DCU Comic Book Reviews

HAWKMAN #8

Small Talk

December 2002

Written by James Robinson

Pencils by Rags Morales

Inks by Prentis Rollins & Michael Bair

Cover by Andrew Robinson

Synopsis

In St. Roch, Carter Hall (aka Hawkman) waits at a restaurant for his dining companion Ray Palmer (aka The Atom) to appear.  Over dinner, the two discuss the return of Hawkman and his relationship with Kendra Saunders (aka Hawkgirl).  Meanwhile, with the help of the St. Roch police, Kendra learns that David DeVille (aka Warwhip) is the person who delivered the fake telegram that led to her parents’ death.  Hawkgirl attacks him to learn more but when Warwhip starts to choke her, the St. Roch police shot and kill him before he can talk.  Later, Hawkman is resting at home when his father, Hector Hall (aka Dr. Fate) appears and tells him they need to talk.  Elsewhere, Kendra’s grandfather Speed Saunders is climbing a mountain when his climbing partner cuts the rope, plunging Speed down to his death.

Review

As an idea, I am in favor of doing stories like this in which the characters take center stage rather than a menacing supervillain or a big battle.  There needs to be moments that remind us these are characters we should like and relate to, characters who have wants, needs, desires, and problems just like we do, because if they don’t, they become one-dimensional and exist only to serve the plot.  And, then, what is the point of having so many different super heroes if they can’t be distinguished apart when they are not fighting a supervillain?  The best scene in this issue is the near final panel of Hawkgirl and Hawkman, alone in their homes, each finding themselves connected to the other in some mystical way, but neither finding the ability to connect to each other in their everyday lives.  Meanwhile, we get a glimpse of those lives as Carter struggles with his past, both with his friends (a great touch to the past with his friendship with the Atom) as well as his various reincarnations and how that affects him and Kendra struggles with the search for her parent’s murderer.  After a whiz bang beginning to the series and the guest appearance of Green Arrow, this issue helped solidify the Hawks current world and how they relate to it and to each other.  It is also nice to see more movement on Kendra’s mystery.  Speed’s apparent demise at the end suggests this will continue to be a big part of the next several issues. 

A little bit of Trivia:  the cop named Isabella is a nod to writer Tony Isabella, creator of the character Black Lightning as well as the writer of the mini-series, Shadow War of Hawkman. -- MRB

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