Read: Hawkman v.4:no.15

Issue: Hawkman v.4:no.15 (Collected in Hawkman v.3: Wings of Fury)
Title: "The Thanagarian, Part 1"
Published Date: Jul 2003
Generation: Modern Carter
Retcon Status: In Continuity

Summary: In St. Roch, Hawkwoman AKA the Thanagarian Shayera Thal, patrols the city searching for the Earther Hawks while reminiscing about the strange and twisted path her and Katar Hol have taken.  

At the Stonechat House, Carter laments the death of Jayita to Danny, putting her picture in a trunk with dozens of other images of friends and loved ones he lost over the years.  Meanwhile, Copperhead and Tigress are getting out of town, while Shadow-Thief has plans of his own.  

Back in town, Shiera is winging about, celebrating the fact that after all of the intervening years, she has finally gotten justice for her murdered parents.  Her happiness is cut short, though, when she is attacked by Hawkwoman and quickly overwhelmed by the more experienced combatant.  Hawgirl manages to get in some good licks (reminding Shayera of Shiera Saunders), but Carter's arrival diffuses the situation.  Shayera immediately grabs Carter and lays a kiss on him, but curtly breaks it -- he may look like Katar Hol, but he smells different.  Shayera tells them that she is here to find out what happened to her Katar after Carter's resurrection.  It seems her investigation will be a short one, though, as none other than Katar Hol suddenly arrives, claiming that Carter Hall betrayed him!

Review: A very simple story, recapping (sort of) the events of Hawkworld and Volume 3 for readers unfamiliar with them, and then setting up the rest of the story with the huge last page reveal.  This is a review I have started to write several times only to get sidetracked onto something else, but I am glad to get it down because frankly it's not an earth-shattering issue.  It's good, but nothing huge or anything until the final page (Shayera's presence, after all, was teased in the last issue).

It's a good time for Johns to fit in some character moments, and he does a good job doing just that, giving us insight into Carter, Kendra, and especially Shayera.  The Thanagarian Hawkwoman is such a great character and it's a real shame that she was killed off not too long after this in Rann-Thanagar War.  (Why have we not seen her as a Black Lantern?)  Anyways, Rags does a good job (as usual) with the aerial fight as well as the quieter moments.  His Shayera looks particularly nice.  All in all a solid issue that serves its purpose admirably.

Image: Hawkman v.4:no.15, 2003, Andrew Robinson.