Original Hawkman Page From Flash Comics #97 By Joe Kubert

Well readers, you're in store for a real treat today, Doug Zawisza , Honor Wings bearer, proprietor of the Doom Patrol blog (hey, the Showcase is out next week!), and author of the very cool Hawkman Companion from TwoMorrows Publishing has provided me with a very cool set of images: original art by the legend Joe Kubert from Flash Comics #97! Even more amazing is that these pages have never published in sequence... I'll let Doug explain it:

Hey Luke!
Sorry for the hideous delay between first reaching out to you about Companion stuff and now. ...

To make up for it, here's five NEVER-BEFORE-published-in-sequence pages from Flash Comics #97. I originally had all five pages in the Companion, but DC told TwoMorrows "Pages 30 - 31, a previously
unpublished 5-page sequence of a Hawkman story. While I understand that some of these pages were earlier published in TwoMorrows' *All-Star Companion Vol. *3 and “Alter Ego” magazine, they have never been published in a complete sequence, which is something we have a problem with. One to two pages is typically OK, but not 5 in sequence."...

They were originally on a nice two-page spread, but the book got changed - dramatically - after a review with DC Comics. If you want to post the pages, here they are.

Doug

Very interesting stuff! I will work from the position that in an effort to not step on any toes, I too will not be posting the images in one sequence -- instead, I will spread them out over the next few weeks to give some "buffer" between them. I don't know if posting them online on the same site constitutes posting them in a sequence, but we shall see, I suppose!

Note: I have changed the filenames around a little bit to make them easier to keep track of, but let me be clear that credit for these goes entirely to Mr. Zawisza who graciously has offered them up for my use here! Thanks a million, Doug!

Image: Page 2 from Hawkman feature in Flash Comics #97, 1948, Joe Kubert, provided by Doug Zawisza.

Crisis On Earth Blog: COIE Slipcase by Perez and Ross

One of the great shames of my life as a comic book fanboy is that I have never read Crisis on Infinite Earths. In fact, I can't say as I have ever read a Crisis on Any Earth! Growing up, I was always a Marvel fan. I knew more about COIE from Wizard than I ever did from actual DC comics! Only years later did I get my "mad on" for the DCU, and really start learning about the Crisis, but to this day I have never read the actual series.

Not exactly the best way to endear me to anyone reading this post, I know, but I figure honesty is the best policy in this age of full disclosure.

Anyways, despite the fact that I have never read the series, I have been in love with this George Perez-pencilled, Alex Ross-painted wraparound cover since the first moment I laid eyes on it. I mean, just, wow! That's really just an intense looking cover!



The full image is even crazier. With a mind-boggling 562 characters featured, it has got to be one of the largest collections of super-folk ever.



Unsurprisingly, given their longevity in the DC Pantheon, the various Hawk-characters appear in the series, and thus, appear in this piece.

Up first is Earth-1 or Silver Age Hawkman, Katar Hol. Found on the exteme left-hand side of the image, in front of who I assume is Chemo, Katar looks appropriately awed by the situation. I am not sure why he has who I am guessing is Zatanna flying through his wing, but I really like the bright, clean look he has here.



Earth-1 Hawkgirl (or Hawkwoman as she was called by this point) Chayera Hol is next, found in the middle third of the image, right under Phantom Lady's boot. She's flying right at the reader, so we don't see much of her, but what we do is really sweet: her beautiful wings and downright awesome helmet!



Next is Earth-2 or Golden Age Hawkman, the blonde bombshell known exclusively as Carter Hall. Almost directly above Hawkwoman and right behind Starfire, Carter is depicted in his "lucha libre" style masked look. I imagine that this was done to help differentiate between the two versions, as otherwise they'd be identical! Once more the bright colors really pop in this format.



Last but certainly not least is the Earth-2 Hawkgirl, Shiera Sanders. Found immediately next to Supergirl's right hand, Shiera is in a pretty prime piece of real estate. She looks very graceful in flight here, and I like seeing her red-and-green costume used.



