Ellis - Darkhawk - Max

[ultramandingo]

bad signal
WARREN


I am alone and slightly pissed off and having a few drinks and
looking through the Marvel research stuff I mentioned earlier,
and I found this.. thing. That apparently supported its own
title at some point.

It is called DARKHAWK.

According to this character bio I found, Darkhawk is some
American kid who, through use of a special amulet...

...turns into a robot.

And, even better, somewhere down the storyline, he discovered
that his mind was simply transferred into the robot, which
swapped places with him teleportationally from its storage
unit in subspace, MIRACLEMAN-stylee (kinda).

But seriously. Magic amulet turns kid into robot.

I swear to you, I'm not so drunk that I'm making this up.

(Bad Signal pal Danny Fingeroth was the writer, apparently,
working from a concept developed by Tom DeFalco.)

Stop me from pitching this as some appalling blood-and-guts
Marvel MAX adult project.

PLEASE.


As I said to Danny Fingeroth, writer
of the original DARKHAWK comics,
last night: the one thing that's
really missing from my oeuvre to
date is taking a beloved children's
comics character and pointlessly
ruining it for tens of thousands of
people by twisting it against its will
into an indulgently unpleasant piece
of adult fiction.

Which is to say: I'm not unaware of
the stupid, wasteful ugliness of
taking something like DARKHAWK
and turning it into a Marvel MAX
mature-readers book. But I'm still
kind of amused by the notion. And
I never did do the full-bore Post-
Modern Superhero Thing, and
maybe I should have one in the
bibliography. After all, we're either
in the peak condition of the
postmodern situation or in its dying
days as things fracture into
Something Else, depending on your
position.

It has interesting parallels with
MIRACLEMAN and WATCHMEN --
yeah, hold on -- insofar as it's a
derivative work at two removes.
The WATCHMEN characters were
inspired by the Charlton superheroes
who were created as competition
to the Marvel/DC characters. And
MIRACLEMAN/MARVELMAN is of
course a revision of the 50s
MARVELMAN comic which was a
knock-off of Captain Marvel who
was created in competition to
Superman. DARKHAWK has elements
of MIRACLEMAN, GUYVER and a
bunch of other things.

So...yeah. Trying to stop myself
from thinking about this anymore.
I'm getting NEWUNIVERSAL up on its
feet right now -- which, like MISTER
SLEEPLESS, is turning out to be more
complex than I expected -- and am
also thinking about reconfiguring
IGNITION CITY as a "pilot" novella
for this year, rather than as the
12-part serial I had in mind for next
year.

Anyway, it was an interesting
thought experiment. Sometimes
they're worth doing just to get
the little grey cells sparking,
creating electricity you can then
apply to something else. So, a
couple of hours with a bottle of
whisky, actually trying to imagine
what it'd be like to be a human
consciousness inside a robot --
no tactile sense, having to learn
how to pick things up without
feedback, unable to feel gravity,
seeing in high definition, perhaps
seeing information (something I
toyed with in PLANETARY, which,
after this, I'm now going to use in
a more detailed way in NU)...gets
you thinking.


---
Sent via mobile device


even his dumb ideas rule

[Ravenheart]

can anyone translate that?

[The Fury]

can anyone translate that?
No doubt he's down the pub and had a few beers.

I really gotta find that pub and hang out with him.

[Crash-Man]

I'd buy it.

I imagine an early scene where the kid misjudges the robot's strength and absolutely rips a group of criminals apart, resulting in a wave of terror and guilt...and an invitation/blackmail ultimatum to do black ops work for some clandestine element of the military that doesn't know he's 12.

[Nick MB]

I'd also buy it. And even if it never happens, I love the insight into Ellis's thought process. Hopefully he'll do something along these lines while he's with Marvel, even if it's not Dawkhawk..

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Isn't Ellis the same guy who did 3 issues of monthly Iron Man ins a 1 year period ? If he is I can see DARKHAWK comin out twice a year . ;)

[Expletive Deleted]

Isn't Ellis the same guy who did 3 issues of monthly Iron Man ins a 1 year period? If he is I can see DARKHAWK comin out twice a year.For what it's worth, that was mostly the artist.

