Shadowhawk

History

Silver Age ShadowHawk

He is a very skilled man who gets all the babes.

Paul Johnstone

Paul Johnstone grew up in Harlem with his mother after his father died, but was able to avoid a life of crime thanks to Richard Woodroe. Woodroe was a caseworker and started working with Paul after he was arrested for stealing. Woodroe became a good friend to Paul and soon his stepfather. Paul grew up to become a lawyer, then a district attorney. Sadly he gave up on the system after being brutally attacked and injected with HIV by some gangsters for not getting their men out of prison. After the encounter, Johnstone was left uncertain regarding whether he had been infected or not. The attack had been made public and word of his possible infection spread through Johnstone's workplace, making it a very inhospitable environment to be in. In frustration of the bigotry he experienced he punched a co-worker. For this he lost his job and ended up in jail and only got out to learn that he was HIV positive. While walking the streets to clear his head Paul was threatened by a group of young gang-members. He went berserk and attacked them, leading to his brutal mugging and return to the hospital. During this time he resolved that he would use the rest of his time to dispense justice to the individuals who preyed on innocent victims. Paul was visited by friend of his named Christina Ried a former cop fired that day for excessive force. She told him that she and a friend named Carlton Sun created a armored costume that Paul could use to "take back the night" from the corrupt and evil people of the cities. Christina trained Paul in hand-to-hand combat. Paul decided that simply overpowering them was not enough, because the court system would not adequately punish them. So instead of merely defeating them, but without going as far as killing them, Paul would break the spines of each of the criminals. He justified his actions by catching them in the act and delivering swift punishment. He named himself Shadowhawk after his favorite hero.

He would attack his victims and leave them to be discovered by police with no indication that he had attacked them other than hearsay from the criminals. This led to ShadowHawk garnering a reputation as an urban legend as well as being hunted by both criminals and law enforcement alike. The use of the name Shadowhawk brought out racist psychos like Hawks's Shadow who believed he should have been Shadowhawk after discovering he was black. After the destruction of the second Brigade team, the man known as Troll was contacted by Seahawk, one of the survivors from the team. He wanted Troll to retrieve an ancient tome. The search for the book and the encounter with the cult brought him together with Vanguard and Wally, ShadowHawk, Glory, Roman and Tremor, ending in the formation of the third Brigade team . ShadowHawk only stayed with the team briefly as he started to get sick shortly after joining the team.

As his life was shorted by his HIV Johnstone eventually grew to be less violent in his career. One night when he was on patrol, Johnstone met the soul repossessor Trencher and his accomplice Phoebe. Recognizing the need for a cure for Johnstone, Phoebe teamed up with him in order to get him around.

The search for a cure took ShadowHawk many places but no one could help him. As he and Phoebe were searching for a cure, he started to get weak and sick . One of the cures he tried was getting a blood sample from Supreme. Instead of getting a blood sample he ended up fighting Supreme. In the fight he lost his helmet and it was revealed to the world that Paul Johnstone was ShadowHawk. In the end he met Spawn who told him that there was nothing he could do, but death was not the end and he should learn from his experiences and face death like a man. He would also meet WildC.A.T.s. (who offered a possible solution involving a robotic body to transplant Johnstone's consciousness into - which would ultimately fail to work) and Youngblood's Chapel (another hero also infected with HIV). One of his few regrets was never joining a superhero team seeing how fun and useful it is to fight in a team. In his final act as ShadowHawk, Johnstone would rescue his mother from being attacked by Hawk's Shadow. The aftermath of the fight would leave Johnstone in a weakened state and unable to elude the pursuit of the police. He was remanded into custody and transported to a hospital where AIDS eventually took its toll and ended his life.

New Shadowhawk

After Paul's death it was revealed that Shadowhawk is a Spirit of Justice and it has inhabited at least four people in the past. Three were human, but the last one was a robot created by WildC.A.T.s. The Spirit of Justice leaves the robot it becomes "Justice", without human feelings and starts to go on a killing spree. The robot was destroyed at the end of New Man #4.

Eddie Collins

Eddie Collins was an unnaturally good boy. He had never told a lie, cheated or allowed a single injustice to go unavenged. When the New Man saw Eddie save someone, he thought that Eddie would be a good vessel for the Spirit of Justice which was the spirit driving ShadowHawks thru the time. He gave the ShadowHawk robot's head containing the spirit to Eddie who absorbed the spirit becoming the new ShadowHawk at the end of New Man #4. The helmet called Nommo contains the spirits of all people who were, at one time, inhabited by ShadowHawk, the Spirit of Justice. Eddie Collins tried to meditate with the Nommo on, meeting the spirit of Paul Johnstone, who tells Eddie that he is a reincarnation of a first dynasty Egyptian shaman, how he was the last ShadowHawk and that Eddie is destined to start anew. At first Eddie Collins widowed father, James Collins ordered him to stop, thinking it would kill him. But Eddie is faster, stronger and more agile now and finds new responsibility to the people of New York City. After saving some hostages, Eddie meets Captain Nieves and starts working with him.

