Darkling Review
I’m a longtime fan of the Archie superheroes – most often categorized as the Mighty Crusaders. I first encountered them during their 1980s revival as part of the Red Circle line and I own pretty much every issue they published during that time. Yeah, the stories weren’t always that great and the continuity was… well, to put it kindly, it was fluid. During this time, I had several favorite characters — the Fly, the Shield, and a newcomer named Darkling.
Darkling didn’t really get an origin — she just kind of showed up one day (Mighty Crusaders # 3) and quickly joined the team. She seemed to have some mystical connections but all of her powers seemed centered around her cloak, which allowed her to trap people in its folds and then teleport them elsewhere.
Years later, I followed the Archie heroes through their revivals at DC (first as Impact and then, later, as the Red Circle again) and at Archie itself (the New Crusaders). Darkling was only a factor in the New Crusaders period and it was unclear during that time if she was the same Darkling from the 1980s or a relative or someone using the same identity. This time around, she was able to control shadows and was far more emo than she’d been back in her original incarnation.
Recently, Archie has been reviving their heroes in a series of digest appearances and one-shots. Darkling has just gotten one of her own — written by Sarah Kuhn and drawn by Carola Borelli. In this adventure, we see Darkling getting a reboot. She’s Darla Lang (as she was during the New Crusaders period) and she’s now a student at Ivy Hollow University. Reference is made to her being somehow cursed by the cloak she always wears but, again, we don’t get a real origin explaining the cloak’s past or how Darla came to wear it or even why it’s a curse. Darla is busy trying to find a way to end her curse and she’s also aware that a number of students have gone missing as of late — when a podcaster named Phoebe Hayashi comes to Darla asking for her help in solving the mystery, Darla wrongly assumes that Phoebe has figured out that Darla has powers provided by the cloak. As a result, when a tentacled monster appears out of a strange portal, Darla saves Phoebe and outs herself as a magic user. Phoebe provides Darla with her codename, suggesting Darkling, and the duo uncovers the truth about who’s kidnapping the other students — and along the way, Darkling gets the costume that she’s wearing on the cover. It’s a variation on the outfit she wore back in the 1980s, by the way. Power-wise, Darla is still able to teleport people via her cloak but she’s also able to perform actual magic spells, as well.
The story is quite good — it’s the kind of all-ages affair that the more modern Archie material reads as and the friendship between Darla and Phoebe feels believable. I wish they’d provided more explanation about Darla’s past but maybe that’ll come if there’s a sequel to this story. The art was great — the covers are definitely sexier than the interior depictions of Darla. It’s hard not to notice that Darkling is buxom and posed provoctively on most of the variant covers whereas in the book itself, she’s much more covered up in terms of clothing. Borelli really excels on facial expressions.
I’d love to see a limited series from this creative team, delving into Darkling’s origins, her connection to the cloak, and maybe how she meets up with the Crusaders. I’m assuming this is a totally new continuity, though I suppose it could be retrofitted to be before her other appearances.
Recommended!
