Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk #3 // Review
Stranded on an alien world, Darkhawk struggles to come back from the brink of death.
As the Infinity Countdown preludes to Infinity Wars march on, Chris Sims and Chad Bowers are back with the third issue of Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk. Artist Gang Hyuk Lim is once more along for the ride as well, making for a great presentation of an enjoyable story.
The Dark Starhawk is heading to Earth, devouring all in its way; the lone exception belongs to a single Kree battleship, spared because the Dark Starhawk thinks it looks cool. Earth’s one hope, Chris Powell, the Darkhawk…is currently bleeding out on the dusty surface of the alien world, Arcturus. Luckily, the entity who inhabited the Darkhawk armor before Chris, known as Razor, is back to give Chris a complete history on the Fraternity of Raptors before he dies. Lucky him.
While the issue is light on action and heavy on exposition, it’s hard to argue against how this works. As the third of four books, Sims and Bowers are setting up higher stakes for Darkhawk’s newest status quo, while also providing their own take on the mythos. Unlike previous retcons, however, this one takes the ideas previous writers have used and runs with it. The exposition is also made easier by keeping Chris snarky despite the horrible situation he’s found himself in.
Once more, Lim’s artwork is spectacular. The body language and detail on Chris and Razor is phenomenal for expressing emotions without human facial expressions. The exposition dump from Razor is also easy to digest, thanks to Lim doing a great job on rendering the Elders of the Universe, as well as early Skrulls and Shi’ar. An especially nice touch was how the Skrulls and Shi'ar influenced the design scheme of the Raptors, which ties the Fraternity of Raptors in deeper with the rest of the Marvel universe.
While not as action packed as earlier issues, the exposition of the origin of the Raptors is fascinating and welcome for fans of Darkhawk. With a great cliffhanger setting up the final issue, fans of Darkhawk need to check this book out.
