I have always been a fan of the goth aesthetic, and not just black lipstick and fishnets (though that stuff does help), but the richly emotional, dark-themed, highly Romantic transcendence of mind and mortal flesh that makes up the tapestry of Gothic fiction. And finally here, teamed up with artist Hans "Hanzo" Steinbach, I get to work on something drenched in such an aesthetic. Here is a story of complex emotional themes that penetrates the surface of that which is "goth" and plumbs its darkest and, perhaps ironically, its most human depths.

What attracted me to Hanzo's initial pitch was his premise that perhaps the undead, in the midst of the reformation of the 16th century, found ways to integrate with and help the Protestant causes, therefore weakening the power of the Catholic Church, hell-bent on exterminating the undead from the world. To me, this sounded like a brilliant playground to explore Gothic angst and the legends surrounding vampires and werewolves in new and innovative ways. The result: Hans Steinbach's A Midnight Opera, a tale of immortality, redemption and bittersweet love.

~Luis Reyes, Editor

For nearly a millennium, undead creatures have blended into a Europe heavy with religious dogma and intolerance. These beasts of the night allied themselves with factions of mortal men who aimed at shaking the foundations of the Catholic Church and freeing society from its strangling grip. But always were their true natures hidden, often even from even each other. The world was unable and unwilling to accept the existence of extra-mortal beings. A Midnight Opera is the story of two undead brothers Ein and Leroux DeLaLune, who are divided in this epic struggle and who are forced to reconcile their differences in the modern day to stop an open assault on mankind by the dissatisfied elements among the rest of the undead.

Volume 1 focuses on Ein, who fled his brethren in the early 19th century only to surface early in the 21st century as an underground goth metal sensation. But with his newfound fame comes the exposure that brings all the demons from his past. And the Ein who wanted simply to pursue a life of music and love will find that he may have no other choice but to forsake both and assume the weight of all salvation on his shoulders.

Hans Steinbach

Born in Damascus, Syria to a German father and a Syrian mother, Hans was raised around the world, residing for long stretches of his youth in Marseille, France; Bonn, Germany; Beirut, Lebanon; Ankara, Turkey; Montreal, Quebec; and most recently Beverly Hills, California. Though Hans has had no formal art training, he has been doodling ever since he was ten and in the last eleven years has forged a unique style from his innate talent, worldly experiences and a passion for music. He is particularly drawn to Heavy Metal and Goth, his idol being guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen. Hans' art sensibilities have been strongly influenced by Japanese artists, especially Go Nagai (Devilman) and Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball). A Midnight Opera is his first published work.

Ein DeLaLune
An undead creature also known as a Strigoi, Ein is a vampire-like living corpse who is destined to roam the Earth for eternity. He died at childbirth, but awoke the next night afflicted with the "darkness." Raised by religious reformees, Ein and his younger brother Leroux—also afflicted with the mark of darkness, though Leroux's is of the variety lupin, a brother of the wolf—were ade orphans during an attack by Catholic Knights against a burgeoning Huguenot church. As a means of survival, Ein used his natural charisma and grace to allow himself and his deeply religious, more powerful younger brother to enter other Huguenot groups. Over over the next several centuries, the two become figureheads of the Huguenot cause as well as secret leaders of the undead protection movement, bringing disenfranchised "dark ones" into a community where they can live without the burden of being feared or hunted. However, his first love has been and probably always will be music. Now, centuries later, Ein has exploded onto the underground music scene, re-inventing himself as a heavy metal songster with the potential to become an idol for the dejected, the defeated and the disenfranchised.

Leroux DeLaLune
Leroux was made a lycanthrope lupin at birth, from the same mystical energy that afflicted his older brother. However, Leroux's transformation from human to creature was complete, a synthesis of the undead and the lycanthropy. Though powerful, Leroux is spiritually lost, lacking the charisma of his older brother and yearning for an emotional core to his being. When the two become entwined with the Huguenot movement, Leroux finds comfort in the new religious doctrine, able to establish a direct connection with God rather than corruptible priests. As the years pass, Leroux finds himself more and more enamored of strict discipline and spiritual focus.

Elizabeth Bathory
Daughter of pagan witches of noble status, Elizabeth escapes an attack by Catholic Knights on her home and hides out in the nearby woods, only to run into Ein, Leroux and a whole clan of Réformée warriors intent on defending all against persecution. Losing her family in the attack, she joins Ein and Leroux. But she often wonders why, if the dark creatures are more powerful, they must subjugate themselves to the inferior mortals. She has always had more affection for Leroux, drawn mainly to his tremendous power but also to their shared sense of superiority. After Ein flees the movement, Elizabeth uses the sorrow that consumes Leroux to wrest control away from him, and over many years, she build herself legions of undead warriors, who are now poised to dominate mankind once and for all.

Dahlia Whyte
A sassy Scottish lass who has won Ein DeLaLune's heart, a heart that he believed forever destroyed. Against her better judgment, she has allowed herself to fall in love with him, knowing there is something yet dark and unexplored about him. She'll find that she should have paid attention more to her intuition.

Hector
Ein's trusted helper. Hector works at a hosptial where it is easy for him to aid the undead.

The Head Knight of the Order
A man so driven to exterminate the undead from this world that he becomes the very thing he most hates so as to continue his mission into eternity.

Victor Frankenstein
Right hand man to Elizabeth, he is the de facto whip for the living dead. He gets close to Ein as the doorman for Ein's European tour.

From Publishers Weekly

The flamboyant decadence of the rock music scene merges with the even more lush harmonics of grand opera in this overwrought European manga. Einblick DeLaLune is a superstar rocker with a darker-than-average secret: he is actually a centuries-old werewolf who's trying to deny his heritage and find love with a beautiful human woman. He's tired of being a monster. Unfortunately, as his unrepentant brother Leroux reminds him, changing identities is not that simple. When Ein gave up his leadership role, the werewolf tribe fell into the control of a murderous witch. Meanwhile, the equally malevolent Cardinal LaCroix has been chasing werewolves for centuries and now has the lovers in his sights. By the end of this first volume, Ein realizes that he can't avoid a supernatural battle. Steinbach's jittery, sketchy ectomorphic figures are elongated and twisted incredibly as his characters fight and cavort through Paris; it's difficult to believe that even non-human flesh could stretch that far. He does have a flair, though, for dramatic layout, massing darkness on the pages, and action scenes that are visually convincing in their immediate energy. It's a promising debut.

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