The Darkness (character)

The Darkness
File:The Darkness 07 (Art by Marc Silvestri).jpg The Darkness #07. Art by Marc Silvestri
Publication information
Publisher	Top Cow Productions
First appearance	Witchblade #10 (1996)
Created by	David Wohl Marc Silvestri Garth Ennis
In-story information
Alter ego	Jackie Estacado
Team affiliations	Franchetti Family (mafia)
Abilities	The power of The Darkness, an ancient unholy power that allows him to create virtually anything, including living, sentient beings, out of darkness. Hitman and skilled marksman.

The Darkness is a series of comic books produced by Top Cow Productions. The comic first appeared in 1996 and enjoyed an initial period of relative success during the Top Cow/Image Comics boom of the late 1990s. However, Top Cow was forced to "re-launch" the comic in 2002 after sales began to drop. The Darkness has sold over 1 million copies worldwide.

The series was created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl. Other noted writers, including Paul Jenkins, have also worked on The Darkness.

In December 2004, Dimension Films paid an undisclosed six-figure sum to develop a possible movie based on the comic, planned for release in 2007. The comic was pitched as a similar movie to The Crow, which was also produced by Dimension.

In March 2005, "The Darkness" was licensed by Majesco for a console game to be developed by Starbreeze Studios. However, 2K Games later obtained the rights to the game, and the first-person shooter was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 console systems on June 25, 2007 in the United States and on June 29, 2007 in the EU (Xbox 360 only - PS3 version was released on July 20) .

The Darkness

File:Darkness1-2.jpg

The Darkness #1/2 cover by Marc Silvestri.

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The comic's central theme is the power known as The Darkness and its wielders. The Darkness is an ageless power dating back beyond human history. It is linked with the Angelus and the Witchblade. The Darkness is passed down a family line from father to son, leaving the previous user (and taking his life) as his first child is conceived. The power then manifests in the child on his 21st birthday.

Darkness users can create anything they desire with The Darkness, even sentient beings, but anything they make will crumble to dust in the light. The Darkness is quite deadly, allowing the user to call forth darkling minions to aid them, and even survive gunshots. The power can also be used to maul and feed on people.

The Darkness does not function unless it is dark, but some users can also manipulate this by creating their own shadows/darkness (e.g. smoke grenades), being underground, turning off lights in a room, etc.

Jackie Estacado

Jackie Estacado is the current wielder of The Darkness and hitman for the Franchetti Family mob. He is a very violent and sexual man who, until gaining the powers of The Darkness, lived life in the fast lane. Of course, because of the possibility of impregnating a woman causing his own death through the mysterious ways of The Darkness, Jackie tries to refrain from sex, to his great frustration. Though Jackie lives life on the wrong side of the law and can kill without remorse, he has a set of morals he follows and always tries to protect those he cares about.

Jackie joined the mob at a very early age, after being recruited by a mafia don named Frankie "Kill the children, too" Franchetti. He was picked up at the orphanage after Frankie was prompted by a mysterious stranger named Sonatine, who told Frankie that having Jackie around would bring him tremendous power. Jackie came to the mafia life easily, losing his virginity to a female police officer over the interrogation desk at age 14. He grew up, or more accurately matured, very quickly, and soon enjoyed the life of sex and violence. However, when he turned 21, his dark powers awakened and he learned of his evil inheritance. At first, this power was a blessing, allowing his job as a professional hitman to run more smoothly and work in more unique ways. However, with this power came many enemies.

Early on, Jackie spent much of his time escaping from or fighting the Angelus (who wants to kill him), and Sonatine and his Brotherhood of The Darkness (who wish to capture him and steal his powers). Eventually, Jackie chose to quit the mob, but found it easier said than done. Jackie had turned on his adoptive father, Don Frankie Frenchetti, to get a clean slate and exit from his life of crime after a meeting with Batman. (Batman/Darkness crossover) However, after Jackie's "uncle" Frankie kidnapped Jenny, a childhood friend of Jackie's, Frankie killed her and sent a videotape to Jackie in revenge. Jackie could not take this and called out Frenchetti's mob, leading them to an abandoned warehouse covered in gasoline. When the crew arrived to kill Estacado, Jackie threw down his lighter and blew the place, and all its occupants, to bits. (Darkness (vol. 1) #40)

Jackie spent two days (or what seemed to him like 'a million years') afterward wandering around Hell, searching for Jenny, until Tom Judge came and gave him hope, a gift that allows men to exit Hell. (Universe #3) Jackie's body was then reconstructed by The Darkness, which managed to hide away in a tooth cavity. (Darkness (vol. 2) #1)

Jackie returned to find the Franchetti mob taken over by Frankie's cousin, Paulie. Paulie was able to discover Jackie's secret as well as a long-lost sister of Jenny's. Using this information, Paulie blackmailed Jackie into doing hits for him. Along the way, Jackie learned how to construct a gun out of The Darkness. Later, Jackie discovered a hitman following Jenny's sister, killed him, and took his revenge on Paulie as well. This led to Jackie taking control of the Franchetti family. Since taking control of the Franchetti family, Jackie has vastly expanded his mafia, taken on the Triads, and fought the Russian Mafia in Atlantic City.

