Night Man

Published by Malibu Comics for its Ultraverse line, the comic book Night Man gained his powers from an accident. A piece of shrapnel became embedded in his head after his vehicle was struck by a cable car that had been hit by a burst of energy known as a "jumpstart". The energy is later found to originate from The Entity, an alien starship which had crashed on the Moon. Night Man jumpstarted, but the passengers of the cable car were also, some of which went on to form The Strangers. This version of Johnny Domino, while not unconditionally telepathic, could hear evil thoughts, could see in the dark and did not require sleep. His costume and equipment were merely makeshift items from hardware stores and the like, plus a kevlar vest his father lent him. His father was a former police officer turned security guard at a San Francisco Coney Island-type amusement park called "Playland", based upon the real-life Playland (San Francisco). He used both a gun and a taser to fight crime, though the gun was only used as a last resort and even then, never used to kill. This version did not fly, but he used a grappling hook and rope to swing about the city, in addition to a used motorcycle he bought in the first issue as a means to transport himself quickly. A final difference, though minor, pertains to Johnny Domino's legal name. In the comic book, his name is Johnny Domingo (shortened to Domino as a catchy name to capitalize on his career as a saxophone musician) and his father's name was Edward Domingo (as opposed to the name his father was given on the television series). During the series, Nightman meets and befriends the Freex, a group of super-powered teenagers on the run. In addition to dealing with his own problems, Nightman promises to watch out for them. Unfortunately he must deal with the death of one of the team, Plug, murdered by the Ultra-killer Rafferty. Issue one was drawn by the character's designer and co-creator Darick Robertson.