Dawn of the Darkhawk! (Issue 1)

Darkhawk
Volume 1
Issue 1
March, 1991

Writer: Danny Fingeroth
Artist: Mike Manley
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Joe Rosas
Editor: Howard Mackie
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco


Appearances by:

Hobgoblin
Phillippe Bazin
Saint Johnny
Grace Powell (mother to Chris, Jason, and Jonathan; wife to Mike)
Chris Powell (older brother of Jason & Jonathan; son of Mike & Grace)
Jason Powell (do the math)
Jonathan Powell (ditto)
Mike Powell (father to Chris, Jason, & Jonathan; husband to Grace)
Darkhawk


The Short and Sweet:

Hobgoblin (classic Spider-man foe) and Philippe Bazin (crime lord) discuss their temporary alliance in search of an object of "great power." Philippe Bazin is also busy pulling the Powell family apart with unfruitful bribe attempts to Assistant DA, Grace Powell, as well as, more productive payoffs to patrolman, Mike Powell. After getting bored and wandering into the abandoned amusement park, conveniently located across the street, the Powell's children inadvertantly witness Mike accepting a payoff from some of Bazin's men. Chris, Jason, and Jonathan find themselves running from the goons who were paying off their dad. When Bazin's men corner the kids, Chris locks the twins into a closet and fends off the villains long enough to stumble upon an amulet that transforms Chris into the menacing visage of Darkhawk. Darkhawk proceeds to engage the villains, apprehending two of the three men, while the third accidentally "offs" himself with an ample supply of electricity. Transforming back into himself, Chris Powell confronts his dad who flees the scene, running away from his family. Back at home Grace receives threatening phone calls from more of Bazin's men, the twins fight over what they saw their father do, and Chris decides to use the Darkhawk persona to hunt down Bazin.


Quotes:

Chris' first attempts at naming his new alternate persona are found wanting.
"You have invaded the lair of the, uh, EDGE-MAN, ...." - Darkhawk

Drunken hobo, Saint Johnny, knows more than he's saying.
"Power's got to be used--not abused--by a DARKHAWK." - Saint Johnny


My "Dark" Thoughts:

I think that this issue was a wonderful starting point for this character and this series. Mr. Fingeroth does an admirable job of establishing a wonderful array of supporting cast. He also builds a great deal of depth to his plot in just a single issue. By the end of issue one you already have an idea for who most of the characters are and generally what they were doing to lead up to this point. The art was fantastic for the time, both the pencils and the coloring. The first transformation scene inside the amusement park was colored beautifully in varying shades of black, white, and blue. Darkhawk has such a striking presence on the paper. The combination of Darkhawk's ebony armor and streamlined body make for a very imposing appearance. Just looking at Darkhawk you can tell this is a no-nonsense character, that this isn't Spider-man. Had I read this as a new reader back in '91 I would without doubt have come back for issue two.


Whoops!!!:

Some editor (see top of this page) was asleep at the wheel. During the amusement park excitement, right after the kids fall through the floor, Jonathan hurts his arm. At least, by appearance Jonathan hurts his arm. However, Chris flip-flops his brothers' names. This actually happens not once, but TWICE, two separate occasions ten pages apart. Thankfully, all is set right, as by the end of the comic the brothers are back to being called their correct names once again. I think my favorite part is not that Jonathan actually answered to Jason's name four times, rather that the scene actually involves Jon hurting his arm and Chris can't even get the kid's name right. This whole name problem develops into a trend throughout all 50 issues!


Awesome Ads!:

Remember, this comic came out in the nineties, when apparently East Coast Comics was selling issues of Punisher War Journal #1 and #6 for $22.00 each! Yikes! Talk about bad investments. Although, #6 did have Jim Lee art AND a Wolverine guest appearance, which pretty much sums up why I don't have that issue in my collection. That's right, I HATE Wolverine! Although, much is being done to rectify my disdain for his character. Currently there are several comics out that make Wolverine seem almost human as opposed to the near god he's been portrayed as in some other comics. Some of those comics include Logan, the three issue mini-series by Brian K. Vaughn, & the Old Man Logan arc by Mark Millar.

Greetings & Salutations!

Hello and welcome!

This is my first post (revisited edition) and I would like to take this time & space to introduce myself and explain my reasons for the use of this bandwidth. First of all, I am NOT Robert Kirkman. Really, I don't even like zombies! Though I will boast of being probably the third biggest Darkhawk fan behind Mr. Kirkman & yourself. I mean, come on, you obviously googled Darkhawk. You probably even wrote the wikipedia article. By the way, you really need to work on that bibliography.

Anyways, enough about you, more about me. I'm just the victim of circumstance and an addictive personality. My story begins when I was but a wee lad on a trip to fun-tastic Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. It was here that a street vendor sold me five comics bundled together for $2. I probably got what I paid for as the package contained Conan #250, Deathlok #5, X-force #3, Fantastic Four #358, and Darkhawk #9. Now mind you this was the '90s so none of these comics reinvented the genre, however, this early glimpse into the Marvel Universe would stick with me and somehow bring me back to comics 15 years later.

I sometimes try to figure out on how Darkhawk beat out Spider-man (guest appearance in X-force) & the Fantastic Four as my most memorable character. Every time I ponder the topic I arrive at the same conclusions.

First of all, Darkhawk was visually very striking. Here was a hero who looked like a villain. Darkhawk appeared ominous and menacing. Secondly, issue #9 was very action packed with all out fighting between Darkhawk, Punisher, and Savage Steel. In my naive little head, issue #9 was dark, gritty, and violent. To this day, of the entire original Darkhawk run I still think issue #8 is my favorite, nostalgia is a hard mistress to escape.

Despite my enjoyment of my Darkhawk comic I can't say in good conscience that the love was instantaneous. In honesty, the greatest appeal was the absence of 15 years and the mystery of what happened to this character who once grabbed my attention. When I finally decided to buy another comic (Amazing Spider-Man #529, the new costume on the cover caught my attention), I also decided to finally find out the rest of the story behind Darkhawk. I went to eBay and turned up an almost complete set of Darkhawk which I purchased for $50. I read through the entire run in a week hating most of it and cursing Danny Fingeroth because I felt his writing didn't live up to what I had built Darkhawk up to in my head. However, as I played the story back through my head I discovered several themes running through the series that really talked to me and made me take a second look. The themes that spoke the loudest were teen angst, self-discovery, & coming-of-age.

As I continue the Darkhawk Project I will try to explain my views on how these themes are key elements that elevate Darkhawk in the Marvel pantheon and why they make Darkhawk the greatest Marvel character (at least in my biased opinion).