The relaunched WildStorm line has a slight air of desperation about it - let's get a bunch of big names to take a crack at our major characters, and if it doesn't sell this time, heaven only knows what we're going to do.  The results have been a bit random.

Midnighter is a Garth Ennis superhero comic.  Let's just pause for a moment to consider why somebody thought that was a good idea.

Garth Ennis doesn't do superheroes.  The Punisher doesn't count - so long as he sticks to fighting criminals, he's not a superhero at all, but comes from a different genre altogether. In fact, as is plainly obvious from the way he normally writes them, Garth Ennis doesn't even really like superheroes.  Although he's written several Authority miniseries, they're really based around his Kev character, and the Authority are used as comic foils.  It's a bit of a leap, to put it mildly, to conclude that the world needs a Midnighter solo title by Garth Ennis.

Ennis is constitutionally incapable of writing a bad comic.  He has too sure a grasp of pacing and structure.  Even when he's phoning it in, he's better than 90% of people who are trying.  When he's passionate about his subject, he's often astounding.

This, unfortunately, is Garth Ennis on autopilot, trying his best to write a straight superhero comic but showing no sign of really wanting to.  It's something of a mystery to me why he took the assignment.  He's written a perfectly straightforward story in which the Midnighter is a cool superhero who kicks ass, and who gets enlisted as a reluctant assassin by a fairly off-the-peg villain.  It's all done perfectly well, and Chris Sprouse matches him with strong, clear artwork.  There's a token attempt to make Midnighter a no-nonsense type who doesn't put up with the sort of thing Ennis hates about the genre.

But when all is said and done, I don't get the impression that Ennis is really itching to give us his take on this character, let alone this genre.  On the contrary, it feels decidedly like there are things Ennis would rather be doing with his time.

It's not bad.  Ennis is never bad.  But he's rarely this dispassionate, and I can't imagine a book like this winning many people back to the WildStorm fold.  We all know what he's capable of, and this is not it.

Rating: B-

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