The Darkness (comics)


The Darkness is an American comic series published by Top Cow Productions. The concept was created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl in 1996. The main storyline followed Jackie Estacado, a New York Mafioso who - after turning 21 - inherited the curse of the Darkness. The character first appeared in Witchblade #10.
Top Cow announced in September 2018 that it would be relaunching The Darkness in 2019 with Matt Hawkins as writer and Tom Grindberg as artist, featuring Jackie Estacado and Sara Pezzini in supporting roles.

Fictional biography

Darkness

The Darkness is a cosmic entity predating recorded history. It is the embodiment of the empty void of chaos which existed prior to the coming of God's light - embodied as the Angelus. As the cosmos formed in its place, the now-usurped Darkness grew to resent God and His creation. Growing powerful enough to manifest itself and conjure a legion of demons, the Darkness declared war upon the Angelus and her host. This lasted for eons until a truce was found to prevent mutual destruction. To seal the covenant, the two powers mated and conceived the Witchblade.
Some time after this, the Darkness began inhabiting human vessels - inherited through the sons of its chosen bloodline; the father passing the curse to his child at the moment of conception, expiring as the force leaves his body. The power then awakens on the son's 21st birthday. A wielder of the Darkness has been present in every major time period and continental power in history. These hosts have usually been of a violent predisposition, such as dictators and warlords. Many have also been of a criminal background; namely murderers, thieves, and molesters.

Jackie Estacado

Jackie Estacado was the vessel of the Darkness for the first run of the series. Raised as a hit-man for the Franchetti Family Mob, Jackie's defining quality was his penchant for murder as well as womanizing. Despite his criminal lifestyle, Jackie followed a strict code of morals. Chief among his beliefs was a trust in those who earned it and a fierce loyalty to family and allies. Early in the series, his main love interest was his childhood friend Jenny Romano. He later developed a romance with Sara Pezzini after the birth of their daughter, Hope Pezzini.
The son of notorious Mob associate Danny Estacado and an unnamed prostitute, Jackie was taken in by Saint Gerald's Orphanage where he was frequently abused by the orderlies. Despite his antisocial nature even as a boy, Jackie protected his friend Jenny from their cruel treatment. At the age of six, Jackie was adopted by upcoming Mob boss Frankie "Kill-The-Children-Too" Franchetti, claiming to be his uncle. He only did so after being persuaded by Sonatine of the Brotherhood of Darkness that bringing Jackie into his inner circle would make Frankie powerful.
Life in the Mob provided Jackie both with a home as well as a sense of safety and family, but also made him more violent and prone to illegal activity. Losing his virginity at age fourteen to a female officer during interrogation, he disregarded the law and developed a sex habit. Making his first hit at age sixteen, Jackie soon became Frankie's chief enforcer; skyrocketing the Franchettis into one of the top Mob families in New York City and fulfilling Sonatine's prophecy. Living a playboy lifestyle, Jackie would often visit Jenny's club to keep in touch.
Both the Angelus and Sonatine kept vigil over the course of Jackie's life; both of them waiting for him to manifest the Darkness - the Brotherhood wishing to exploit his power for their own ends while the Angelus wished only to annihilate the wielder while at his most vulnerable. Jackie was also being watched by followers of the Church of the Angelus which had infiltrated various criminal operations in opposition to Franchetti's. Among them was Regis Tyne, a Mob accountant who would associate with Jackie and attempt to assassinate him over a decade later.
When he turned 21, his dark powers awakened and he learned of his evil heritage. Jackie spent much of his time escaping from or fighting the Angelus, Sonatine, and the Brotherhood of the Darkness. Jackie tried to quit the mob, but Frankie kidnapped and killed Jenny, a childhood friend of Jackie's. Jackie, in a warehouse showdown with Franchetti's crew, blew up the warehouse, killing Frankie and burning Jackie alive.
Jackie spent two days afterward wandering around Hell while searching for Jenny until Tom Judge came and gave him hope, a gift that allows men to exit Hell. Jackie's body was then reconstructed by the Darkness.
Jackie returned to find the Franchetti mob taken over by Frankie's cousin, Paulie. Paulie was able to discover Jackie's secret, and Paulie blackmailed Jackie into doing hits for him. Along the way, Jackie learned how to construct a gun out of the Darkness. Later, Jackie turns on Paulie and takes control of the Franchetti family, eventually taking on the Triads, and fighting the Russian Mafia in Atlantic City.
After a confrontation with the Angelus, Jackie abandoned the Mafia life and fled to a place called Sierra Muñoz in hope of establishing a new empire there. Jackie established a drug cartel in Sierra Muñoz with a Darkness-based narcotic made from his own bodily fluids, built an impenetrable fortress, and formed an army. The residents of Sierra Muñoz resisted Jackie's takeover with the help of the U.S. Department of Defense, which wanted to capture Jackie for experimentation and to learn about his armor. Jackie lost his battle with the army and was captured.
Jackie learned that during a battle with the Darkness, his soul was cast into Hell, leaving his body on Earth. He made a deal with a devil who calls himself the Sovereign, who promises, in return for a number of assassinations, to reunite Jackie's body and soul. Jackie fulfills the Sovereign's demands, including killing a demonically possessed nun, an immortal drug dealer, and surviving an encounter with a dream-stealing witch in Mexico. Eventually, while performing an assassination in Egypt, Jackie comes across a mysterious woman wearing a red ribbon who seems to lure him. He also meets a past Darkness wielder named Aram, also known as the Foreigner, who explains that the Sovereign has been manipulating Jackie from the start and that both his soul and the Darkness are still within him, merely repressed by his will and desire to be free of the Darkness's influence.
Ignoring the Foreigner, Jackie follows the woman and finds himself facing against a resurrected Djinn created by a shaman specifically to kill Darkness wielders. Finding the Djinn to be virtually invincible, Jackie is guided to strangle the woman to death with her own ribbon, breaking the curse of the Djinn and freeing the woman from her eternal servitude. Jackie is confronted by Aram, who further intimidates him into finally summoning the full power of the Darkness once again. Aram disappears, leaving Jackie with the realization of the Sovereign's manipulations and fully intent on revenge with full control of his powers.

