HERO OF THE WEEK: HAWKMAN (DC)Real Name: Carter Hall
First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January, 1940)
Fight Club Ranking: #31
Featured Fights:
- vs SINESTRO: Secret Society of Super-Villains #5 (Jan-Feb 1977)
- vs DOCTOR FATE: All-Star Squadron #4 (Dec 1981)
- vs SUPERMAN: Justice League of America #200 (Mar 1982)
- vs SUPERMAN & BATMAN: Superman/Batman #4 (Jan 2004)
- vs MATTER MASTER: Hawkman #23 (Mar 2004)
- vs DEATHSTROKE: Identity Crisis #3 (Oct 2004)
- vs ST. ROCH: Hawkman #31 (Oct 2004)
- vs MORGAUTH: JSA Strange Adventures #1 (Oct 2004)
- vs SOLOMON GRUNDY: Hawkman #33 (Dec 2004)
- vs ELONGATED MAN & SUE DIBNY: Blackest Night #1 (Sep 2009)
Late last year we learned Hawkman was "found" -- now he's coming back from the madness of Dark Nights: Metal to re-launch back into his own on-going series! The Washington Post reports the first issue will be released in June, with creative team Rob Venditti and Bryan Hitch saying all the right things about the long awaited spotlight!
It's the return of one of DC Comics' most underrated bad asses, and Venditti seems reassuringly aware of it: "Hawkman is a foundational character in the DCU. Over time I think he’s lost some of that central importance to the DC universe, and we really want to bring that back and make him a marquee character".
The return won't be without its perils. The creators also give a lot of services to exploring past lives and new facets of mythology -- pitfalls that have damaged the character in the past, and always threaten to overwhelm a more simple, innate cool that lies within the winged warrior.
Before he became the apparent manifestation of the Anti-Monitor in real life: Geoff Johns was able to mine past existences successfully with the 2000s relaunch of Hawkman. Since then, the quirk of Hawkman's reincarnation cycle has been exceedingly exploited, presuming the character can be killed and almost instantly remade without any consequence, or passage of time.
The wounds of recent deaths should still be fresh in the minds of readers. It will be disappointing if Venditti's new excavations double-down on over-emphasizing the importance of dying to the Hawkman character. The elevator pitch reference Indiana Jones always seems to make sense, but here's hoping Hawkman can also "LIVE IN THE NOW" to fulfill his significance to the DCU.
To some extent, like a lot of iconic characters at DC and Marvel, all I really wanna see is some cool villains, fresh adventures, and a return to an iconic core. Here's hoping whatever we get, it's a strong, table return for a character who's been jerked around way too much in the modern era!
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