MIDNIGHT WESTERN THEATRE #2 – An Honest Review

In MIDNIGHT WESTERN THEATRE #2, available from Scout Comics on June 30th, 2021, Ortie and Alexander are sent on a mission to retrieve a young girl who’s fallen in with a fanatical pastor and his strange cult.

The Details

• Written By: Louis Southard
• Art By: David Hahn
• Colors By: Ryan Cody
• Letters By: Buddy Beaudoin
• Cover Art By: Kalman Andrasofszky
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: June 30, 2021

Was It Good?

Yes, it was quite entertaining.

Comical Opinions is new to this Scout title and we were pleasantly surprised by the offbeat, black humor wrapped in a neatly episodic format. we read through the first issue to get caught up before writing the latest release, and there’s a lot to like about the main characters and their adventures, specifically meting out final justice in an Old West setting.

The art keeps thing simple but distinct. Rather than relying on big, hyper-stylized set pieces, the artists focused on distinct and easily recognizable character designs to make them the primary focus in every panel.

That said, the action is a little stiff. It’s not a big enough problem to interfere with the reading of the story, but the action lacks energy so the impact of the book is less than what it could be.

Still, this is a fun comic with interesting characters, memorable designs, and a story that hits that Old West/Vampire sweet spot.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with a flashback to Ortie as a young girl on the frontier practicing her skills with a rifle. suddenly she hears a commotion, and when she runs back from the woods to investigate, she finds her father surrounded by a group of men making some sort of demands. Ortie raises her rifle to protect her father, but he immediately orders her to lower her weapon.

Her father gives the men permission to do as they ask and the leave. Later, Ortie’s father explains he was never in real danger and she needs to develop a better sense of how to read a situation. We don’t learn more about what the men want, but we see a pattern of flashbacks in the first two issue that pepper in snippets of information about Ortie’s past and what made her the scarred mercenary she is today.

Cut to the present where Ortie and her reluctant vampire partner, Alexander, approach a church in the middle of nowhere. The front of the church is peppered with crosses holding long-dead bodies.

The church’s pastor is there to greet them with pious, flowery language about the prophet who foretold of their coming. The pastor invites them inside with the vague threat that refusal will lead Ortie and Alexander to the same fate as the crucified victims on the church’s front lawn.

To become one with the church’s flock and not incur the Lord’s wrath, Ortie and Alexander must submit themselves to the prophet. The pastor leads them into an underground crypt where the rest of the cult is waiting, and they’re made to kneel in front of a closed door.

Here, Southard pulls a little bait ‘n switch where you would expect some Lovecraftian terror or demonic force to suddenly spring out. Nope. In a surprising turn that works quite well in its execution, the door open and out comes a dog that simply barks randomly.

The big revelation is that there’s nothing special about this church, the cult, or its pastor. They’re simply looney tunes.

It’s then we learn that Ortie and Alexander were hired to find a young girl who ran away to join the cult. We conclude the issue with Alexander reluctantly defending himself while Ortie finds what she’s searching for.

How Does It End?

The prophet has barked his last prophecy. The pastor will have to take the long road to Paradise. Ortie finds what she’s looking for in a surprisingly emotional scene.

Final Thoughts

MIDNIGHT WESTERN THEATRE #2 is a little weird, a little amusing, surprisingly heartfelt, and definitely worth the read.

Score: 8.5/10