Set Description:
J. Michael Straczynski was having a pretty good run as a comic book writer. The adaptation of his acclaimed TV series, Babylon 5, was well-received (if uneven). After challenges with DC's editorial policies, he moved to Top Cow and was given his own Joe's Comics imprint for Rising Stars, his debut original-to-comics series. That sold pretty well, and in 2000, he followed it with this title.
Discussions of Midnight Nation often focus on the religious aspects of the story. And, yes, the Biblical Lazarus is a main character. There are angels. There's... the Other Guy. But this isn't a strictly religious story, anymore than Hellblazer is. Or TV's Supernatural. It's a story about heroism and self-discovery and love and sacrifice and of the dangers posed when our society forgets the least of us. JMS has repeatedly described it as the favorite of all his comic book work. I'm inclined to agree.
These days, of course, everyone wants to know about the chances for adaptations. It would make an excellent miniseries, I think, and was licensed for one circa 2016. But that didn't happen. Some Spider-Man missteps have taken a bit of the shine off JMS's comic-writing star, but perhaps someday?
In the meantime, this early 2000s book escaped the worst excesses of 90s Image. There are a few limited print foils, a couple reprints, and an early precursor of the modern store exclusive, but no holofoil jazz or other 90s gimmicks. The core series itself struggles to stay out of dollar bins, and most of the variants can be picked up for a few bucks. So, why go through the expense of slabbing these? First, I'm just a big fan. I bought the full run out of the Diamond boxes at the comic shop I worked in at the time, and I've recommended it to many others over the years. One of those was a good friend, several years back now. It was her first introduction to the comic book as a storytelling medium, and although she'd eventually read quite a few others, Midnight Nation remained one of her favorites. Sadly, cancer took her well before her time.
This set, which I do someday hope to have as 9.8s across the board, is for her... and me, and all the other good memories with friends that I associate with this title. And because it deserves to be better than forgotten dollar box dreck. I am more than certain I'll never be able to recoup the costs of slabbing these books. But that was never the point anyway.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1/2 |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1/2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810008
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Owner Comments
Offered with Wizard: the Comics Magazine #115.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1/2 Blue Foil Edition |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1/2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810009
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Owner Comments
Advertised as a limited edition of 999.
I was hoping for a 9.6 on this one, but missed a tiny defect on the back cover that made it deserve the 9.4 it got. Can't be too sad about things, as this is still the top census copy as of this writing.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1/2 Wizard Special Edition |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1/2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436014
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1 |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810010
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Owner Comments
This issue shipped as a 50/50 ratio of two covers. One has an entirely black background, and is generally referred to as Cover A. CGC now considers that the default cover for this issue. The other, with a black-and-red background, is typically considered Cover B. As of early 2021, CGC is slabbing those books as the "Variant Cover".
Comichron shows 64,244 orders for Midnight Nation #1. It was, in terms of units ordered, the #7 comic book of September 2000 (behind Uncanny X-Men 386, X-Men 106, Wolverine 156, JLA 46, Avengers 34, and Punisher 8). It beat out Batman, Captain America, Iron Man, Spawn, and every Spider-Man title.
Interestingly, that means the individual covers of #1 are rarer than any other non-variant issue in the series; Diamond shipped around 32,000 of each cover of #1, but orders for the later books would never drop below even 37,000!
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1 Dynamic Forces Blue Foil Edition |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0352975016
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Owner Comments
Advertised as a limited edition of 1000.
Purchased pre-slabbed.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1 Dynamic Forces Edition |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810014
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Owner Comments
Advertised as a limited edition of 10,000.
However, Dynamic Forces also released a signed version of this book, which is not considered a separate variant by either CGC or myself because it is identical other than the signature. Dynamic Forces advertised 1500 copies so signed by Straczynski; it is unclear whether these are included in the 10,000 copy run or in addition to it. Regardless, it is telling of both the level of success of this title, and of its era, than a 10,000 book run would be advertised as a "limited edition".
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1 Dynamic Forces European Edition |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810015
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Owner Comments
Another Dynamic Forces variant, this one advertised as a limited edition of 5000. Although titled the "European Exclusive" on the cover, I don't have any evidence that this was in any way exclusively sold in Europe.
The solid black cover is as much of a challenge here as any other solid black book. Nevertheless, I almost certainly should have held out for a better copy on this one. Such is the way of things; it will likely be one of the first books targeted for an upgrade.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1 Dynamic Forces Gold Foil Edition |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0016214004
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Owner Comments
Advertised as a limited edition of 4000.
This book is in an old-style case with the old-style label, and has lost its top label strip. This will get a reholder once I get a few more books together that need one.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1 Variant Cover |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810011
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Owner Comments
This issue shipped as a 50/50 ratio of two covers. One has an entirely black background, and is generally referred to as Cover A. CGC now considers that the default cover for this issue. The other, with a black-and-red background, is typically considered Cover B. As of early 2021, CGC is slabbing those books as the "Variant Cover".
This book was actually submitted as part of the process of getting CGC to break out the two covers, despite knowing ahead of time that it wasn't coming back as a 9.6/9.8. I do also own this cover in a 9.8 (Certification Number 0715162059). However, it was slabbed before the covers were split out and so cannot be slotted in the Variant Cover slot in the registry. It's also in an old-style slab, and eventually I'll have enough books that need reholders to get it in the new slab and have the label corrected. Regardless, that book is one of my international acquisitions, having been purchased from Mundo Fantasma in Portugal.
Comichron shows 64,244 orders for Midnight Nation #1. It was, in terms of units ordered, the #7 comic book of September 2000 (behind Uncanny X-Men 386, X-Men 106, Wolverine 156, JLA 46, Avengers 34, and Punisher 8). It beat out Batman, Captain America, Iron Man, Spawn, and every Spider-Man title.
Interestingly, that means the individual covers of #1 are rarer than any other non-variant issue in the series; Diamond shipped around 32,000 of each cover of #1, but orders for the later books would never drop below even 37,000!
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 1 Second Printing |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810012
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Owner Comments
The second printing cover uses the art from Cover B (the "Variant Cover"), with the red elements of the background recolored blue. For what it's worth, I've always found this color scheme the more appealing of the two.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 2 |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3847395017
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Owner Comments
Comichron records 41,643 orders for this book, a steep drop in terms of total copies ordered from #1, but that's largely an artifact of the dual-cover gimmick on the first issue.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 2 Pink Foil Edition |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810013
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Owner Comments
Sometimes described as the "Mid-West Exclusive", this pink (!) foil variant was actually a Graham Cracker Comics store exclusive, although well before store exclusives started being described that way. In any case, it was advertised as a limited edition of 3000 copies.
Weirdly, this has been way harder to find in high grade than some of the other variants in this title. This 9.4 is by far the best condition of ~20 copies that I've examined and is top census at this time (by virtue of being the only census copy, admittedly).
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 3 |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 3 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436015
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Owner Comments
Comichron shows 43,578 orders in November 2000, which was only good for 30th place, but still enough to beat out Action Comics for the month!
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 4 |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 4 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810016
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Owner Comments
Comichron lists 42,352 orders in December 2000.
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| Slot: |
Midnight Nation 5 |
| Item: |
Midnight Nation 5 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810017
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Owner Comments
Comichron lists 40,777 orders in February 2001.
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