Some quality mom time.
Creative Staff:
Story: Eliot Rahal
Art: Clara Meath
Colors: Mark Englert
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Barely escaping a life imprisoned inside the walls of a padded psychiatric hospital, Oliver Flores has been kidnapped…again! Except this time it wasn’t done by interdimensional aliens. It was done by his own mom, Marisol Flores. Drugged up and groggy, Oliver regains consciousness and is reunited with his mother for the first time in nineteen years. The two share tender moments and crucial information, but they must hurry. The entire Albuquerque Police Department, along with the mysterious “Strangers in Black,” are looking for them.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Midnight Vista continues to feel like a weird little book in how it progresses through its story. I like a lot of what Eliot Rahal is doing with the story and some of the wonky weird creative moments, but it also feels like it’s moving at an uneven pace and we’re just short some key information for it to all really come together. I also really like Clara Meath’s work on it as she’s giving us some great character designs of people struggling with difficult issues. And she gives us some doughy-faced aliens that I just love how creepy they are, almost Miyazaki-like in a lot of ways. I wish we had more time from their space journey with the human side because the brief looks that we get are tantalizing and very fun.
This installment gives us a bit more of a look at what’s gone on during the fifteen years that Oliver has been gone. With his mother having succeeded in getting him out of the hospital, she’s got him back at the trailer park she lives in which is somewhat “off the grid” for her. Under a new name, she’s spent all this time trying to find out what happened, reading about all sorts of abduction mysteries, and preparing for the day her son would return with a range of clothes for him. She’s definitely very glad to have him back but she also knows their time is short and they have to get out of there. This is said plainly and clearly but she’s also just so glad to have him that they do take some time to just sit and talk. It’s good for Oliver to realize that his mother has invested time and energy into this rather than just believing he was dead as it lets him know that she truly cares.
Detective Martinez, on the other hand, seems to be trying to keep things as normal as he can in his own way. There isn’t a deep look at the bodies that were splattered at the hospital and he’s more intent on finding Oliver and his mother since that gets pieced together quickly enough. It unfolds well enough in that once they have a location he wants a sizable force to back him up in securing the kid simply because of the dangers of what a high-speed chase would represent. Of course, everything goes about as wrong as you’d expect with a shoot-out as Marisol does her best to send her son on a path to someone that she believes will help. Oliver feels lost once again in all of this, just a piece to be shuttled about while everyone else tries to solve the bigger problems, and you really do feel for him as he lumbers down the sewer into the darkness.
In Summary:
Midnight Vista continues to be a curious little title overall with just about all approaches. There are some neat aspects to it as I like how Marisol presents herself after reconnecting with her son while Oliver is just thrilled to have finally found her even though he’s unsure about so much. Poor Nomar only gets a little bit of attention but at least it was a touch more than just lip-service. Rahal keeps things moving along well here with two main storylines running plus the aliens side and each leaves you wanting more. I really like Meath’s designs overall, especially of our black-suited creatures, and can’t wait to see more of them.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: November 13th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