[Michael P]

Someone tell Warren that Chuck Austen already did an "appalling blood-and-guts Marvel MAX adult" Darkhawk as part of his War Machine series. So that's done then.

Also: "I never did do the full-bore Post-Modern Superhero Thing." Is he joking? Or has he just not read his entire output over the last seven years?

[Jake V]

I'd buy the hell out of an Ellis-penned Darkhawk book. I vaguely enjoyed the original series, and I'd love to have the concept torn to bits for a modern audience.

And I don't think he's speaking through his ego, he just doesn't consider these characters to be sacred. Because they aren't.

[Sean Walsh]

Holy ****!

A comic book about an amulet that turns a kid into a robot..........

A comic book about something NOT POSSIBLE IN REAL LIFE?!?!?!

Well, pee in my mouth and call me Henry Bigglestein, that is just INSANE!

:eek:

You go destroy that notion that comic books have to be 100% completely real and possible, Warren!!!! That they can't be wacky and silly and weird without the reader getting the impression that the writer is some anti-social drunk-off-his-ass (or arse, if you will) deviant doped up on crystal meth when he writes!

Rape and pillage this comic book concept meant to be a fun-spirited, albeit a bit strange and lame when looking at it 15 years later, romp in Marvel superheroics!

WE'RE ALL WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!

:rolleyes:

[Jake V]

Holy SH*T!

A comic book about an amulet that turns a kid into a robot..........

A comic book about something NOT POSSIBLE IN REAL LIFE?!?!?!

Well, pee in my mouth and call me Henry Bigglestein, that is just INSANE!

:eek:

You go destroy that notion that comic books have to be 100% completely real and possible, Warren!!!! That they can't be wacky and silly and weird without the reader getting the impression that the writer is some anti-social drunk-off-his-ass (or arse, if you will) deviant doped up on crystal meth when he writes!

Rape and pillage this comic book concept meant to be a fun-spirited, albeit a bit strange and lame when looking at it 15 years later, romp in Marvel superheroics!

WE'RE ALL WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!

:rolleyes:
You didn't really read the whole first post, did you?

and Darkhawk wasn't fun spirited. Did you read it back in the day? It tried to be as deadly-serious as possible.

[Nick MB]

Also: "I never did do the full-bore Post-Modern Superhero Thing." Is he joking? Or has he just not read his entire output over the last seven years?

Clearly you haven't. I could quote about ten non-superhero Ellis comics from the last seven years at you very quickly, and also point out that his Iron Man and Ultimate Fantastic Four were not particularly post-modern, certainly not "full-bore".

[Doom Hammer]

Wouldn't this make Nextwave obselete?

*Gasp*

Darkhawk = the next member of the Nextwave squad!

[Nick MB]

Wouldn't this make Nextwave obselete?

*Gasp*

Darkhawk = the next member of the Nextwave squad!

Nextwave is mostly Saturday-morning cartoon level stuff, with occasional jokes about sex and beer. It's sort of the Family Guy or Simpsons of superhero comics.

I think here he's talking about more of a hardcore MAX thing, looking at the full horror of what this could be like.

[Brad Curran]

Holy ****!

A comic book about an amulet that turns a kid into a robot..........

A comic book about something NOT POSSIBLE IN REAL LIFE?!?!?!

Well, pee in my mouth and call me Henry Bigglestein, that is just INSANE!

:eek:

You go destroy that notion that comic books have to be 100% completely real and possible, Warren!!!! That they can't be wacky and silly and weird without the reader getting the impression that the writer is some anti-social drunk-off-his-ass (or arse, if you will) deviant doped up on crystal meth when he writes!

Rape and pillage this comic book concept meant to be a fun-spirited, albeit a bit strange and lame when looking at it 15 years later, romp in Marvel superheroics!

WE'RE ALL WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!

