''Dark Dominion'' is an American comic book series that was published monthly by

Defiant Comics Defiant Comics was a comic book publishing imprint of Enlightened Entertainment Partners, LP. Defiant was established in 1993 by former Marvel Comics and Valiant Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Publication history Defiant was founded in th ...

from October of

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

until July of

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

. It spanned a total of 10 issues until Defiant ceased publication. There was one #0 issue published as a trading card set and binder. ''Dark Dominion'' was created by

Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor and publisher for various comic books. He started professionally in the medium at the age of 14, and he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comic ...

and

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

, the co-creator of Spider-Man. The concept was based on Shooter's idea that "fear is the root of all evil", and dealt with Shooter's fascination with

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistr ...

Characters

* Michael Alexander - The protagonist of the series. * Chasm - The main antagonist of the series.

Plot synopsis

The comic was based in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and featured the main character Michael Alexander. Alexander is the author of a book entitled ''Dark Dominion'', in which he explored the idea that another world occupied the same

spacetime In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize relativistic effects, such as why differ ...

as our own. On this alternate world, which housed the sub-stratum of our world, demons arose from the fears of human beings. The only way to see this hidden world was to put aside one's fears. The main villain, Chasm, has chosen Manhattan to be his headquarters on Earth because of the vast population on whose fears he could draw from. Michael Alexander is not afraid to face Chasm and the demons of the Dark Dominion. He perceives this alternate dimension as an energy-filled double of our own, with various demonic-type bits of architecture added to it. Monsters tended to ride the very humans they afflicted. This is seen in a crossover with another Defiant title, ''

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

'', when he tears creatures from the minds of affected dockworkers. The same issue sees Michael befriending a super-powered 'fish out of water' named Charles.''Charlemagne'' #3 (May 1994)

Aftermath

The story of ''Dark Dominion'' was only published for ten issues. Four more issues were solicited, and one more issue was produced: however, due to the closing of the company, they were never released. According to Shooter,Jim Shooter Interview: Part 2

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

, October 10, 2000 Defiant ran out of money sometime in 1994. Afterwards, all their comics ceased to be published and the characters - including those of ''Dark Dominion'' - were purchased by

Golden Books *Western Publishing (1907−2001) — , magazines, and {{C, Children's book publishers, children's books publisher, formerly based in Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is ...

. The rights have since shifted to

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

. Shooter has expressed an interest in re-visiting the characters and story.

References

External links

''Dark Dominion'' information at the Grand Comics Database
{{Jim Shooter 1993 comics debuts Characters created by Jim Shooter Defiant Comics titles Science fiction comics Comics by Steve Ditko