Hawkman died last issue. Don’t worry, it’s kind of his thing. Usually he reincarnates immediately, but this time he’s been dragged down to Hell. Dragged down by demons with familiar names.
In the Earth realm, meanwhile, Justice Society of America leader Jade is given some comfort as she ponders the whereabouts of Hawkman and other missing members.
Elsewhere in the JSA Brownstone, team medic Dr Midnight looks down the microscope and realised why Jakeem Thunder is in a mysterious medical state.
In the Tower of Fate, to which Dr Fate transported the members Jade wonders about after an attack by the new Injustice Society, Khalid is having, in technical terms, a bit of a wobble.
And outside the Tower, where Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern had been fending off an attack by demons before the first of them was staked through the heart and dragged away…
This page represents the only off note in Jeff Lemire’s script for what is the best issue of the latest revival. Are there any circumstances in which Alan wouldn’t accompany a team member to find another, never mind the fact that – setting aside reincarnation complications – the Hawks are two of his oldest friends? Even if next month brings a ‘one second later, Green Lantern catches up with Kendra’, the moment is wrong.
The main storyline progresses nicely, the soapy subplot of Sandy swooning over Jenni is good, there’s a bit of connective tissue to the recent Geoff Johns maxi-series in a scene with Red Lantern Ruby and Solomon Grundy, the terrible characterisation of Hawkgirl in her recent mini-series is set aside and the climax brings back a Golden Ager unseen for a couple of decades.
I particularly enjoyed the pep talk Wildcat Ted gives Khalid, there’s a man who’s delivered a few ringside chats.
I could, though, do with some narrative boxes from Lemire. Omniscient narrator is my preference but character PoVs are very acceptable – we get six panels of such from Dr Midnight Beth, but otherwise it’s all dialogue, with not even a place name tag to mark the shifting of scenes. The closest we get are occasional phrases at the top of a page – ‘The man of a thousand lives’ as we see where Hawkman is; ‘Infinity Inc’ when we join Jade; ‘The mystery men’ as we arrive at the Tower of Fate. Never mind that the use of Infinity Inc is an irrelevant throwback, it’s not enough, I want a textured script not simply dependent on dialogue and visuals, like frozen TV. Yes, the Bronze Age greats such as Steve Englehart or Don McGregor could get overly wordy, but they were trying to give us a full picture of their world, with interior and exterior detail. Look at how much Paul Levitz’s already excellent Legion of Super-Heroes tales were enhanced by the simple device of ‘Encyclopaedia Galactica’ scene setters, providing a quick, often humorous, introduction to planets and people. I want to feel more immersed in the world of the comic, and I need to feel I’m getting my money’s worth.
I’m certainly getting value when it comes to Diego Olortegui’s artwork, which is a treat for the old peepers, packed with people and places that pop. Heroes and villains are suitably grand, an old JSA foe look tremendous in a surprise appearance, and this is one of the better depictions of DC Hell we’ve seen, with real scale and grandeur. The one odd thing is the depiction of Demons Three Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast, here shown as generic ghouls as opposed to the magnificently weird souls Justice League of America artist Mike Sekowsky created them to be in the early Sixties.
They don’t read the same either, previously they’ve been cocky and competent, here two out of three seem like satanic sad sacks. I guess demons can change appearance, but why would they dial down the intimidation factor?
Luis Guerrero does a bang-up job on colours, the combos are always a pleasure, while letterer Steve Wands works wonders with the words.
Olortegui’s cover is pretty good, but this is a team book, I don’t want solo member covers – when a spotlight concept such as this is the thing, breaks out the Floating Heads of Astonishment.
Without his wings Hawkman is grounded, but how did this issue land for you?
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Yeah, I dreaded reading this and wound up hating it.
The visuals are terrible. The artist reminds me of Larsen, whose art I dislike a little less. Fate, the Demons 3, and so many others are off model. It pulls me out of the story so much, which with the unrelenting negativity shouldn’t be a bad thing.
I hate that the great Hawkman series is apparently being ignored. I’d say retconned but that would require a depth of thought to the script that I don’t feel otherwise. BTW, I have always hated that Kendra exists as a character. I’ve always thought Johns made a mistake when he wanted a lesser version of Shiera back when. Her only through line is she’s incredibly inconsistent in how she feels about Carter. Also, Carter as a Wolverine wannabe has never appealed to me either. We have seeming billions of that in comics it feels like. What we don’t have are storied leaders of a team over decades or a happily married man with access to all of Earth’s knowledge (Absorbacon) and its weapons. Supposedly shocking angry visuals don’t replace either.
BTW, do you think that Lemire’s aware Kent Nelson isn’t dead?
I’ll still read it because it’s the JSA but I’m kinda wishing it tanks quickly and we can wait for a more positive and coherent take on the concept. JSA shouldn’t look ugly, be constantly beaten down without a hint of good things to come, or be this divided. Oh and it should have Power Girl complete with her proper characterization.
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Kent Nelson is alive this week? I honestly can’t keep up with him… I thought he’d been dead since Khalid’s series about a decade ago.
I’m with you on Kendra, I’ve no idea why she was created, but that wasn’t Geoff Johns, it was David Goyer and James Robinson, before Johns joined the JSA series. I’m not a fan of any savage Hawkman, heck, I don’t even get why he never wears a shirt.
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So far I’m really enjoying Lemire’s take.