You can find a guide-map of all the characters over at the Annotated Crisis on Infinite Earths web site.



Like any good crossover, this would not be complete without a few others getting in on the action as well! So in the same spirit of bringing different characters together to fight a threat, we're bringing different bloggers together to post about this sweet piece of art! Check out these other character-driven comic book blogs to get the low-down on some other fan favorites.

The Aquaman Shrine

Doom Patrol

Firestorm Fan

I am the Phantom Stranger

Idol-Head of Diabolu (Martian Manhunter)

Justice League Detroit

Mail it to Team-up

Plastic Man Platitudes

Speed Force (Flash)

Blogs will live! Blogs will die! Who will survive the... Crisis on Earth Blog?!

Special thanks to Shag, who provided me with all of the COIE imagery, and to rob! for the awesome logo!

DC Cosmic Teams Trading Card

This trading card is a part of DC's 1993 "Cosmic Teams" cardset. This set was interesting in that it was almost entirely focused on teams, as the name implied. Since Hawkman was a member of the then recently released from Limbo Justice Society of America (before Zero Hour where most of the team was killed or otherwise weirded up), he is featured on his own card, as well as on the Justice Society's triptych, which I will post another time. Note that he is called out as the Golden Age Hawkman.



The card art is by none other than Mike Parobeck, who draws a pretty sweet pair of Hawks, I must admit! Maybe I can make a banner ouf of it or something.

Image: DC Cosmic Teams Hawkman trading card, scanned from personal collection.

Read: Flash Comics #5

Issue: Flash Comics #5 (Reprinted in The Golden Age Hawkman Archives v.1)
Title: "The Kidnapping Of Ione Craig" (suggested title)
Published Date: May 1940
Generation: Golden Age Carter
Retcon Status: In Continuity

Summary: After reading about several assassination attempts on heads of state, including the President, Carter Hall happens upon an attempted murder on the street.  Saving the young woman, he soon learns that her name is Ione Craig, and that she is a secret agent.  Her mission is to go to Araby and get to the bottom of the Sect Of Assassians, who are behind the assassination attempts.  Carter decides that she needs a bodyguard and follows her as Hawkman.  Ione is kidnapped from the market district in Cairo, and taken to the palace of Hassan Ibn Sadah, the head of the Sect.  Sadah plans to kill off the leaders of several countries at once and place Sect puppets in their place, effectively making him ruler of the world.  Hawkman infiltrates the palace nd kills one of the assassians with his sling, but then retreats before Sadah's archers can get him.  Returning after dark, Hawkman attacks the hundreds of assassians head-on, frees Ione, and kills Sadah with one well-placed sling shot.  With Sadah dead, Hawkman figures the Sect will soon fall, and he and Ione escape to the desert.

Review: A short and sweet yarn, which is appropriate considering Hawkman himself expresses similar sentiment about the adventure!  Taking Hawkman out of the cityscape gives Moldoff a chance to draw some more fantastical elements, including an Arabian palace and lots of assassians and thugs who look like they stepped out of a Sinbad movie.  Hawkman is especially brutal this time out, killing two men in the span of ten pages.  Worth noting is that the story in the next issue of Flash Comics actually picks up right where this one left off, a first for Hawkman.

Image: Flash Comics #5, 1940, Jon L. Blummer.

Read: Flash Comics #4

Issue: Flash Comics #4 (Reprinted in The Golden Age Hawkman Archives v.1)
Title: "Thought Terror"
Published Date: Apr 1940
Generation: Golden Age Carter
Retcon Status: In Continuity

Summary: A man has his future foretold by the Thought Terror, and is informed that he will become intoxicated and then die when he is hit by a car.  Later that evening, the man begins to feel drunk even though he has not had anything to drink.  As a car bears down on him, the man is saved by passer-by Carter Hall, who takes the man home, thinking it strange that he acts drunk but has no alcohol on his breath.  Carter figures that the Thought Terror was hypnotizing his clients and then making the predictions come true.  Hawkman flies off to investigate, first interrogating the driver and then going after the Terror himself.  He runs into trouble with the Terror's mesmerized guards, who in their hypnotized state are unstoppable.  He is captured and thrown in the dungeon.

