Midnight Kingdom is a graphic novel created by Gigi Edgley based on a feature film she wrote.
The black of night. Waves are crashing on Venice Beach. A filthy, lost paradise. Stars sparkle in their magnificence and hang from the heavens far out at sea. Out of nowhere a girl emerges, bursting from the ocean gulping air deep into her being. It's as though this is the most momentous happening in history. As her head swings back water droplets fly off her short blond hair catching the moonlight. It is almost as if time had slowed down and sped up all within the same instant. There is a sense of rebirth, elegance and grace. A trace of shock glimmers across the girl's eyes.
Her head jolts back down to look around. Out of nowhere a huge wave interrupts the precious moment and smashes into the girl’s back unceremoniously washing her up onto the beach. The girl is flattened upon the sand coughing and spitting out the ocean, muttering in what can only be described as a creature attempting to speak for the first time. She flails about trying to get a grasp on moving, as if she has never had to utilise arms and legs before. She collapses face first into the sand.
Our tale is about The Last Wishing Star who has fallen out of the sky and found herself marooned on Earth. At one time man looked upon the stars and wished. They wished for wealth, fame, life, and death, as well as an innumerable amount of other desires. At no fault of their own, the humans wanted seemingly innocent things and disaster was brought upon them. Soon the stars that granted these wishes, began to see how the humans were hurting themselves and their world. So the stars, being wise and benevolent, turned away from the humans for their own good. All but one. A large bright blue Star named by earthlings, Adhara, found in the Canis Majoris Constellation. She became The Last Wishing Star.
She understood that it wasn’t the human's fault for wanting things that often turned out badly. They of course didn’t understand the truths and laws of nature that need be undone in the granting of their wishes. You see the stars are more like gatekeepers, liaisons, to the real power. The universe. A simple wish may not be so simple. Massive cogs of unnerving measure that operate to keep worlds spinning must for one moment run backwards for something as simple as a child wishing for a piece of candy.
The stars that once granted human’s wishes are not happy with Adhara and she knows it. They have banished her to earth and she has lost near to all of her power. She is forced to do her best using human traits and what little power she has left to grant wishes in order to prove to the skeptical stars, the universe and herself that there is still a little magic left on earth. Humans deserve to have their wishes back. For what is this life if we can't dream? The wandering star believes once her task is complete she will earn her place back in the sky. She desperately longs to return as soon as possible as each night she looks up to the stars and sees that they are faint due to their dying belief in mankind. It does not help the matter that humans wash away the sparkles from the sky with their bright lights, pollution and forgetfulness to make a true and good wish every now and then.
The passerby can see our banished Star's physical self but it is the extremely tuned in people that at precise moments will see the twinkle that she truly is such as children, animals, and oddities.
The universe is her constant companion. Often she speaks to the universe as if it is right next to her and we as an audience can never hear what the universe says back, we can only hear her half of the conversation. In certain moments the universe will give her a hand coinciding events to happen if the situation is fitting.
Our Star knows information about things that people have wished for but she doesn’t know a lot about how things work on Earth. Simple things such as sliding doors and foods are a challenge to her. She is not detected by film and video cameras. She can’t use any electronics. When she is hurt or overjoyed it is perceived by her in a foreign manner and instead it is reflected by the universe around her.
On the Star's travels she meets an immortal man. He notices her as someone that doesn’t belong because he’s been around for so long. He has seen everything to see and he knows all the tricks in the books. Our Mr. Immortal lives on a docked sailboat so he can spend his passing days undetected by inquisitive eyes wondering why he never ages. He would never dream of untying the boat and taking it for a sail as the water terrifies him. Hundreds of years ago he made a simple living as a sailor. One treacherous night he was moments away from drowning when he made his wish to survive. He did survive but it came with a price. He became immortal. It is quite apparent as the story unravels that it was our Star that granted him his misinterpreted wish.
Mr Immortal is a rough rogue. He finds love in alcohol, cigarettes and the ladies and boy do the ladies fall for him left, right and center. He is unkempt, worldly and has a charm that dances in his eyes. Star finds love in the wonders of her new world. Reaching her hand into the sand, becoming mesmerized by a flower blooming and surrendering to ridiculous dance moves when she hears music. He and the Star will never romantically ‘be’ together. They are the odd couple in a more than odd world. Two troubled souls that are meant to simply be together but they are to each other a complete, intriguing conundrum. He may every now and then try to work his magic on her but it will seemingly go unnoticed by our Star.
There is a moment when the misplaced Star loses her way and it is of course Mr. Immortal that shows her the reason why she came to this planet.
Star never initially sleeps. She wanders the streets at night to learn all she can about this new world. When earth gets a little too much and she needs to run away from the constant droning of ridiculous wishes toying with her mind she escapes to her safe place. The highest point she can see, the Hollywood sign. She finds comfort contemplating the world perched on the sign. It is as close as she can possibly be to her old home in the heavens and at the same time she can survey the humans and their wishes below.
Our tale is seen through the eyes of The Last Wishing Star as she explores the wonders and the terrors of our strange world. We are all in this together. We are all one. She is here to remind humans, skeptical stars, the universe and herself that everyone deserves to wish. For the only way to catch a dream is to believe in it.