On Hawkman… I LOVE the Silver Age Hawks and def prefer Hawkman to be smart sci-fi heroes, not the warriors we constantly see emphasized. Over time I came to accept the post-Crisis updates. Truman’s “Hawkworld” and John Ostrander’s folo up series are excellent if you can get over some of the grim-and-grittyness typical of that era of DC.
Coincidentally, having initially tried and disliked Geoff Johns “Hawkman” series when it came out over 20 years ago, I decided last summer to give it another shot. And all these years later I enjoyed it. I think that Johns did the best he could to meld the Golden/Silver/Post-Crisis Hawks together. It wasn’t perfect. If you think too hard about all of the mixed elements, from Thanagar to the constant reincarnation angle, it kind of falls apart logically and the perfect solution would just be to have kept Golden and Silver Age Hawk couples around. But it was a fun series with a mix of pulp/sci-fi/”Indiana Jones” elements that I would want from stories about the Hawks and I really enjoyed it. Rags Morales’ art helped a lot as well.
I will admit that, while it received plenty of critical and fan support, I sampled and did not like Venditti’s recent “Hawkman” series. Nothing against him/his clear skills as a writer or those who enjoyed the take. It just felt like yet another overly-complicated attempt to try to explain/streamline the already overly-complicated different versions/reboots of Hawkman that have existed by adding yet ANOTHER “all you knew was wrong” layer. It almost seems like writers (or DC editorial) don’t know what to do with the characters of Hawkman and Hawkgirl other than constantly revisit/try to explain/reconcile their different origins through the years. We sometimes get updated origins of all the classics – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern – but basically the key beats of those stories remain the same and are still easily explainable to casual/non-diehard fans.
So if Lemire is gonna just stick with the Geoff Johns’ version (which was already a bit complicated) I’m fine with that.
-Brian
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Yeah, the best route would be separate Golden and Silver Age Hawk Persons. Have Carter and Shiera die before the Modern Age and have Katar and Shayera show up after. Then you could create a new hero who was Carter’s next life with a love interest that is Shiera’s.
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Wow. You’re idea with the Hawks is simple but brilliant. It’s surprising no one has done it.
As for the art here, it’s giving me Scott Kolins vibes.
-RENO
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THAT’S the artist I was trying to remember! I don’t like his art either. I was stuck on Larsen but while he’s not a favorite at all, he’s never a distraction from a good story and makes a bad story better. This book could have used him.
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Thanks for the comment, Reno, the Scott Kolins vibes are right, and I’m very happy with that. For me, Diego O’s work is a cross between Kolins and Todd Nauck, there’s so much energy there.
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You guys keep comparing the artist to others who I don’t like either!
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Apart from when it was going deep into ‘fixing’ the origins I rather enjoyed the Johns/Morales series too, and enjoyed the Hawkgirl run it became. I hated the beginning of the Venditti book but came back in later and enjoyed the wrap-up. That issue with the Plague Doctor, #23, was a real gem.
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I quite enjoyed this issue. Little bits of character moments, scattered throughout the ongoing adventure. i”m a little impatient to see more (more of the villains, more of the characters that we didn’t see this time) but that will all come. This was a fine “middle of a storyline” issue.
I agree that Alan *should* have accompanied Kendra, but this scene also read like Kendra felt this was something she had to do on her own, so I read this as Alan respecting that desire.
I do have a couple questions.
Did we know that Sand had a thing for Jade or is this new?
Did we know that Kid Eternity switched genders? Maybe that’s not new (but it’s new to me).
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The Sand and Jade thing is indeed new, and I think the Kid Eternity thing is too… I’m not sure why he would have switch genders, or what that could add to his story. And surely he’s due in heaven by now, he was supposed to die when he was whatever-age-he-wrongly-died-at plus 75.
The ‘I have to handle this alone’ trope is one of my least favourites. Going shopping, exercising, fine. A friend needs rescuing from hell? It makes no sense.
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Thanks for the info. Also… agreed about “having to handle things alone”.
However, maybe to a superhero, rescuing someone from hell is just another day at the mall. ha ha
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Could be!
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I enjoyed this one — we’re finally getting some forward momentum!
I hadn’t realized that Kent Nelson was alive, and I don’t know the deal with Kid Eternity — the last time I recall that character was a vertigo mini I last read when it was published in the 90s, and I think they had an ongoing after that. So whatever their gender is, and whether it’s the same Kid E as before, I have no idea. (Very glad to see them, though — I just read some Kid E appearances in the last volume of DC’s 70s Shazam reprints, so I’m primed for more!)
One other thing Lemire may or may not be aware of… Sandy used to lead the JSA for a while! You’d think he’d have mentioned that to Jade as they talked about her leadership struggles.
As for the art, I’m all for it. Olortegui’s work really reminds me of Scott Kolins too, though I can see a little Nauck influence there, too. But I’m glad to see I’m not alone in my disappointment at the Demons Three’s lackluster redesign. I’ve loved those freaky guys ever since I first encountered them in the JLA/JSA/LSH teamup, back in my first year of comics reading!
And yeah, Alan — why let Kendra go alone? You’ve BEEN to hell! Go along and show her all the hot spots!
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I liked Golden age and Bronze Age Kid Eternity a lot. Bridwell connecting him to Junior via the similar backstories was pretty cool. The Vertigo mini was good but changed too much fundamentals for me to enjoy as a Kid Eternity story. I fear the sex change will feel the same.
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Kid Eternity appeared after the mini and ongoing, being killed by Mordru in the Goyer/Robinson/Sadowski JSA #1… maybe he’s appeared since then. I hope this is a new KE, I’m not keen on the design at all, it’s like something Mike Allred might reject.
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