The Marvels Looks Pretty Neat in its First Trailer — Henchman-4-Hire
Our first look at The Marvels is here! The first trailer/teaser debuted today and it looks to be something of a hoot. Mostly I’m here for Kamala Khan to start interacting with the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I’m also here for all of it. As a teaser, this is a nice look at what […]
The Marvels Looks Pretty Neat in its First Trailer — Henchman-4-Hire
A Ki-Gor Review
James Elfers posted a review of The New Adventures of Ki-Gor on Amazon. He gave the book 3 out of 5 stars and titled his review “Just OK Pastiches”. Here’s his review in full:
Despite the author’s contention, he doesn’t really get or understand Ki-Gor. First off, these stories are way too short, without the depth of character and plot of the originals. Secondly and most importantly, he really doesn’t appreciate Helene and does not come close to emulating the sensuousness of the original tales. Helene is not just an exceptionally beautiful and capable woman, she is also a free spirit who got naked regularly in the original stories. Here, she swims with her leopard skin shorts on! Seriously? In the stories, Helene got naked or was rendered naked all the time. Among her adventures in the pulp stories were being stripped and her skin dyed brown by a miscreant to hide her from Ki-Gor and try to pass her off as a native. In another, she was imprisoned naked while an evil villainess donned her leopard skin bikini to impersonate Helene and lay a trap for Ki-Gor. You get the idea. The author comes nowhere near emulating the eroticism of the original adventures. The Ivory Goddess of the first tale should be a lot more sultry. Ki-Gor, despite being a one-woman man, certainly could appreciate female forms that weren’t Helene Vaughn’s. Often, the scheming women Ki-Gor encountered appealed to his ape-man desires, even though he never faltered and fell off the fidelity wagon. The villains in the second story are little more than cardboard cutouts. Yes, they are stereotypes, but a competent author can breathe life into even the hoariest of cliches. This guy either can’t or won’t put in the effort. Are these stories worth reading? Hard to answer. If you have read the best of the original Ki-Gor adventures, these will feel like shallow, by the numbers exercises. If you have not read Ki-Gor and want to get a sense of what the character was all about, these stories are an adequate and just adequate fix. If they make readers seek out the original stories, then this collection has real value. Otherwise, they are simply an amusing, if predictable, time filler.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the stories to the fullest, James. I’m actually a big fan of Ki-Gor and have read many of the originals. As always with reviving older characters, it’s a measure of trying to emulate what worked in the old stories while blending in my own style. My attempts at doing so worked better for some readers than others. I appreciate the feedback.
Pulp Factory Awards Nomination Season
These books are (I believe) worthy of consideration for the Pulp Factory Awards. All of them were published in 2022 and were written by yours truly:
• The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, Volume 11: Thirty Pieces of Silver
• The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, Volume 12: The Life and Death and Life of Lazarus Gray
• The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, Volume 13
• Worlds Collide
• The Chronicles of Lilith
The Other Doc Savage: Doc Brazen in the Millennium Bug — Fraser Sherman’s Blog
THE MILLENNIUM BUG: Doc Brazen #1 by Jeff Deischer feels more like Lester Dent than any Doc Savage pastiche I’ve ever read. I’m not entirely sure that works, though I’m sure I’ll read Book Two eventually. Caution: spoilers included below. Deischer is a die-hard Doc Savage fan who’s written both Man of Bronze fanfic and […]
The Other Doc Savage: Doc Brazen in the Millennium Bug — Fraser Sherman’s Blog
Invaders #1-4 (May-August 1993)
This miniseries marks the return of the Invaders in their first title since their ongoing series in the 1970s, and it picks up right where the first …
Invaders #1-4 (May-August 1993)
MORE NEGLECTED MONSTERS FOR HALLOWEEN SEASON
MORE NEGLECTED MONSTERS FOR HALLOWEEN SEASON
— Read on glitternight.com/2022/10/13/more-neglected-monsters-for-halloween-season/
Dragonlance Reading Order 2022 — Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub
Logo Credit: Wizards of the CoastImage Credit: Larry ElmoreBanner Credit: Fantasy Book Nerd The Dragonlance world is one I happily revisit every year. Rich in detail and huge in scope, the series itself boasts over one hundred novels, and the first book in a new trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, titled Dragons of […]
Dragonlance Reading Order 2022 — Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub
‘Prey’ Is a Solid Prequel That I Didn’t Even Know I Needed — Future of the Force
Ever since the 1987 classic Predator hit theaters people have tried to recreate the formula that The post ‘Prey’ Is a Solid Prequel That I Didn’t Even Know I Needed appeared first on Future of the Force.
‘Prey’ Is a Solid Prequel That I Didn’t Even Know I Needed — Future of the Force
Barry Reese - Writer of Badass heroes 