Thanks for giving some love to Gardner Fox. The man was a genius & could adapt to any genre. Here he is reimagining a character he had created more than 20 years before & giving him new life. Joe Kubert, I`m not sure there are enough superlatives in the English language to describe his art. So fluid & effortless that it seems to flow from his hands like magic. Great review. Keep 'em coming.
My favorite Hawkman and Hawkgirl were the ones who had first appeared in the graphic novel of Hawkworld in 1989. That was, at the time, the modern post-Crisis On Infinite Earths, pre-Zero Hour: Crisis In Time Hawkman and Hawkwoman (formerly Hawkgirl) who existed as a kind of mix of the Golden Age and Silver Age versions of the characters. These versions were the reincarnations of the human archaeologist Dr. Carter Hall and his wife Sheila Hall. They were the alien Thanagarian Hawk Police officers Katar Hol and Shayera Thal who were from the advanced, and mystical Earth-like Planet Thanagar , a.k.a. "Hawkworld", but who still had a connection to the human race and the Planet Earth due to the magical reincarnation that the ancient Egyptian Hawk God of Justice Horus grants them, a powerful god who is also worshipped by the Thanagarians. They are human-like humanoid aliens that have various advanced alien ancient Thangarian technology and who are packing advanced alien ancient Thangarian weaponry. They are assigned to the Planet Earth as uniformed partners and their mission is to retrieve the advanced fully-armored battle-uniform composed entirely out of the enchanted alien Thanagarian metal alloy called the "Nth" Metal. This magical, supernatural substance from Thanagar can create anti-gravitons that negate the force of gravity on the person wielding it. This allows for omnidirectional flight by gravity control, and uniformed police officers of Thanagar's Hawk Police use it to design, and create, and manufacture their various extremely scientifically advanced weapons, and other highly technologically powerful paraphernalia. Having a native Thanagarian's familiarity with their various extremely advanced sciences, and other highly powerful technologies, Hawkman and Hawkwoman were both the arch-enemies of the Earth human costumed, super-powered super-villain and professional criminal code-named Shadow-Thief. He accidentally discovered by chance the Nth Metal costume that they were looking for. He could use it to become a living shadow temporarily, enabling him to control darkness and become intangible. He used it to further his career as a thief and a master Ninja assassin. Officer Katar Hol and Officer Shayera Thal took the names of the two human beings that they used to be from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s, Carter and Sheila Hall, who had both died in battle and were then instantaneously reborn. Just as they had been ever since their first lives back in ancient Egypt. Using their Nth Metal artificial wings and battle armor for anti-gravity flight powered by brainwave transmission and their fighting skills as Hawk Police, and their special skills as archaeologists (which they remember due to them remembering their past lives), the super-hero couple of costumed, super-powered beings became re-acquainted with their allies the J.S.A. and the J.L.A., and the Teen Titans. These were the best versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl and/or Hawkwoman because it mixed the past with the present and they had the best of every era.
That run was sooo good. Arguably the best run that was consistent in quality till the end. Hardly to believe DC published it just few years ago given the state they are in now.
I also loved Hawkworld in the early 90s, first a mini by Tim Truman and then an ongoing by John Ostrander and a pre-Batman Graham Nolan. It modernized and retold many of these old Hawkman stories with an amped up sci-fi emphasis.
I'm going to check out the Hawkman discussion later as I clean the house. Anyways, Hawkman is a very difficult character to follow. I grew up basically pre internet and had to piece it together. I remember Hawkman Zero especially. It spun out of Zero Hour. But I found out a lot of it tied back to Hawkworld. I didn't like that initially. The uniform was drab for starters and metal wings? But it did tie back to Hawkman and his guilt and conscience. He went from the top of society to a drug crazed inmate. It made him a better, stronger person. I especially liked how he came to Earth and was amazed at the concept of basic rights. It's always been said he was conservative, but actually the opposite is more true. He's more...basic. Like when he confronts terrorists, street gangs, an anti abortion robot ... He might not exactly know what he's doing, but he has a strong moral code. The Geoff Johns idea was brilliant I think. He taught history, based off his many lives on Earth. Duh. He knows pretty much everything about food, culture, masonry, metallurgy, whatever. Because he's done it before. He's done everything. He is connected to humanity but is always separate from it. Imagine trying to just shoot the breeze with that guy. He's probably like a cross between Jack Palance, John Carter and Benjamin Franklin. With Clint Eastwood and Doug McClure tossed in there. Hell, Batman is scared of him.
