The Darkness versus Angelus #1: Origin Story

The Darkness versus Angelus #1 is an oversized one-shot that is divided into three chapters, each told by a different writer with slight changes to the art team as well. Matt Hawkins pens Chapter One, Ryan Cady is the writer for Chapter Two, and Marc Silvestri caps the issue with Chapter Three. Each of these chapters covers an age of the Darkness and Angelus’ history as bitter rivals representing the primal forces of dark and light.

Matt Hawkins is no stranger to setting up an interesting story, having worked on both “The Clock”,and “The Clay People Colossus” in the past few years to tell some of Image Comics’ more offbeat stories. He opens up this one-shot in particular with a bang, showing the fatal confrontation between a Darkness and Angelus that sets the entire story in motion. It’s the most origin-focused of the three parts and spends its pages developing the current Angelus, who has outlived several hosts of the Darkness.

Ryan Cady’s work on the “Acts of Evil: Venom Annual” and the 2018 adaptation of “Warframe” to comic books are both proof the writer knows how to handle grungy, chaotic action-driven storylines. Cady’s chapter two is just that, chaos and action. Agustin Padilla’s line art in the chapter is messy and feels erratic, much like the scenery it depicts. The sense of disarray in the fights between the Angelus and Darkness is excellent on a pacing level, as every transition feels like a sudden rush.

Mashuri’s colors in chapter two bring out that edgy punk rock aesthetic that made The Darkness such a relic of the ’90s. In this issue it feels almost like a throwback with a modern makeover. The aesthetic created by Mashuri here feels cinematic, the kind of deeply edited style that you can’t find in reality and only works in a story with this kind of edge to it.

The third chapter rounds out a lot of world-building for Silvestri’s current darkness run that began as a complete reboot back in December of 2025 and is currently ongoing. The series seems to be revamping itself for a new age of comic books, and it’s doing a good job of it so far. With the market opened to a larger audience due to recent breakout titles like Absolute Batman, The Darkness exists in a weird space that could capitalize on its unique world and morally complex characters.

A reoccurring element to the three chapters is the “Lumen Obtis.” A tool used to replace a Darkness bearer forcibly is certainly an interesting addition to The Darkness’ world and does a lot to develop the Brotherhood of Darkness, who in the past have felt like a directionless cult rather than the world-controlling organization the story has often set them up to be.

The art throughout the one-shot is absolutely packed to the brim with fine details, some hidden in the line work and others in plain sight. A single strip panel that shows a graveyard of the Brotherhood’s enemies with tombstones etched with the names of the issue’s creative team is a nice touch on top of all the small Easter eggs, like an ancient Witchblade.

Pat Boutin provides the line art for chapters one and three. To boil it down, Boutin’s art is very neat and natural. Every character has a distinct shape to them, and the lighting from Steve Firchow’s colors is consistent in each scene. Panel transitions and sequences are kept simple, while the art has countless little details, from the bridge of a pirate ship to a fire in Chicago, everything is easy to follow, and nothing gets lost on the page.