The Darkness: Levels
from Top Cow and available on DrivethruComics
The Darkness is a character has been around in the Top Cow comics universe since 1996. However this particular story is sort of retelling of the characters origin as they unfolded in the video game that was released in 2007. Giving the story of the character a bit of a brush up and some tweaks.
In a nutshell The Darkness is a cosmic entity that passes from one host to another throughout history. The current person in possession of this power is Jackie Estacado. A mafia hitman who gained his abilities on his twenty first birthday. There was no warning or foretelling about what he was about to inherit, he was just tossed in for the ride.
In this particular series we get see Jackie receive his 'gift' as he fights against the mob boss he used to work for. There is collateral damage as the woman he loves is killed during and he was not allowed to save her. Which leads to his first trip to the other world where the creatures at his command reside. A sort of hell like dimension of constant fighting and wars. But the Darkness doesn't allow him to stay dead for long and he returns to continue his crusade against his former boss. All the way learning new abilities and limitations of the powers he now possesses.
From what I gather each issue is supposed to represent a different level in the video game, telling the story of that part before moving on to the next one. Which does help bridge a bit of a gap between video game players and comic fans which I'm sure they were hoping for a lot of crossover to occur between the two. It actually works pretty well in this format although a few parts seem particularly rushed but nothing deal breaking at all. Also in a couple of spots it begins to feel like a bit of an anvil dropper but again, not to a level where it broke the comic.
Art wise we get the works of several talented folks. Much to my pleasure it has some early Stjepan Sejic work, he has become one of my favorite current artists in the field right now. So seeing some of his stuff not nearly as polished and refined was a treat. There was some significant differences in the styles here but they were all good and quite talented. Plus there is a large collection of covers, alternate covers, sketch work and stuff like that at the end.
In the end I'm giving this one four out of five stars. I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind catching up on some of the earlier material just to see what it was like.
As always it's available over on DrivethruComics and for only $11.99.
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