The Darkness #6 // Review
He is ready to kill a child. He's going to do it, too. And not in a merciful way or or anything like that. There's really no reason why the child should be killed in the first place. And yet he wants to. However, he pulled back from it. Zack tells him that it’s time to go. Zack’s a demon. And he’s the hero. Things aren’t going to get any easier for him in The Darkness #6. Writer Marc Silvestri continues his return to supernaturally-plagued Mafia hitman Jakckie Estacado in another issue brought to page and panel by the art team of Raymond Gay and Augustin Padilla. Color comes to the page courtesy of Arif Prianto with assistance from Mashuri and Yenny Laud.
Jackie’s shaken he really was about to kill a kid. But he got pulled back from it. It's a point of clarity. He really needs to be able to confront of that as well as quite a lot else. He hasn't been entirely forthcoming with Jenny. And he's not going to be easy telling her the whole reality of everything. But he really needs to. And there's no question that she's going to be upset with him.
Silvestri is running our story that works on three different levels. I'm the one level there is a supernatural drama. The story seems reasonably interesting on that level as it focusses on demons being heroic and angels being sinister. That’s cool. Then there’s the crime drama, which serves to anchor the supernatural horror in place. That’s a little less than appealing as it feels muddled into crime drama cliches that have been around for decades. Then there’s the interpersonal drama. Sara really comes across as a compelling character who feels much more relatable than the rest of the characters, so the emotional center of the issue is secure.
Gay and company deliver the art to the page in a very straightforward fashion that feels more or less perfectly in line with the art style of Silvestri himself. There aren't really any surprises in the way things are brought to the page. It's all very clean and sharply rendered. Lots of shadow. Lots of ink. Lots of detail. It all feels more or less perfectly lined up. The trauma doesn't feel quite as strong on the page, though. It's not as compelling as the horror or the action. This is a bit of a problem as Sara’s personality is easily the most appealing thing about the series right now if that were brought to the pain with a little bit more emotional connection it might make for a better package on the whole.
Aside from a few elements here were there, it relief fuels away. This particular issue could've come out somewhere around 1995. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It just doesn't necessarily feel like it's doing anything. That's Silvestri hasn't done before the series on one level or another. At the current pace, it’s going to take some time before Silvestri can really begin to define this series as something new.
