War of Kings: Ascension #1 Preview

[stingerman]

Up at CosmicBookNews:

http://www.cosmicbooknews.com/previews/ascension1preview

 

[random_havoc]

Just finished reading my advanced copy. Here are my thoughts on it (no spoilers):


War of Kings: Ascension #1
I was a fan of the old Darkhawk series and the character when he was in loners. This issue started off slow, but gets good at the end with one twist I saw coming and another I definitely didn't. VERY interested on where they take the character from here. Like the art better in this ish than on the previous War of Kings Darkhawk stuff. 7/10

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hmm. So Talon is a Skrull?

 

[JewishHobbit]

That actually makes him more interesting for me if it's true.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It makes him different. I was expecting Ascension to just be Chris learning about the Darkhawks, training, and getting to use his new powers to their fullest by the end of it. But now it seems there's a whole Skrull duplicity element to it. Secret Invasion II writ somewhat smaller, maybe.

 

[Dread]

So Talon is a Skrull? That's quite an interesting element, and lends credit to my call at the end of WOK: DH #2, where I wondered if Talon was really to be trusted, or was trying to trick Chris.

I do like that Talon is a survivor of the Inhuman's massacre of the fleeing Skrulls in space, which gives him a grudge. And that they haven't forgotten about leftover bug hordes from ANNIHILATION. I wonder if Ravenous will show up again.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, there's no confirmation that the Skrull we see get a jewel at the beginning and Talon are one and the same. It's just the obvious implication.

Then again, it could be cool to have Talon and Darkhawk on opposite sides of the war when they finally get into it.

 

[Dread]

Darkhawk's origin from his 90's series was complicated, but straightforward. An alien crime-lord named Dargin Bokk from planet Luq commissioned the creation of living android soldiers that could be used as weapons via swapping your consciousness with them, keeping your real body safe elsewhere. He assembled a team of five scientists, one of them being a human, for this task, and they created the androids aboard a ship in Null Space. However, they rebelled after the process and the living android bodies were made, not wanting Bokk to have them. This led to a fight which trapped the ship in Null space, landed one amulet on Earth for Chris to find, and trapped Bokk inside one of the droids himself, which he dubbed "Evilhawk".

Evilhawk was ultimately destroyed and I think one of the alien scientists, Osch, tried becoming Overhawk, but that is where it gets complicated. That was towards the end of the book's run, where Chris and Darkhawk were physically separated for a time, and then remerged by the end. He had gained a second form that was more powerful, but went back to his "standard" suit for most appearances after DARKHAWK ended in 1995. As seen in THE LONERS, though, Chris could swap between either one of his two "bodies" at will, especially if one was being used by someone else (like Phil Urich).

Now Talon shows up and claims Darkhawk is part of "The Raptors", a society of intergalactic cops. That throws most of the Bokk stuff into question. If Talon is a Skrull himself, or rather has hidden motives for getting Powell into space, then it could be a lie; butter Chris up with a noble story to get him to leave his friends & family and head into space. It could also be possible that Bokk and his scientists didn't create the android bodies or the entire mind-swapping process, but had merely been recreating a process the Raptors had used.

Basically, if you actually know the past story of Darkhawk, it has the potential to be confusing if it isn't handled right. Cebulski used to always refer to it as "armor", which isn't the same as a body swap, and so did Kirkman in MTU. Hopefully Abnett & Lanning get it right. Not that Darkhawk is a major character, but his history is complicated enough without an error.

 

[random_havoc]

It makes him different. I was expecting Ascension to just be Chris learning about the Darkhawks, training, and getting to use his new powers to their fullest by the end of it. But now it seems there's a whole Skrull duplicity element to it. Secret Invasion II writ somewhat smaller, maybe.

I'm not gonna spoil anything. I'll just say that this ish is far more interesting than we would have guessed (I thought the same as you before reading it).

 

[Dread]

I'm not gonna spoil anything. I'll just say that this ish is far more interesting than we would have guessed (I thought the same as you before reading it).

Good to know.

I figured there would be a shift in quality from Cebulski to Abnett & Lanning. Not that Cebulski is bad, I just think DnA are more proven as writers.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

They definitely know how to do great cosmic stories better.

 

[Dread]

They definitely know how to do great cosmic stories better.

Also true.