Darkling

by Sarah Kuhn, Carola Borelli (artist)

From the outside, Darla Lang looks like a normal college student—save for the peculiar voluminous black cloak she wears everywhere. Her peers and professors chalk this up to Darla’s eccentric, introverted, slightly creepy persona, but Darla is a young woman with a secret… and a mission. Darla’s cloak is actually a mystical artifact that she can use as a melee weapon, trapping her enemies inside and teleporting them away. Darla’s power and connection to the supernatural world have always been a curse, and now she’s enrolled in Ivy Hollow University which harbors some dark secrets of its own. Will Darla find within its hallowed halls the answers to the questions about herself and her powers that she’s been seeking?

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fantasy

30 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 22, 2023

About the author

Sarah Kuhn is the author of Heroine Complex—the first in a series starring Asian American superheroines—for DAW Books. She also wrote The Ruby Equation for the comics anthology Fresh Romance and the romantic comedy novella One Con Glory, which earned praise from io9 and USA Today and is in development as a feature film. Her articles and essays on such topics as geek girl culture, comic book continuity, and Sailor Moon cosplay have appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Apex Magazine, AngryAsianMan.com, IGN.com, Back Stage, The Hollywood Reporter, StarTrek.com, Creative Screenwriting, and the Hugo-nominated anthology Chicks Dig Comics. In 2011, she was selected as a finalist for the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) New Writers Award.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd honestly never heard of Darla Lang or Darkling before this.
Apparently, she's a magic user whose cape is for reasons attached to her. I guess her mission is to get it off? Or maybe figure out why she was born with a cape?
I don't know.
But the mean girls are mean to her because of it.



She meets up with another girl at the school who does a true crime podcast and they end up fighting off Chuthulu together.



Ok, not really.
They do end up investigating a string of disappearances on campus. It looks like girls that nobody would miss have...well, gone missing.



Pretty generic all around, and I doubt if I would have even found this if it hadn't been under the Archie label on Hoopla.
But to be honest, now I'm kind of curious about the character, so I'm not saying I wouldn't read more about her if I got the chance.
We'll see.

[Daviid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darkling nos presenta una apuesta novedosa en el universo de Acrhie Comics.

Aquí conocemos a una chica que fue dejada con sus parientes con una particularidad: desde su nacimiento ha cargado con una capa negra y no puede desprenderse de ella. En su búsqueda por deshacerse de la prenda, nuestra protagonista descubre que chicas comienzan a desaparecer de la universidad en la que está estudiando y es ahí donde comienza su primera aventura.

Una historia fresca que fácilmente se podría convertir en algo bueno si se desarrolla bien. Me gustó bastante este que podría ser el primer número de una serie, que lástima que lo lanzaran como One-Shot, supongo para ver si le va bien. Yo espero que sí porque quiero saber más de las aventuras de Darkling.

[Ashlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun and quick read!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a little different

I have never read anything about this particular character. I do wish there had been more about where she came from and what her life was like. We step almost straight into her life with little fanfair.

The story is nice and tame but entertaining.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this comic a lot. I really like superhero comics and graphic novels.