:rolleyes:

I'm not even sure what you're mocking here.

[ultramandingo]

who needs "dark-hawk" ill just read some crappy 90's comics from the 25 cent bin and drinkny some trader joes brand scotch - yes! its another friday night -woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!

[Will.S]

Seeing Darkhawk as a Max title would be pretty jarring although I'm sure Warren shouldn't have any problems making it so. I guess I would be up for it depending on how he'd write it and if he redesigns the Darkhawk design.

[darkhawk76]

I hope this isn't true

I still haven't forgiven Ellis for his pointless offhanded killing of Synch in Generation X

a MAX version of Darkhawk doesn't appeal to me

[dopexvii]

i'd buy a darkhawk max title ive always liked his character
but he's already with Exelsior
so how about an Excelsior MAX title instead?

[NormanB]

Was that typed on a Dreamcast? :D

[Sean Whitmore]

I am alone and slightly pissed off and having a few drinks and looking through the Marvel research stuff I mentioned earlier, and I found this.. thing. That apparently supported its own title at some point.

It is called DARKHAWK.


I love the way Ellis is completely flabbergasted that something like Darkhawk could exist, and speaks of it as if a myth. :D

Speaking as someone who still has a full run of Darkhawk, I'd love to see Ellis do a mishmash with Guyver and Miracleman and whatever other fevered connections he can make. Not starring Chris Powell, of course, but some new kid with the amulet would be a hoot.


SEAN

[phantom1592]

As a Major Fan of Darkhawk, I would be terrified if Ellis did this. I have no use for "Max" lines and certainly don't think DH has any business being one. With the Whole Civil War thing going on and his ties to the Warriors, this is the perfect time to bring him back.

In fact I'm going to be VERY disappointed if he doesn't even make an appearance.

From What I just read, it seems that Ellis is thinking about doing a character that he DOESN"T KNOW. He would REALLY have to READ the original series before even thinking about it. The whole Lack of tactile sensation and lack of Gravity from the "robot guy" just didn't happen. Chris could FEEL anything he wanted, and when he got injured he screamed and bled.

[Strannik]

He's already been brought back. Not a solo title, mind you, but still....

[phantom1592]

He's already been brought back. Not a solo title, mind you, but still....


Yeah, I know he's in runaways, but that is such a small part. He was in the first couple issues, then I haven't seen him since. And since I can't stand any of the "main" characters in that book I just can't keep it on my pulls :(

[Greg Blackman]

Well, pee in my mouth and call me Henry Bigglestein, that is just INSANE!


.......open wide Henry.

[garin]

He single-handedly destroyed Ultron in Runaways. You have to give him some respect for that.

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3862/darkhawkvultron4ik.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

He was also in the recent League of Losers arc in Marvel Team-Up.

[Rorysm]

I loved Darkhawk back in the day. Remember this came out as a way to reach younger fans with a character that didn't have the whole hero thing nailed down anymore... he didn't have much luck with girls, and he had, gasp...family problems! Just like Spiderman as a kid (at this time the only Spidey you could buy was the successful photographer, married to a super-model, total control of his powers, well established hero model). In a way, the first 25 issues of Darkhawk were what Ultimate Spiderman became. The last 25 issues became a bad science fiction trip. I always hated books about outer space and the whole thing went down the toilet.
I still love Darkhawk though. I don't like the whole "Chris is a bitter ex hero" thing from runaways. He's not even bitter, he's just really sad. I'm not sure how we got from one to the other.
I didn't like Ellis' Nextwave. I only read the first issue and I thought it wasn't exciting or funny. In fact, it was really, really, not funny.

I hope they bring Darkhawk back in his old form... I'd love to see a Fabian Niceinza Darkhawk book. But, if not, I'll wait... he'll be back eventually.

[Alex A Sanchez]

I loved Darkhawk back in the day.

I agree. I loved the first 25 issues. That was before they revealed Darkhawk was a robot, I guess, because I don't remember that part. I liked it better when the amulet was something magical that turned a young guy into a superhero.