Crossing Midnight #5
	Story Title: ‘Cut Here’ (Part 2 of 2) Writer: Mike Carey Penciller: Jim Fern Inker: Mark Pennington Colorist: Jose Villarrubia Letterer: Todd Klein Cover by : J.H. Williams III Editor: Pornsak Pichetshote Published by: Vertigo Comics ‘CROSSING MIDNIGHT’ Created by Mike Carey & Jim Fern
	Reviewed by: Bruce Logan

The second part of a two issue arc, this issue of CM is told mostly by first person narration p.o.v., the person being Yasuo Hara, the father of Kai and Toshi. Starting with Yasuo’s slide into the dark world of the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza, this issue ends with quite a few deaths, though thankfully enough none from the Hara family.

For those who read last month’s issue, there is also the question of Yasuo’s possibly killing someone and then being killed himself. It was all part of the quagmire he has been stuck in for quite some while. On the twins’ front, although Toshi is shown mainly via ‘dream/imagination’ projections, Kai makes advances in his own journey to become, well, whatever it is that he is shown as in the last page revelation.

I read somewhere (in another review) that the pencil work of Crossing Midnight is ‘simplistic’. Not a particularly impressive adjective, is it? I for one am more than accepting of the visuals provided by the team of Jim Fern, Mark Pennington and Jose Villarrubia. Then again, at the same time I am not a big fan of the overly ultra-realistic stylings (e.g. Alex Ross) and in stories such as the one here would rather prefer a more subdued settled look than flashy fanfare. To each his/her own, an’ all that eh.

Conclusion: As much as intriguing the first five issues of Crossing Midnight have been I look forward to the story picking up its pace a bit.

RATING: 7.5/10