MIDNIGHT
MIDNIGHT
(Affectionately called "The Clumsy Crusader")
History:
Major James Daystrom was an officer in the United States Air Force stationed in Germany during the late 1950's and early 1960's. While there, he met and married Ella Schmidtt, who bore him a single child.
This boy-child, whom they named Ralph Edward Daystrom, grew to be a bright and quick-witted lad; eager to please doting parents who loved him very much. Despite this, Ralph was a lonely child who made few friends as his father travelled from base to base as a special instructor for the Air Force.
Not bearing to leave his family behind, Major Daystrom brought his wife and son with him as he was restationed throughout his career. Although educational for young Ralph, the constant upheaval made it difficult to cultivate any lasting friendships.
One of the few constants in Ralph's childhood were comic books. As the younger Daystrom moved from base to base throughout the world, the base px always seemed to carry the comics that opened up a fantasy world of thrills and adventure that offered the consistency and reliability he so desperately sought.
In the comics he read, he discovered a world where Good always triumphs over Evil and Heroes could always be depended upon to "do the right thing."
Shortly after Ralph's thirteenth birthday, his father consented to Ralph's mother's request to leave the military and settle down in a civilian career.
On the plane trip home to the United States, the plane was hijacked by terrorists just short of its final destination.
Being a man of action, Major Daystrom could not stand idly by and allow the terrorists to endanger innocent lives. In the ensuing struggle, one of the terrorists set off an explosive charge which caused sudden cabin depressurization and incapacitated the flight crew.
Major Daystrom, though wounded, attempted to bring the aircraft in for an emergency landing. Even though he managed to stabilise the aircraft somewhat and save the majority of the passengers, fifteen people died in the crash.
Among these fifteen casualties were Major Daystrom and his wife Ella. Their orphaned son, Ralph, lay in a coma for several weeks and was not expected to recover. When no relatives came forward to claim the comatose lad, he was mad
Eventually, a child psychologist was able to coax him to once again open himself up to the outside world and deal with his pain. When Ralph began to behave normally again, the doctor declared him cured. The doctor was wrong.
Instead of dealing with his pain, Ralph used his pain to fuel a fanatical
obsession to punish the wicked and protect the innocent. To do this, he would
pattern himself upon those mysterious masked men of the night-time world who
were his boyhood heroes; comic book characters such as The Batman, The Sandman,
and The Shadow.
Pushing himself into an inhuman regimen to shape himself into the ultimate instrument of justice, Ralph began a grueling physical and mental program of exercise and study that bordered on the self-destructive.
But, due to his paranormal physiology, Ralph not only survived his own training but managed to develop his physique to superhuman levels until, at last, he felt that he was ready for the task before him.
And so, donning a costume of darkling hues, he vowed upon the graves of his parents that "men of Evil shall come to fear ... the hour of Midnight."
And thus a small boy, whose life was almost destroyed by the wicked and cruel injustices of fate, dedicated himself to a life of sacrifice and struggle to protect the innocent and punish the wicked.
And, in serving as a symbol of hope to the victims of cruel fate, and a symbol of fear to those who
e a ward of the court.would gain from the misery of others, Midnight has come to inspire a whole new generation
In response to his life-threatening injuries, Ralph's heretofore latent paranormal abilities surfaced and served to strengthen his system enough to allow it to begin the slow healing process which would eventually result in his full recovery.
When informed of his parents' death, Ralph withdrew into a shell of pain and denial and refused to speak to anyone or even acknowledge the outside world for many months. and make them believe that, perhaps, justice does prevail and that Good may ultimately triumph over the forces of Evil.