City of Ghosts (Part 4)

Midnight Mystery Vol. 3

City of Ghosts (Part 4)

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Roland Blackwood tried to escape death when he was dying. He hoped that the Sleepless, a group founded by Lazlo Bancroft, would be able to help him but they refused. They knew he wanted to cheat death. One of the sleepless was the man named Lark. He was willing to help Roland.

Millicent explains to Zeke King about her quest to save her nephew, Conrad. She tells him about the events that led up to the night in the greenhouse when he thought Roland was killed. She also tells him about how she pushed through and escaped the fire in the greenhouse.

Lark found out and then revealed to Roland the location of the relic that the Sleepless were keeping from him. Lark has the code to open the thing. Lark has served his purpose so Roland kills him along with everyone else in the nursing home.

Ambrose reveals to Zeke that he is a member of the Sleepless. He is working with Millicent, who is not a member of the Sleepless, to stop Roland. She just wants to save her nephew. Ambrose and a team of men are getting ready for a strike on the place where the story began, the mansion of Roland Blackwood. They want Zeke to join them.

City of Ghosts (Part 3)

Midnight Mystery Vol. 3

City of Ghosts (Part 3)

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Zeke escapes the ship before it explodes. Ambrose picks him up off the deck of the ship in a helicopter. Ambrose asks him for an update but Zeke passes out from a head injury before he can answer the question.

Conrad and his father visit a nursing home. Roland knows who Lark is but Conrad doesn’t. Mr. Lark tells him a story.

Zeke has another dream about Maggie. It’s a flashback to an earlier time but it comes to him in a dream. They talk and then she gets on a bus and leaves him. He doesn’t want to lose her. He wakes up. Ambrose stitched him up while he was out. Ambrose’s employer is nearby. Zeke’s head is still hurting.

Lark tells Conrad the tale of Barnaby and Lazlo Bancroft, brothers and stage magicians. Barnaby, the elder, used real magic to forcibly change bodies with Lazlo. Barnaby once again grew old and sought to change bodies once again. It wasn’t as simple the second time around.

The bandaged person, Ambrose’s employer tells Zeke the same story. The bandaged person is Millicent Holt, Roland’s sister, believed to be dead but still very much alive. She knows what Roland is up to and believes Conrad to be in danger. She wants Zeke to help her save her nephew.

City of Ghosts (Part 2)

Midnight Mystery Vol. 3

City of Ghosts (Part 2)

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Gus shows up in a police car. He and Zeke get out of there before the zombie-like men can kill them. Zeke was stabbed but he stays conscious until they get out of there, at which point he passes out.

Zeke wakes up in the hospital, after having a dream that involved Maggie. Gus is there when he wakes up. Zeke wants to get back to the case he is currently working on. Gus wants to know what happened to Maggie and why Zeke isn’t looking for her.

Zeke catches a bus home from the hospital. He gets into a conversation with an older woman who is also waiting for the bus.

Ambrose meets with his faceless boss. His boss thinks it is time for them to give Zeke a hand.

Zeke heads to the docks. He got a tip about a possible heist. He runs into more of the zombie-like men. They continue to say the same thing: “No. Loose. Ends.” This time they are wearing vests loaded with explosives. The chapter ends with a large explosion. Zeke’s proximity to the explosion is unclear.

City of Ghosts (Part 1)

Midnight Mystery Vol. 3

City of Ghosts (Part 1)

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Ezekiel “Zeke” Stone wakes up after being kidnapped. He is questioned about his line of work and his belief in the supernatural by Ambrose, one of the kidnappers. Ambrose wants Zeke to figure out what happened to Willie, a stiff who was fished out of the bay a couple nights before. Zeke takes the job although he doesn’t feel like he has much of a choice in the matter.

The identifying objects on the body of the dead man are a wallet inscribed with the name Willie and the key to room 23 of the Blue Llama Motel. Zeke checks out the Blue Llama Motel but the manager isn’t very helpful.

Zeke thinks he sees Maggie while he is out wandering the city but only for a moment. He makes another recording for Gus.

Zeke finds a membership card for Bernet Boxing Sports Club in the dead man’s wallet so he checks the place out. He asks around for Willie at the sports club but doesn’t get very far.

Dead Letters

Midnight Mystery Vol. 2

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Dead Letters

Gus writes Zeke a letter when he can’t reach him any other way. Zeke doesn’t respond at first. He is busy working on a case.

Zeke’s dreams are haunted by a sack of letters that never made it to their destinations. The letters were written men serving in wars. One is written to a father, another to a wife, and the third to a girlfriend. Zeke finds the mail and gets the letters to their destinations.

Zeke takes the time to write Gus but then Zeke is attacked and kidnapped.

Conrad gets a letter from his ex-girlfriend, Barbara. She is concerned for his well-being. She doesn’t know why he changed or about his new relationship with the ghost of his recently deceased father.

