I would say that Death Note is concerned about issues of life, death and punishment. So if the bodies were of criminals, I would see a connection.

Or such is my recollection.

As for the Night Shift, almost none of them were criminals for the money--the Hangman and Needle were nutso vigilantes, Dansen Macabre was a Siva cultist, the Brothers Grimm were as much loonie chaoticists as anything. So as someone said, kicking butt without fear of drawing major police attention probably appealed to them.

Hmm, I suddenly have the urge to do a retcon fanfic where they meet the Pride.

Anyway, back to the impact of "Death Note". If you do any research, you'll find several instances where students in the U.S. have been suspended for having death wishes against fellow students or teachers in their school notebooks. I am sure the same could be said of students in Japan, because the education system is such a pressure cooker.

Also, let me clear something up-- 'Kira' does NOT mean "light", so there is no pun with the character's name. On the Wikipedia page, the character they show for "Light" is probably wrong, as it is the character for "moon', but then, I haven't read the manga. However, I do know there are no Japanese natives who have an "L" in their name. Kira is NOT a common name in Japan-- Akira is. Nobody in Japan forces the reading of "Akira" as "kira," except, perhaps, in manga. .

And, BTW, why ARE they no longer "Urban" Legends, Brian?

Just to be nitpicky, the proper spelling is AFTERWORD. An "afterword" is generally an explanatory note or commentary that most commonly follows the main text of a work of fiction. (Unlike a foreword--which precedes the main text of a work of fiction--the afterword is normally written by the main work's author. Also, the foreword is usually written by someone else.)
When spelled with a second "a", that refers to an event that comes after another. (It's also an adverb.)

The "kira" used in the Death Note manga, if done correctly, would be 'kira-" , meaning the final a has to be extended (kiraa). That is because, not only do the Japanese not have an "L" that corresponds to the use of "L" in English, they don't have an "R" that corresponds to the use of "R" in English either. So, the Japanese cannot pronounce the "r" at the end of "killer" using their phonetic characters, and extend the final vowel as a 'cover'. In transcribing the English word into Japanese phonetics, the extension of the "vowel" would be indicated by a bar that would appear as a hyphen.

It's rather ironic that the word "desu" at the end of the sentence is phonetically the same as the English word "Death"... because, you know the Japanese language doesn't have a "TH" sound either. So if you want to know why Japanese speak 'with a thick accent', it's because they're doing their best to mimic English words that contain sounds that don't exist in their native tongue....

So ends today's Japanese lesson.

Marvel only released ONE tpb of the Midnight Sons material.
That was for the whole "RISE of the Midnight Sons" crossover story-arc wherein the "team" is formed.
The cover for which is exactly what Cronin used in his scan.

It is but ONE of the many items that I'll be writing about (all in due time) in my blog, which is dedicated to:
"ALL things Doctor Strange".
(or as I call the practice; "6-dimensions of Doctor Strange". An obvious riff on the "6-degrees of separation/Kevin Bacon" thingee.)

Feel free to stop on by.

MAJOR posts weekly, incidental posts whenever I can get to them.

~P~

By the way, it's an awesome manga. I fully recommend it.

For some reason, I seem to remember Gypsy Moth being aware of Shroud's secret as well. I don't think even Cat & Mouse were aware that Shroud was not a gangster. I believe they were a couple of small-time crooks whom The Shroud chose as personal henchmen (and hench-woman), helping him lead his gang, more for the fact that they were fairly harmless than anything else, although one of them was technically sound and the other, a mediocre cat burgler.