Top Cow Productions and Image Comics are set to relaunch one of their most iconic titles this December as The Darkness returns in an all-new ongoing series from original co-creator Marc Silvestri. The new series kicks off with The Darkness (2025) #1, featuring artwork from celebrated artist Ed Benes and a new era for Jackie Estacado, the anti-hero who helped define Top Cow’s universe.

This new series marks Silvestri’s highly anticipated return to the franchise he helped create in 1996. For longtime fans, the relaunch promises a bold expansion of the mythology that made The Darkness a cult phenomenon while introducing fresh twists designed to surprise even its most devoted readers. “The Darkness has always been one of my favorite characters, and I’ve wanted to come back to it for a long time,” says Silvestri. “Fans have been asking for years when Jackie would return, and now we get to deliver something truly special. This is going to feel familiar, but it’s going to take you places you’ve never been before.”

The Darkness (2025) #1 will feature pencils by Ed Benes with inks from Matt “Batt!” Banning, Sal Regla, and John Livesay, colors by Arif Prianto, and letters by Troy Peteri. Benes will handle the first issue, while fan-favorite Raymond Gay will join the series starting with issue #2.

The story once again follows Jackie Estacado, a mafia hitman who inherits a terrifying gift on his 21st birthday: an elemental force known as The Darkness, which grants him dominion over creatures from another realm. As supernatural forces wage war over reality itself, Jackie must navigate a brutal conflict where good and evil are anything but clear.

The Darkness (2025) #1 arrives in comic shops on December 10, 2025. The issue will launch with an extensive lineup of variant covers from Silvestri, Benes, and acclaimed artist David Mack, along with blank sketch options, high-ratio incentives, and ultra-rare signed and original art editions for collectors.

In a world consumed by shadows…one man becomes The Darkness. Jackie Estacado is back! Thrust into a supernatural war between the dark and the light in a no-holds-barred adventure where the edge of our reality grinds against supernatural forces grappling for control over each other and the waking world.

Mafia Hitman Jackie Estacado was both blessed and cursed on his 21st birthday when he became the bearer of The Darkness, an elemental force that allows those who wield it access to an otherworldly dimension and control over the demons who dwell there. Forces in the world rise up to face Jackie and the evil his gift represents. There is one small problem in this story…evil is good.