Marvel Comics 2021
Written by Kyle Higgins
Illustrated by Juanan Ramírez
Coloured by Erick Arciniega
Lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham
Who is the ALL-NEW DARKHAWK? Connor Young is a seventeen-year-old star basketball player with the world ahead of him, until a surprising medical diagnosis changes everything. But what happens when a mysterious amulet finds him and gives him powers beyond belief? What will he do with these new abilities?
Part of me is mad that this isn’t Chris Powell as Darkhawk, I have an affinity for that young man and what he’s been through since finding the jewel and becoming Darkhawk. Then there’s another part of me that thinks okay what we’re seeing here is the next generation coming into play. I also trust Kyle to write one hell of a story so I’d be remiss if I didn’t give this the proper chance it deserves. It deserves that chance too because this is a sensational issue and it brings us a new hero into the Marvel Universe to carry on a legacy of another young man that’s been cut short way too soon. So Conner has a ton of potential and with what we learn about him this issue doesn’t change that but it does raise a number of questions that I cannot wait to see answered.
I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter. This brings us the baseline personality of the characters and we’ll see how they grow and change from this point onward. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages introducing us to the story, the characters and the world they live in leaves you excited for what's coming next.
I am super impressed with the way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow. Within these layers we see the characterisation, plot twists and revelations, yes more than one, and how they will impact the story down the road remains to be seen but already the depth, dimension and complexity they add to the story is marvellous. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceedingly well achieved.
The interiors here are incredible. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see throughout the book is amazing. We could use more backgrounds, I mean at a basketball game and we get blank backgrounds tsk tsk where’s that sense of space supposed to come from? The creativity and imagination we see is great and how Connor is all distorted shows some great initiative and a sign of something much larger. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great eye for how colour works and how to maximise its effects.
Aww man, part of me wishes we didn’t see that last page so soon and another part of me is thinking well this kid knows he’s going nowhere so why not. Let me tell ya bout my best friend, he’s a warm hearted person, well at least he is until he finds out. This is going to be something to see play out let me tell you. After reading it a few times I'm excited for this book and a new hero to take up the mantle. There is some mighty fine writing and strong characterisation that is brought to life by these fantastic interiors. Darkhawk rides again with an updated look and a new man under the mask.