ShadowHawk is a fictional comic book vigilante anti-hero created by Jim Valentino.
He was first advertised in the Malibu Sun free promotional magazine in May of 1992. His official Image Comics debut was in the second issue of Rob Liefeld's Youngblood series.
Originally, the name Shadowhawk was to be used for the Marvel character Starhawk while he had darkness powers, but Tom DeFalco convinced Valentino to use the name for a new character instead.
Paul Johnstone grew up as a troubled youth in Harlem, New York City. He avoided a life of crime due in part to the encouragement of a man named Richard Woodroe, who was originally assigned as a caseworker to Paul when he was caught stealing, and eventually married his mother, becoming his stepfather.
Eventually Paul became a lawyer and, beyond that, a district attorney. While his life was going so well, his half brother Hojo had taken his success in college, moved to Wall Street and developed a coke and crack addiction. Using Hojo, some gangsters tried to leverage Paul into letting their men off, but Paul refused. Soon after he ended up the target of an assault intended to serve as an example to others who got in the way of these mobsters. This incident culminated in his attackers injecting him with HIV-infected blood.
Anesthetizing, Synthesizing, Mechanizing, Energizing.
Fear inflicted by glimmers of fate, transformed by
lies we hear, spawned from the wombs of hate, Bring
forth the energy. Lies the building blocks of fact,
which manifest in cries, ring out and forge attack,
Bring forth the energy. Turbocharger. Fight, conquer
the weak, command the sheep and flex your might, the
power is in hand, Bring forth the energy. Thrash,
pound the face of deceit, just close your fist and
smash, the trends we will defeat, Bring forth the