“More like the Ginyu Force.”
Darkhawk #16
Marvel (June, 1992)
“Brave New World” WRITER: Danny Fingeroth PENCILER: Mike Manley INKERS: Mike Manley & Ricardo Villagran COLORIST: Joe Rosas LETTERER: Bill Oakley EDITOR: Nel Yomtov
Now interning at a radio station and working at the school station, Chris finds he’s getting angry a lot easier as he tries to put his and his family’s life back together. Leaving his amulet behind in his locker to play basketball he’s also asked to record (by hooking a cassette recorder to the PA system) a lecture given by a scientist on superpowered teens. He should know, because he was part of a project by the Russians to use superteens before he reformed, and four of his former “subjects” have joined together with a small army to form the Peristrike Force. And Chris is without his amulet. When he goes for it, one of the unpowered soldiers corners him at his locker and demands whatever it is that he was after.
What they got right: Finally, Darkhawk will get to fight some of his own supervillains instead of Spider-Man’s. And while a name like “Peristrike Force” probably doesn’t hold up it fits for the time as warriors of the former Soviet Union.
What they got wrong: Maybe it’s me but a high school in Queens hosting a scientific lecture seems odd to me. Chris could have to cover it for his internship and have to check the amulet for some reason, or it got left in the car somehow, since the point was to separate Chris and his amulet but make it easy to get to. Also, the Peristrike Force character designs, like the artwork, gets hit with the 90s.
Recommendation: Darkhawk is getting his own villains besides Lodestone and Bazin (who is allegedly dead). That should make this arc worth a look.
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