Hawkman -- I need your help. PLEASE!!!

[4127]

If you are looking for a print resource as well that can give you the lowdown on Hawkman, there is this...

The Hawkman Companion



-M

Dood! That's epic. I need Hawkman Companion!!!

[4127]

Comicbookdb man, the closest thing i have as a bible.

Carter Hall (chronological):

Post Crisis: http://www.comicbookdb.com/character_chron.php?ID=10373
Pre Crisis: http://www.comicbookdb.com/character_chron.php?ID=101

You can also look in the same website for appearances of other characters that used the name Hawkman.

Good luck!

This is GOLD I tell you. Thank you!
My past lives shall be revived in my memories. Mwa. Mwahahahawkman.

[MajorHoy]

. . . I want to learn absolutely everything about the Hawkman . . .

Shouldn't that be "HawkMEN"?!?

There's been more than one (though at one point they were all combined into a single one, along with a Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman in that mix).


http://firestormfan.com/images/tumblr_ww10_hawkman2.jpg


http://firestormfan.com/images/tumblr_ww10_hawkman1.jpg

[4127]

Shouldn't that be "HawkMEN"?!?

There's been more than one (though at one point they were all combined into a single one, along with a Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman in that mix).


http://firestormfan.com/images/tumblr_ww10_hawkman2.jpg


http://firestormfan.com/images/tumblr_ww10_hawkman1.jpg

Correct me if I'm wrong, Major, but aren't those identities of Hawkman?

[MajorHoy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, Major, but aren't those identities of Hawkman?

Not really. There was the original Hawkman from the Golden Age (Prince Khufu) who was a reincarnated Egyptian Prince, then there was the Silver Age Hawkman (Katar Hol) who was actually from the planet Thanagar. (Both, by the way, went by name "Carter Hall" in the 20th Century / as an Earth identity.)

The two Hawks did sometimes appear in the same story, by the way.

[4127]

Not really. There was the original Hawkman from the Golden Age (Prince Khufu) who was a reincarnated Egyptian Prince, then there was the Silver Age Hawkman (Katar Hol) who was actually from the planet Thanagar. (Both, by the way, went by name "Carter Hall" in the 20th Century / as an Earth identity.)

The two Hawks did sometimes appear in the same story, by the way.

Yes, this is true. And the current Hawkman is Katar Hol who believes himself to be Carter Hall. And although they have both appeared in the same story, I was convinced that Katar and Carter are both identities of Hawkman, I'm sure mostly because of the confusing story of the character. But I'm here to learn, and that's one of the things I wanted to clarify.

The question then is: Is the word Hawkmen appropriate to use as a plural form or are Katar and Carter simply identities of one and only Hawkman?

[4127]

A couple cards from original VS System game that I used to play.

DJL014.jpg
imagebaeb.jpg

[MajorHoy]

. . . The question then is: Is the word Hawkmen appropriate to use as a plural form or are Katar and Carter simply identities of one and only Hawkman?

Depends on when you are talking about. (By the way, how old are you?)

When DC Comics were originally being published back in the 1930s and 1940s, it was later known as The Golden Age. There were a bunch of superheroes around, and some of them were part of a group known as The Justice Society of America.



Towards the end of the 1940s/start of the 1950s, superhero comic books fell out of favor, and only a few of DC's characters continued to be published. (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and a couple of other characters, but not Hawkman.)

Then, in the mid-to-late 1950s, DC started to push superhero characters again. Some of them were actually re-using the names of characters that were around in the Golden Age, but they might have different secret identities, different costumes, and sometimes different powers. These characters existed on a world where the Golden Age characters had only been in comic book stories; they weren't "real" people.

However, all that changed in 1961 with the story "Flash of Two Worlds". It was in this comic book story that DC revealed that all the Golden Age characters did exist, but they were on something called "Earth-2", and the stories of characters that had been taking place since the start of the Silver Age were happening on "Earth-1". The Prince Khufu version of Hawkman was from Earth-2, but the Katar Hol version of Hawkman was on Earth-1.

[4127]

Depends on when you are talking about. (By the way, how old are you?)

I'm 29 years old. I got into the superhero characters and somewhat into their stories about 10 years ago when the original VS System trading card game was released. It is only very recently that I'm delving more into the actual storyline of things. Admittedly, however, I'm not fully committed to getting into the comic books, it is the story of Hawkman that I am fascinated with, mainly. I suppose you could say he is my fictional-superhero-man-crush.

When DC Comics were originally being published back in the 1930s and 1940s, it was later known as The Golden Age. There were a bunch of superheroes around, and some of them were part of a group known as The Justice Society of America.

Towards the end of the 1940s/start of the 1950s, superhero comic books fell out of favor, and only a few of DC's characters continued to be published. (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and a couple of other characters, but not Hawkman.)

