REVIEW: Dark Eagle 1-3

Dark Eagle is the story of 17-year-old Trent Taylor from creator Miles Biggar. After the death of his mother, Trent is sent to live with his father in Brooklyn. Trent is quickly welcomed to the neighborhood by Lollipop, a teenage girl who could be Trent’s love interest. Lollipop shows Trent the ins and outs of the community and warns him who to befriend and who to steer clear from. On the list to avoid, Ms. Anna, a shop owner with a secretive past. 

Following a vicious attack by neighborhood bullies, Trent is left beaten and badly injured on the sidewalk. Trent is carried away and reappears minutes later, mysteriously, completely healed. Following the attack and after proving his character, Trent receives the power of a long lost people, granting him supernatural strength, the ability to fly, and other superpowers transforming him into The Flying Dark Eagle.

Dark Eagle has a “villain of the week” feel to the first 3-issues. The stories of each issue revolve around Trent, his family, or Trent’s travels throughout New York City. The series has a campiness to it that reminds me of 80’s Saturday morning cartoons. It’s hard to tell if the series wants to be taken seriously or if it’s comfortable in its nostalgia and intends to remain firmly planted there. 

The art of the series is good and consistent throughout all three issues. The characters are well designed and help bring the story to life. Particularly well-done is Ms. Anna’s character in issue 1. Anna is brought to life and illustrated in a way that brings depth to her character’s limited appearance in the series.

The overall story does have continuity, but each issue is very self-contained. The Villian from issue 2, whom I sure will reappear, runs off at the end of the issue when it seems the issue reaches its page count. Again with issue3, everything is nicely resolved in 24 pages. Yes, there’s some foreshadowing, but the story of the issue neatly wraps up at the end. This style of writing adds to the episodic, cartoon style that the book has; it reads like a season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Building more tension and not rushing the ending would help the story flow better from issue to issue.

The dialogue, like a lot of indie comics, comes off forced and unnatural at times. This does improve with each issue, and as Biggar continues the series, I’m sure he’ll get more comfortable with writing dialogue. There are also unnecessary details added while main character details are lacking. We learn way too much about a fired busboy but nearly nothing about Trent’s father, even though he’s heavily featured in issue 2.

I know a 2.5 rating may seem low, but we’re looking at technical details here. Dark Eagle has great potential but needs to differentiate itself from the many similar stories of “down on their luck” teenage boys who discover they have superpowers. The campiness of the series could be a benefit to the series and help it find its own, unique space if Biggar leaned into that and embraced the episodic, cartoon plot style of the series. Tighter storytelling and improved dialogue would help Dark Eagle easily reach new heights. It’s a good read but could use some more development to make it into a great series.

Order Dark Eagle or see more at https://darkeagleworld.com

About Dark Eagle:

Trent Taylor, a 17 years old teen from Philadelphia, PA, loves playing video games, just your average, typical kid. As tragedy struck down on him, his mother was in a fatal car accident.

After gaining superhuman strength from an unknown source, Trent realized that his young teenage life would never be the same. Trent Taylor’s story begins as The Flying Dark Eagle.