DCU Comic Book Reviews

HAWKMAN #7

Fine Day For A Hangin'

November 2002

Written by James Robinson

Pencils by Rags Morales

Inks by Tim Truman

Cover by Andrew Robinson

Synopsis

In the wild, wild west, Nighthawk come riding into St. Roch.  At the local saloon, he learns that a local man has been arrested for murder, but before the sheriff can come to town for the trial, the local townspeople want to hang ‘em anyway.  Just then a young woman gets into a fight in the saloon; Nighthawk helps her out.  Her name is Kate, sometimes called Cinnamon.   Later that night, Nighthawk leaves Cinnamon to take the prisoner out of jail and hold him safely until the sheriff can arrive for the trial.  Cinnamon helps him.  At the trial, the prisoner is found not guilty and Nighthawk and Cinnamon continue d to lead more wild times....

Review

After the first couple issues of this series, I suggested that it would be rather neat to have a flashback (so to speak) issue showing one of the hawks past lives.  There seemed so much talk about all of the lives they have lived, I thought it would be nice to show one of them.  When I realized that this issue was going to be one of those past-life issues, I was excited.  And now that I have finished reading it....I am annoyed.  Part of it comes from the cliché plot that seems to have been stolen from countless Westerns over the years.  Part of it comes from the abrupt moment (about one panel) Nighthawk and Cinnamon jump from being strangers to lovers.  I suppose the idea of reincarnated souls helps, but it was still fairly jarring.  The biggest problem I had with story, the part that bothered me the most is the overt connections of Nighthawk and those he meets to the cast of characters in the current events in St. Roch.  My wife is fond of saying that souls tend to stick together throughout all of our lives* and to a small degree I tend to believe it.  However, this story just simply pushes this idea to far, especially when I read the final page and saw the beginnings of the Stonechat Museum.  From Saunders to Craddock to Roderic to Evans to St. Roch, I just keep shaking my head in disbelief at the connections to the current series.  Personally, I would have preferred a simple story featuring the Hawks without having to the nudge, nudge, wink, wink for the readers.  -- MRB

*On a side note, I had a palm reader tell me that I was married to my current brother-in-law in a past life, in the 1880s in the wild, wild west.  Before you ask, he was a woman in that past life.  This same palm reader also said I was an alien and the mother ship was coming to get me when I turned 42.  I still have a few years until that happens, however....

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