DCU Comic Book Reviews

HAWKMAN #32

Terror Beneath The Ice

November 2004

Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray

Pencils by Joe Bennett

Inks by Ruy Jose

Cover by Kevin Nowlan

Synopsis

Carter Hall (aka Hawkman) receives a call from his old friend Alistair Bevin about a mysterious find in the Antarctica; before he learns more, Alistair is killed.  Along with Ray Palmer (aka The Atom), Hawkman flies south to investigate.  They learn that Alistair had unearthed an old Nazi hide out that was supposed to be New Berlin.  Instead, the Nazis had unearthed a spacecraft buried in the ice.  Inside the ship, they find aliens.  Hawkman battles the creatures, but is soon captured.  They inject him with truth serum to learn what he knows.  Meanwhile, the Atom goes off to see what he can find on the ship.  The Atom finds the engine of the ship and starts a chain reaction to destroy it.  He returns to Hawkman and the break away from the aliens and safely make it out before the ship blows up.

Review

The best part of the issue is the ending with Ray realizing that he had Carter by the proverbial “shorties” due to the injection of the truth serum.  The rest of the issue was a fun comic issue, a good self-contained tale that is finished in one issue.  I like the fact that it is based on historical information (see below) no matter on dubious that information may actually be.  The use of the Psions is also much appreciated and they seem more dastardly than the usually are.  And it was nice to see Carter and Ray together in happier moments, especially given what is going on in Identity Crisis. 

If this was the second issue in a row with a significant portion of exposition text from the main villain, I might not have noticed it.  As it is, when the aliens started to detail their history, I had flashbacks to the previous issue with the snot monster and his expository scene.  I will give a pass to Palmiotti and Gray because in this case, the scene was necessary to understand what was going on.  And at least they understand what they are doing with the remark:  “Thanks for the exposition.”

Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, USN was a pioneering American polar explorer.  Byrd arrived in the Antarctica in December 1946.  The expedition was terminated six months early in February 1947; the early termination of the mission was never explained.  Byrd would later state that the United States need to be initiate defense strategies against hostile aircraft coming from Antarctica.  For this reason both Nazi activity and UFO activity in the Antarctica has been suspected.-- Review by MRB

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