Last Words

Midnight Mystery Vol. 2

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Last Words

Conrad (last seen in The Burning Bride) goes to a drive-in movie with Barb, his girlfriend. They spend more time talking than they do watching the movie. She is concerned about the way he’s been acting. She doesn’t know that Count Karloff, his dead father, is inside Conrad’s head, communicating with him.

The Gangster’s Golem, the movie showing at the drive-in, was the last one that Count Karloff presented on Midnight Theater. He reminisces about that night while Conrad and Barb talk about their relationship.

Count Karloff was interviewed by a reporter than night by the name of Mills. She had done some research, interviewed a lot of people who worked with him, and had lots of stories about how unbearable he could be. Count Karloff doesn’t want to hear it and doesn’t want to talk to her. Mills leaves believing that she’s heard all that she needs to hear from him. The focus of the story returns to the present after a brief encounter with one of Count Karloff’s fans.

Conrad and Barb break up as the movie ends. The final moments of the movie are interspersed with the break up. Conrad isn’t happy but his father is.

The Widowing Wail

Midnight Mystery Vol. 2

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

The Widowing Wail

Zeke talks to the banshee while the ghost in red approaches him. Zeke experiences a flashback to the day he returned from the war. Maggie was waiting for him. The memory gets interrupted by the ghost in the top hat. It tries to kill Zeke but he escapes by leaping off the bridge and into the water below.

The ghost said something about the priest. Zeke goes to see him, knowing that he likely is going to be the ghost’s next target. The priest explains to Zeke his connection to Pitts and Lowe but the banshee and the red ghost show up just as he is finishing his story.

Messenger of Murder

Midnight Mystery Vol. 2

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Messenger of Murder

Architect Pascal Pitts and Developer Lyle Lowe are discovered dead, days apart. Both men were working on the Riverfront Development. Darren, a reporter working the story, hires Zeke King to help him investigate the case. The only lead is the testimony from a couple witnesses with questionable mental states.

Darren is attacked, the night after he hires Zeke. He survives but just barely. He sees the killer. It looks like a ghostly man but he also sees a ghostly woman.

Zeke sees what he can find after talking to Darren about what he saw. Zeke interviews a priest at a church in the same neighborhood as the Riverfront Development. He also talks to a security guard at a construction site in the Riverfront community.

Zeke is poking around the construction site when he gets a visit from the ghostly woman, a banshee. He sees visions as she screams: his father, his friend Gus, and Maggie. She says she’s preparing him to die.

The House that Satan Built

Midnight Mystery Vol. 1

The House that Satan Built

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Zeke King goes looking for Eddie LaFaye, a man who sold his soul to a devil. Zeke’s quest leads him to a hotel that materializes out of the mists. Zeke finds Eddie but things don’t work out exactly as planned. 

Thoughts

This story is told through text. There are a number of accompanying illustrations. I enjoyed the story but I prefer traditional comic books over illustrated stories. 

The Burning Bride

Midnight Mystery Vol. 1

The Burning Bride

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Zeke’s latest customer, a man from India, is engaged to get married. He was married once before. His first wife, killed herself. Her father had gambled away the family fortune. She lit their home on fire while she was in it. Zeke’s customer is convinced that his wife’s ghost is haunting him. He wants Zeke to protect him.

The man’s fiancée thinks his story is ridiculous until The ghost of his first wife appears before them all. The first wife has come for revenge. She loved him even though he didn’t reciprocate the emotion. She understands now why he set their home on fire. She gets what she came for. 

Reel Evil - Part 2

Midnight Mystery Vol. 1

Reel Evil - Part Two

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Zeke wakes up in the greenhouse, tied to a chair. Conrad is tied down in a circle surrounded by candles. Jasper is in charge. He has Roland’s skull. He is planning to transfer Roland’s spirit into Conrad’s body. 

Millicent, the daughter of Roland’s adoptive father, interrupts the ceremony. Zeke frees himself. Jasper shoots Millicent. The greenhouse catches fire. Zeke and Conrad escape but Jasper and Millicent are trapped in the inferno. 

Reel Evil - Part 1

Midnight Mystery Vol. 1

Reel Evil - Part One

by Bernie Gonzalez, Wes Locher

Ezekiel Stone, Private Investigator, is hired by Jasper Jennings to find the son of Roland Blackwood aka horror movie host Count Karloff. Blackwood is dead now but as a boy he was adopted by oil tycoon Harrison Holt.

Stone tracks down Conrad Crane, Blackwood’s son, who never knew his father. He convinces Crane to meet with Jennings. Stone doesn’t realize that someone is tailing him. Stone and Crane meet with Jennings who knocks them out with sleeping gas after revealing that Roland Blackwood isn’t dead.