Darkhawk Classic Vol. 1 Tpb

That’s right Bucketheads–you can finally get rid of those singles! (er… maybe not…)

So what’s in this first Classic Collection? The first nine issues focus on the journey of the teenage hero learning to become a responsible crime fighter with Spider-Man as his role model.

• Issue 1 to 3 setup Chris Powell’s discovery of the Darkhawk amulet and keeping it out of reach from the Hobgoblin with the help of Spidey.
• Issue 4 introduces Savage Steel, an armoured crime fighter akin to the Punisher but who works for a secret police cabal.
•  Issue 5 introduces the teenage native indian mutant, Charles Little Sky, form the pages of a quick Avengers story but this time with a Darkhawk armour of his own and calling himself Portal.
• Issue 6 continues the misunderstanding of Portal as ally of enemy as they battle it out with the U-Foes with the help of Captain America and Daredevil.
• Issue 7 focuses on Chris’s desire to be a crime fighter, develops the relationships in his highschool life, and introduces mob boss, Philippe Bazin’s,  magnetically powered enhanced human, Lodestone.
• Issue 8 features an all-out brawl with Lodestone and results in Darkhawk’s capture where he’s taken to Bazin’s lab in order to have his amulet removed.
• Issue 9 ends this collection with a cameo by Punisher who is tracking down Savage Steel for his crimes leaving Darkhawk square in the middle of it all.

And what’s next? Here’re my guesses for the next two collections:

Volume 2 will likely collect the 6-part “Heart of the Hawk” storyline which see’s Chris lose the amulet to tough-ass empowered gangster, Tombstone, who rips it from his chest! That’s followed by a 2-part appearance of Venom and will likely add the Annual #2 story with Dreamkiller, a character I’m quite fond of and wish to see return to the Marvel U!  (Prediction: Collects issues #10 – #17, Annual #2 Dreamkiller story)

Volume 3 will likely start with the introduction of Russian terrorist supergroup, The Perisrike Force; a 3-part storyline of Darkhawk’s confrontation with them to save his highschool! That will be followed by the return of Charles Little Sky, as Portal, who has the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants after him; Sleepwalker joins the mix as well as Spider-Man. This leads into possibly my favourite run in the series, the “Return to Forever” storyline that finally gives us the origin of Darkhawk, his connection to Null Space, the Osch Ship, and intergalactic gangster Dargon Bokk, and we get the introduction of archvillain, Evilhawk! (Prediction: Collects issues #18 – #25)

I can only hope that the series will continue after Volume 3, but seeing as that’s when Mike Manley left the series (issue 25)–and post-issue-25 tends to open up story-threads that the old-schooler fans seems to have either forgotten, or don’t care about–I’m not sure if support will be enough to sustain collecting the entire run. I remain hopeful!

I’m also not sure where the Annual #1 “Assault on Armor City”  storyline would be placed–or if it should as it’s entertaining on its own, but part of a three-parter that stretches into Iron Man Annual and West Coast Avengers Annual, thus losing its context.

Man, I just got hit with a wave of flashbacks! So excited! If you’re a fan: PICK THIS UP! We need to do our part to make sure they keep releasing these!

Here’s a page from Darkhawk #14, drawn by Mike Manley, featuring Darkhawk fighting Venom! It’s listed on Ebay with a reserve still waiting to be met. If you’re a huge Darkhawk collector (with fluid funds) then get your butt over there!

This animated-style Darkhawk is done by Shaun Ward (Devinat Art gallery). The design is asymmetrical like the classic armour, but this “animated style” design smooths out all the blockiness of the classic armour and adds clean and minimal alterations to the look of the suit.

It is based on an art piece by Shaun Ward.

Remove the Red Lantern chest insignia and replace it with a chest amulet, and change the colour palette to cool blues and gray, and I think this would still be a strong design for Darkhawk’s core “street level” armour.

Classic Darkhawk suit updated a bit. This piece of art created in Photoshop is by Joshua Allen (Deviant Art gallery).

