In Captain Marvel #17, Rick Jones finds the Nega-Bands, which are used by Mar-vell to increase his super strength and other heightened abilities. When activated, Jones would switch places with Mar-vell who was for a time trapped in the Negative Zone. Thankfully, a protective bubble would prevent Rick from getting annihilated from Annihilus and the scores of other fiends that occupy the Negative Zone during these switcheroos. Meanwhile, both Mar-vell and Rick Jones share a telepathic link during their interconnected period.
Jump ahead to March, 1991 for the first issue of Darkhawk. New York teen Chris Powell discovers a magical amulet. When used, the bauble allows Chris to switch places with the android Darkhawk, who normally resides in an advanced starship located in a dimension known as Null Space. When switching places, Chris could control Darkhawk, even summoning an arsenal of weapons and gadgets housed on Darkhawk vessel.
When the third annual of Darkhawk hits stands in August, 1994, Chris Powell and Darkhawk have discovered a way for the two to operate as one as well as separately without either having to be stuck in the other dimension. Just like Rick Jones and Captain Marvel were able to do permanently after aiding the Avengers in a battle with the Super-Adaptoid.
In the title story ' Future Shock', Darkhawk is fighting with arch -enemy, Dreamkiller while Chris Powell is mending his strained relationships with family and friends. At one point, Chris is sent to the store for ice cream when a descendant of Dreamkiller known as Damek is sent from the future to avenge the humiliations both Powell and Darkhawk have imposed on his ancestor. Eventually Damek teams with his very distant relative, after freeing him from jail. But when Damek sees the sadistic way Dreamkiller treats innocents, the descendant learns the truth and teams with Darkhawk and Powell to bring the real evil one down.
Three other stories comprise this annual.
Story number 2 teams Chris operating as Darkhawk with the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange. This team up is a cyberpunk supernatural thriller in which Darkhawk must enter the internet to repair a breach computer researchers accidentally formed with the realm of the dread Dormammu!
Chris Powell uses his Darkhawk abilities to solve the drive-by killing of a former high school classmate in the third tale.
The last story involves Savage Steel, an armored antihero who has had run ins with both Darkhawk and the Punisher. In his solo short story, Savage Steel tries to bust up the operations of a small time drug dealer by using the very teens that the thug tried to violently recruit as drug mules as Savage Steel's neighborhood watch.
Darkhawk and Chris Powell were created by Tom Defalco and Mike Manley. Neither of which contributed to this 64-page annual. 4 separate teams worked on the quartet of stories within, including Danny Fingeroth, Eric Fein and Jim Novak. Cover art by Andy Lanning.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
Completing this review completes Task #39 (An Annual) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment