Added emotion to historical events<\/strong>
\nby Chad Boudreau<\/p>\nAfter reading the first issue of Midnight Sun, I took to the Internet to do a little research to see what Ben Towle had been up since receiving his 2004 Eisner nomination for “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition” for his graphic novel Farewell, Georgia. In doing so, I learned the subject matter of Midnight Sun is based on the real-life tragedy of the airship Italia and its crew’s remarkable struggle for survival in the Artic. On May 23, 1928, the airship and its crew crashed during an expedition to the North Pole. The survivors spent more than a month on the Artic ice flows until rescued.<\/p>\n
With Midnight Sun, a five-part miniseries from Slave Labor Graphics, writer \/ artist Ben Towle takes a fictional approach to this tragic history. He tells his story from two points of view: The first is from the crew members of the Italia, who have already crashed when we are first introduced. The second is from a down-on-his-luck American newspaper reporter who is sent to the far north to uncover the facts of the Italia’s disappearance.<\/p>\n
The two tales intertwine to create the overall story of Midnight Sun, which doesn’t appear to be about retracing the facts of the Italia’s harrowing ordeal. Towle’s story is more concerned with getting into the minds of its characters.<\/p>\n
In a Slave Labor press release Towle says he wants to use “the events of the crash and the personal dynamics of the stranded crewmembers to examine more universal themes like the interaction between fate and conscious choice, leadership and democracy, and love and obligation”, and while it\u2019s too early to tell if he accomplished his goal, the seeds of these ideas are certainly in place in this first issue.<\/p>\n
The story of the Italia (now that I know of it) is a one of tragedy and survival. The facts of its doomed flight, the struggle of its survivors, and the details of the various rescue operations has the makings of a harrowing story on its own. Towle, though, goes one step further with his storytelling, and I respect him for his decision to take the direction he has. Here in this first issue, he gives us a sampling of the details of the flight itself, but mostly keeps his focus on the characters. As such, we gain an emotional connection to the tale, to this history.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here’s the review: Added emotion to historical events by Chad Boudreau After reading the first issue of Midnight Sun, I took to the Internet to do a little research to see what Ben Towle had been up since receiving his 2004 Eisner nomination for “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition” for his graphic novel Farewell, Georgia. … <\/p>\n
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