The wing design here, I find really fascinating. The art suggests that they have a more feather-like look to them. It made me realize that NO Marvel design has ever shown the wings to look more natural–visually that is, clearly they’d still be metal and part of the android physiology. Sure, he’s had the long blade-like design fom League of Losers (my personal favorite), or the non-arm-based Archangel-style wings protruding from his back while in cosmin-armour-mode… but it’d be cool to see a suit design that embraced a more natural look for the wings (albeit with metal feathers).

Regular Darkhawk sketch commission Buckethead, Christopher Sama, has sen in a piece new to his collection! This piece is done by artist John Williams (aka Super Ugly).

It’s always interesting to see artists choose to depict the old school version of Darkhawk’s armour opposed to the new cosmic one(s). Not sure if that’s always by request or not, but either way, the classic design just won’t be forgotten!

Here’s a sketch card by artist Denver Brubaker found on DeviantArt as part of his Marvel Universe sketch card submissions. This cartoonist style of classic DH is fun and quirky and makes me wonder why Marvel doesn’t have a Tiny Titans type of comic for younger readers.

Denver offers sketch card commissions for $150$20 each if you’re interested so check his journals for updates on that. Denver does tons of Marvel characters in this style and also does a webcomc called The Checkered Man, go check it out!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been busy getting my own comic stuff finally wrapped up! It doesn’t mean I don’t still float around the web keeping an eye on my favourite hero!

Here’s a classic style Darkhawk by artist Paul J. Hollingsworth which I found on DeviantArt (Hollingsworth gallery). This clean edge style is wonderful and would has the Mike Mignola high contrast style that I’d LOVE to see Darkhawk done in! The piece is called “Why am I always too late” which is a great concept for our helmeted hero; a teenager with anger issues who just wants to do good.

Man I miss Darkhawk already. Nova and War of Kings just wasn’t enough… we need our Buckethead back on the streets of New York, damnit!

A fellow Buckethead, going by the alias “Versus”, brought some fascinating news to my attention! Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is soon to be released and Capcom has stated that they are open to fan suggestions for DLC (Downloadable Characters) they’d like to see. Fans came together to vote on characters on the Japanese site pixiv.com where it seems Darkhawk placed 22 (he got more votes then Blade, Cable, even Ultron).

Capcom-Unity ended a while back but as Versus comments: Capcom hasn’t stopped listening. I figured what better way to encourage support for Capcom releasing a Darkhawk DLC than this very site! What with the Darkhawk toy hitting stores recently, who knows, maybe his revival is soon to come! Capcom has stated that they’d like to see some new characters, never before seen, to appear in the game series, which is why the likes of Doctor Strange and Nova got introduced.

If you’re interested in seeing what “Versus” has come up with for a Darkhawk Capcom Powerset, take a look at this page with great breakdowns on the possibilities!

My further encouragements are for DH fans to do the following: If you have a Twitter account, post something along the lines of “@Marvel @Capcom_Unity Make Darkhawk a Downloadable Characters for Capcom vs Marvel! #DarkhawkDLC”. Post wherever you can about this topic in order to keep the idea alive and the out there! Good luck all!

When the DC New 52 was coming out in September, there was this fun website collecting images of relaunched titles that were NOT official or part of the New 52 launch lineup, done my 52 independent artists. The website was playfully called dcfifty-too.blogspot.com.

With great success during the DC New Too series, the site went on to a new idea: Marvel Universe Too: What If, allowing artists to now re-imagine Marvel comic relaunches. Released today, artist Tim Seeley (creator of Hack/Slash) gives us his interpretation of a Darkhawk relaunch with the following cover. Here’s his pitch:

Tim says: I have a weird affection for DH, stemming fro the fact that he debuted at the height of my adolescent love for comics! My take on him would be really simple: take him back to basics. Chris Powell ues the powers of the Darkhawk amulet to protect his family, and clean up his neighborhood. Chris fights against the forces of  Phillipe Bazin, a small time local mob boss, aided by Bazin’s daughter, Allegra. But is Allegra genuinely interested is stopping her father’s evil or is this rebellion simply entertaining for the spoiled heiress? [DC Fifty-Too Site]

This is a great website and I’ve been along for the ride since the first post and can’t get enough, go check it out!