The Middlenight Men – Issue #2

The Middlenight Men came together with its collection of characters having clocked up over two decades of interlinked projects, including The Role Models, Duncan Reid & The Big Heads & Terrorvision, with the end result being a band that is the musical equivalent of The Avengers. The comparisons don’t stop there, just as with the cinematic comic book equivalent, The Middlenight Men revolve around a core of central characters with an equally important and diverse supporting cast. And like any good comic book ensemble, The Middlenight Men have returned. Following on from the cliffhanger of 2021’s Issue #1, they have now returned with Issue #2 via their own imprint, Middlenight Records. 

Comic book characters always seem to resurface, whether we want them to or not, and It has to be said that with comic book sequels there is often a diminishing law of returns, but this is not always the case. So to keep the comic book theme running, and keeping things in sync with The Middlenight Men’s cover artwork and their masked stage personas, I’ll put this question is in a Marvel context. With Issue #2 have The Middlenight Men returned with a Winter Soldier or a Love and Thunder? Issue #2 is played out over eleven acts, sorry tracks, and as with any good superhero outing they kick things off with their theme song. The Middlenight Men Theme sets the tone for Issue #2 nicely with a bombastic and dramatic chugging hit of power pop that encourages you to join their super hero band. This is followed by Fighting Skyler that drops you straight into the action, because of course any self respecting super hero outing always starts with an action sequence.

There is no padding or filler with this particular superhero outing, just hit after hit of perfect punchy power pop, there are of course moments of reflection and calm as it can’t be all action all the time, but these moments are perfectly pitched, especially the cinematic Living In The Heart Of Hell that suits those brooding moments that all good heroes have. Before you know it we’re in the end credits with The Longest Goodbye, which would keep you in your seat rather than just waiting for the obligatory post credit scene whilst sat amongst a sea of spilled popcorn. This particular ensemble is especially recommended for any fans of the self destructive collective of The Wildhearts, as Issue #3 gets the balance between power pop, rock and melodic punk spot on. There is much talk of superhero fatigue, but with The Middlenight Men you have the aural antidote, as in this case the sequel is the equal of their initial outing. Let’s hope this particular collection of masked heroes return for more adventures in Issue #3