Darkhawk from the Beginning

[Category1Games]

I didn't start on Darkhawk until issue 8 which I LOVED and it got me into the series, so I was reading back on issue one and then catching up as it went. I didn't really care for the first little bit of it but loved from 8 - 21 but didn't like the lead up to 25 all that much and actually dropped the book. I've gone back and got the full series now but never read past 25 still, I need to catch up.

The reason this book pulled me in is that it had a sort of Iron Man feel to it but with mystery added to it. I was ten at the time and the issues with Tombstone and Venom were just awesome but the whole arch from 21 - 25 just wasn't that great and the art from 26 - 30 was just bad. Without Manley, the art sucked.

T. Smith and Williams were just bad while Manley sort of started to suck as he went on in the series. I think his style changed to more of a 90'ish style and got away from the sort of Batman/Dark style that he was drawing at first.

Just my 2 cents.

[nate-grey]

Yeah why did they cancel Runawys that was a great book when Brian K Vaughan wrote it

Unfortunately, you hit the nail on the head there. The book was struggling when BKV was writing, but after he left the sales really went down (as did the quality) and the book was cancelled. At least we got a Darkhawk appearance out of it though, and Runaways is a great read for anybody who hasn't read it. BKV's Darkhawk was a little too angry for most, but he gets points for reintroducing him to the MCU!

The reason this book pulled me in is that it had a sort of Iron Man feel to it but with mystery added to it. I was ten at the time and the issues with Tombstone and Venom were just awesome but the whole arch from 21 - 25 just wasn't that great and the art from 26 - 30 was just bad. Without Manley, the art sucked.

Have you read the first DH annual guest-staring Iron Man? If not, you're in for a treat. I agree about 21-25, when I was 10, that was the storyline that got me into Darkhawk, but looking back, it wasn't the strongest. We'll get to it in more detail later though. The art from 26-30 was pretty sketchy, but there were some very good issues in the months after that. There was a slight adjustment period after Manley left, but the quality did pick up.

Notice Chris has the exact opposite personality that he was eventually saddled with by the skim-reading of later writers. He's surrounded by aggression in his younger brothers and burdened with the expectation that he become the man of the home and he's not 'angry', he's frustrated as most teenagers are when realising the shortcomings of authority figures, in this instance Chris' dad. It's a clever way to make him brash without being irrational or difficult to relate to, and it's a shame that it didn't last.

Not sure about all the references to other Marvel universe events so early in the book's run: Spider-Man guest-starring is a smart move, but demonic Hobgoblin's ongoing possession arc being a part of brand new superhero Darkhawk's origin story not so much. But it doesn't get in the way of knowing what's going on, and the book is a lot more accessible than a great many other teen books launching in established fictional universes such as Runaways, Young Avengers or Arana, which are good titles but really do need the first six issues to be taken as a whole compared to Darkhawk's first issue setting up pretty much everything you need to know.

Maybe a little dense in the reading compared to modern titles, but it's a solid opening issue.

Good call on Chris's attitude, his personal life was certainly a mess, which the first issue communicated from the start. The constant stress the family is under definitely takes it's toll on him. Chris's irresponsibility bothers me a lot, but it creates an interesting dilemma when he's given incredible power.

I agree about Hobgoblin. I missed out on his appearances in McFarlane's Spider-Man series, but it's not really necessary to understand what's going on here. I didn't actually figure out that he's demon-possessed until I recently reread it. Hobby does make a truly terrifying villain in this appearance.

[Jason Abbadon]

Just remember, when re-reading the old series- everything with Evil Hawk and the extra-dimensional spaceship was actually Chris going insane from the horrors he ws linked to via the Raptors tree.

Makes the old run pretty meta.

[nate-grey]

Yeah, I'm just going to put myself into a 90's perspective while reading and deal with the Raptor issue later. I like that story and understand the reason behind the retcon, but I'm gonna enjoy the series for what it was in the writer's original intentions.

[Category1Games]

Just remember, when re-reading the old series- everything with Evil Hawk and the extra-dimensional spaceship was actually Chris going insane from the horrors he ws linked to via the Raptors tree.

When did this happen. I didn't know this and what was the Raptors Tree?

[nate-grey]

It happened in the Darkhawk: War of Kings and War of Kings: Ascension minis.
For a summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkhawk#War_of_Kings

[darkhawk79]

I will be posting the review for issue # 2 later today, I had some stuff come up which delayed me from posting it.