Over the course of the series, Jackie makes uneasy alliances with Sara Pezzini and both versions of The Magdalena.

Enemies/Allies

The Angelus

File:Darkness25 2.jpg

The Angelus. The Darkness #25 variant cover

The Light and the constant enemy of The Darkness, the Angelus is one of Jackie's most serious of threats, and truly his mortal enemy. Possessing many spirits of women, she has led many crusades against Jackie, and seeks to rid the world of The Darkness. The Angelus commands many spirits and minions to do her bidding, and has recently found a new host in Celestine after leaving the catatonic Lauren Franchetti. In the First Born event, the Angelus and her warriors believe Jackie is responsible for tipping the balance of power and begins planning her retaliation.

The powers of the Angelus are slightly similar to the powers of The Darkness as both have the ability to create sentient beings (with the Angelus having several hundred years of experience doing it) but with one major difference. While The Darkness cannot function at all in the light the Angelus CAN function in the dark but only for short periods of time as it drains her power.

The Magdalena

File:Magdalenaface.jpg

Patience, the current Magdalena.

The Magdalena was first introduced to Top Cow in The Darkness series, and has appeared a few times in the comic during her reign. Descended from Mary Magdalene, the first Magdalena we are introduced to was Sister Mariella, the daughter of Sister Rosalia. Mariella was prematurely sent to battle Jackie, and since she was brought up in a twisted sect of the church, was a wild fanatic who did not know right from wrong. She was left for dead, but recovered, only to battle with the Angelus and again be left for dead. Mariella hasn't been seen since.

Afterwards, Patience, the current Magdalena, is sent out to attack The Darkness, and Jackie mistakes her for Mariella, as does the Angelus. After explaining the situation to him, they end up teaming up against the Angelus, and Patience is possessed by her spirit. Jackie saves her, and the Angelus flees. Their future relationship is yet to be known.

Appolonia Franchetti

The daughter of Don Frank, and the vengeful child of the catatonic Lauren Franchetti, who watched as her father murdered her mother's lover, which caused her to go into a coma. Responsible for the Angelus' return, and unsuccessfully trying to overthrow the Franchetti family, Appolonia is left in a coma. But she is brought back to life with a fragment from the Spear of Destiny, the Magdalena's weapon, and branches out into her own side of The Darkness herself. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

Powers and Abilities

Jackie wields the powers of The Darkness, a universal force of chaos and creation. This allows him the ability to work an amazing number of effects, from increasing his own strength and durability to creating sentient life (commonly in the form of Darklings, small, foul-mouthed imps that do his bidding). Jackie most commonly uses The Darkness to craft a suit of mystical body armor about himself, as well as creating shadowy, fanged tentacles and clawed Darklings to eviscerate his opponents.

The limit of The Darkness's power is unknown, though it does not function at all in strong light, which turns anything it created into dust. Jackie would appear to have some limited prescience, and has, on a few occasions, seen how individuals will die. (The Darkness vol. 2, Issues #1-3)

On top of his mystical abilities, Jackie is a top-notch mafia hitman and is a master shot (with a preference for dual 9mm handguns) as well as being a formidable hand-to-hand fighter.

Other Darkness Users

The Darkness has been around for at least a few millennia, and thus has been used by many men. A lot of these other users can be seen in the mini-series, Tales of The Darkness. In one instance, the powers of The Darkness were siphoned from Jackie by Ian Nottingham. One of the most well known users outside of Jackie has been the pirate Captain Estacado, who was the main character of Ron Marz's The Darkness: Black Sails.

In the one-shot comic Darkness Infinity, present-day Earth is destroyed by The Darkness, and in the distant future, an alien race discovers the remains of the planet, and a space shuttle on the moon, which, according to the shuttle's records, was in orbit of Earth when the planet was destroyed. Apparently, after Earth was destroyed, The Darkness began looking for a new host, and found the crew of the shuttle, which it possessed, until the crew killed each other.

The alien newcomers were the first to discover Earth, and therefore the first opportunity The Darkness had to inhabit a new host. The comic ends with The Darkness possessing the captain of the ship, and taking off to cause destruction throughout the galaxy, as The Darkness has done for millennia, on thousands of inhabited planets.

Other Appearances of The Darkness

Jackie has appeared in crossover storylines involving Tomb Raider, Witchblade, Painkiller Jane, The Hulk, Batman, Superman, Aliens, Predator, and Wolverine. The first two exist in a shared continuity with The Darkness. The rest are non-canonical for the crossover heroes, but at least the Batman crossover is canonical for The Darkness, as the events in this crossover are later referred to and have repercussions in The Darkness comic. The Darkness is also slated to appear in a Top Cow Universe wide crossover - First Born #1.

Trivia

• To promote the video game, released in June 2007, a five issue mini-series was released. One issue chronicled each chapter of the game.

References

• 1.THE PULSE news of Phil Hester ongoing Darkness Series