Post by jakefury on Mar 6, 2011 13:01:38 GMT -5
Darkhawk #3 "Power Play"
Released: May 1991
Writer: Danny Fingeroth
Penciler: Mike Manley
Inker: R. Villagran
We open immediately with Chris Powell, the teenage bearer of the Darkhawk amulet. He's on the hoof of a speeding car and leaps off transforming into Darkhawk in the process. He stops the vehicle without being budged, tosses it into mid-air and obliterates it with a beam from his chest. The resulting explosion surprises him but luckily his force field saves him. Spotting a fire extinguisher nearby, he uses a retractable claw to nab it and douse the flames.
Some local cops show up and question Chris about the incident. Apparently, he knows them because his father was also a cop until he went crooked. One of the cops says its still just a rumor and we go to Chris' home in Queens, NY. (Seriously, every superhero in the 90s did live in New York!)
Chris is cooking breakfast and fixing lunches for his two younger brothers. They come in arguing and complain about the french toast getting burned. Their fight gets broken up by their Mom (who may possibly be the hottest comic Mom in history, striking redhead, think classic Jean Grey) and she sends the 2 younger boys to school. She thanks Chris for what he's been doing since his Dad's been missing and takes off for work. Chris remarks to himself how incredible she is as she is a local DA that's been threatened by mobsters and also kept the home balanced since his Dad left.
Chris heads off to Midtown High School and his girlfriend Cheryl is trying to get his attention with a liplock. She wants to know what's wrong since Chris feels really distant. He says his life has gotten complicated as one of his buddies shows up and decides to videotape him and Cheryl. Chris gets upset and the just wnats to be left alone. He slams Bob up against a locker and storms off.
After basketball practice, Chris is in the locker room and overhears a couple of fellow students. One of the kids has an older brother who's involved in a deal with Phillipe Bazin, who's a mob boss trying to get control of the Darkhawk amulet. He hears them saying a deal is going on tonight and plans on crashing the party as Darkhawk.
Lower Manhattan, Nightfall and Chris has found the meeting. Its an arms shipment and he interjects himself. He isn't having any problems with the thugs until the Hobgoblin shows up. (Not sure who is under the mask but it's the religious fanatic one) The two square off and Hobgoblin gets the upper hand early. He rocks DH with a glider assisted punch and hits him with a blast of energy to his chest. Hobgobby says he's here for the amulet and DH is a spawn of Satan. (Gotta love the 90's dialogue) At this moment Spider-Man hits the scene and and takes on what's left of the mobsters.
This gives DH a chance to recover but Hobgoblin again pummels him with a glider enhanced punch. Hobby keeps babbling about his religious mission and snares DH in a coil weapon that will keep constricting him, but in a nice strength feat Darkhawk breaks free. He blocks some of Hobby's razorbats with an energy shield (kind of similar to Steve Rogers' current energy shield) and in another nice feat catches some of Hobby's pumpkin bombs and tosses them back at him. He snares Hobby with his retractable claw and is ready to put the finishing touches on him when Spidey intervenes.
He screams at DH and tells him not to kill the Hobgoblin. Hobby is pretty impressed with DH's ferocity and starts to second guess his religious mission. At this point a couple enters looking for some R&R. This gives Hobby a chance to grab the woman and use her as a distraction to escape. Spidey punches Darkhawk and tells him a jerk. He says he's had it with all the vigilantes running around like Wolverine, the Punisher and now him. He says killing is wrong but Darkhawk says thats naive because their enemies would kill them. Spidey says they can't stoop to their level and Darkhawk says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Goodbye." Spidey replies back with "Jerk" and that's the last we see of Darkhawk this issue.
We close at Phillippe Bazin's office and he's talking to Hobgoblin. Bazin says that Darkhawk is just a guy in a suit and not the bearer of the object they're looking for. He says he'll keep searching and Hobby tells him not to let him down. Hobby takes off and Bazin says its easy to fool anyone with some false documents and talk of scanners. He says that Darkhawk does possess the object of power and it will belong to him.
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Fury Thoughts:
This was a pretty fun little issue with a good fight between Darkhawk and Hobgoblin. Darkhawk's personality seemed different when he was in costume. I'm not sure if that's a standard part of using the amulet or not. His series went 50 issues so I'm sure there are a few fans out there. All in all I'll give it a 6/10 for a decent issue.