Darkhawk #42 (V1)

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The issue begins with Chris and Darkhawk returning to Earth; just below them (they’re on a roof) an armed robbery is taking place. When the robbers threaten to kill the hostages, Darkhawk is forced to react. He takes out a few of them right from the start, with his eye beams; then circles around and hits a few more with the chest blast; then materializes a gun to shoot down the last few remaining. The police arrive and arrest the would be armed robbers. Chris watches and explains that he has no regrets, because now he can have a normal life; but he isn’t so sure how he feels about being powerless. Ned contacts Darkhawk and informs him that since he and Chris are separated, that he will need to create a Healing Pod since he can no longer switch bodies. Ned warns them that never to use the power of the Darkhawk Face unless there is absolutely no other choice. As Darkhawk and Chris fly home, after the connection with Ned ends, Darkhawk asks Chris if they should finally tell Chris’ parents about Darkhawk.

Chris goes inside to find a party waiting; celebrating the new house, the return of his father, and everything else. Darkhawk, meanwhile, waiting outside in Stealth Mode hears a radio transmission about Dreamkiller making demands in Downtown and flies to go see what’s happening. (That story happens in the Annual). The next day, Grace lets Jason and Jon go to school, where Jon teasing Jason about his grades; Grace yells at them, but Mike assures her that they will be all right. Chris goes home the next day and asks that his mother and father come with him, where he explains that he (and with Darkhawk’s arrival) and Darkhawk are one and the same, and until recently, that’s where he had been. However, things do not go as planned; as they believe that Darkhawk has some kind of control over Chris. His parents leave. Chris heads to work where he is greeted by Marley who thanks him for the amazing editing job; Chris is shocked, unsure of how it happened; when he realizes Laura had done it for him and given him credit. He thanks Laura, who in turn tells Chris that he can thank her – but before she finishes, Chris walks out. Chris sits on the ceiling thinking about everything, when suddenly Portal shows up.

Backstory:

We see Barton Ford sculpting figures stuck in horror filled poses. The poses are the moment before each one of his victims was killed by him. He then considers what it would be like to kick it up a notch and go after some super heroes to be his victims so he could mold statues of them, forever capturing the moment before their death; beginning with Darkhawk. The thought passes, as he digs through and realizes that he could never do it. He digs up some metal he found upstate, and uses it for one of his molds, only to have it explode. When the smoke clears, his hands continue to claw. He discovers that he’s able to shape things with his hands, his eyes glowing an eerie red. Willis, the land lord, comes up yelling and screaming that all the noise Barton has made in the past with the screams, yelling, and pounding that he’s had it. Barton touches Willis’ face to see if he can shape flesh like he can shape metal now, and discovers he has a death touch. He shapes metal to make himself some armor and calls himself – The Shaper!