Are You A Fan Of Hawkman's New Origin?

[Spectacus]

DwE7YKgWsAAMy-a.jpg
Ktar, the very first Hawkman who serves as a general for the Deathbringers, a race of titanic gods that require mass sacrifices in their names. Ktar and his his ally, Idamm, are charged with collecting the individuals to be sacrificed -- when we first meet Ktar, he has just finished a campaign on Thanagar, which led to 12,000 prisoners being rounded up. The sacrifices are then taken to the temple world of Qgga, where they are thrown to the deaths in service to “The Lord Beyond The Void” so that he may one day escape into our universe and lead his Deathbringers on a path of devastation, but Ktar has been having second thoughts.

During his time on Thanagar, Ktar saw a woman among the dead who approached him and uttered the words, “You are in pain, warrior,” to which Ktar told her to hide before Idamm found her and added her to the field of dead. The woman appeared again on Qgga, lurking in the shadows, just out of the corner of Ktar’s eye. From then on, every world Ktar traveled to, the woman would be there watching him. The weight of his actions weighed heavy on his conscience until the time came for the final sacrifice, the one which would bring The Lord Beyond The Void into the universe. Again under the judgemental eye of the woman who watches, Ktar refused to commit this last act and instead set about freeing the enslaved to help him bring down the temple and stop the ascension.

Ktar was able to keep Idamm busy while the chained Thanagarians dragged the sacred pillar into the void to stop the dead god’s return. In doing so, they brought down the entire planet of Qgga around them. Idamm was able to pin Ktar to a wall with his spear, but was crushed shortly thereafter by falling debris. In his dying moments, the woman approached Ktar and offered him her hand, saying that no one deserves to die alone. As the gateway closes, The Lord Beyond The Void swears to his former general that he will not only get his revenge, but that one day Ktar will serve as the weapon he was always intended to be. Then, the portal seals shut and Ktar dies staring at the stars without the answer to his final question… what was the woman’s name?

Ktar awakens in a field of skulls with a mysterious, omnipresent voice as his only company. He is told that he has a choice between life and death. He can accept death and whatever judgement may come with it, or he can live again in a cycle of reincarnation to make amends for the lives he slaughtered. If he chooses to live again, he will be trapped in a cycle of reincarnation across space and time until he has saved as many lives as he was responsible for ending, and considering the Deathbringers slaughtered civilizations and offered up sacrifices in the five-figure range, that’s going to be quite a lot of lives that need saving before Ktar can know peace. Still, the Deathbringer chooses to live again and the voice gives him a final word of warning: The Deathbringers will return, and when they do, each life they take will once again be added to Ktar’s tally until he stops them once and for all.

[MajorHoy]

Please tell me that's NOT what they're going with now!!!



I had thought about trying this series at first because I THOUGHT they were going to be going more with the Golden Age / Khufu / Carter Hall version, but then decided after hearing about the first issue to maybe try and pick up a tpb collection instead if they eventually had more focus on the Golden Age Hawkman.

But if this is what they've really decided on instead . . . to heck with that!

[Buried Alien]

Oh, no...is DC tinkering with Hawkman's origins AGAIN? Hasn't DC learned anything?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[MajorHoy]

Oh, no...is DC tinkering with Hawkman's origins AGAIN? Hasn't DC learned anything?

You can't teach a brain-dead dog new tricks . . .

[Adekis]

Oh no, another Hawkman origin? Wasn't it bad enough already?

I suppose it sounds very death-metal, which has a sort of unique appeal to it, so I guess I'd say I'm at least vaguely intrigued as someone who likes new and experimental stories, but as an overall DC Comics fan I'm just frustrated.

Also, being very death-metal makes it feel like it belongs in a less Batman-centric part of the Dark Multiverse, so that's... no great either, I suppose. I might be okay with it as a standalone in it's own little world, but not as something that might spill over into JSA or JLA titles or whatever.

[SJNeal]

I'm reading the current Hawkman book (because I buy/support every Hawkman book), and while not bad per se, the recent changes are completely unnecessary. While my favorite version of the character(s) may be the 80's-90's Hawkworld one, I realize that iteration eventually got too convoluted for new readers and wasn't sustainable. However, I also loved what Geoff Johns did, and thought that that series finally streamlined the origin nicely. But DC can never leave well enough alone...

The first seven issues of Venditti's run could've been cleaned up a bit and published as a Hawkman: Earth One OGN and I would've loved it! But as the only place for in-continuity Hawk stuff, this series isn't cutting it unfortunately.

[phonogram12]

Honestly, as someone who's always preferred the Thanagarian origin over the Egyptian one, I actually really like this new one.

