Guest Post 002: The Dark Eyrie
Hello everyone and welcome to the Dark Eyrie. My friend and host of this blog, the SoraRabbit himself, asked if I would like to contribute and I could not be more excited to share my thoughts with all of you. A little about me. I proudly refer to myself as a Xennial, or as I recently learned, a member of the “Oregon Trail Generation” which is such a fantastic term that I just had to share it. What this means, at least to me, is that I and many like me fall between the worlds of Gen X and Millennials and do not really fit with either group. Specifically, the way I interpret our little subgroup is that we grew and evolved with modern technology, so we know how to use it and are comfortable with it, unlike a lot of Generation X’ers (my parents, who are firmly Gen X, think the internet is exclusively for Facebook). But we also remember a time when cell phones did not exist and, when they did, certainly did not fit in your pocket (thank you Zack Morris for the wonderful cell phone memories!). So, we don’t really fit with your average Millennial, who has ALWAYS had some form of the internet and wireless technology. Most of them do not know the struggle of VHS tapes and answering machines and long-distance telephone calls. Of a world without email. So, for those lucky few, that are old enough to have at least seen Return of the Jedi or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in the theater when they were new, but not so old that we still got to experience the X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons in the 90’s, this blog is for you.
A little about me personally. I am a musician, a writer, a reader, and a lover of all things “nerd.” Comics, Trading Cards, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, action and adventure movies, Dragon Quest, and rock music are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my interests and things this blog may touch on. In my spare time I write music, have built several custom “themed “guitars, and I am currently working on scripts for a few different comic projects. But enough intro, let’s jump into today’s topic.
Darkhawk #1 Volume 1 (Credit: Marvel Comics. Cover art: Mike Manley)
You may be wondering why the title of this blog is “The Dark Eyrie.” Well, as a lover of comics, my obsession began in the early 90s and the first three comics I ever purchased were Wolverine #37, Marvel Comics Presents #71, and the first issue of a brand-new character from Marvel and one that would become my obsession…. Darkhawk. And seeing as how 2021 was the 30th anniversary of my favorite armored hero, Marvel decided to re-boot him with a new limited series (which was wonderful) and reinsert him into the consciousness of fans everywhere. But this blog isn’t going to focus on Connor Young (the newest person to sport the Darkhawk armor). Not entirely anyway. Instead, this blog is going to focus on Chris Powell, the original Darkhawk, and all the other characters fortunate enough to strap on the Darkhawk armor and one collector’s quest to obtain every issue, every appearance, every cover and every mention of Darkhawk in every Marvel universe. This blog is about what I like to call “the most impressively pointless collection ever assembled.” Let’s dive in.
The scope of this collection is broken down into several parts. The first of this is Darkhawk’s first solo book, Darkhawk Volume 1. This is the original iteration of the character, created by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Mike Manley, though DeFalco is never actually credited as writer in the series. The original writer of the series was Danny Fingeroth, who would stay on to write all 50 issues of the original run of Volume 1 and all 3 of the annuals. Manley remained with the book through issue 25 until giving way to Tod Smith (who, before Darkhawk, had worked on books like Peacemaker and Vigilante at DC among other titles, and now Peacemaker has his own show! Maybe Darkhawk will be next!). Smith remained with the primary pencil through issue 50. I point this out because Marvel certainly invested in Darkhawk in the early years, giving the initial solo run 50 issues and 3 annuals (and numerous guest appearances in other comics like New Warriors, which we will get into) before sort of giving up on the character in the mid-90s. Marvel would tack a “Legacy” issue (#51) on to the series in 2017 after he made a resurgence with Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy, but Darkhawk spent a solid 10 years in obscurity before finding new life in titles like the Runaways and the Loners.
Which leads us to the second part of this collection: Appearances in the 616 universe. Outside of that solid 50 issue run, this is where Chris Powell and Darkhawk have survived in comics for the past 27 years. In the mid 2000’s, starting with Runaways Vol 2, Darkhawk started to reappear in the Marvel Universe as a bit of a lost soul. An immensely powerful and yet somehow misguided character that tended to do more harm than good. Not through any sort of malevolence, but rather through rash decision-making and a lack of mentorship throughout his career. And this is how he would continue to be portrayed right up until the Heart of the Hawk one-shot from April 2021 that set up Connor Young to take over the mantle in Darkhawk Volume 2.
Darkhawk #1 Volume 2 (Credit: Marvel Comics, Cover art: Iban Coello)
But despite this, fans and creators alike remained fascinated with the character. In the 2012 event “Avengers Arena”, Darkhawk was one of the heroes kidnapped and forced to fight, along with major Marvel players like X-23 and Chase Stein from the Runaways (who would incidentally end up wearing the Darkhawk armor himself during the event). Robert Kirkman made him one of the centerpieces of a story arc he wrote for an alternate universe Marvel Team Up run he did. Darkhawk played an assisting role to Nova in the Annihilation story line and was the catalyst to the War of Kings story arc. In the “Infinity Countdown” lead up to 2018’s massive Infinity Wars crossover event, Darkhawk had his own 4-part mini-series. Darkhawk would also participate heavily in the Guardians of the Galaxy’s “Final Gauntlet” story arc. For a character that barely saw a page between 1995 and 2005, suddenly here he was fighting alongside some of Marvel’s most popular characters and leading some of Marvel’s biggest events with consistency. Ultimately leading to Heart of the Hawk, which saw Chris Powell pass the torch to Connor Young, who has now had his own 5 issue limited run book and made a cameo in the Devil’s Reign event. Surely there is more to come from him, and hopefully more from Chris Powell as well.
All in all, according to Marvel Fandom (which is an amazing resource by the way), Chris Powell and the Chris Powell Darkhawk have appeared in 188 comics in the 616 universe and been mentioned in 12 others. The Chris Powell Darkhawk has also appeared in 32 comics and been mentioned in 2 others in other Marvel universes (such as the Marvel Zombies Universe, the House of M Universe, etc). Several other characters have used the amulet to summon the Darkhawk armor including Chase Stein, Camille Benally and even Kitty Pryde (in New Exiles #15 and #17). And now Connor Young has appeared in 6 comics as the ‘Hawk! That’s a total of 244 comics, not including variant covers and such. And why is this important? Because, as of today, I managed to procure at least one copy of them all. Every appearance, every mention of every Darkhawk ever in the Marvel universe.
Except two. The first…Darkhawk #51, the Dan Mora 1:25 variant cover. It’s out there, but it is still just a little to rich for my blood. But I am hunting. The second…the international edition of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 5 issue #6. And that is it. That is all that is left to do of this majestic and pointless endeavor to collect all there is to collect of a character that some may call fringe, and yet seems to still be one that fans and creators alike cherish.
While it is true, I have just started hunting down all the Fraternity of Raptors appearances and mentions to truly and thoroughly round this thing out, I feel confident in saying that this collection is nearly complete. Until I start hunting signatures and rated editions anyway.
Next time, we may talk about music. Or trading cards. Or movies. Who knows what inspiration may strike next? Until then…same ‘Hawk time. Same ‘Hawk channel!
Anthony Sain is an aspiring comic creator and an aficionado in all things nerdy. You can follow him on Instagram for more!
