Doctor Mid-Nite

Pieter Cross's origin is told in Doctor Mid-Nite #1 (1999)

The Score

The story starts out with a mysterious women, who is speaking of her addiction to a drug known as A39. A steroid. She is waiting in the dead of the night, to score the drug of a dealer called, "Cracky" It does not come easy to this women, she feels like a naughty school kid, edgy and nervous. She continues to wait in the Dark for "her man" alone or so she thinks. Cue DR Mid-Nite or Dr Cross as he is known at the moment, He advises her that she should not be smoking, as it leads to cancer, lung disease etc... At the moment the mysterious women thinks the Dr is there to score, "Cracky" shows up, looking like a young hip Crack head- Chains, sunglasses and his cap slanted to the side like some urban nightcrawler Gangsta. The Deal goes down but the Dr does not invest, after the deal is done, he calls upon his friend Nite Lite to catch up with the girl as he has other things to attend to.

We learn her name is Camilla Marlowe. She moved to Portsmouth 7 years ago, reasons for moving include, Affordable housing, Escape from crime, better quality of life. She lives in a small part called parkway, she love it here "coz people mind there own business" she is a web-designer, which suits her because she can work at night. Some day she wishes to be a Mystery Writer, but she holds a pessimistic attitude to this, and fills her mind full of doubts and depression.

When she returns home the Dr is sat at her desk, this spooks her and she panic's, she bumps into Nite lite and this only contributes to her fears, He settles her quickly, he assures her that he is only there to commender the A39 sample, so that he may help her with her condition. "Xenoodera Pigmentosa" or acute sensitivity to light, When just a young girl, she found out she had the disease when all her hair and skin were severely burned due to the sunlight.

Evening Rounds

The Dr then walks us through his evening rounds, in which we see his greatest work, He helps the poor people of the underworld especially to those who are addicted to drugs, He also gives his money to Missionary's who help the poor and the hungry, We see him in one scene where he is handing out Condoms to the local prostitutes, he asks "How's business" They say, "You should come see for yourself sometime, Doc"

The doctor tells Camilla that she should come to his house for treatment in two days, in this time, Camilla works frantically to get some back Ground information, We learn the history behind Dr Cross.

Largo

During the next few scenes we are guided through, a sub-plot including "Cracky" and a mysterious man called Largo. "Cracky" tells largo about his encounter with Dr Cross. We see Largo's fury and learn that his goal is to mass produce the Drug A39. He sees the Doctor as a threat and sends two associates to deal with him and find out more. They kidnap a friend of the Doctor, and a hot car chase follows, the car chase ends in a pile up, The associates of Largo are admitted to a hospital. The two henchman were examined by Doctor Cross and found to be under the influence of A39. Soon after he leaves the hospital the two henchmen are visited by a hitman working for Largo and are killed.

Drugged

Doctor Cross goes out on the town toi think, because his lab usually distracts him. The bartender, working for Largo, spikes Dr. Cross's drink with a huge dose of A39. As he is driving home his adrenaline is hightened from the steroid and he has an episode and causes a car accident. When he finally come around, in a hospital, he is blind. He gives up on society. Camilla comes round to persuade him to get up and go, but He shrugs her off. He has a deep thinking session, during a walk. On this walk he gets attacked by an owl. He feels something is not right. When he removes the bandages he can see. He realizes that the low level spectrums, those not normally seen by the human eye, are clearly available to him. He develops some equipment to enhance this new natural ability and creates a costume. The owl has become his pet. He unviels his new costume to Camilla and dons his new identity Doctor Mid-Nite.

Powers

Doctor Mid-Nite possesses the superhuman ability to see perfectly in the dark. Using special infrared lenses, Mid-Nite can see in light; later in his life, his lenses became more ineffective as his eyesight continued to deteriorate further, lowering his ability to see in daylight. McNider also commonly used "blackout bombs", which would releas pitch-black gas that blinded villains and allowed McNider to see. For a while he used a weapon called a "Cryotuber" which allowed him to either control the nervous system of an opponent, or fire bursts of heat or cold. As Starman II, McNider used many different star-themed gadgets, which included an airship designed by the Red Torpedo. McNider was also a superb athlete and fighter, in addition to being a gifted physician and author.