[Robotman]

At the start of the series I was intrigued by the idea that he’s been reincarnating through time and space. It was an interesting way to tie together all the different versions of Hawkman. But the reveal that he was originally a general helping the Deathbringers commit countless acts of genocide and human sacrifice just rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t think he should be a hero just to repay some past horror he helped to commit.

[Flash Gordon]

Eh, it's fine.

Overly convoluted nonsense, but I enjoy the book anyway. I'm excited for when all this is over with and we can just get into some Hawkman adventures.

[Elmo]

I'm not even reading. It's like you can't even appreciate this character or mythos

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I like the idea that Hawkman & Hawkgirl are reincarnating across time and space, but the whole Deathbringer reveal was...fine. I thought Johns idea of basing the characters on a doomed love affair across history was more interesting than a redemptive arc for Hawkman and whatever it is they’re doing with Hawkgirl.

Either way, it doesn’t much change my feelings about the character in that he has a dynamite visual and not much else of interest to me.

[Spectacus]

I don't see how you can say that without reading the book. Its literally used the best method of meshing his continuity together.

[Stanlos]

DwE7YKgWsAAMy-a.jpg
Ktar, the very first Hawkman who serves as a general for the Deathbringers, a race of titanic gods that require mass sacrifices in their names. Ktar and his his ally, Idamm, are charged with collecting the individuals to be sacrificed -- when we first meet Ktar, he has just finished a campaign on Thanagar, which led to 12,000 prisoners being rounded up. The sacrifices are then taken to the temple world of Qgga, where they are thrown to the deaths in service to “The Lord Beyond The Void” so that he may one day escape into our universe and lead his Deathbringers on a path of devastation, but Ktar has been having second thoughts.

During his time on Thanagar, Ktar saw a woman among the dead who approached him and uttered the words, “You are in pain, warrior,” to which Ktar told her to hide before Idamm found her and added her to the field of dead. The woman appeared again on Qgga, lurking in the shadows, just out of the corner of Ktar’s eye. From then on, every world Ktar traveled to, the woman would be there watching him. The weight of his actions weighed heavy on his conscience until the time came for the final sacrifice, the one which would bring The Lord Beyond The Void into the universe. Again under the judgemental eye of the woman who watches, Ktar refused to commit this last act and instead set about freeing the enslaved to help him bring down the temple and stop the ascension.

Ktar was able to keep Idamm busy while the chained Thanagarians dragged the sacred pillar into the void to stop the dead god’s return. In doing so, they brought down the entire planet of Qgga around them. Idamm was able to pin Ktar to a wall with his spear, but was crushed shortly thereafter by falling debris. In his dying moments, the woman approached Ktar and offered him her hand, saying that no one deserves to die alone. As the gateway closes, The Lord Beyond The Void swears to his former general that he will not only get his revenge, but that one day Ktar will serve as the weapon he was always intended to be. Then, the portal seals shut and Ktar dies staring at the stars without the answer to his final question… what was the woman’s name?

Ktar awakens in a field of skulls with a mysterious, omnipresent voice as his only company. He is told that he has a choice between life and death. He can accept death and whatever judgement may come with it, or he can live again in a cycle of reincarnation to make amends for the lives he slaughtered. If he chooses to live again, he will be trapped in a cycle of reincarnation across space and time until he has saved as many lives as he was responsible for ending, and considering the Deathbringers slaughtered civilizations and offered up sacrifices in the five-figure range, that’s going to be quite a lot of lives that need saving before Ktar can know peace. Still, the Deathbringer chooses to live again and the voice gives him a final word of warning: The Deathbringers will return, and when they do, each life they take will once again be added to Ktar’s tally until he stops them once and for all.

Is this a fanfic?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I don't see how you can say that without reading the book. Its literally used the best method of meshing his continuity together.

I am reading the book. I was planning on dropping it, but the Krypton issue was nicely done, so I will give it another issue. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but that’s better than nothing I suppose.

[MajorHoy]

. . . I'm excited for when all this is over with and we can just get into some Hawkman adventures.

By the way, here are some of the numbers for this series based on orders placed by comic book shops with Diamond:

* Dec. 2018 = 96th - HAWKMAN #7 - 20,625 copies
* Nov. 2018 = 97th - HAWKMAN #6 - 21,818 copies
* Oct. 2018 = 84th - HAWKMAN #5 - 30,171 copies
* Sep. 2018 = 91st - HAWKMAN #4 - 24,687 copies
* Aug. 2018 = 90th - HAWKMAN #3 - 27,331 copies
* July 2018 = 56th - HAWKMAN #2 - 30,781 copies
* June 2018 = 33rd - HAWKMAN #1 - 42,123 copies

NOTE: Hawkman #5 in October had the special foil cover.