Nightfall: Michael's Awakening #1 - Animation Comics & Entertainment LLC

NIGHTFALL: MICHAEL'S AWAKENING No. 1, April 2019

Advertised as “brimming with captivating character development, stunning plot twists and beautiful artwork”, this opening instalment to Dwayne Robinson and Terence Young’s collaborative creation “Nightfall: Michael’s Awakening” certainly seems to live up to its promise of providing a pulse-pounding insight into the day-to-day life of a college football quarterback. Indeed, straight from this twenty-page periodical’s start, the comic provides its audience with a superb stadium seat at the Stampede’s last electrifying match of the season, as Michael Vash desperately tries to steal a win for his team in the game’s final twenty-five seconds.

Dynamically drawn and mesmerizingly paced, this action sequence genuinely gets the book off to an incredibly lively start, with both the titular character and his buddy John “Ace” Combs, doing their damndest to put some more points on the scoreboard with the seconds quickly ticking by. So frantic a foray into gridiron also rather nicely introduces the vast majority of the narrative’s cast, by coupling its fair share of thrills with some nice spectator shots of Vash’s sister and girlfriend both doing their level best to cheer their favourite side on. 

Equally as enthralling, though much more sedentary when contrasted against all the high octane shenanigans of “the most popular sport in the United States”, is the introduction of Michael’s mother, and the disconcertingly dark past experiences the single parent has apparently endured. Spending time talking to the local housing association’s chief “weird person”, as well as being regarded “as the town crazy woman”, seem to be the least of Diana’s problems when she dramatically stops taking her medication one evening and emotionally warns her disbelieving son that he “will undergo a transformation that our family has gone through for generations.”

This sudden injection of the supernatural towards the end of the publication rather cleverly leads to a dramatic metamorphosis in not only the physical appearance of the comic’s lead protagonist, but also in both the book’s look and feel. The sudden splash of colour into each black & white panel as Vash painfully transforms into a full-blooded werewolf is really well done, and genuinely helps the reader themselves partially undergo the life-changing evolution which is literally taking place on the page before their very eyes; “You should’ve just listened to Diana and just stayed home, Bro.”

Artists, Writers and Colorists: Dwayne Robinson & Terence Young