Darkchylde Last Issue Special

(Darkchylde, 2002)
™ and © Darkchylde Entertainment

One thing that’s always distinguished Darkchylde from her rival mystical female counterparts is she never relied (entirely) on showing a lot of skin — the only exception being her signature pair of shredded blue jeans. That, admittedly, doesn’t sound like much, but a very attractive blonde woman wearing them is a pretty potent image for a lot of young (and not so young) men. So, in what purports to be Her Last Bow, she’s depicted throughout wearing a perfectly intact pair of brown pants.

In a prose goodbye to his fans, creator Randy Queen suggests one reason for slumping comic-book sales is “lack of accessibility,” which is certainly true of this comic book; a new reader is given zero help in divining who’s who and what’s what in an “epic” told over years and through different publishers. But likely as responsible are the facts that: his lead, Ariel, has been more of a pinup than a character; Queen’s art was inconsistent, at best; and stronger writing is needed to hold readers through an undependable publishing schedule. And while, lo, there is an ending, there are enough dangling plotlines to suggest that marketing it as a “Last Issue Special” with two covers was a last-gasp attempt at generating a sales spike.

— S.A. Bennett

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#1

June, 2002
Cover Price: $3.95
9 copies available from $0.99

Randy Queen