Hawkman #6 – Robert Venditti, Writer; Bryan Hitch, Artist; Alex Sinclair, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8.5/10
Corrina: Poor Carter, All Alone. If Only He Had a Partner…
Ray: Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch’s slam-bang ride through time and space continues to unfold, as Hawkman and Atom finish their adventures in the Microverse in Hawkman #6. When we last left off, they had landed on Mozz-Ga the living planet in search of an ancient Nth Metal weapon from one of Hawkman’s past lives. The only problem is, Mozz-Ga’s changed a lot since he appeared in Justice League of America. Tired of the constant pilgrims demanding boons from him, he’s transformed his landscape into a desolate wasteland that attacks anything that touches it. As the issue opens, we get to see Atom go Giant-Man for the first time – he’s already shrunken to Microverse size, so reversing that a bit turns him into a powerhouse. As Atom takes on an army of Mozz-Ga’s drones, Hawkman beats his way to the center of the planet, in search of the ancient weapon – which turns out not to be a weapon, but a ship belonging to one of Hawkman’s earliest lives, a hero of the Microverse named Avion.
Armed with the ship, the two heroes make a daring escape from the enraged planet – but not before Hawkman has to try every password in the book to get it to take off. We’re in uncharted territory here when it comes to Hawkman’s past lives – Avion is from a civilization that no one’s ever heard of and is the first Hawkman variant that didn’t fly using wings. The introduction of this long history of reincarnations is the best addition to Hawkman’s mythology in decades. As the issue winds down, Hawkman and Atom part ways and get back to their missions, and we get another glimpse of the mysterious Deathbringers – including their mysterious leader, a winged warrior with a grudge against a version of Hawkman named Ktar. Venditti struggled a bit with the Green Lantern mythology at times, but here he has almost a blank slate, and that’s working in his favor. It’s one of the most purely thrilling books on DC’s slate at the moment.
Corrina: Yes, this has been an enjoyable action series so far and Hawkman #6 goes for old-school Silver Age-style action in the microverse, with Hawkman and Ray smashing up rock things in the service of a mystery. It’s a basic plot but it’s made excellent by the imaginative uses of the Atom’s power, the finding of the ship, and the relationship between Ray and Carter. And, yes, Carter’s search for the right ship passwords is a funny moment, reminiscent of Thor’s search for passwords in Thor: Ragnarok.
Obviously, the Deathbringers were someone/something to Carter at some point in these past lives. I almost want to guess that they’re all versions of Carter’s past selves but that would mean past versions of Hawkman have committed genocide and that seems a bit dark for the character.
However, Carter’s loneliness felt a bit flat because of a missing person: Hawkwoman. He’s always lived past lives with Hawkwoman/Shiera and there’s hardly been a mention of her in this series, save for a quick cameo on Hawkworld. If their pasts are entwined, if they come as a pair, why is only Hawkman’s past relevant? (It would be interesting if we find out that Carter’s been chasing Shiera’s past, not his own, a gender-switch ala Dead Again. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.)
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
