REVIEW: Dark Adventures #1

“Dark Angel”
Created, written, and Illustrated by Pat Gabriele

“The Dark Kunkle”
Created, written, and Illustrated by Charles A. Wagner

“Sea Thugs”
Plot and layout: Pat Gabriele
Illustrations: Richard Lynn

“Stone”
Concept and Pencils: Marty Edwards
Finished Art: Pat Gabriele

I totally bought this comic book just to review for one of my Wednesday back issue pieces. I admittedly wasn’t expecting much from the book and just figured it would be something fun and obscure to throw down for the Dollar Box.

Little did I know...

The cover just reeks of 80’s metal and at first glance reminded me of Lemmy of Motörhead fame, and I’m all about some Motörhead. I admit the cover is what initially drew me in as well as the fact I had never heard of nor seen any other books published by Darkline Comics. It really was dumb luck and my love for a man named Ian Fraser Kilmister that put this book in my hands, leading me to learn about a man named Pasquale Gabriele.

The first few stories or, “chapters”, in this book are about a character called Dark Angel. Dark Angel is the aforementioned Lemmy-looking guy on the cover, clad in black leather, studded collar, spiked gauntlets, and leather jacket. Dark Angel is a no-nonsense Punisheresque type who takes the law into his own hands, but unlike the Punisher, Dark Angel punches the bad guys repeatedly in the face or throws them off rooftops instead of using guns and the like.

“The Dark Kunkle”, was just a one-page  old school newspaper-style comic strip that I didn’t find all that funny.

“Sea Thugs“, is a few pages of pirates pirating a ship. The dialogue was way too  predictable and totally forgettable. Richard Lynn did a hell of a job drawing the pirates pirating though. He nailed the busy action scenes masterfully, and I would’ve gladly taken a whole issue of his work instead of the four or five pages offered up. I will have to search the Earth for the other three issues of Dark Adventures just to get my pirate fix, I suppose. 

“Stone”, was about a Thing-like beast that these government goons found frozen in the mountains of Alaska and, as government goons tend to do, they unthawed the man-beast, and as man-beasts tend to do, he clobbers everyone and escapes.
That’s where the story ends, I’m afraid, so we’ll both be curious as to how it turns out. The artwork wasn’t as good as the previous stories, and I actually had issues with the ways Stone was drawn, especially the hockey goalie pads he’s wearing that no man-beast made of stone should be wearing…
It just looks ridiculous. 

The thing that most intrigued me when I first opened this book was that fact Darkline Comics was based in Peru, Indiana. I have lived near or in Peru for the majority of my life and had no clue that there was once an indie comic book publisher located in town. Granted, I was 6-8 years old during the mid-late ‘80s at the time they were publishing books.

I tried to find more information about Darkline, but there isn’t a lot out there to find aside from the fact that they did indeed publish a handful of titles, Dark Adventures being one of those. I dove deeper down the rabbit hole and tried to find out about Pat Gabriele and that’s where things really got interesting.

Pasquale Gabriel, sometimes credited as Pat Gabriele or Angel Gabriele, was indeed a comic book artist and publisher best known for this adaptation of the Space Giants, AND a professional wrestling manager, renowned for his role as the Dark Angel.
That’s right, the very same character from this very comic book.

Mr. Dark Angel bounced back and forth from New York City and the Midwest, specifically Wabash Indiana, working for various independent comics as well as for both DC and Marvel. The more I read about Pasquale Gabriele the more captivated about his life I became.

I stalked his Facebook page and found out, sadly, he had passed way in February of 2016. He had photos of his many amazing artwork pieces in his photo archives and, believe you me, I would like to own them all. He had an unarguably King Kirbyesque style to his drawing, so close one could pass for the other.

I wish I had learned about Mr. Gabriele before his death, as I would have loved to have corresponded with him, met him at a con just to hear him tell tales of a life one could only assume was packed with adventures and wild times, not to mention picking up some of his original works or his stunning reproduction covers.

I don’t think I’ve ever put so much time into researching a comic book or it’s related subject matter in my life, but I’m so glad this comic crossed my path on so many levels. I will also add I, in fact, found this book in a thrift store called Picker’s Paradise in Peru, as I guess it should be.

Before this review is even posted it’s safe to say that I’ll have already tracked down the other three issues of Dark Adventures as there’s just no way I can go on not owning them.

So cheers, Mr. Dark Angel.
I salute you and may you rest in peace.