[darkhawk79]

Darkhawk # 2


Goblin's Prey


Fingeroth & Manley



Issue # 2 starts off with Darkhawk crashing thru the window into Bazin's office. Bazin calmly sits at his desk surrounded by a 3 goons which Darkhawk easily takes out to get to Bazin. Bazin tries to reason with Darkhawk, offering him untold wealth if he will share the "secret" of his power with him. Darkhawk hesitates for a minute then remembers why he is there....and throws Bazin out the window he entered thru. Darkhawk tells Bazin to leave town but doubts the Bazin will, so as he is warning him of what will happen if he does stay Hobgoblin shows up and thanks Darkhawk for saving him the trouble of having to find him. Darkhawk pulls off a few fancy moves and starts to get a little cocky thinking he has defeated Hobgoblin and even thinks he has done something even Spider-man couldn't do. But Hobgoblin was just playing possum waiting for Darkhawk to get close enough so he could get his hands on the amulet in Darkhawk's chest. Darkhawk gets away with the use of his "Darkforce blast" and believes that Hobgoblin has fled and starts posing for a news helicopter when Hobgoblin surprises him with a few pumpkin bombs and the shrapnel from them badly damages Darkhawk and he crashes into an alley below. Chris starts to think to himself how he should have never become Darkhawk again and wishes he was himself again and he changes back into his normal self. Hobgoblin then comes into the alley looking for Darkhawk but only find Chris and he plays it off asking him if he's going to hurt him too, claiming that Darkhawk landed on him and ran off down the alley. Hobgoblin then gives chase as Chris thinks to himself how lucky he is that Hobgoblin didn't notice the amulet around his neck and thinks about chasing after Hobgoblin but decides not to because of the damage to the Darkhawk armor and decides to "go home to mommy".




Queens---at the Powell home



Grace gets on to Chris for coming home late as she is heading out the door to go continue working on the Bazin case with the others from the D.A.'s office. Soon after she leaves Johnathon argues with his brother Jason about the newspaper calling their dad, Mike, a dirty cop. Jason doesn't believe he dad could do such a thing and that the paper is wrong, They start to fight and Chris breaks them up telling them to stay a family for their mother's sake but as he is doing this he hears the Hobgoblin laughing outside and wonders if he was followed home but realizes that Hobgoblin is heading towards the amusement park to look for Darkhawk. As Chris ponders whether to go confront Hobgoblin again he sees Spider-man outside his house swinging after Hobgoblin, thinking that Spider-man is a real hero but wonders if Spider-man is too "idealistic because his enemies come back, unlike the Punisher's".


Amusement Park



Spider-man and Hobgoblin battle thru out the amusement park knocking down some beams on a few bums that are living in the amusement park. Chris goes to help them locking the door behind him wondering if a simple lock would really stop Bazin if he wanted to get in, or even the Hobgoblin. Chris gets the beams off of the 2 bums in the park and they run off telling Chris to follow them but he declines, wondering if he should help or not and if he did what shape is the Darkhawk armor in. As Chris sees Spider-man starting to end up on the losing end of the battle he decides to change into Darkhawk, keeping his handkerchief close to use as a tourniquet to stopping any bleeding from the armor. As he changes into Darkhawk he realizes that the armor has healed itself and joins the fight to aid Spider-man. During the fight Hobgoblin throws a steel beam towards Darkhawk he moves out of the way but the beam heads straight towards his house where his brothers are. Using his "claw and line' he redirects the beam from hitting the house while Spider-man takes out Hobgoblin. As Spider-man knocks Hobgoblin down, Darkhawk picks him up and threatens to break his wrist and neck but Hobgoblin blinds Darkhawk and gets away. Spider-man tells Darkhawk they will get another chance but wonders if they are on the same side, telling Darkhawk he saw him throw Bazin out the window and wonders if he could be an enforcer from another mob or enforcing a hit put out on Hobgoblin. Darkhawk gets a little defensive and Spider-man says he doesn't know Darkhawk but before he kills he should think about the consequences. Darkhawk thinks to himself that Spider-man is right as he swings away and wonders if he'll survive Bazin and the Hobgoblin.



Next issue: Darkhawk & Spider-man vs Hobgoblin.......Round 2

[Jason Abbadon]

It happened in the Darkhawk: War of Kings and War of Kings: Ascension minis.
For a summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkhawk#War_of_Kings

Yeah- it really revamps the character into something cool and unique- we dont realy know aht was and was not reaol in the entire Darkhawk series!

Was Portal what he appearned to be?
How did he get rid of his amulet and retain the armor if so?

