Midnight Men series proposal

Outlined below is the series proposal and artwork for
"The Midnight Men"

!!!!Warning Story Spoilers Ahead!!!!!

CONCEPT:

In the early months of 1940, President Roosevelt received a fateful letter delivered to his hand by a time-traveler from the future... a future where the Nazis had won WWII.

America had not yet entered the conflict, but upon reading the letter, the President summoned renowned scholar and adventurer, Dax Northender, and charged him with a top-secret mission…to assemble a team of America’s most heroic private citizens to go to Europe and begin covert operations against the Nazi threat. This team would consist of some of the most amazing people on the planet, and they would be known as ”The Midnight Men.”

According to the letter, London was set to become the first target of a Nazi secret weapons program called the “Panzerverk.s Initiative,” spearheaded by Dax’s Arch Nemesis, Count St. Cross. His grand project…a doomsday weapon known as “The Electronaut.” Worse yet, to protect Panzerverks, Hitler assigned a secret religious order of Aryan warrior-monks named the “Harbingers of Thule.” Their leader, a mysterious figure known only as the “Ultima Thule,” is said to be a man of such physical perfection that he has no equal in physical combat.

With this letter as the only key to an inevitable future, the Midnight Men have little time to penetrate the Panzerverks Initiative, out-maneuver Count St. Cross and Ultima Thule, and stop the Electronaut from sealing the doom of western civilization.

FORMAT:

Our approach to the Midnight Men is this: what if a bunch of the Golden Age heroes from comics, dime store novels and radio dramas had been recruited to fight for the Allies in WWII? We will infer that each of these heroes had a long-running solo book for many years before this series, and even reference events from those hypothetical books as we go. Sometimes there’s even a footnote at the bottom of a panel directing readers to an issue of that character’s solo series, as though it actually existed. We also plan on including a “reprinted” Golden Age Pulp cover from one of the character’s solo books in the back of each Midnight Men issue, adding to the illusion of the universe.

We see the Midnight Men being told in a sequence of 4-6 issue limited series released each year. In addition, each year would also include an Annual, which would include a few stories from some of the characters’ past solo adventures and potentially their origins.

Submitted here are 5 pages of art plus a potential cover for the Midnight Men issue 01, along with the first limited series story synopsis.

Character synopsis, a breakdown of future story arcs and story bible are also available upon request.

For further information please contact Bill Murphy.

Bill Murphy
Email: Billwmuprphy@mac.com
Phone: 213-925-5235

SAMPLE PAGES:








MIDNIGHT MEN ISSUE SYNOPSIS :

Note: Each issue begins with a 1-2 page flashback sequence.

Issue 1:
In issue 1, we begin with a flashback to 1940 when Dax Northender and Anastasia Romanov are first told about the mysterious “letter from the future,” warning of the Nazi’s complete domination of the earth. We then jump to present day, 1941 where we find Jurassic Sam, Micah, and Agent Echo as they infiltrate occupied France and do battle with the Nazis. Their mission is to retrieve the contents of a trunk buried in the basement of a house in a small village. We end as Agent Echo gets to the basement, only to find that Thule Kommandos have beaten them there.

Issue 2:
Issue 2 begins with a flashback to 2005 as Agent Echo evades his Nazi pursuers by jumping through a prototype time machine, destined for 1940. We then jump to 1940 and follow the Gotham Saint as he shakes down the city’s mob heavies for information on an assassin who recently arrived from Italy. The search takes him to the apartment of famed inventor Nikola Tesla. Though the scientist is not at home, the assassin, Furia, has obviously been there, having killed the government agents who had been tossing his place. Dax Northender arrives and recruits the Gotham Saint into the ranks of the Midnight Men.

Issue 3:
Issue 3 takes us to occupied Paris in 1941, and an evening performance by the Amazing Domino. After the show, an SS Major, convinced that Domino is an Allied spy, visits her. Using her skills as a magician, she manages to escape the theater, evade her Nazi pursuers, and rendezvous with a mysterious man known as Noir. We learn of a secret romance between the two as she recruits him to the Midnight Men. Upon returning to the theater, she finds Micah, Echo, and Sam hiding in the basement. Sam has been horribly wounded from their battle in Northern France.

Issue 4:
Issue 4 opens with a flashback to 1937, as Dax Northender is rescued from a Velocaraptor by Jurassic Sam. We then jump back to 1941 as we find Sam lying in bed back at the Midnight Manor. The rest of the team watches as Mr. Legacy tends to her wounds, and Agent Echo retells the story of their battle. Sam had been shot by the Thule, and one of the Kommandos escaped with the Tesla device from the trunk. Meanwhile, as Ace Maelstrom hits on Anastasia Romanov, Max Binary deciphers a Thule code detailing a top-secret shipment that will be flown out of France the following evening.

Issue 5:
We begin with a flashback to 14,000 BC as Micah is tortured by priests of Thule. We then jump forward to 1941 as Sam revives at the Midnight Manor. Mr. Legacy tells her that Dax has taken the rest of the team to France in order to intercept the top-secret Nazi shipment. We then go to France as Dax, Micah, and Anastasia assault the Nazi airstrip. The plane manages to take-off, but Anastasia teleports on board and orders the pilots to turn around. Outside, Ace Maelstrom, Max Binary, and the Gotham Saint dogfight with the Nazi escort planes. All seems to be going well, but the tables are turned on the last page as Anastasia is ambushed by the sinister Dr. Manticore.

Issue 6:
We begin the final issue of this story arc with a flashback to the Oval Office in 1940. Anastasia is visiting FDR and he asks her to make an introduction for him to Dax Northender. We then return to 1941 and the aerial dogfight over France. When Anastasia refuses to surrender the cargo plane, Dr. Manticore shoots her in the head, killing her. The Gotham Saint manages to commandeer the plane in the end, but not before Max Binary is shot-down and Dr. Manticore escapes via jetpack with Anastasia’s amulet. The Saint ejects the cargo from the plane as it goes down, and leaps out of the plane after it. He removes his coat in mid-air to release his parachute, and for the first time, we discover the Gotham Saint's true identity! As the heroes rendezvous on the ground, they open the cargo only to find that the plane was a diversion. Inside the empty crate is a letter to Dax Northender from his old adversary, Count St. Cross. We end the issue with a rare glimpse into the THULE stronghold as the real cargo plane is unloaded. Count St. Cross watches with Furia and Ultima Thule beside him. What they don’t know is that their secret cargo plane has a stow-away aboard. The last panel reveals that stow-away to be none other than Noir!