The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun

Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone

by Mark Kneece, Rod Serling, Anthony Spay (Illustrator)

In a time not unlike our own, two women are among the last people left behind in New York City, struggling to survive as the thermometer reaches an unbearable 140°. Almost overnight, modern-day conveniences have become luxuries and humans are pushed to their limits. As the climate grows more hostile, could these be the final days of life on Earth? One of most ground-breaking shows in the history of television, The Twilight Zone has become a permanent fixture in pop culture. This new graphic novel series re-imagines the show's most enduring episodes, in all their original uncut glory, originally written by Rod Serling himself, and now adapted for a new generation―a generation that has ridden Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of TerrorTM ride, studied old episodes in school, watched the annual marathons, and paid homage to the show through the many random take-offs that show up in movies and TV shows everywhere.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Short Stories

72 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Mark Kneece has written stories for numerous comics, including Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. He helped found the sequential art department at the Savannah College of Art and Design and teaches comics writing as a professor of sequential art. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Reviews

[A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Book source ~ Library

New York City, in fact the whole world, is suffering from extreme heat. As more and more people leave, heading north to find cooler weather, two women are left alone in an apartment building. They depend on each other to survive, but will they?

This is one of my favorite episodes. When I think of The Twilight Zone this one and one other spring immediately to mind. I love it. And that ending! Like most of the shows endings it’s a complete surprise. I’m not sure why this one surprised me more than others, but it did. Bravo! The artwork is also wonderful.

[Dann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A chilling apocalyptic tale, The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun adapts one of the show’s most memorable and terrifying episodes into a graphic novel. The story follows a young woman in New York City who attempts to ride out a catastrophic heat wave while her neighbor is slowly driven mad and looters ravage what’s left of the city. Taken from Rod Serling’s original script, author Mark Kneece re-inserts a couple of scenes that were cut for time from the television episode and includes some new scenes showing the chaos and devastation in the streets (including a powerful one of the Statue of Liberty). And artist Anthony Spay does a good job at updating the look of the characters and settings to something a little more modern. However, the characters can come off as a bit too cartoony when they go mad from the heat. The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun has some problems, but overall it succeeds at presenting a unique vision that goes beyond that of the television episode.

[John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this on sale in a children’s book store in my village – it’s one of a series of nine graphic novels from Walker Books adapted from select episodes of The Twilight Zone, authorized by Carol Serling and using the original scripts written by Rod Serling. In this episode, in which the Earth is getting hotter as it slowly orbits into the sun, artist Norma and her landlady Mrs Bronson struggle to survive as society collapses around them. Mark Kneece takes a couple of liberties with the story – mainly by adding a scene deleted from the original script and also imagining the visuals (illustrated by Anthony Spay) as though Serling had had the necessary budget at the time. I wouldn't say it adds anything to the original TV version (apart from the deleted scene), but in any case it’s a good story and a decent adaptation that Serling fans should appreciate.

[Ralph McEwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that I am not a great fan of graphic novels, but this one has done a bang up job. I read it and thought boy that seemed real close to the Twilight Zone TV series. Then I found and watched the episode on IMBd "www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi4191921945/" and ‎saw that it was really close with a few extras. The graphics are well done and reflect the characters accurately. I will gladly read others as I come across them.

[Janie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it better in black and white.

[Jason M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The strength of this graphic novel is not so much in the writing or the artwork, but in the source material, one of the best-remembered of the original (1959-1964) episodes of "The Twilight Zone". While the TV episode is now almost 65 years old, to borrow an old cliche, it really holds up. Done under budget cuts, the possibly-accidental claustrophobic feel helps set the psychological horror of two women alone in a Manhattan apartment, slowly burning up as the Earth plunges closer and closer to the sun. It must have been radical for 1961 audiences to have two female protagonists fending off violent men -- successfully.

I came to the graphic novel adaptation of "The Midnight Sun" not as a fan of writer Mark Kneece or artist Anthony Spay, but as a decades-long citizen of the Zone who'll pursue any tie-in book no matter how dodgy. The artwork here is good, with sepia-toned flashbacks and one heck of a splash page. The script at 64 pages runs longer than Serling's TV original. We go outside of Norma's apartment. There's more violence and death, shattered glass, roaming street gangs (of murderous teens), and a slightly different home invader than on TV. The additions included deleted scenes that Serling wanted to, but couldn't, produce for TV. Serling's opening and closing narrations are done in vision (by Season 3 on TV Serling's host segments were clearly filmed later and edited in), and the dialogue is mostly Serling's own unmistakable tones.

This line of graphic novel adaptations evidently only ran for nine books. Based on this one, I'd certainly be curious to read the others, though my library carries no other. This is a solid effort, and unless you feel that any change at all to Serling's script is sacrilegious, it satisfies its extra length without making you wish you were watching TV instead.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read any of this set of adaptations of Rod Serling's scripts. Fifty years after the Twilight Zone first appeared on TV, a set of his scripts was adapted in graphic form.
Now, Rod Serling was a brilliant television writer. Only two of his six Emmy awards came from his work on Twilight Zone. So, adapting his work was a remarkably dangerous challenge. For a publisher to hand this to Mark Kneece, known perhaps more for his academic works on comics than for his comic book writing, was an interesting idea.
Mostly, it worked.
Kneece put back one scene that had been deleted from the script when it was filmed, and it was a good choice. The story, overall, only suffered from how abruptly he handled a few of the characters, but that was a limitation of how many pages he had to work with.
The artwork, by Anthony Spay, also mostly works. A few pieces of the artwork felt odd, including the opening splash page, but generally it worked nicely, including where he had to replicate special effects from the original show.
I would show this graphic novel to fans of the original, but also to teens and adults interested in odd bits of science fiction in graphic form.

