Shadows: Goyer and Johns offer up a standard super-hero story here... extremely standard. This story isn't just generic, it lacks any degree of excitement or action. Johns does a good job of capturing the hero's stoic yet caring personality, though, and it was a pleasure to see Stephen Sadowski handling the adventures of the JSA again, even if it was just one member of the team.
Dr. Mid-Nite makes his way into the wreckage of a train accident to find a survivor. The good news: he's found a safe way in and out. The bad news: the survivor is pregnant and her water just broke. As he helps the woman deliver her baby, he tells her his story... how he became a doctor, how he became blind and how he became a hero.
Sadowski's artwork is strong here, and some of the credit has to go to inker extraordinaire Wade Von Grawbadger. Together, they present clean lines, and the inks bring an appropriate level of darkness to a story about a hero who's forever immersed in it. The story itself, though, is thoroughly disappointing. For some reason, Mid-Nite's origin is told completely in the text. There are almost no flashback images, no excitement. The plot comes off as the manipulative matter one might expect from an overly saccharine episode of Touched by an Angel or MacGyver.
Blind Spot: OK, the main story didn't win me over, but man, the backup tale is the strongest one in the run thus far. Azzarello and Risso's film-noir, femme-fatale story fills me with even more anticipation when it comes to their upcoming tenure on Batman, slated to begin in just a few weeks.
The Golden Age Dr. Mid-Nite, in his heyday, comes to the aid of a damsel in distress... a rather smoldering damsel at that. She's the girlfriend of a rather enterprising criminal, and aiding a battered woman turns out to be a mission to bring in a rather notorious criminal.
Risso's noir style works on two levels here. Azzarello's plot is in the tradition of 1940s black-and-white private-eye films, and Risso's shadowy style suits the blind protagonist quite well too. This short backup story is all about atmosphere, though, not story, and it hits the mark perfectly, both visually and conceptually.