Shiera finds the dungeon, and then brings Hawkman a blowtorch by which he manages to escape.  Hawkman then tries to find his shield, which he will use (like Perseus and Medusa) to avoid the hypnotic stare of the Terror.  Finding his weapon, Hawkman uses the shiny shield to reflect the Terror's hypnotic stare back on himself, changing him mentally into a harmless kitten.  With the Terror's mind no longer able to control those he hypnotized, his victims and henchmen return to normal.

Review: Much better than the previous Golden Age adventure, this tale of hypnosis and extortion was a lot of fun despite being a fairly quick read.  The Thought Terror makes for an interesting villian (who sadly never re-appeared), and his come-uppance at the end was well deserved and amusing.  This is the first time that artist Sheldon Moldoff would provide art for Hawkman, and he is a good fit, building upon the Alex Raymond look which Neville had in the previous installments but starting to move away from the science fiction look into more of a fantasy style.  It fits the characters very well, especially here with the hooded and robed baddies and Hawkman wielding an ancient shield.

Image: Flash Comics #4, 1940, George Storm.

Read: Flash Comics #3

Issue: Flash Comics #3 (Reprinted in The Golden Age Hawkman Archives v.1)
Title: "The Secret of Dick Blendon" (suggested title)
Published Date: Mar 1940
Generation: Golden Age Carter
Retcon Status: In Continuity, With Retcons

Summary: On patrol on night, Hawkman sees his old college buddy Dick Blendon sleepwalking, then returning to his home.  The next day, however, he discovers that his friend has died!  Paying his respects, Carter Hall runs into Dick' fellow scientist, Una Cathay, of whom he is immediately suspicious.  His suspicions turn out to be well founded as he soon discovers that Dick's body is missing.  Una and her accomplice Rolf have enslaved Dick and several other scientists with a strange formula, and are trying to extract the chemical secret to eternal life which Dick has developed.  Pretending to be interested, Hawkman infiltrates their lab, but Una sees through the ruse and ties a hair onto his wrist, with which she will burn the hero to death using voodoo.  Hawkman is narrowly saved when Shiera sees the hair and gets it off him right before it bursts into flame.  Returning to the lab, Hawkman frees the scientists, then gives chase to the captors.  Rolf kills himself by falling off the roof while trying to grab Hawkman, and Una herself wraps her car around a tree in her escape efforts.  Back home, the scientists say that Hawkman's identity is safe with them, and the Winged Wonder advises Dick to destroy the formula.

Review: This story was a little goofy, what with Hawkman being suspicious of Una because "she looks evil," to the scientists being trapped in big laboratory flasks, to Shiera spotting a single hair tied around Carter's wrist from across the room.  Still, a good adventure, although I am starting to really get the "Golden Age heroes didn't let their foes survive" vibe pretty strongly from this book so far!

Image: Flash Comics #3, 1940, Sheldon Moldoff.

Read: Flash Comics #2

Issue: Flash Comics #2 (Reprinted in The Golden Age Hawkman Archives v.1)
Title: "The Globe Conquerors" (suggested title)
Published Date: Feb 1940
Generation: Golden Age Carter,
Retcon Status: In Continuity, With Retcons

Summary: When skyscrapers in New York begin to collapse, Hawkman swoops in and saves his fiancee Shiera from the falling debris.  It seems that the disaster was caused by a man namaed Alexander, who desires a modern version of his namesake's empire.  How does Shiera know this?  Because she got herself and Carter invited to dinner at Alexander's estate, of course!  Saying that it is good to be gracious to one's foes, the pair meet the bulbous-headed Alexander, who shows them his invention: a ray which causes objects to become immensely heavy.  He then offers Hawkman a million dollars to leave him alone.  Carter does not take the offer, but leaves in peace, only to sneak back in to see if Alexander's ray effects Ninth Metal, which it does not.  Arming himself with a net and trident made of Ninth Metal, Hawkman attacks Alexander, but is caught in a trap when the "Globe Conqueror" turns the ray on Hawkman himself, weighing him down.  Shiera manages to free Hawkman, who stabs Alexander with the trident and destroys his machine.