Blacklight, a "Hippie Hero" from the 1960's woke up out of a 30 year coma and goes looking for his wife (Dayglo), who was killed by Firepower, and subsequently died ten years ago. He is lied to by a man in the shadows, thinking ShadowHawk is the son of Firepower. While at school, Eddie Collins is asked out by Colleen to the Sadie Hawkins dance and he says yes. That night, he stopped a convenience store looting, a fight starts between Blacklight and ShadowHawk, and ShadowHawk uses Blacklight's weakness against, but accidentally kills him. After killing Blacklight and now facing the reality of that, ShadowHawk must now deal with ZAP. He's fast, he flies, he shoots lightning bolts and he's been hired to kill ShadowHawk. After ZAP is defeated and placed in police custody, Captain Nieves said he would like to see Eddie Collins go though the Police Academy to learn the difference between superhero and vigilante. Eddie is attacked by the man who hired ZAP and lied to Blacklight, named Nocturn. After this encounter, Eddie runs across a fire, saves lives and meets a man (Venture, from Noble Causes) who knew the ShadowHawk before Eddie: Paul Johnstone. Later, Eddie goes to the Sadie Hawkins dance with Colleen, having a fun, normal life and netting a goodbye kiss. Out on patrol, Nocturn, who knows Eddie Collins is ShadowHawk, attacks him and, after a brutal fight, Hawk's Shadow comes out of the shadows to face his "returned" arch-enemy. After being beaten nearly to death, ShadowHawk must now face Paul Johnstone's arch-enemy, Hawk's Shadow, who is now faster, stronger and driven like never before. He wants the Helmet of Heru (the helmet contains the spirits of all people who at one time were ShadowHawk) and he will remove Eddie Collins' head to get it! In the end Paul Johnstone takes control of Eddie's body and beats Hawk's Shadow almost to death, but Eddie stops him before the kill, saying "never again," and puts his enemy into police hands. Captain Nieves asks if ShadowHawk is still Paul Johnstone, to which Eddie replies, "Of course not, Captain. Paul's dead." Eddie goes home to a terrified father and says, "It's been a long night."

Eddie is looking for a mysterious corpse-like creature that is killing people. Along the way, he meets the new Blacklight, who is investigating the origin of her new found powers. The two team-up to bring the vicious monster down. Their target turns out to be the first Blacklight, whom Eddie killed by accident, thereby giving the second Blacklight her powers. Eddie's mentally unstable classmate, Philip Marko, has been setting violent fires around New York, and all the victims attend Nicholas Charles high school (Eddie's school). After ShadowHawk meets a mysterious red haired girl who has the power to deflect anything thrown at her, we discover Philip Marko now has the power of Pyrokinesis. After killing ten people at the high school and his mother, ShadowHawk stops him. A man-beast named Komodo kills Eddie's best friend, Steven "Skeeve" Evans and defeats him. The helmet, the source of ShadowHawk's power, is taken by Luke Hatfield JR, aka Hawk's Shadow, who steps in and kills Komodo before the final blow is dealt to Eddie. Hatfield starts going on a killing spree in the criminal underworld. After the funeral of his best friend, Eddie retreats into a chasm of depression and self-doubt. Later, Eddie sees the mysterious red haired girl at school. After Hatfield is hunted by the cops, his father the Silver Age ShadowHawk shows up, telling him he is a disgrace to the name and has to take off the costume. We discover Hawk's Shadow was formerly "Squirrel", the Silver Age ShadowHawk's sidekick. Eddie learns that Steven Evans knew he was ShadowHawk. Vendetta (a Crime czar and old Paul Johnstone villain) looks for a new brain for Komodo, to revive him. The Ancient Egyptian Gods (the "Nommo") tell Eddie that power of ShadowHawk is within him and to reclaim his heritage. With the help of the new Blacklight, and Astroman, Eddie goes after Hatfield and wins, taking back the helmet. Eddie Collins learning more about the past ShadowHawks that speak to him through his helmet, and its part in the past of Paul Johnstone's life. After listening to the stories, Eddie Collins makes the decision that now he is going to be ShadowHawk on his terms, and after putting the helmet on, a new costume morphs around his body. ShadowHawk will go face-to-face with the a mysterious red haired girl named "Rebound" who may change his life forever. As ShadowHawk learns more about her, The Corpse comes out of the dark to attack them. Steven Evans' younger brother pays a visit to ZAP! and Vort-X, who direct him to Vendetta, so he can carry out his desire to kill ShadowHawk, for whom he blames for the death of his brother. Phillip Marko aka Arson is alive and Komodo's body now has Luke Hatfield, Jr.'s brain in it. After Eddie Collins learns Rebound's real name, Jen Lyter, the two make love. James Collins calls Lina Juarez thinking he was hurt, but she tells him Eddie may be out with a girl at 4:30am.

Powers and Abilities

Luke Hatfield Sr. had no super powers, but was skilled in hand-to-hand combat and had hightech equipment.

Paul Johnstone had a high-tech suit of armor that was bullet-proof and increases his strength and speed. The helmet had infrared lenses so he could see in the dark. His gloves had retractable claws that could be fired like a grappling hook or used for hand-to-hand combat. He also used special boomerang shurikens that came back to him when he trow them. He also carried his AID's medication in his belt pouches.

Johnstone was skilled in unarmed combat and was trained to use exceptionally violent moves and he was in peak human levels however due to his disease he slowly lost his strength. He was also a skilled lawyer.

Eddie Collins possessed the Helmet of Huru which increased his speed,strength and agility. The Helmet also created armor and weapons for him to use or retract whenever he wanted, however he didn't use shuriken/boomeranges or use a grappling hook.