How could I go another day/night without posting my review on the War of Kings: Darkhawk #1 that came out this past Wednesday?! The only reason I haven’t posted it yet is because I’ve been lost wrapping my mind around issues of Darkhawk, his annuals, and his appearances in the Avengers, New Warriors, Sleepwalker and Secret Defender between May 1993 and August 1993. These comics all came after Darkhawk’s issue #25–which was probably part of a publicity stunt to get the character out there–which for all intents and purposes was his TRUE origin issue (well the wrap up of a four-part story line… but essential!).

I have been salivating over the day he got to soar the skies of the Marvel Universe since early December. As you can tell by my blog I have completely immersed myself into the character in such a degree that people can safely refer to it as “drowning” in it. Hey, I hold my breath for a LONG time, and for Darkhawk and his awesomeness, it’s totally worth passing out for!

To start off, I will NOT be spoiling anything! Why would I deny others the special experience of the surprise this issue throws at you at the end? All I can say is that C.B. Cebulski has danced a sweet little dance around all the important aspects of Darkhawk and Chris Powell all in one issue.

Cebulski delivers the bits that matter to the audience in order to pull them into the psychology of such an interesting character–one that, in my opinion, has been SEVERLY overlooked since his series ended in 1995. Cebulski gives you a re-connection with his family post-Civil War, where his identity is public; he brings The Loners out of LA and into NYC allowing readers to re-connect with the Darkhawk they have come to know from the last six or so years; and he brings back Darkhawk’s connection to his more-than-street-level-hero origins: SPACE!

After reading the original series all over again (not quite done, but in the 30s now… it’s cancelled at 50) it was evident that Danny Fingeroth was threading the anger management issues REALLY early on. Now… maybe it was because I was only 13-years-old and completely noob when it came to “higher concepts” in writing, but the point is that I just never caught on to many seeds that were seemingly planted right before my eyes. I mean, I totally forgot about Saint Johnny being infected by the techno-organic virus (more likely I had NO clue the importance of the virus in the Marve Universe because I was new to comics in general).

As I read Nova’s second trade I got hit with this hyper-spastic enthusiasm when the story started talking about Nova’s–and the Kree race’s–interactions with the techno-organic virus… how it screwed them, thus entering the Marvel “cosmic framework”, and this started making me wonder about where all this could potentially go with Darkhawk: I mean, the consciousness of an original Darkhawk, named Ocsh, has taken over the ship that housed the scientists who made the first five android suits. Ocsh is a LIVING ship… like Farscape’s Leviathan… this happened in 1993 folks! Imagine that sucker gets infected with the techno-organic virus–the ship that takes CARE of the Darkhawk androids… screwed, right? Just awesome potential story arcs in the future!

Marvel seems to be setting Darkhawk up as the new Nova. Maybe it’s the fanboy in me, but I see Darkhawk going from street-level, thug-dropping, self-defeatist to a cosmic-level, space-faring, one-man-army. Maybe too much power will make him loose that special “something”… but on the other hand, perhaps it’s what the character needs to reach the next level of development. The fact that Marvel is brave and open enough to push these kinds of new directions with their properties is refreshing in a world were regurgitating “the same old, same old” is just creative staleness that is degrading (in my eyes) to potential of writers who can come up with ongoing NEW and FRESH ideas.

I can’t wait to read the second issue in this two-part series–but I especially can’t wait to buy the first ongoing issue that I can only hope is coming later this year!