Review: A story that is in a lot of ways very typical of the Golden Age: A mad scientist with a crazy invention, a very girly love interest (Shiera at one point says not to point the ray at her because she "weighs enough"), and a hero who kills the villain at the end.  Fox can't seem to decide if his hero is named Hawkman, The Hawk-Man, or The Hawk.  Neville's work definitely has a comic strip vibe, but despite the small panels the art has a great pulpy look to it.  I really liked that the modern day Alexander The Great had a lumpy head for some reason.  The idea of eating dinner at your enemy's house to be gracious has a sort of Fleming feel to it, don't you think?  Overall this story brought a smile to my face, partly for it's simple superheroics and partly for it's dated sensibilities; ie, Alexander actually puts an ad in the newspaper demanding that the US government surrender to him.

Image: Flash Comics #2, 1940, Dennis Neville.

Read: Flash Comics #1

Issue: Flash Comics #1 (Reprinted in The Golden Age Hawkman Archives v.1)
Title: "The Origin Of Hawkman" (suggested title)
Published Date: January, 1940
Generation: Golden Age Carter,
Retcon Status: In Continuity, With Retcons

Summary: Collector Carter Hall receives a package from a friend containing an ancient Egyptian dagger.  Looking at the weapon, he faints and flashes back to ancient times, where he is the noble Prince Khufu.  Khufu defeats the agents of Hath-Set, the trecherous priest of the "Hawk god" Anubis, and reunites with his beloved Shiera.  Hath-Sets army lays siege to their hold, and eventually Khufu is overcome and stabbed with the dagger, followed by Shiera.  Waking back in the present, Carter goes outside to clear his head and runs into a frightened mob fleeing the subway.  The tracks are glowing blue with electrical energy.  In the mob, he runs into the spitting image of his ancient love, who is surprised that this stranger knows her name, as well as the fact that she has been having similar dreams!  Taking her back to his home, Carter fashions himself a costume and wings made of Ninth Metal, and arms himself with a quarterstaff, and sets out to find the cause of the electrical disturbances.  Hawkman goes to the home of Dr. Anton Hastor, electrical genius, and reincarnation of Hath-Set!  After a short fight, Hastor hypnotises Shiera from afar, bringing her to his home.  But Hawkman is prepared, tossing a net of Ninth Metal over her to break the spell, andu sing his crossbow to best his foe, and destroy Hastor's lab (and seemingly the doctor with it).  Hawkman saves the day, and a new hero is born!

Review: And like that, the world was introduced to Hawkman.  Gardner Fox may have bee trying to fill up pages but the story crafted here for the origin of this winged hero is very compelling, thematically tying more into the adventure comic strips of the time than anything already established as "superheroic."  Similarly, Dennis Neville's art has a pulpy, Raymond-esque quality to it which fits the times nicely.  Fun to see Carter as a blonde.  I think Fox meant Osiris with the Hawk god, but Anubis is closer to the "god of death" than Osiris, so I guess it's a give and take.  I liked Hastor's vague mad science lab, creating "lightnings" that somehow attacked the subway line.  I have not read much in the way of Golden Age comics so these are still quite novel to me, and I really enjoyed the origin and introduction of the Winged Wonder.

Purchased: Golden Age Hawkman Archives V.1

Picked this up yesterday at Borderlands since it was a light week. I have not had a chance to crack the spine on this bad boy. Actually, this is the first Archive Edition I have ever purchased, so I am very much looking forward to reading it. This volume collects the Hawkman stories from Flash Comics #1-22.

Unfortunately, I don't think we will ever see a Volume 2.