They did kind of shoot themselves in the foot by finally beginning to deal with Carter and Kendra's feelings for each other and then using the time skip to justify not having to and writing him out of the book. It kind of sucked, to be honest, and I think it soured some fans who had been enjoying what Johns, Palmiotti and Gray had set up prior. I think Starlin wanted to undo Carter and set up Katar. It was not a good time for the Hawks.