Seeing Double in the Shadows
David Hine continues to weave an interesting story, as he introduces new readers (like myself) to Jackie's supporting cast. But he doesn't waste any time with the catching up, he slips it seamlessly into the story as Jackie's mafia life is developed more. Despite kicking The Darkness out of his body, Jackie's working in greater synch with it than last issue. Hine sews some amazing seeds for the future in this issue. We've got one of his inner circle feeding information to his wife, which isn't exactly 'betrayal,' just adds complications. The cast of 'normals' is fleshed out, and we're seeing more of what ACTUALLY drives our hero.
The Darkness is now a doppelganger with its own ego. As Aram points out, this is perhaps the most dangerous thing in the world. The Darkness is formless chaos, but now it has a consciousness. It appears to be working WITH Jackie, but I think we all know that we shouldn't implicitly trust it, especially considering what it did at the end of the previous issue.
Jeremy Haun's artwork does.... SOMETHING this issue, I can't put my finger on it, but it works a whole lot better. The normal scenes don't seem as awkward, visually. The consistency actually works much better.
And then Hope begins to show, perhaps a latent awareness of the state of the recreated world. Did The Darkness do something to her, or is it a manifestation of possible flaws in Jackie's recreation?
In Conclusion: 4/5
You're hearing it right here, David Hine's run is a perfect jumping on point for The Darkness. I'm a brand new reader to the series, and I'm not lost. Furthermore, it actually READS like a series with a hefty continuity. It's not exclusionary, in fact this issue comes with a possibly handy timeline. I didn't look over it much, but I plan to read a lot of the older Darkness eventually. Jeremy Haun's artwork works better, and David Hine continues to build the framework for his larger scale story, and I'm eager to continue down this path, seeing how it develops.