Comic by Phil Hester and Michael Broussard, Top Cow Productions $4.99.

When “The Darkness” first trickled onto the comics scene in 1996, the character seemed like just another heavily armored/deeply anguished/blade wielding dude, the likes of which were being pumped out at about a dozen a month in the mid 1990s. The setup was typically overwrought—Jackie Estacado was not just a Mafia hitman, he was also the bearer of demonic powers. The kinds of demonic powers that only work at night, and will be passed down to any offspring he might have, killing him at the point of conception.

This could have been the set-up for a weird and wild parable about living with HIV, instead, he just fought a lot of dudes with names like “The Angelus” and “The Magdalena.” And all my glib condescension aside, the character turned out to be one of the more successful properties to emerge from outside the mainstream in the last decade, selling a bazillion copies and inspiring a popular video game.

Suddenly, just as I entered my 11th year of being unable to care less, writer Phil Hester launched an all-new series starring the character. And here I am, advising you to check it out. Hester is better known for drawing characters like “Green Arrow” and “Ant-Man,” but over the last five years has written some of the most interesting horror comics to come around in a long while. His greatest strength as a writer lies in his plotting, which is both weird and wild. He plunks the character down in a situation unlike anything anyone ever would have imagined, running a small South American country, and totally makes it work. Artist Michael Broussard doesn’t always rise to the challenges that the story creates, but nails the more monstery-fighty-killing parts.