Monday, September 14, 2009

Read: Shadow War Of Hawkman #2


Issue: Shadow War Of Hawkman #2
Title: "Fallen Angels"
Published Date: Jun 1985
Generation: Silver Age Katar
Retcon Status: Out Of Continuity

Summary: In the Heartland of America a young man with dreams of being a winged superhero named Icarus is brutally shot out of the sky by the alien invaders.  

Back in Midway City, Hawkman is busy mourning the death of Shiera the previous issue.  He buries his grief, though, and sets about with the work that has to be done.  Taking the new police chief into his confidence, Hawkman rounds up all of the Thanagarian gear stored in his office, and vaporizes them so that they cannot fall into the wrong hands.  Arming himself with Roman spiked gloves, Hawkman angrilly blows off Mavis Trent and then wings off to investigate at former Commissioner Emmett's house.

Meanwhile, the invaders deal with their member who attacked Hawkwoman, who claims that poor intelligence is to blame.  The commander, one Fell Andar, agrees, and repurposes the young man into the "permanant monitor."

At the Emmett place, Hawkman is pick up a trace radiation signal from the silhouette of Mousey Mason.  He tracks it to a craggy series of bluffs on the coast of Lake Michigan, and quickly infiltrates the invaders' base.  Quickly disabling most of their numbers, Hawkman is felled when struck from behind.  He awakens to find Fell Andar standing over him, and is horrified when Andar tells him that they are the vanguard from Thanagar for a full scale conquest of the galaxy, starting with Earth.

Review: Anyone who thinks the idea of Hawkman being filled with rage is a new idea needs to read this comic.  Various characters comment about the fact that Katar is about the burst with fury, and when he gets his hands on Fell's invaders, well, that fury gets released.  Looking back, that reveal at the end must have been pretty surprising, although really, it makes sense.

Interesting to note that the name is indeed spelled "Fell Andar" this issue, although in one instance it is "Fel."

All in all another really strong issue from Isabella and Howell, who have a very good grasp on the Hawkman story they want to tell and how they want to portray the character.  Strong all around.

Image: Shadow War of Hawkman #2, 1985, Richard Howell.

2 comments:

Diabolu Frank said...

...AND Alcala. I never cared for Howell's work, and combined with Don Heck's inks on the ongoing, it really sucked. Alfredo Alcala though is a madman! I still miss him!

Luke said...

I haven't seen Heck's work on the ongoing yet to compare, but yes, indeed, Alfredo Alcala's inks are insane.