DC’s Hawk-Girl Summer #1 – Meghan Fitzmartin, Trick Weekes, Josh Trujillo, Dacy Lim, Andre R. Frattino, Siobahn Chiffon/Cathy Le, Ramon Perez, Cavan Scott, Writers; Meghan Hetrick, Nikola Cizmesija, Andrew Drilon, Rowan MacColl, Rafael Perez, Siobahn Chiffon/Cathy Le, Ramon Perez, Rafael Loureiro, Artists; Nick Filardi, Francesco Segala, Big Doors Studios, Luis Guerrero, Alex Guimaraes, Colorists
Ray – 8/10
Ray: DC’s big summer anthology features eight tales celebrating the season – as well as some great diversity in a lot of ways – and a whole lot of new talent. But how does each story stack up?
First up is the title story, “Hawk-Girl Summer” by Fitzmartin and Hetrick, which finds Kendra at a billionaire’s party to get her hands on a powerful ancient Egyptian amulet with cosmic links – only to have Catwoman interrupt her. Turns out that agents of the Goddess Bastet have been battling Hawkgirl for the amulet for thousands of years, and every cycle presages a great disaster. This one is very topical, very fast-paced, and has some great lines, but it rushes a little too much through its plot points.
Weeks and Cizmesija are the creative team on “Quick and Shining”, a cross-dimensional caper featuring Shining Knight and Kid Quick, as they battle together to send a massive kraken back where it came from and help Shining Knight figure out their swimsuit woes. A conversation between two non-binary characters, with very different views of gender due to when and where they grew up, is a really fun concept and these two are likable leads who don’t get nearly enough time to shine. Pun intended.
“All the Good Ones Are Taken” by Trujillo and Drilon is a testament to Trujillo’s determination to keep New 52 refugee Bunker relevant. Pretty much all the top queer DC heroes are meeting up at the beach, but Bunker’s just been dumped and winds up having a crisis as his friends show up – all of them in semi-happy relationships. That’s about when Psycho-Pirate shows up, amplifying everyone’s feelings and leaving Bunker to push through his anxieties and save the day. It’s a fun spotlight, and it’s good to see a Pride story like this given that DC had a special Pride event this year instead.
“Hot As Hell” by Lim and MacColl stars Anissa and Grace in a fun, sexy adventure with some demonic intrusions. They’re in the middle of a heat wave, at their new rental, when Sabbac is suddenly summoned through the pool, planning to plunge the Earth into permanent misery. This leads to the destruction of the house and the two of them banishing the demon before they finally get to have their fun in the pool. Good to see a spotlight for these two.
“Lawless on the Lido Deck” by Frattino and Perez gives a spotlight to the new Kid Eternity, who is on a cruise with her mentor Mr. Keeper. She’s still getting used to her new powers, and something about this influencer-themed cruise is throwing her off – giving her massive seasickness despite being, um, dead. Things get chaotic when Black Manta raids the cruise, and it turns out that one of the influencers has an ancient Atlantean spirit trapped in her necklace. It’s about as wild as it sounds.
“Idle Hands” by Chiffon and Le features the four “core” Robins on a yacht with Bruce and Alfred until a priceless broken vase (that was on the boat for some reason) gets them all kicked off for roughhousing, so they head to the local boardwalk. It wasn’t clear at first, but between the lighter interactions and some of the over-the-top visuals, it became clear this was a Wayne Family Adventures guest story. Some funny moments, but really felt out of step with the rest of the issue.
“Greetings From Shell Beach” by Ramon Perez finds Scott and Barda taking a family vacation with their son – as well as some unexpected guests in the form of the Female Furies. Barda still considers them family, after all. The Furies quickly retreat to the bar and make snarky comments, while Barda tries to get hyped for her son’s first milestones – but as soon as Giganta shows up and causes trouble, Barda has a blast finding her inner warrior again. This is a very silly story, and only gets more so with the hilarious last page.
Finally, “The Superboy Experience” by Scott and Loureiro has Conner Kent dealing with an unexpected threat – copyright infringement. A shady tech company has combined AI and hard-light technology to allow people to meet a tech duplicate of Superboy – which promptly goes haywire and starts wrecking the boardwalk Bizarro style. Fortunately, the genuine article is on hand to save the day and get his moment in the sun.
Overall, this one was a lot more light and silly than your average DC anthology, but I did love how many Pride-adjacent stories worked in here.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
