Darkchylde is a comic series created by Randy Queen. The series stars Ariel Chylde, a teenager born with the ability to bring nightmares into reality. The various short storylines of Darkchylde follow Ariel as she wanders around, trying, and failing, to find a normal life for herself. Her only companions are War and Piece, two mostly friendly nightmares. She also has a sister who presumibly has powers of her own, but that plot thread was never followed up on.
There are two Darkchylde crossover comics; one with Witchblade, and one with Painkiller Jane. In the Witchblade crossover Ariel is summoned by Kenith Irons and is given the opprotunity to be rid of her nightmare curse by bequeathing it upon him. Later, when she sees what an absolute dick Irons is, she takes back her curse from him. In the Painkiller Jane crossover Ariel is drawn to the dreams of a doctor and several women he has taken captive for a ritual. The ritual would have allowed a nightmare passage into the real world. Ariel and Jane are able to destroy the doctor's mind, ending the dream and preventing the nightmare from escaping.
In 2006 a reboot, Manga Darkchylde, came out. It starred a much younger Ariel who got into trouble around town, but it didn't last long. Novel and movie adaptations have also been planned, but neither of them have reached the release phase.
Abilities[]
As the Darkchylde Ariel has the ability to, when frightened or angry, take the form of her nightmares. Doing so, however, also allows the nightmare to run free on earth.