DCU Comic Book Reviews

HAWKMAN #39

Farewell My Enemy, part 3

June 2005

Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray

Pencils by Joe Bennett

Inks by Ruy Jose

Cover by Ryan Sook

Synopsis

At a party at Ethon Towers, a group of villains dropped a bomb into the middle of the festivities.  In the explosion, they take Hawkman to the Lavenne Meat Packing Plant.  While the villains go eat breakfast, Thought Terror begins to torture Hawkman.  Meanwhile, Hawkgirl and Golden Eagle agree to work together to find him.  Hawkgirl visits an old snitch and gets the location at the plant.  Meanwhile, Hawkman hallucinates again, this time seeing the hawk god, Horus who tells him he should trust his heart, not his eyes.  Just as he wakes, Hawkgirl and Golden Eagle find him and take him back to Stonechat Museum.  Hours later, Hawkman awakens and sees Lion-Mane coming after him.  Hawkman attacks, violently hitting with his mace.  It is too late to realize he was seeing things and that he was really hitting Kendra...  

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Or should I say, Carter Hall?  Or should I say, Hawkman.  What a confusing life you’ve led...”

I must wonder what the hell the villains were thinking.  They had Hawkman, they could have killed him, but decide they did not want to do that.  Why?  If you ignore this little oversight, this was not that bad of an issue.  The final page cliffhanger showing Kendra all beaten and bloody was predictable, but I don’t really think Palmiotti & Gray intended for it to be that big of a surprise.  Not only does Horus give us a big clue, but “Lion-Mane” reacts with confusion when he is first hit.  I think the feeling Palmiotti & Gray were going for, and Bennett captures this real well, is the horror that we know it is Kendra, but Carter obviously doesn’t.  Besides, we know that Kendra is not dead (and since she is wearing her costume, the nth metal will help her heal quickly), so how much of a cliffhanger can that last page really be?

The best and easily creepiest scene in the whole issue belongs to Hummingbird and the details of her “origin” story as she eats blueberry waffles.  Based on that scene alone, I really hope we see more of her. 

So far, the better parts of the Palmiotti & Gray run have been the consistent use of minor and often throwaway characters into repeating roles. Just a few issues ago we saw the owner of the Lure for the second time and now we get Mico, the one who help Hawkgirl track down the snot creature awhile ago.  I like these recurring roles in that it rewards readers who stick around and have read most every issue.