Category1Games, you really should pick up those issues! lots of new powers and abilities for Darkhawk- making him a real powerhouse compared to his normal form and finally giving him an ongoing mission against an eviil menace far superior to his abilities.

[nate-grey]

How cool is it that Spider-Man and Darkhawk live in the same neighborhood? I'd laugh if they actually lived across the street from each other. A lot of people don't like the fact that Spider-Man and his rogues gallery plays such a large role in early Darkhawk, but Spidey really is a perfect choice to play the experienced hero to teach Darkhawk the ropes. Spidey started out as a teenaged hero who got his powers by accident, struggled to understand them, and had to learn a powerful lesson about responsibility, not to mention his always crazy personal life.

Chris could really use some pointers. True to his character from last issue, he is starting to head down a dark road. After the scene with Bazin in the beginning, Spidey has a right to question his actions. At that age and in the same situation though, I probably would have done the same thing. Hopefully Chris doesn't have to learn the hard way like Spidey did.

The Darkhawk suit sure is powerful, and Chris learns how to use it pretty quickly (the whole gliding and grappling hook features were introduced off panel). I am glad Hobgoblin knocked him down a peg though, he sure was cocky. He is very lucky with the regeneration abilities when he changes form though, that could have been bad. This feature seems to be a real get out of jail free card, hopefully it doesn't get overused and Fingeroth is able to create situations to really challenge Darkhawk.

Manley's art style really starts to take a life of it's own this issue, can't wait to see more. This issue is starting to get more colorful compared to the dark palette last issue. The colorful sequences are one of the main things I remember from the series.

[matthewaos]

I have those first two issues, I think they are very good.

[buchananjames12]

Early Darkhawk was good. I don't know why the artist decided to change his art style because it got bad afterwards.

[nate-grey]

Darkhawk #3
“Power Play”
Danny Fingeroth & Mike Manley
May 1991

Queens, 6 A.M.: On an abandoned street, Chris Powell stands on top of a recently bought car hurtling at high speeds toward a brick wall. Clutching his amulet tightly, Chris prepares for the moment right before impact and jumps, flipping to face the front of the car and transforming in midair. Darkhawk plants his feet into the ground and stops the car dead in its tracks. Not satisfied there, Darkhawk effortlessly tosses the car into the air and hits it with a Darkforce blast that nearly destroys it before hitting the ground. Reveling in his awesome power, his celebration is cut short as the fuel tank of the wrecked car catches on fire and explodes. Quickly shielding himself with a chest blast, Darkhawk manages to snag a nearby fire extinguisher and puts the flames out. A nearby patrol car investigates the fire and prepares for the worse, only to find Chris emerging from the smoke. The cops recognize Chris as Mike Powell’s son, and he lies telling them that he wrecked the car while practicing for his road test. The cops let him go but wonder whether he can be trusted since his dad was a crooked cop.

The Powell House: Chris tries to help out by fixing his brothers breakfast and packing their lunches, but all he can think about is the incident earlier and his dilemma as Darkhawk. The twins start fighting as usual but Grace Powell breaks it up. As they leave, Chris marvels at his mother’s ability to handle all of the stress in her life and keep moving forward.

Midtown High School: Chris is trying to make time with his girlfriend Cheryl in the halls but is once again preoccupied with Darkhawk, although he blames it on his dad’s disappearance to Cheryl. Some more of his friends (Bob, Headset, and Susan) show up and start teasing the couple. Chris is not in the mood and pushes Bob, complaining about the pressure he’s under. Bob compares Chris’ father to his brother that got kicked out of college for point-shaving, and Chris loses his temper and slams Bob into a locker. Cheryl is tired of Chris’ attitude and storms off, while Chris feebly apologizes for his actions to the rest of the gang.

Later that afternoon, Chris overhears two guys talking in the locker room about a big deal Bazin has going down at a nightclub later that day. Chris heads over to the 27th Precinct police station to inform the police. He runs into the officer that he saw that morning and thanks him for his help but decides not to talk about Bazin since he’s unsure of which cops are on Bazin’s payroll.

Playground Club: Deciding to take matter into his own hands, Chris slips into the backroom of the club later that night and witnesses a gun running deal in progress. Transforming into Darkhawk, he takes down all those involved with a few quick punches and a well-placed Darkforce blast, but is quickly surrounded by more heavily-armed goons. Darkhawk takes to the rafters to avoid the gunfire and is caught off guard when Hobgoblin flies through a nearby window and tackles him.

