The Darkness #1: Welcome To Never-Neverland…

Hot off the heels from last year’s blockbuster Witchblade reboot, Marc Silvestri and Top Cow relaunch their other flagship title, the Darkness! Marc’s joined by superstar artist, Ed Benes, as they return the character to greatness! What’s in store for Jackie Estacado? Will he become the biggest villain the Top Cow Universe has ever known? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s

Marc makes a bold return to Jackie Estacado, a character he co-created with superstar Garth Ennis, where they began building the Artifacts universe. Marc’s sticks to writing this volume, joined by Ed Benes, with an assortment of different inkers, as we take a trip down memory lane, giving us a very clear picture of the violence that helped shape him into becoming the man he becomes. Bullied, then raised by a mafia don, before becoming the avatar for the Darkness. Silvestri’s trying to maintain Jackie’s…dark origins, and it makes him more sympathetic to readers, as opposed to being the unscrupulous sonofabitch that he was in the previous era.

Silvestri’s returning to form here, leaning into a more horror tinged anti-hero here, bringing the character back to what helped make him popular, while also introducing other important elements to the lore, like the Angelus, the Cult of the Darkness, while introducing other elements, like a power called the Stigmata. Some strange force that looks like it’s made from the same thing the Darkness is made from, and takes the form of a giant molten dragon. It makes for a great visual that really helps set a tone for things to come.

Ed Benes on art duties, and it’s been a pretty long time since I’ve seen him on anything. His style here seems reminiscent of Dale Keown’s run on the book. A sleek, polished look, that easily transcends from dark horror to a superhero style, flowing seamlessly. There’s also not a lot of female characters, which allows Benes to focus more on storytelling than the cheesecake, which he’s most notoriously known for. It’s a clean look, and a new style from Benes that we’re not used to. Add in the dark palette, this issue’s art is a nice blend of the macabre and otherworldly.

Unfortunately not everything was a home run. Silvestri’s coming in with a very retro 90’s tone with the character and the rest of the cast, that it felt like a retread, than as something new. He’s never been a character one would root for, but it feels like they’re trying a bit too hard to make him out to be the lovable asshole he used to be. The issue spends a lot of time world building, with an over reliance on violence and horror, rather than trying to develop a character here, which is probably the biggest challenge that this issue has.  The Darkness and the Witchblade are two characters that aren’t from the Big Two that I’ve collected the most over the years, so I’m hoping that Jackie and the rest of the cast from  this series clicks like the latest Witchblade series that’s currently on the stands.