Pre-Crisis Katar Hol is the best Hawkman version of all.What shame that DC never was able to make him great again in Post Crisis and N52/Rebirth universes.Carter Hal is very boring to me.
So many great stories in the past. DC and Marvel will live on in the back issues. Also, Joe has clearly never been married. My wife talks to and about me the same way Sue Storm talked about Reed Richards in the 60s. It's how most human beings and married couples are. Things haven't really changed that much. "Progressivism" and "progressive culture" can lie about things like biology and male>female relationships, but the actual truth of things doesn't really change.
@@Bolbi145 80s were my favorite DC decade. For me, the DC Universe ends perfectly in Kingdom Come. Everything after that is unnecessary. Give the characters a nice send-off and create new ones.
While Geoff Johns and Robert Venditti are the ones who made the best Hawkman and Hawkgirl stories, I enjoy the classic space cop versions as well. In fact, when I was talking with some friends ideas for DC film universe reboot, my pitch for Hawkman film would be adaptation of this story, although with few additions/changes: 1) Hawgirl personality would be more close to her DCAU version (in my opnion the best version of Hawkgirl). She would be the hot-head badass space cop, acting as contrast to Hawkman, who is more stern and strategic. 2) While the plot would be the Hawks coming to Earth after the shapeshifting criminal Byth, I would have them coming across a archelogist named Helene Astar (more on her later) who would reveal to the two that they are actually reincarnations of egyptian prince and his wife. 3) While the protagonists are Katar Hol and Shayera, Carter Hall and Shiera would be mention as the last reincarnations of the couple, who died in 1945 (tieing Golden age versions with modern ones). 4) While Byth would be the Hawks initial enemy, the main villain would be Hath-Set, Hawkman and Hawkgirl arch enemy who killed them in the past. Having the same power of reincarnation, Hath-Set always chases the Hawks through history and their battles end with the three dying in battle, creating a “circle of fate”. At first the film would make the public that Byth is the reincarnation of Hath-Set, but eventually it would be revealed that Helene Astar is the real reincarnation, manipulating the heroes to help her achive the Absorbascon, which in this version would be helmet that would allow her to eliminate the Hawks ability to reincarnate. 5) To contrast with Hawkman and Hawkgirl arc, I would have Byth working for Helene due to feeling he develop for her, wanting to earn her love while Helene is too blind by her desire for revenge. In the climax, they both have a bitter-sweet ending, with Helene being killed by Absorbascon, taking away her ability to reincarnate, while Byth choose to stay with her as the battlefield collapse, saying that, just like he didn’t let her be alone in life, he will not ler be alone in death. 6) The film drama would come from Hawks reaction after find out about their reincarnation power and connection with Hath Set: While Shayera would just say “Screw fate" and still want to capture Byth Katar would become bit pessimistic and overprotective, afraid of letting Shayera fight and lose her again (maybe this time forever, since the villain is after something that can prevent them from reincarnate). This would be Katar arc, learning to overcome this fear and together with Hawgirl create their own fate.
Hard to get any better than Gardner and Kubert. I really miss having the two sets of Hawks. Then again, Hawkman isn't being used at all by DC right now, which is a shame.
Joe was so good at handling the raw look of the characters. One of the first comic gifts I ever got from my parents was a giant size spectacular containing 6 issues of his Tarzan. Awesome savage stuff that would great for a retrospective, by the way.
Hawkman one of the coolest characters in comics...the runs by artists Joe Kubert, wirter Jeff Johns, artist Murphy Anderson and writer Robert Venditti...the list can go on...are excellent to look at and read.
I was privileged to read this on one of the comics online sites.Still has one of the great giant monster covers that both DC and MARVEL used to have in the 50's-60's.Pretty good origin story.
A hidden gem is "The Shadow War of Hawkman" by Tony Isabella and Richard Howell. It came out around the same time as Crisis on Infinite Earths and centers around a covert Thanagarian invasion.
First appearance of earth one Hawks, that is. But didn't he create the original ones twenty years earlier anyways? Without his creation of nth metal, there's no dark Knights metal
Wes, the argument is equally valid that Gardner Fox stuck DC with a group of poorly conceived lead characters which trapped the company to this day in a corner they can't get out of.
You have to remember that Batman especially killed a lot of people back in the day. Detective Comics #27, #29, #30, #32 and #37, Batman killed someone in every single one of them.