Powers and abilities

Jackie held the powers of the Darkness, an elemental force of chaos and creation. The core of a Darkness wielder's abilities is their accessing of an otherworldly dimension through the shadows around them and exerting control over the countless demonic creatures that dwell there. These creatures - called Darklings - usually appear as serpentine or goblinoid fiends which cause mischief and murder on behalf of their host and can communicate with their master through telepathy. They possess supernatural strength and stamina as well as deadly claws and fangs.
In terms of individual prowess, Darklings are quite versatile in terms of their physique and purpose; emerging in different forms depending on the intentions or needs of their host. While they share the aforementioned traits, some Darklings have wings and others can breathe fire. Darklings have also exhibited the ability to easily adhere to sheer surfaces as well as teleporting through shadows with their bearer and even producing corrosive chemicals through their saliva or excrement. While beholden to their vessel, Darklings do exhibit their own autonomy.
When in a battle, Darkness wielders envelop their whole bodies in a mystical armor of shadowy metal. This gives them strength and durability beyond that of their creatures as well as razored fingers and bladed tendrils emerging from their shoulders which can transform into wings. With time and practice, the wielder can completely alter the visage of their armor in order to shapeshift their own appearance into someone else for a time. They can also instinctively fashion weapons and shields from their armor in a similar fashion as bearers of the Witchblade.
Wielders of the Darkness exhibit a potent healing factor when injured - the shadows surrounding them absorbed into their body to regenerate cells at unnatural rates, even to the extent of regrowing lost limbs and reconstructing whole portions of the body that have been destroyed. This renders the vessels effectively impervious to disease and poisons as well as resistance to supernatural afflictions such as the powers of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This also allows them a degree of pseudo-immortality as the Darkness keeps them preserved over millennia.
Any other uses of the Darkness are limited only by the imagination of the wielder.
In addition to the curse, Darkness bearers are typically hardened individuals whose lives have endowed them with considerable fighting prowess and survival skills. Wielders from older time periods were usually skilled swordsmen while modern hosts like Jackie are skilled marksmen. Individual wielders might also have personal skills. Jackie was trained in chemistry by Kirchner - enabling him to convert Darkness-borne material into water, corrosives, or a narcotic. Ambitious hosts usually climb to positions of rank; overseeing armies, domains, or businesses.

Significant characters

Angelus
Appolonia Franchetti
Aram
Capris Castiglione
Sonatine
Sovereign
Frankie Franchetti
Capris Castiglione
The Magdalena
Nino Wenders
Angelus Warriors
Elle
The Foreigner/Aman The Witch-King
Paulie Franchetti
The Brotherhood
Captain Eddie Shrote

Collected editions

The series has been collected into a series of trade paperbacks:

Film

In December 2004, Dimension Films paid an undisclosed six-figure sum to develop a movie based on the comic, with a planned release for 2008. The film rights were later sold to the Pang brothers in December 2005.
At Comic-Con 2009, Top Cow president Matt Hawkins revealed that a live-action The Darkness film was in development, with Scott Stuber Productions attached as the producer for the project. In 2012, Len Wiseman signed on to produce the movie.

Video games

A game based on The Darkness was released for the PlayStation 3 on June 20th, 2007, and for the Xbox 360 eight days later. Developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by 2K Games, the game follows a differing version of the story and gives more characterization to the Darkness.
A sequel, titled The Darkness II, was released for the PC, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 on February 7, 2012, developed by Digital Extremes and published by 2K Games.