[Nola Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - This is the second of the graphic novel adaptations of 'The Twilight Zone' episodes I've read, and it was an entertaining read. It's set in New York at a time when climate is out of control and the citizens are sweltering in temperatures of 120F and rising. A young woman Norma and her older neighbour Mrs Bronson are the only ones left in their apartment building. Power is only on at certain times of the day, and they are struggling to get enough water and provisions. Outside, everyone is going a little crazy with the heat, and services are in chaos. Is this the end of civilisation as we know it?

This story is based on an episode that ran in 1961, well before global warming was a common topic. It's interesting to see how they imagined that extremes of climate would play out, and there's some suspense, an exploration of the human condition, and a good twist.

As with the other book I read in this series, there is an intro and epilogue that gives more information about 'The Twilight Zone' and how they adapted these episodes. I enjoyed those features. The art is also pretty good.

Worth a look if you're a fan of the series or like popular culture.

[Alecia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this interpretation of a Twilight Zone episode I was quite familiar with (I used to love watching the New Year's Eve Twilight Zone marathons as a kid).

The artwork is great, and I absolutely loved the modern twist with the graphic novel's circumstances being due to climate change and the corresponding water shortage, unreliable electric grids, and chaos (sadly not as close to science fiction nowadays as the original from 1961).

It's a super quick read, and I look forward to checking out other Twilight Zone graphic novels from this series in the future.

[Aegelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense, Poetic, Excellent Twist

Although I had seen the original episode, I had forgotten how the story ended, so this comic brought back the episode for me. True to the show, this colour version holds true with a few minor updates for the sake of modern times. Dramatic, human, and immersive, I was atypically hooking to reading straight through. Tying in with a piece of poetry, just when we thought the end of the story was neigh, a push to bend the mind in an opposite direction. Well done, excellent treasure for comic and Twilight Zone fans alike.

[Erikka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite episodes of the Twilight Zone, but this book didn't do it justice. It didn't stick with the conceit of the sun moving closer/farther, instead making a more vague climate comment. I also didn't like the insertion of new stuff that updated it out of the fifties context--the era of the show is basically another character and I think it should be respected, unless you're completely revamping it like Jordan Peele. This was too close to the original to be meddled with in such weird ways. But it's still a brilliant story and never ceases to make me reach for a cold glass of water.

[Jomairy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might have read this before or experienced it for real living in new york city the summarized report on goodreads seems coincidence I dont know if its a good reminder I have real anxiety and health concerns about topics like this one. Why would I need to remember that I want to get out of NYC sometimes.

[Stefan Grieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great character work and tension/world building, with nice art too with some ambitious scenic panels that work well.
The ending twist I didn't really like, but it was redeemed by a poem and an another extra twist I thought was clever.

[Dewi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seri Twilight Zone yang seram. Tema adalah bumi yang semakin panas dan air yang langka. Twist di akhir cerita keren. Serem... terbayang hal yang sama bisa terjadi pada kita dengan perubahan iklim saat ini.

[Renee Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good adaptation of the TZ episode. Also interesting was that it included material that was in the original script, but was cut from the aired episode. A good, easy and quick read if you are a fan of TZ.

[Aaron Robb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plus:
Adaptation of a classic Twilight Zone episode.

Minus:
Despite some attempts at modernisation the story still feels it's age.

Interesting:
The artwork and slight changes to the episode make it still worth reading.

[Yusuf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on my favorite episode of the Twilight Zone. There were some aspects that weren’t conveyed well, such as explaining why things were getting hotter, but overall this adaption was true enough to the episode.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is totally fine. The art is fine, unremarkable. The story is fine, but certainly not one of Serling's best. Overall, it's...fine.

[Galion Public Library Teens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review by G.W. : "Not that good."

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

An apocalyptic graphic novel based on an original "The Twilight Zone" episode by Rod Serling, which was terrifyingly good with an interesting twist at the end.

[Radclyffe U-Haul · Rating 3 out of 5]

classic Twilight Zone twist

[Caden H · Rating 4 out of 5]

shows the real problem of the sun hurdling towards the earth in the future. It also has the basic twilight zone mystery feature.

[Isaac Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one.

[Jim D'Ambrosia · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you liked the TV series like me, then you might enjoy these quick reads. But they are hit or miss. If you didn't like the series, then I'm not sure they are worth the bother.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really messed up one ! Which i guess made it good, in terms of twilight zone. Really makes you think about global warming. Nice twist at the end of course in the twilight zone fashion.

[JC · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel update of the famous episode. It's very well done and faithful to the original.

Would I recommend? Yes.
Would I reread? Probably.

[Kiasia Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a short read, the graphics held my attention. All in all it took me literally 15 minutes to read front to back.

[Aryanna Tunstall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never knew the Twilight Zone had graphic novels. This was amazing.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average, at best. Not a bad story, but not very complex, and the illustrations are average too.

[Taja Ofthemarigold · Rating 5 out of 5]

мне понравилась идея рассмотреть то, как может погибнуть наш мир в двух вариантах: огонь и лёд