The Authority - Halloween Hijinks with the World's Finest Couple
I feel an urge to spread some Apollo/Midnighter love, so here's a few random pretties from various places, plus a snippet from The Breaks, which is one of the other stories in the Earth Inferno and other Stories TPB.
For anyone not familiar, Apollo and Midnighter are part of the Authority, a team of superheroes who strive for a finer world by tackling not only supervillians and alien threats, but also the injustices that humankind perpetrate on each other. The two were originally conceived as Superman and Batman equivalents, hence the resemblance, with the added wrinkle that they're a canon couple. They're now married, in a wedding that took the rhetoric of "could they be more gay?"and considered it a challenge, and have an adopted daughter, Jenny Quantum, who's the spirit of the 21st Century. I am more than a little charmed by the notion that the spirit of the 21st century is being raised by two dads. And here's living proof that Apollo is like the best dad ever:
They also let their daughter smoke and wear ugg boots, but let's not go there.
It's a constant surprise to me that there's not more focus in fanfic on aerial sexcapades.
So to briefly introduce our boys, for those not familiar. Flyboy there is Apollo, who has solar powered enhancements giving him superstrength, superspeed, and invulnerability. He can fly, survive in space, go diving in lava pits, and shoot lasers from his eyes. Jack Hawksmoor describes him as the "heavy artillery" of the team - he's basically invincible and nigh on untouchable. As long as you don't, like, shut him in a basement or anything. Then he'll fall on his ass.
His partner is the Midnighter, who has a computer in his head which can predict his opponent's movements in a fight. He's fond of creeping the shit out of people by telling them he's fought the fight in his head a million times before they've even thrown the first punch. His interests include killing people his bare hands, killing people with guns, killing people with construction tools, killing people with office supplies, wearing leather, Apollo, and, um, the Backstreet Boys.
Because it's one of my favourite moments ever - Unexpected blond Midnighter from Earth Inferno:
This is the first time in canon (barring a murky backview in his first Stormwatch appearance) we get to see Midnighter unmasked and out of costume, and it's a gleeful occasion, because he's just so damn dapper. Look at him! It's unfortunate that no subsequent colourists have ever seemed able to agree on his hair colour - he's been everything from ginger to black over the years, leaving fans to conclude that he must dye his hair on a regular basis. Which I really want to be true, because it's such a humanising note of frivolity for a character who can otherwise be a bit grim.
Anyway, on to The Breaks. First up, awesomely pretty cover art is awesomely pretty:
In this extract, Apollo and Mid get a visit from Amaze, one of their former Stormwatch teammates, who is suffering from a slight case of being dead, and is really sore she didn't get a wedding invite.
And yes, I did post that whole story just for the pay off in the final panel. It makes me go D'awwww, okay?
Occasionally, they do get to fight somebody who has something more original to say than "Hey, you guys are gay, did you notice?!" But not today.