Hobgoblin fires an energy blast to Darkhawk’s chest to try and separate the amulet from the armor, but DH is saved when Spider-Man breaks through the skylight, alerted to his presence by a spider-tracer he planted on the armor last issue. Spider-Man takes on the goons, while Darkhawk aggressively goes after Hobgoblin. Hobby surprises DH with a coil trap custom-built to squeeze him to death, but DH gathers his strength and breaks free. Fully enraged now, DH goes after Hobby at full strength and manages to keep up with him for once. Grabbing two of his pumpkin bombs in midair, DH throws them back and seriously wounds Hobby. Picking up the villain, DH threatens to throw him off of the balcony and kill him once and for all, vowing to go after Bazin next.

Spider-Man stops Darkhawk from going through with it and distracts him long enough for Hobby to recover and grab a civilian hostage, leaping through a window. Hobby throws the hostage down for the heroes to catch and takes off into the night, claiming that DH should have killed him because he now won’t stop until he’s dead. Spider-Man punches Darkhawk and compares him to the Punisher and Wolverine, claiming that no matter what, it is wrong to kill their enemies. When Darkhawk points out that their enemies would gladly kill them, Spidey argues that heroes have to rise above them, promising that once you cross the line into killer, there’s no going back. As Darkhawk flies off in a huff, Spidey regrets that his tracer was destroyed but knows that Darkhawk won’t keep a low profile. He just wonders if he will turn out to be a friend or an enemy.

Bazin’s office: Bazin is explaining to Hobgoblin a series of computer readouts from sensor scans that reveal the mysterious power he’s been searching for does not originate from Darkhawk’s amulet and claims that the armor is nothing more than a custom battlesuit, much like the Iron Man armor. Bazin promises to keep searching for the power, but as Hobgoblin flies off he reveals that the printouts were faked to thrown Hobgoblin off the trail while he claims Darkhawk’s power for his own.

Powell Home: While making breakfast the next morning, Chris thinks over the debate with Spidey but is interrupted by a phone call. The voice on the other end warns him to give up the amulet to avoid the “Curse of the Darkhawk”…

Next Issue: Darkhawk gets a new enemy in the form of…Savage Steel!

[nate-grey]

Thoughts on Darkhawk #3:

-Another solid issue. It was nice to see Chris’ personal life explored and his friends introduced. Two of them appeared briefly in the first issue, but that was more of a plot device than anything else and I couldn’t pick them out of a lineup. This book is definitely starting to develop a strong supporting cast. They also help to show just how the stressors in his life are starting to affect his personal life and not just his alter ego.

-The car scene at the beginning of the issue was interesting but very unrealistic. Training aside, I can’t believe Chris has $75 to blow on something so frivolous. What teenager buys his first car with the intention of blowing it up a few hours later? (well besides really creepy kids) His irresponsibility is really going to catch up to him pretty soon if he doesn’t get a handle on it. Granted it was in the rundown part of town, but someone could have been really hurt.

-On the plus side, he is getting really good with his DH powers and has a lot of clear potential. This practice actually seemed to help him go toe to toe with Hobgoblin this time round too. Good job, DH!

-It’s a shame that the DH/Spidey team-up hasn’t gotten off to a good start at all. They seem like they should make a great pair. Part of me is upset at Spidey’s attitude, but he really doesn’t know DH’s situation and how much they really have in common. I hope they meet up again and can clear things up. It makes me wonder what I would do in Chris’ place though: would I be a Spidey or a Wolverine in the same situation?

-Bazin is being set up as a very devious character. There is definitely trouble brewing on the horizon. I guess we won’t be seeing Hobgoblin for a while though. For the next two issues, Darkhawk starts amassing his own rogues gallery though, which is a really smart move since he really can’t carry his own series while fighting everybody else’s villains.

-How about that mysterious phone call at the end? Odds are it's Saint Johnny though since he gave a similar warning in the first issue and quickly disappeared.

-Did anybody catch Spidey placing a spider-tracer on DH in #2? I’ll have to go back and look because I certainly missed it.


Verdict: A solid issue that wraps up the Hobgoblin storyarc and Chris’ introduction to the Darkhawk powers. A supporting cast outside of the Powell family is introduced, and his reputation takes a definite blow in the face of his first victory. Manley continues to deliver some great art, and Fingeroth’s storytelling is getting better. Can’t wait to see how DH continues to develop.

[Ex_]

Very solid art. I remember being really weirded out by Saint Johnny initially. I want to meet Danny Fingeroth one day and just ask him what the fuck he was thinking with Darkhawk's origin.