Supreme Power: Nighthawk, Daniel Way

"As a boy, Kyle Richmond - the man who would one day become Nighthawk - witnessed the senseless murder of his parents. There was no reason for their deaths, no provocation - they were just simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a traumatic event that has left him scarred for life - and turned him into a hero more feared than the criminals he polices. Now, it's happening again... but on a much larger scale. The people of Chicago - men, women and children - are dying in the streets, victims of a monster whose thirst for slaughter cannot be quenched, whose soul is a bottomless void and whose scars run even deeper than Nighthawk's. Long ago, Kyle Richmond looked into the face of madness - now, it's looking back at him. And it's flashing a killer smile. Collects Supreme Power: Nighthawk #1-6."






The main draw of this is the Steve Dillon art, a guy who is the go to for obscenely sterile violence (read Preacher or The Punisher, and be amazed at the hurt that can be drawn from a guy who doesn't detail his work in any way). Sticking him on an alternative take on Batman vs The Joker is a stoke of genius  and it helps that it's written by Daniel Way, the guy behind some of the best of Deadpool, and another man who's very at home with impressive levels of serious violence.

So there is a competent team in place, and they certainly don't disappoint. Whilst it's an inconsequential tale its nice to see a story that doesn't take its subject matter very seriously. Nighthawk is a character that's rife for this kid of treatment - as a Batman parody he doesn't really work, because he's too in-jokey for the reader. His entire set up in the Supreme Power reality is that of an amoral Billionaire who only intervenes in those cases where he can help black people, and sees everything through a prism of perceived racism.

It's basically taking the concept of Batman as a protector of the weak and turning it to Batman being the protector of some of the weak, the few that are like him, a concept that just makes him ridiculous.

Still, it's amusing to see him breat the crap out of racists and bullies, and his lack of limits make for a refreshing solution when he does confront the joker analogue who is murdering anyone and everyone across Chicago. There's little of substance there, but it works, and it's a nice addition to the Supreme Power universe.

Also Try:
Scott Snyder, Death of the Family
J. Michale Straczynski, Supreme Power
Daniel Way, Thunderbolts
Garth Ennis, Preacher