I think his time is coming. Between his solo and his growing appearances in the current animated movies it feels like they're slowly building him backup as a main player of the DCU.
Not really. Post-Crisis Hawkman was still in JSA, but he joined the JLA later to "show them the ropes. Silver Age Hawkman or Earth-1 Hawkman was Katar Hol and joined the JLA with no ties to the Golden Age Hawkman despite taking the name Carter Hall as his Earth name. Katar Hol came back into the fold Post-Crisis as the Hawkman featured in Hawkworld.
Going through the original JLA now, which is great, I'm up to where Hawkman joins the league.
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My name is Wally West. I"m the fastest man alive. I"m the Flash.
Favorite Heroes - 1-Flash/Wally West, 2-Superman, 3-Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, 4-Nightwing, 5-Hawkman, 6-Firestorm, 7-Supergirl/Linda Danvers, 8-Zatanna, 9-Robin/Tim Drake
I don't care what anyone else says, I loved Messner-Loebs run, and everything he did with Katar & Co.!
My name is Wally West. I"m the fastest man alive. I"m the Flash.
Favorite Heroes - 1-Flash/Wally West, 2-Superman, 3-Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, 4-Nightwing, 5-Hawkman, 6-Firestorm, 7-Supergirl/Linda Danvers, 8-Zatanna, 9-Robin/Tim Drake
Have you read the Hawkworld ongoing? The first 6 issues of this volume of Hawkman are basically a coda to that series (and also written by Ostrander).
Messner-Loebs wrote the lead up issues to Zero Hour, wherein all the previous incarnations were merged into a "Hawk-God" type figure. Lots of craziness ensued. I'm not sure what happened behind the scenes, but Loebs left and Christopher Priest wrapped the series up by making Katar go insane and disappear until Geoff Johns brought him out of limbo years later.
This seems to be a lot of fans least-favorite version of the character, but I liked it then, and still enjoy the occasional re-read every few years.
I can't say I ever read that series. I've read Hawkworld, the 00's era Johns run (well, big chunks anyway), and a smattering of other random issues I could find, but not the Zero Hour era series.
I gotta admit, I tend to enjoy the mythology of the Hawks, and Shayera/Kendra, more than Carter himself. The reincarnation origin is full of incredible potential and Thanagar is one of my favorite space empires from all of fiction; in my mind it's almost up there with the world crafted in Dune. And JLU made me love Hawkgirl back when Hawkman was still a dirty word among DC fans. But I do enjoy a good Hawkman tale and I hope Carter gets a lot of good, positive attention and development this year.
I decided to try the current series after a few issues had come out and enjoyed the first issue a lot. I had my LCS order the next issues (they had sold out) so I could get caught up, and then the semester got crazy and school got crazy and work got crazy and the family got crazy and I haven't been to the shop in months. Another week or so should give me the time to finally get the mountain of comics my LCS is holding for me, and I look forward to seeing what Carter is up to now.
Hawkman is one of those weird IP's where almost everyone in the Western hemisphere knows the name, but nothing beyond that. I'd like to see him break through the glass ceiling and become a bigger player with more impact and importance, both in-universe and in the real world.
"We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."
~ Black Panther.
Give it a try! You can find the single issues in just about any bargain bin, and I'm sure they're available digitally if you don't mind spending more that $0.50 each .
Yeah, it's never gonna happen until DC pulls it's collective head out of its you-know-where. As much as I want to love the current series, it's just more proof that they don't really care about any sort of consistent narrative when it comes to the Hawks; any writer with a halfway interesting pitch can write a Hawkman book as long as enough time has passed since the previous series was canceled... *shrug*Hawkman is one of those weird IP's where almost everyone in the Western hemisphere knows the name, but nothing beyond that. I'd like to see him break through the glass ceiling and become a bigger player with more impact and importance, both in-universe and in the real world.
I like Hawkman as a pulp-styled adventurer, like Flash Gordon or the Golden Age Wonder Woman. I like him toppling secret empires in weird sci-fi and exotic locales and only occasionally fighting super-villains in St. Roque or Midway City, ..all of that with classical and medieval weapons, of course. I want him in really fast-paced, intense sci-fi stories. The current Hawkman comic checks all of those boxes.
So, naturally, I'm LOVING it.
COMBINING THE BIGBADITUDE OF THANOS WITH CHEETAH'S FEROCITY, IS JANUS WONDER WOMAN'S GREATEST SUPERVILLAIN?...on WONDABUNGA!!! Look alive, Kangaliers!
Kinda agree with you, especially on the bolded part. My first introduction to the Hawks was Shayera Hol's Hawkgirl from the cartoon, so I've tended to prefer Hawkgirl to Hawkman, and the Thanagarian origin to the Egyptian one. Nonetheless, the sheer potential of the Hawk mythos, from Thanagar to the distant past of the DCU, simply dazzles me with its possibilities. Now the question is, how to really capitalize on the potential of the mythos to give the character the iconic status he deserves? I'm looking forward to checking out Venditti's run to find out if he's figured it out.
Yep. I always describe Hawkman as working best when he's the convergence of Indiana Jones and Star Wars and I think this current series gets that. I'm a little apprehensive about what they're doing with Shiera and I miss her presence in the main Hawkman book. But, I have no issues with the soul of Carter Hall essentially being a villain and him being a hero to atone for that. It adds some nice depth and gives the character some purpose that fits into a nice logline when explaining the character to people who aren't familiar.
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Variant cover for issue #9.
My name is Wally West. I"m the fastest man alive. I"m the Flash.
Favorite Heroes - 1-Flash/Wally West, 2-Superman, 3-Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, 4-Nightwing, 5-Hawkman, 6-Firestorm, 7-Supergirl/Linda Danvers, 8-Zatanna, 9-Robin/Tim Drake