Then, in the mid-to-late 1950s, DC started to push superhero characters again. Some of them were actually re-using the names of characters that were around in the Golden Age, but they might have different secret identities, different costumes, and sometimes different powers. These characters existed on a world where the Golden Age characters had only been in comic book stories; they weren't "real" people.

However, all that changed in 1961 with the story "Flash of Two Worlds". It was in this comic book story that DC revealed that all the Golden Age characters did exist, but they were on something called "Earth-2", and the stories of characters that had been taking place since the start of the Silver Age were happening on "Earth-1". The Prince Khufu version of Hawkman was from Earth-2, but the Katar Hol version of Hawkman was on Earth-1.

So then, this means that Carter Hall is from Earth-2, if I understood that correctly.
And then, once we fast-forward to Modern Age, it is Carter Hall who is the current Hawkman. At some point he goes to Thanagar, comes back again, and sometime after is told by Demiurge that he in fact is Katar Hol. And in The New 52, Carter is once again revealed to be Katar Hol.

Do I get this somewhat correctly?

[MadFacedKid]

Dc wikia is pretty helpful it will most likely tell you every appearance the specified version of Hawkman made and what exact book.

[4127]

Dc wikia is pretty helpful it will most likely tell you every appearance the specified version of Hawkman made and what exact book.

Yes, I've learned quite a bit from DC Wikia already, but there didn't seem to be enough comic book issues listed. But it's possible I missed things, I'll check it out thoroughly once more.
Thank you

[GlennSimpson]

I'm 29 years old. I got into the superhero characters and somewhat into their stories about 10 years ago when the original VS System trading card game was released. It is only very recently that I'm delving more into the actual storyline of things. Admittedly, however, I'm not fully committed to getting into the comic books, it is the story of Hawkman that I am fascinated with, mainly. I suppose you could say he is my fictional-superhero-man-crush.


So then, this means that Carter Hall is from Earth-2, if I understood that correctly.
And then, once we fast-forward to Modern Age, it is Carter Hall who is the current Hawkman. At some point he goes to Thanagar, comes back again, and sometime after is told by Demiurge that he in fact is Katar Hol. And in The New 52, Carter is once again revealed to be Katar Hol.

Do I get this somewhat correctly?

OK, bear with me here.

DC's history has, at times, basically restarted. Something rather like Battlestar Galactica, where there was a show and it had characters by certain names, and then the later show had a lot of the same names and the basic setup, but some of the details had changed.

So what Major Hoy described was the setup till about 1985. At that point, DC rebooted their history, although not necessarily with the intent of dramatically changing all of it.

In the new history, the Prince Khufu "Carter Hall" version of Khufu was around during World War II, and continued so for many years. Then, relatively recently, Katar Hol from Thanagar had come to Earth. What we would learn is that Katar Hol's father had come to Earth and met Carter, and this influenced his decision on how to name his son and also his decision to start a "Hawkmen" police force on Thanagar. All of which to explain the coincidence. So at this point there are still two guys walking around calling themselves Hawkman.

Later, DC had a story where the two Hawkmen "merged", and disappeared. When he reappeared, was was still somewhat a combination of the two, but was a basically a young man named Carter Hall who had dim memories of a life on Thanagar as Katar Hol.

Then in 2011, DC rebooted again, a bit more dramatically. Now there is still just one, who I think has the background you described.

[4127]

OK, bear with me here.

DC's history has, at times, basically restarted. Something rather like Battlestar Galactica, where there was a show and it had characters by certain names, and then the later show had a lot of the same names and the basic setup, but some of the details had changed.

So what Major Hoy described was the setup till about 1985. At that point, DC rebooted their history, although not necessarily with the intent of dramatically changing all of it.

In the new history, the Prince Khufu "Carter Hall" version of Khufu was around during World War II, and continued so for many years. Then, relatively recently, Katar Hol from Thanagar had come to Earth. What we would learn is that Katar Hol's father had come to Earth and met Carter, and this influenced his decision on how to name his son and also his decision to start a "Hawkmen" police force on Thanagar. All of which to explain the coincidence. So at this point there are still two guys walking around calling themselves Hawkman.

Later, DC had a story where the two Hawkmen "merged", and disappeared. When he reappeared, was was still somewhat a combination of the two, but was a basically a young man named Carter Hall who had dim memories of a life on Thanagar as Katar Hol.

Then in 2011, DC rebooted again, a bit more dramatically. Now there is still just one, who I think has the background you described.

Argh. More complicated than the Kardashian family.
But it's slowly coming together for me, piece by piece. This is the reason why I wanted to start reading everything there is to know about the character from the very start, and now I'm beginning to understand how Major Hoy was right about the vastness of what I'm trying to attack :O
Thank you for your breakdown