~Today we take a quick look at The New Warriors #33, and Annual #3, Written by Fabian Nicieza, and Penciled by Darick Robertson. Both parts of the Forces Of Darkness, Forces Of Light story-line. Tons of guest-stars in this arc featuring a little shit of a villain called Darkling.
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| Just let him know this is a Safe Zone, and he needs to check his privilege... |
He's basically a mutant imbued with Darkforce Energy. And it's cool how this brings in other characters who are tied to the Darkforce like Cloak, Shroud, and Silhouette... Darkling's powers include control over the Darkforce, being able to control others with it, unleashing people's violent tendencies, and also whining about his lot in life... like, a lot. -He's such a teen-angsty little bitch. I hate him...
...but I guess that's good, right? You should really hate the bad guy of a story! Except he's written in a way where they were really trying to give him a tragic depth- so you'd feel sorry for him.
Actual Darkling quote: "None of you understands! The darkness is the only thing that's ever cared."
Ughhh...
But first thing's first- let's back up a bit; I gotta say how much I've always enjoyed the dynamic between Spidey and The Warriors. He has no patience for their lack of experience. Somehow he ends up being the mature one. Sometimes they look to him as a mentor, and sometimes he forces it on them with these self-righteous lectures, but either way- he just comes off as the "lame, old dude".
He just always has great interactions with them- Speedball, and Darkhawk, especially. (Spider-Man really does not like Darkhawk, but more on that another time...) Plus it's always nice to see Firestar and him together... for nostalgic reasons.
*Any page can be enlarged by the usual methods*
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| Yeah, it's not bad, but I'm partial to her 'Amazing Friends' costume. |
I do not want to know how many third-graders Darkhawk has greased-up before, or the reason why he did it...
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| "Turbo, you are a one-pump-chump!" |
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| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ |
And I love how Spidey gives ZERO fucks about Turbo!
Anyways, Firestar says she could easily end the attack on New York- but Crystal suggests all the rampant microwaves from a blast that large could be dangerous to the city, and everyone's crotches...
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| "Relax. No girl will EVER love you enough to want a Turbo Jr.!" |
But they defeat Darkling with a big (and sexy) one-two-punch; with Firestar eventually saying 'fuck it' and going nova anyways...
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| Boom. |
...and then Nova bringing in someone who has a lot of experience in dealing with darkness:
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| BOOM! |
Then there is this great little dig at a comic that is in no way still found en masse in comic-book-box quarter-bins:
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| (by Evan Skolnick and Manny Galan) |
I have actually still have the first part to this myself here at home. Nice to see how it ends, since I never followed up on it after the initial issue. I was in that phase where if the art looks good you get it, and if the story is pretty decent, then that's a bonus. Dumb, but that was method back then. Thank god I grew out of that...
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how writers and editors hate to see Spider-Man appear old, but that's exactly what happens when you pair him teens/young 20-year olds; He's automatically the old man Spider(man). So yeah moreso than marriage or kids(but that too) nothing will age you more in the eyes of fans than that.
Nice dig by Nicieza on himself. I'd be surprised if it was by anyone else considering how still wildly popular the whole X-Franchise was back then, especially with the Fox X-Men cartoon right around the corner.
Yeah, see- EVERYONE has a part of this!
DeleteMan, comics used to be so fun!!!
I can't stand even a good story if the art sucks... and art is subjective, so it's hard... but comics are a visual medium- so if the art does not speak to me- then no matter how good the story is- it never will either either. So I don't think young-you is dumb at all... I find Darick Robertson's art perfectly serviceable, though. I mean, sure- he's no Bagley, but we take what we can get.
I was just now catching up on AXIS from a few years ago, and there is some stuff in it with Spider-Man and the newest Nova- Sam Alexander. And, yeah, he seems sooo old by comparison in it. Showed the kid a lot more respect than he did Darkhawk, though... Even mentioned Richard Rider and how awesome he was...
Peter Parker is just a fuddy-duddy though... he'll never shake being made in the 60's...
Yeah- that was a bold move ripping on yourself right at the height of your popularity like that- that back-up story was a lot of fun!
You're exactly dead on about the art part man! It really does make all the difference. Shit it's what honestly most of the time separates the all-time classic epics like the Dark Phoenix Saga, Kirby's FF Run, Jim Lee's X-Men run, etc, from badly drawn contenders like James Hudnell's Alpha Flight run, or basically any other run that could've been could but the horrible art killed that shit dead.
DeleteI'm a bit, a bit, more forgiving than I used to be, but art-wise, I'm still like if it doesn't appeal to me, than I pass.
a couple years ago i found that New Warriors annual in a discount back issue section. i got it with the hopes of finding a ROM Easter egg somewhere in that back up story about Micky and Danny at that con but sadly there were none :(
ReplyDeleteI dunno- I thought that bucket-head character could be an analogy, but maybe it was Shatterstar? Regardless- it was still a fun back-up; poking fun at X-Force so much in the height of their popularity.
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