Donovan’s past is finally revealed as he faces off against Bishamon in a battle to the death. Meanwhile, Pyron the destroyer of planets arrives on Earth just as Demitri regains his full power. All of this plus the introduction of a new Darkstalker character!
Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors #2
Written by Ken Siu-Chong
Pencils by Eric Vedder and Joe Vriens
Inks by Crystal Reid
Colors by Espen Grundetjern
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Bonus Story Pencils by Joe Ng
Cover A by Alvin Lee
Cover B by Emily Warren
Published by UDON Entertainment
Previously in Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors: Donovan and Anita continued their quest to find and destroy the cursed demon armor, Bishamon. Meanwhile, Morrigan arrives in Romania seeking her own fight with Demitri Maximoff and sneaks into Demitri’s castle disguised as one of his servants. Elsewhere Anakaris is awoken from his slumber by the Huitzil robots. By the end of the issue Donovan’s travels take him back to the ruins of his hometown where Bishamon waits to finish what he started when Anita was left the lone survivor of one of his attacks.
THE SETUP FOR THE FINAL BATTLE
The story opens with a demon slaughtering a town full of people. After killing everyone in sight, it looks down to realize that one of his victims is his mother. The demon is Donovan and this is how he first grew to hate the darkness within himself. Back in the present, Donovan and Bishamon begin their battle as he relays to Anita how he came to be the man he is today. Bishamon emerges victorious in battle after impaling Donovan on his sword and turns his attention to Anita who surprises him when she shields herself from his attack. She then transfers all the pain and suffering she has felt since the day her family was killed into Bishamon and the power of her suffering not only defeats him but separates the man from the cursed armor. The soul of the true Bishamon that was trapped within the armor thanks them both as he fades away into the after life.
At the Big Foot Kingdom, Sasquatch returns home to his leader telling of an island he saw during his travels and the mysterious new food found there. Sasquatch shows his King a pile of bananas and who then orders the tribe to relocate to this island. Meanwhile, a shooting star passes over head and makes landfall. The star is Pyron and, after consulting with his Huitzil robots, makes his way towards Morrigan and Demitri for battle. In Romania, Morrigan successfully sneaks into Demitri’s castle and witnesses the restoration of Demitri’s lost power as his slaves sacrifice their lives to him. Demitri’s attack on the Makai Kingdom (Demon Realm) can now begin but there’s just one little thing standing in his way; Morrigan.
In the back story of this issue, Talbain and Felicia (in cat form) are enjoying their cross country train ride. Felicia finds herself restless and steps out on the roof of the train for some fresh air. Flying over head is a witch named Majorette and her black cat Thomas. Majorette hates all cats that aren’t black and proceeds to attack them. She spots Felicia on top of the train and tries to kill her. Felicia gets knocked around by the witch until Talbain rips through the train as a werewolf to protect her. Thomas, scared to death of Talbain, transforms into a Cat-boy and runs away screaming. Majorette threatens Felicia and Talbain as she flies off after her Thomas.
SIDE KICK STEALS SHOW
For the second to last issue in the Darkstalkers story, I feel like I expected more from it. Donovan’s story never interested me because I don’t see the appeal in someone who wields god-like power but refuses to learn to use it. On the other hand, I’ve always been interested in his companion’s story mostly because we know so little about her. I’m glad to see Anita get time to shine in defeating Bishamon but it would have been nice if it led to some sort of character development for her. So far we have no idea why she’s emotionless, what her powers are, what she was like before her trauma, or if she’s really good or evil. The only thing we DO know is that she’s traveling with Donovan so that she can get her revenge on Bishamon. I would have hoped for more character development by now. Perhaps a Darkstalkers Legends series is in order.
WE INTERRUPT THIS STORY FOR … A JOKE?!
I like it when UDON showcases Darkstalker characters that don’t have pivotal plot points, but I feel that Sasquatchs’ story was not only pointless but breaks the tone of the book. You go from a scene that was a major victory for a main character to a corny joke about bananas then back to another essential plot point. This excerpt would have been better told as a back story if at all. They could have easily switched this with the back story of Talbain and Felicia and it would have kept the tone of the book perfectly. Sasquatch is just too campy to be part of the main story line … even if it is just to show Pyron’s decent to Earth.
HIGH HOPES WITH LOW EXPECTATIONS
I’m interested in the fight between Morrigan and Demitri because they’re both evenly matched fighters. It’s really anyone’s game but I do think that most people see Morrigan as the favored in this fight. My greatest hope is that they don’t cut their battle too short to make way for the inevitable Pyron fight in the next issue. I have a bad feeling that they’re not going to touch on the Lilith story line at all despite hinting at in the Capcom Summer Special all those years ago. I’m realizing that UDON’s talent lies in telling the story leading up to a dramatic ending but failing to deliver on the ending itself.
HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER
The back story for this issue picks up on one of the story arcs from the original series and has Felicia and Talbain taking a train ride across the country. I like that they didn’t abandon this story but felt that it would have been more successful in the main part of the book and not a back up. I must strongly voice my disapproval of this new character though. Not only does Majorette’s name remind me of another character in the series (Marionette) but I don’t see a need for UDON to be creating anyone new at all. This is the second to last issue and you still have about seven characters that have never even been seen in the pages of the comic. Perhaps it would have been a much better choice to introduce B.B. Hood as a hunter tracking down Talbain on the train. Or perhaps Raptor traveling to a gig. Or even introduce Shadow somehow. But the point is, with the comic about to wrap up, why create a new character and storyline now? The character isn’t even all that original to begin with. She’s a Wicked Witch of the West rip off with her flying broom, black robes and green skin. She even says one of the Wicked Witches most famous lines!
COVERS
I loved my selection of covers this month. It was very difficult not to get the beautiful B cover done by Emily Warren. In the end I had to get the A cover just so that I can complete three issue image done by Alvin Lee. We now have the Morrigan and Jedah covers. Next issue will feature the Bishamon part of the picture below.
RESULTS
I felt rather let down by this issue. I was expecting to see more characters and less about Donovan. I’m not sure that the next (and final) issue is going to be able to wrap things up nicely at all. Hopefully they can pull off a miracle but as for this issue, I have to give is at two and a half out of five stars.
