The Darkness

{{Character Template
 * Title                  = The Darkness
 * Image                  = DK08.jpg
 * RealName               = The Darkness
 * CurrentAlias           =
 * Aliases                =
 * Identity               = Secret
 * Affiliation            =
 * Relatives              = Witchblade (Offspring)
 * Universe               = Top Cow
 * BaseOfOperations       = Mobile


 * Gender                 =
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 * Citizenship            =
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 * Origin                 = The curse of the Darkness is passed on from Father to Son
 * PlaceOfBirth           =
 * Creators               = David Wohl; Marc Silvestri; Garth Ennis
 * First                  = Darkness Vol 1 1


 * HistoryText            = The Darkness is a series of comics produced by Top Cow Productions (TCP).  The comic first appeared in 1996 and enjoyed an initial period of relative success during the TCP/Image Comics boom of the late 1990s.  However, TCP were forced to "relaunch" the comic in 2002 after sales began to drop.  The comic 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. It will be a first-person and third-person shooter game, to be released 1.quarter 2007.

2K Games has since obtained the rights to the console game. A 1.quarter 2007 release is scheduled.

The Darkness


The comic's central theme is the power known as The Darkness, and its wielders. It 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 powers are 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 powers do 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. Wherever there is light, there is always darkness.

Previous Darkness Hosts
The Darkness has existed since creation and has been at war with the Angelus just as long. It is only in the past few millenia that it has used the males of the Estacado line as hosts. Many of these other users can be seen in the mini-series, Tales of The Darkness.

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 the 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 the 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.

Jackie Estacado
Jackie Estacado is the current day wielder of The Darkness and don of 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 high set of morals he follows and always tries to protect those he cares about.

Ian Nottingham
One of Sara Pezzini's would be suitors, Ian Nottingham, came under the control of Sonatine, and used Ian to steal the powers of the Darkness from Jackie. However Jackie was quickly able to reclaim what was his by birthright.

Capris Castiglione
Capris Castiglione (Estacado) is the twin sister of Jackie Estacado. She was raised in secret by a priest named Father Brendan. When she, like her brother, turned 21 she gained a small portion of the Darkness. Her portion does not allow for her to create anything (living or inanimate) but she is able to use it to teleport and to teleport things around her. She was trained by Robert Bearclaw (Ripclaw) in the use of her powers.

Trivia
The writer and editor, Ann Nocenti, claims that she was hired to write a treatment and first issue for the comic, but was never paid or credited for her published work. 


 * Powers                 =The powers of the darkness allow Jackie to make just about anything he can think of: he has created things like tentacles, which are very strong and can lift a full-grown man, and later on, he is able to make a gun out of The Darkness.  He's also able to summon minions called Darklings, which rip his enemies apart in packs and which come in all sorts of different sizes and shapes.  It is also possible that The Darkness may enhance Jackie's strength, durability and speed, but only while The Darkness is working.  In one instance, Jackie dove off a converted oil rig and swam down until there wasn't any light.  At this point, he was able to utilize the Darkness to cover his body and transform into his armor, enabling him to breathe underwater.  This could also presumably used to survive a poisonous gas, but this has not been proven as yet.


 * Abilities              = Jackie is very skilled at killing in many different forms.  He uses many different guns, his favorite being 9mm pistols, but he also uses other guns as well and is also good at hand-to-hand combat.
 * Strength               = Possesses greater than average strength.
 * Weaknesses             = The Darkness power is unable to operate in the light.  However creatively removing light from the vicinity of the host (via shadows, smoke, covering light) allows the Darkness to once again function.


 * Equipment              = The Darkness is capable of creating anything it needs.
 * Transportation         = The Darkness is capable of creating anything it needs.
 * Weapons                = The Darkness is capable of creating any weapon it desires.

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 * Notes                  =
 * Trivia                 =
 * Wikipedia              =
 * Links                  = ManWithoutFear.com Ann Nocenti Interview