The Savage Hawkman v.2 Solicited

Well, folks, I told you that you know a blogger is lying when they promise to post more.

In my lame defense, there has not been much to be excited for in regards to Hawkman lately.  Yes, the Winged Wonder has been a part of the Justice League of America title, but unfortunately his "part" has been quite small.  Johns has chosen to focus on other characters -- including Catwoman, Martian Manhunter, Amanda Waller, Steve Trevor, Stargirl, and Vibe -- over Hawkman, meaning that his position in the title is mostly relegated to backgrounds, fight scenes, and the occasional macho one-liner.  (Strangely enough this also applies to Katana.)  So while I am enjoying the book -- and the Trinity War story -- there has not been a whole lot to really blog about.

The November DC Solicits did provide us with this listing, however:

THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN VOL. 2: WANTED TP
 Written by TOM DeFALCO and ROB LIEFELD
 Art by JOE BENNETT and ART THIBERT
 Cover by JOE BENNETT
 On sale DECEMBER 4 • 288 pg, FC, $19.99 US
Hawkman is closer to discovering who he really is and why he is being hunted, but with deadly assassins at his throat, he may never learn the entire truth! Collecting THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN #0 and 9-20!

This provides me with both positive feelings and negative feelings.

The positive is that all of Savage Hawkman is going to be collected.  I liked this run of the title, personally, so I am happy to see DC put it all together.  Maybe these stories will find more of an audience in a collected format than they did as single issues.  Joe Bennett still remains one of my favorite Hawk artists ever, and his entire run in one volume will be very pretty.  And with her spotlight issue coming out next month, it is nice to see the new Shadow-Thief's debut reprinted in the collection.  And that's a good page count for the price, a full 13 issues for $20 (before discount).

But the negative flows right from that price point as well.  It's pretty plain to me that DC is dumping this out with a low price point just to get the material collected and try to squeeze something out of it.  Price this at $25 and it's an automatic pass for most readers; putting it at the $20 price point and maybe you'll get a few impulse purchases and get some sort of profit off of this material.  Material which I devoured eagerly when it was published and hyped and boosted as best I could.

That's a depressing thought.  But it's the reality of Hawkman as a solo star right now.  

So, instead of being brought down by that, I continue apace, ready to crack more Golden and Silver Age Hawkman comics for my reading and (hopefully) blogging pleasure.  And hopefully someone out there who is curious about the Pinioned Powerhouse will pick this volume up and decide, hey, there's something to this Hawkman guy after all.

(Aside: Really, DC?  The Flash is a Zero Year tie-in?  Really?  Just go ahead and change your name to "Batman Comics" and be done with it already...)