Darkhawk Classic Vol. 1 Tpb
Written By Danny Fingeroth
Penciled By Mike Manley
Cover By Mike Manley
Begin The Saga Of The Darkhawk! Long Before War Of Kings, Teenager Chris Powell Began His Journey As A Dark Force For Justice. Thrill To The Earliest Adventures Of One Of Marvel’s Hottest Heroes For The ’90S As The Newborn Darkhawk Unravels The Mystery Of His Armored Avenging Alter Ego, And Encounters Some Of The Marvel Universe’s Finest Heroes And Villains Along The Way. From Alliances With Spider-Man, Captain America And Daredevil To All-Out Brawls With The Hobgoblin, Portal And The U-Foes, Darkhawk Soars To Unparalleled Heights! Collecting Darkhawk #1-9.
216 Pgs./Rated T …$24.99
Isbn: 978-0-7851-5987-2

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!