It’s been months since we’ve seen Jackie Estacado! Finally, the Darkness wielder makes his return in The Darkness #77. Read on for our review.

The Darkness #77
Writer: Phil Hester
Artist: Michael Broussard
Cover Artist: Frazer Irving

So, where were we? When we left Jackie in The Darkness #76 back in March, he was still on his “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” mission to get his soul back from the Sovereign by doing unspeakable errands for him. Since it had been awhile, I consulted my review of the last issue, where I made this point:

“He isn’t ruthless and cold; he hates taking lives. How is it possible that he can feel this way without a soul?”

As it turns out, this wasn’t just me reading too much into things; this issue is further explored in The Darkness #77, and Phil Hester’s delicate use of foreshadowing has paid off wonderfully. This is a great issue for longtime fans of the series, because we see a side of Jackie that we haven’t seen in too long. Michael Broussard makes great use of color to set the tone, and there is a dramatic shift in control near the end of the issue that he handles very well.

Most of my questions from The Darkness #76 were answered in this issue, and now I just have one more: what’s next for Jackie and the Sovereign? Hopefully we won’t have to wait another two months to find out, but even if we do, it will probably be worth it.