended up creating a job as a Game Master full time on the internet. Chris spends most of his days reading everything he can, writing bad fiction, and watching old Digimon cartoons with his daughter. Sometimes you can find him Dungeon Mastering a podcast or streaming on twitch. Recently, he has completed his Master's degree with a focus on collaborative storytelling. Find out more at https://rondeaucreator.com