While I was writing about MANTIS last time, I got to thinking about other sub-par Super-hero TV shows from the 90’s and kicked myself for not remembering Night Man. For those of you too young to remember, Night Man was a character from Malibu comics’ Ultraverse line that came along during the early 1990’s. The Ultraverse brought us characters like the Sludge, Hardcase, and steroid poster boy Prime, but didn’t survive the decade once Malibu was bought by Marvel. Of all these characters, only the Night Man was apparently worthy of wider exposure through the medium of television well after the character had any relevance.

In the comic universe, Night Man wasn’t that bad a story, but on the small screen it was less than stellar. The series centers around Johnny Domino, saxophonist from San Francisco who when struck by lightening in a cable car accident discovers he has the ability to recognize evil, but loses the ability to sleep. Thus is born the Night Man. One little known aspect of the show is that the character of Prof Jonathan Chase, who was the lead character in the short lived 1983 series Manimal. The Night Man series can almost be considered a continuation of Manimal in that aspect. What surprised me about this series is that Night Man managed to earn itself a second season. I remember when I was a teenager and the opening credits would start at around midnight or one in the morning with that hot sax instrumental and I would quickly try to find something else to watch, but first I just had to get through the opening sequence. It was bad even by 1997 standards.

Just so you know, this incarnation of the Night Man is not to be confused with the character created by Charlie Kelly (Local businessman and cat enthusiast) from the show It’s Always
Sunny In Philadelphia. That Night Man is the fighter of the Day Man, champion of the sun, master of karate and friendship for everyone.



-Jim

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