Darkman by Randall Boyll

 

(pb; 1990: movie tie-in novel, based on a screenplay by Sam Raimi, Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin and Joshua Goldin.)

From the back cover

“Once he had a normal life, a beautiful girlfriend, and a brilliant medical career─creating synthetic skin for accident victims. Then he was a victim himself, brutally attacked by sadistic criminals─his face and body burned beyond recognition.

“Now he walks the night, searching for the woman he loves. A man who looks like a monster, he hopes to salvage his scorched flesh. . .and take revenge on those who destroyed his life.”

 

Review

Darkman─like its counterpart film─is a fun, pulpy, comic book-y action flick with over-the-top, quirky characters and big, explosive, gory action as well as more than a few quotable lines. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, entertaining, sometime darkly funny, sometimes sad action-flick book, this is one worth reading, close enough to its cinematic version to reflect it whilst adding plenty of character-deepening and character-linked wrinkles to the R-rated superheroic storyline. Followed by four book-only offshoot novels, the first of which is Darkman: The Hangman.

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The film version was released stateside on August 24, 1990. Sam Raimi directed it, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin and Joshua Goldin.

Liam Neeson played Peyton Westlake/Darkman. Frances McDormand played Julie Hastings. Nelson Mashita played Yakitito Yanagito.

Jessie Lawrence Ferguson played Eddie Black. Colin Friels played Louis Strack, Jr. Larry Drake played Robert G. Durant.

Rafael H. Robledo played Rudy Guzman. Dan Hicks, billed as Danny Hicks, played Skip Altwater. Ted Raimi, billed as Theodore Raimi, played Rick Desmond. Dan Bell played Smiley (a.k.a. Sam Rogers). Nicholas Worth played Pauly.

Aaron Lustig played Martin Katz. John Landis played “Physician.” An uncredited Jenny Agutter played “Burn Doctor.” Joel Coen played “Oldsmobile Driver.” Ethan Coen played “Oldsmobile Passenger.” Bruce Campbell played “Final Shemp.”