Comic Review #58: Darkhawk #4 (1991)

 

Since portnoyd was being well portnoyd he should know that means something now. Every time he's a saucy boy I will review an issue of Darkhawk. Since portnoyd is always a saucy boy in the comments you will end up seeing a lot of Darkhawk for the next little while. I do review a two parter if it shows up as a two parter. Anyway for the people who don't know that Chris Powell has found the power of Darkhawk via an amulet in an abandoned amusement park. His father was found to be taking money from a gangster. Chris with the power of Darkhawk wants to find out the truth, and to take down Phillipe Bazin the gangster. In Issues 2 and 3 he teamed up with Spider-Man to take down the second Hobgoblin. Kicked his sweet old ass like there was no tomorrow.

We finally get some villains for Darkhawk himself, other than Phillipe Bazin. A hero is only as good as his villains and well Darkhawk's rogue gallery is alright. It's not Spider-Man/Batman/Flash level but you got some decent enough characters for him to fight. We get Savage Steel a big Iron Man like bad guy that a bunch of cops bought from a Stane International guy. Yeah the Iron Monger guy. I like how he looks like Iron Monger but clearly different enough. I like how things connect in the Marvel Universe, but yeah this is Savage Steel's first appearance so rush out and buy 60 copies for when he appears in a MCU movie in 2024 and annoy me because I have to pay more than a dollar for an issue of Darkhawk.

Our issue starts up with Darkhawk at Rykers Prison. That's right he broke into a prison to find the guy who gave his dad the money. He does and finds out that his dad was given the money to get him to keep his mom the D.A. out of Phillipe Bazin's business. He was also to give some of the money to the guys at the Litunaia. or some dumb name like that. I'm not going to try to find the name because really it's not that important. Darkhawk gets fucking SHOT by one of the police after saving another police officer from a guy who had a gun at his head. Kept that criminal in prison and saved someone and all he gets for his trouble is a bullet. However he gets saved by some people in a boat who are obviously scared of him. He does get back to land.

He then turns himself back into Chris and there's no gun wounds or anything. There's some stuff with his family and another note from someone who knows about the power of Darkhawk and his secret.  We get a scene with him and some police officers that worked with his dad, he's still trying to find out if his dad is crooked or if there's more to it. One of the police officers literally gets angry and tries to attack him. I like how they are willing to have crooked cops and just plain assholes as cops in this series.  Anyway Chris is back home in the bathroom and is trying to get himself to look at what Darkhawk looks like under the armor. He is interrupted by his brother who lets him know its 10 o clock so he flies off to find the drug plane that had some dumb name that I forgot. He tries to fight off the drug dealers when Savage Steel comes by and wrecks his shit. They have a pretty great little fight until Savage Steel gets the upper hand and flies off and KILLS THE DRUG DEALERS. Just blows them fuckers right up. Savage Steel is not fucking around.

We then go to a page letting us know about how they got the Savage Steel suit and how they are going to show the criminal scum what's for. They also talk about how they will have to take out the Punisher because he's too much of a wild card to deal with. They also wonder if Darkhawk is a good guy and will clearly let them be murderers or will he also have to be dealt with. Looking at Savage Steel just chilling on a chair is both cool and funny. I like this guy. We then go to Darkhawk to see him finally look at his face under the mask and we get a freak out. It's a great way to end the issue really.

This was a really fun comic. You get some interest on Chris' dad. You see his family drama now that his dad is gone. You get some intrigue in knowing who knows about his secret. You get a new villain that has a neat design and is fun enough to read. You get some pretty decent art and a great little cliffhanger. So yeah, next time we will find out what Darkhawk looks like under the mask AND find out about another one of Darkhawk's foes, this time a guy named Portal. So join me the next time portnoyd says something stupid and incorrect.

FINAL VERDICT: Darkhawk is still doing pretty good. I say pick up all of these issues because they are pretty fun and totally cheap. Most stores should have them in dollar bins. Hell maybe even 25 cent bins. You can't find anything that cheap no more!