REVIEW: The Darkness #13

Story: Malachy Coney and Garth Ennis
Pencils:  Joe Benitez
Inks:  Joe Weems V
Colors:  Haberlin Studios, Richard Isanove, and Matt Nelson
Review:  Art Bee

During the 90s there were a lot of comics following me home, but there were only two that had won my heart over: Spawn and The Darkness. These stories featured a pair of the greatest antiheroes I have ever encountered. Over the last three years at HCB, I have avoided reviewing any of The Darkness (the review of the one shot about a year and a half ago doesn’t count), because it is a very special to me. This particular issue was the one that cemented me as a fan.

Thus far in this series, Jackie Estacado discovered he was the vessel for the Darkness, an ancient power passed down from father to first-conceived son. The Darkness is an entity overpowered with god-like abilities and can generate armies of creatures to fight, create slaves, grow tough armor and weapons, and many other incredible things with the only limit being Jackie’s imagination. The weakness is bright light. All of the Darkness’ power is completely negated by direct bright light. In addition to being this super-powered dark freak, Estacado is a mafia hit man for his uncle, Mr. Franchetti. As if it is not enough to be able to have over a hundred different ways to assassinate someone, he gets super powers.  


This issue is one of my absolute favorites in the entire series. There is so much going on in just this one comic book. Jackie has been captured by Sonatine, a wannabe disciple of the late Angelus (the polar opposite of the Darkness). Sonatine is working to bring the Angelus a new host in Jackie’s half-sister Appolonia, who happens to double cross Jackie. At the end of the comic book there is an amazing twist that just makes your jaw fall to the floor and run out into traffic.

The artwork will make your eyeballs follow your jaws example. The artwork is from an era in which pencils and inks were just “the way” it was done. No computer graphics and digitized publishing had quite made their way into mainstream, as they were in development. All of the imagery in this comic book is just amazing. Each character is painstakingly detailed and brought to life with great colors. Towards the end of the issue, there is a fantastic drawing of Appolonia that is very pleasing to the eyes (this is when they run back and jump back in your face). On pages 16 and 17, there is a split page graphic of the Darkness and several of his minions that looks as if it took the artist over a week of work to finish.

If there are any of you out there that have not experienced The Darkness, I would suggest hitting the back-issue boxes for some (check out any of the first volume – it is the best). The whole series is action-packed with mafia politics and super-powered negotiations. What won me over were the wisecracks made by the minions of the Darkness. Those little guys are just too funny.