- Darkling
- Archie Comics
- Script: Sarah Kuhn
- Art: Carola Borelli
- Colors: Ellie Wright
- Letters: Jack Morelli
- Cover: Maria Sanapo
- Variant Cover: David Mack
- On Sale Date: 11/22
- 32-page, full color comic
- $3.99 U.S.
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? Darkling mixes superheroics with dark academia from writer Sarah Kuhn (Shadow of the Batgirl, Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story) and artist Carola Borelli (Spider-Woman).
August 17, 2023 — Darla Lang, a.k.a. the magical superhero DARKLING, returns to Archie Comics after a decades-long absence in a new “dark academia” thriller this November! The new one-shot, written by noted YA author Sarah Kuhn (Heroine Complex) with art by Carola Borelli (Gambit & Rogue), explores the character’s origins and her mysterious powers of teleportation in the sinister halls of Ivy Hollow University.
“Sarah Kuhn’s impressive work on Shadow of the Batgirl and Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story made her a perfect choice to tell the story of Darla Lang,” said Archie Comics Senior Director of Editorial Jamie L. Rotante. “This one-shot explores more of her life, demystifying the character who was once defined by being cloaked in shadows. And we’re excited to work once again with artist Carola Borelli, who has a wonderful grasp of character designs and setting the right mood to tell a story.”
Darkling first appeared in 1983’s MIGHTY CRUSADERS #4, as part of Archie’s “Red Circle” line of superhero comics. She fought alongside heroes like The Web and The Shield and stood out for her unique design and unusual power set: teleporting evildoers to another dimension through her cloak. The character has recently reappeared in new issues of Archie’s digest comic magazines in the “classic” Archie style. The new DARKLING one-shot will be her first solo adventure for older readers since the ’80s, and sets her alongside other dark academia stalwarts like the Netflix series Wednesday and Lev Grossman’s The Magicians book series.
“Darkling’s been popping up recently in some of our classic-style titles as Riverdale’s resident goth queen—who just so happens to have powers that often put her at odds with supernatural entities and monsters. We wanted to take that energy and bring it to a new audience,” Rotante added.
DARKLING, with a cover by Maria Sanapo, an open-to-order variant cover by David Mack, colors by Ellie Wright, and lettering by Jack Morelli, releases November 22 in comic shops nationwide and will be available for pre-order in comics shops starting Friday, August 18.
