Release: October 2026 | Writer: Jonathan Hickman | Artist: Matteo Della Fonte | Colorist: Arthur Hesli | Letterer: Cory Petit
The vampire and Empyre faction war is boiling. With this bloody world being laid out, what do we have in store for Midnight X-Men #1?
*SPOILER WARNING AHEAD!*
"THE PEACE MUST HOLD"
Vampires are at war!
Not just regular vampires; the mutant vampires called Empyres are involved in this power struggle as well. They've been battling as of late and have been drawn into an all-out war. It’s not just the other vampires they need to look out for in this new dangerous world, but now Cardinal Stryker of the church wants to rid the population of these Empyres.
Who better to get this plan rolling than to meet with Nightcrawler, who's a priest at St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC? He gets notified by Cardinal Stryker of his plan that he wants to enact against these mutant vampires.
While this is all happening, Magneto and the House of X crew of Polaris and Havok. Toad, Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch have been getting intel and investigating Toriac bunkers.
Toriacs are a vampire group of mutants that have been trying to take down the order of vampires meticulously, including secret bunkers and hideouts. When Gambit’s vampire clan arrives at the bunker to raise hell, they run into Hope Summers, who is revealed to be a mutant whose powers haven't shown yet. Empath falls in love with her and wants to turn her into a vampire. Luckily, "The Last X-Man" Cyclops arrives and saves her from whatever plans Empath had for her. When wanting to join the fight, Cyclops denies her the opportunity.
While preparing for what was told to him by Stryker, Nightcrawler makes contact with Storm to warn her about these plans. Storm and Nightcrawler have a history that is on full display when he warns her, and she tries to make some advances on him that he turns away.
Storm gives off a sense of confidence that Cardinal Stryker may not be able to enact his plan successfully.
CREATIVE DIRECTION:
Believe it or not, I went into this Midnight X-Men book completely blind. I heard rumblings around the Midnight Universe, but nothing I was hearing was really popping out to me. That is until I heard "X-Men" and "Vampires" in the same sentence. Growing up in the time of gothic vampire culture and media in the 2000s, properties like the World of Darkness’ Vampire: The Masquerade or Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles were always a staple for me. Still are to this day.
So being able to see the X-Men kind of dip their toes into that genre of storytelling with their own vampire clans and lore is really cool to see as a fan since the potential is limitless.
The entire vibe of the book has a sense of darkness looming over it, and it’s actually a pleasant surprise for someone going into it completely blind.
While Krakoa wasn’t my exact cup of tea when it came to the X-Men. This time around, Hickman IS making my cup of tea with Vampires being added to the equation. Everything from the way these characters speak to the amazing, heavily shadowed panel work by Matteo Della Fonte makes it a perfect pairing for the gory horror story they’re wanting to tell. Hickman has a way of giving characters a unique voice. And the facial expressions by Della Fonte really hammer in the sense of drama in this story.
CONCLUSION
At the end of the day, this book is either going to be up your alley, or it isn't. People love or hate Vampires, but I say even if you hate vamps, check this book out. The melding of mutantkind and vampires is surprisingly a perfect fit. Issue one just sets up the world, but it does a good job of laying out the plot, the people who are the proverbial pieces to this puzzle, and a little hint of what’s to come from this story.
This story has so much room to grow, and I’m very excited to see where they go with this after having a very strong start, in my personal opinion.
A story you can really sink your teeth into!