The folks over at publisher 2K Games decided to show off the best of both the comic and video game worlds at Comic-Con this year with a new demo of its upcoming shooter, The Darkness. In case you're - ahem - in the dark about the game's plot, here's a quick primer to bring you into the light. Based on the popular comic book, The Darkness tells the story of mafia hitman Jackie Estacado, whose already complicated life gets an extra little twist. On his 21st birthday, Jackie inherits control of a supernatural force that allows him to manipulate shadows and wreak havoc on anyone in his way.

Developers from Starbreeze took attendees through the opening act of The Darkness. The game starts with Jackie waking up from dreamland in the back of a car, riding along with a couple of his mob cohorts on their way to pay a friendly visit to Jackie's latest contract. After the obligatory tutorial, a shootout with the local cops, and a brutal PSA on seat belt safety, the player finally gets control of Jackie and jumps headlong into the action.

After crawling away from the wreckage of his car, Jackie makes his way to a nearby construction area and comes face-to-face with a few of hard hat wearing thugs. Jackie draws his pistols and gets to work popping a few rivets of his own into the construction workers. The controls seem pretty smooth from what we were shown in the demo. Small, laser sight-like dots give the player a good idea where his shots will land, and a bloodthirsty auto-aim feature eagerly makes up for any difference. Our antihero also cracked open a few skulls with some well placed pistol whips and a WWE-worthy headbutt. From this, it's easy to see that Jackie is no slouch even without the use of his supernatural abilities. Of course, it's those supernatural abilities that really make the game shine.