Comments on: Nostalgia November Day 16 — Darkhawk #19

By: noodles

noodles — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:16:45 +0000

@Pedro: I was also going to mention the League of Losers, which was awesome. Go read it if you haven’t!

By: Corey

Corey — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:12:41 +0000

This issue is definitely a bad example of the series. The first 15 issues hold together pretty well, and with some tinkering, could actually be adapted into a pretty cool movie.

By: danjack

danjack — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:04:22 +0000

Never, ever liked Mike Manley’s art. it may be my personal kryptonite.
DFTBA

By: Pedro Bouça

Pedro Bouça — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:03:03 +0000

Darkhawk was cool on Robert Kirkman’s Marvel Team-Up storyline “League of Losers”, but then he was with a bunch of characters so bad they make him look good!

It’s a GREAT story, BTW. Everyone should read it!

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

By: Aaron Thall

Aaron Thall — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:55:14 +0000

The first 25 issues (plus the Spider-Man Round Robin storyarc and the Sleepwalker issue) work better when read together. It’s shortly after that that the series really lost it’s way, and issue 38′s when it went completely off the rails (new armor and powers, a body split, etc). But it was a nice little mystery about his powers and the fate of his dad for a while.

It was fun to see him grow from a newcomer with no idea how to use his powers to an experienced hero following Spidey’s ideal of power with responsibility, while trying to find his dad, protect his family, and discover the true origin of the amulet.

By: Busterchops

Busterchops — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:00:47 +0000

Darkhawk was a series that I really enjoyed for the first while. Still, I remember being pretty upset when Mike manley changed his style in an effort to ape the more popular artists of the time. It was not that I didn’t like the Liefeld style, I did, but it seemed so shameless that he would not stick to his own style, which I also liked. Around the same time, the stories became very convoluted and incomprehensible which was very different and much worse than the way the series started. All in all I really like the character and buy his appearances when I see them but by the end of this series it had really lost its way.

By: A.J.

A.J. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:40:35 +0000

I had this comic.

By: P. Boz

P. Boz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:46:09 +0000

Yeah, I completely missed the Darkhawk train back in the day. Guess I wasn’t missing much.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:27:34 +0000

I totally dug the Darkhawk comics at the time, and even rereading them I imagine they’d be covered by the veil of nostalgia, so I probably can’t be judgmental about this.

I preferred Sleepwalker and Thunderstrike, but Darkhawk’s another 90s favorite.

By: Neal K

Neal K — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:17:27 +0000

There is still a surprising amount of Darkhawk love in the world, though even as a kid of about ten or so I thought the Darkhawk series was the definition of mediocrity. At that time, I didn’t find it to be atrocious, but I didn’t find it to be outstanding, either. It would do in a pinch if there was nothing better lying around.

I was amazed to learn from the counter-guy at my LCS recently that there were actually quite a large number of people who picked up the recent War of Kings Darkhawk stuff and couldn’t stop talking about how much they loved the character and were glad to see him back. I guess its true what they say – every superhero is somebody’s favorite superhero. Even Darkhawk.

By: Aaron Thall

Aaron Thall — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:00:21 +0000

I loved Darkhawk. He was Spidey but with cooler powers. (And once 1993 rolled around, DH started being called Marvel’s own Power Ranger)

By: Mary Warner

Mary Warner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:44:50 +0000

Craig, Darkhawk appeared in a couple of New Warriors storylines that were decent enough.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:11:25 +0000

The War of Kings: Darkhawk mini that came out recently featured a reprint of Darkhawk #1. I’d have reviewed it pretty much word-for-word like you reviewed #19. Also, I recently was given a copy of Amazing Spider-Man: Round Robin (Sidekick’s Revenge) in TPB. It also featured Darkhawk, and Mark Bagley’s art couldn’t even salvage the concept.

Come to think of it, outside of U.S. War Machine (Marvel’s black and white MAX line weekly book) and Runaways/Loners, I can’t think of a single Darkhawk appearance that is a satisfactory comic book. I don’t know if it’s a case of hating the character, or a strange curse that seems to crapify virtually any book he appears in.

By: Chad Nevett

Chad Nevett — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:52:28 +0000

Not the character, just the comic that I read today.

By: Aaron Thall

Aaron Thall — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:43:31 +0000

Sigh… Another Darkhawk hater…