Hawkman Sketch By Dan Panosian

Our Hawkman sketch today is by Dan Panosian, aka the Urban Barbarian, who is best known right now probably for his work on the current X-Factor Forever series.

It's a nice headshot, with a sort of Mignola vibe to it. I like the details on the helmet, and the use of lines on his faces, giving him an aged-but-still-tough look. The colors are nice too. All in all a nice sketch.

You can check out more of Panosian's work here.

Disclaimer: I do not own or have possession of this sketch. It is being reposted from the cited website only.

Image: Hawkman, 2010, Dan Panosian, image retrieved from Comic Twart.

Waiting In The Wings -- 04/28/2010

Any Hawkstuff in shops this week?  Let's find out!  (Yes I know this is late a day.  Contractor at the house, yeesh.)

DC Library Justice League of America By George Perez v.2 -- Man I dig George Rerez doing the big players of the DC Universe, including the Hawks in this collection of some of his work from the 80s.  This includes the seminal JLA #200 as well!

Hawkman Fanfiction Series

Stumbled across this site after getting a link from... someone... and thought I would pass it along.  Faux DC is a fanfiction site wherein the authors continue ongoing series with their own ideas.  Author TJ Burns has penned several issues of Hawkman continuing from Volume 3 of the series.  I have not had a chance to read all of them yet, but it's a good site definitely worth poking around.  Check it out!

(By the way, sorry about the lame couple of days... my brain is not working right here for some reason.)

Interview With Gerry Conway

Hey everyone, do yourself a solid and head over to Views From The Longbox, where Michael Bailey (he of From Crisis To Crisis and Tales Of The Justice Society of America)and Shag (he of Once Upon A Geek and Firestorm Fan) sit down with legendary comics creator Gerry Conway, who was gracious enough to answer a few of my questions, including one regarding Hawkman and Hawkwoman.  Definitely worth a listen!

Waiting In The Wings -- 4/21/2010

Will the newly-revived Winged Wonders show up anywhere this week?  Let's see what we can see.

Blackest Night Director's Cut -- Hrrm, well.  Okay, so this probably won't feature the revived Hawkman and Hawkgirl, but promises to give some insight into the event which killed them in the first place!  I wonder if this sort of stuff will make it into the Blackest Night hardcover?

Talking About My (Hawk) Generation

Today I thought I would briefly talk about the Generations which I use in my reviews and other posts to let the reader know which Hawks they are reading about.  Considering how complex some of the Hawk continuity is regarding retcons and what-have-you, keeping track of the heroes of the stories when they were published is useful -- hence why I include it, and this reference.

Keep in mind that when I try to figure out the Retcon Status, if I say "Changed Generation," that means that the story started out with one of these generations and now exists with another.  A lot of the Silver Age stories were Retconed to feature the Golden Age Hawks, for instance, after Crisis on Infinite Earths.  This is not really an exact science for me, since I am looking at it all after-the-fact, but if one of the hurdles to being a Hawkfan is keeping track of which Hawk is which, then I want to make those hurdles as low as possible.  Also, this will not cover any non-"true" Hawks, such as the imposter Fel Andar.  Maybe that will be another post?

Golden Age Carter/Golden Age Shiera -- The originals, first appearing in Flash Comics in 1940.  Carter Hall is an archeologist, and the reincarnated spirit of the ancient Egyptian Prince Khufu.  Shiera Hall-nee-Saunders, his wife, is the reincarnation of Khufu's bride Princess Chay-era.  They fight crime using ancient weapons along with the mysterious Nth Metal in their wing harnesses which allow them to fly.  Both were eventually members of the Justice Society of America.

Silver Age Katar/Silver Age Shayera -- Possibly the most iconic representation of the Hawks.  Katar Hol and Shayera Hol-nee-Thal are a husband-and-wife team of police officers from the planet Thanagar, which orbits the star Polaris.  After chasing a Thanagarian criminal to Earth, they stayed and made a life for themselves.  They hold the secret identities of Carter and Shiera Hall, curators of the Midway City Museum.  They fight crime using both ancient weapons and advanced Thanagarian science, and fly using the Thanagarian Nth Metal in their wing harnesses.  The pair can also talk to Earth birds using their *wheet wheet* powers.  Both were eventually members of the Justice League of America, and Shiera eventually changed her name to Hawkwoman.  Also known as the "Pre-Crisis Hawkman and Hawkgirl."

Modern Katar/Modern Shayera -- Introduced by Tim Truman in the Hawkworld miniseries, these Hawks were a drastic departure from those who had come before them.  Katar Hol and Shayera Thal were two "Wingmen" or law enforcement officers from the totaltarian planet Thanagar.  After chasing a Thanagarian criminal to Earth, the set up shop in Chicago.  Wearing their full Wingman's uniforms, they fought crime with modern weapons, including firearms, in addition to hand-to-hand weapons (including Hawkman's katar sword) and Thanagarian technology.  Katar eventually ventured off on his own, and was possessed by the Hawk Avatar, an animal spirit, then driven mad and banished into limbo.  Shayera was always known as Hawkwoman, and continued to fight crime until she died during the Rann-Thanagar War.  This duo is also known as the "Post-Crisis Hawkman and Hawkwoman."

Kendra -- Kendra Saunders, grand-niece of the Golden Age Shiera, was a troubled woman who committed suicide.  When she did, her great-great-aunt's soul entered her body.  But the reincarnation did not work correctly, and she did not retain any memories of her past lives.  Joined the new version of the Justice Society of America, and eventually partnered with the Modern Carter Hall in St. Roch, Lousiana.  She fought crime using ancient weapons and is able to fly thanks to the Thanagarian Nth Metal in her belt.  Kendra was murdered by during the Blackest Night event.

Modern Carter -- A reincarnation of the Golden Age Carter Hall, but with a few differences.  During a ritual on Thanagar, the soul of Carter Hall was returned to a copy of Katar Hol's body, giving him black hair instead of blonde.  Carter would become a mainstay at the Stonechat House museum in St. Roch, Lousiana, as well as become the chairman of the new Justice Society of America.  Carter liked to use ancient weapons pretty much exclusively, and flew thanks to the Thanagarian Nth Metal in his wing harness.  Carter was murdered at the beginning of Blackest Night, but brought back to life by The Entity.

Modern Shiera -- First seen during the end of the Blackest Night event.  When The Entity resurrected a dozen dead heroes and villians, Kendra Saunders was ostensibly one of them -- but it was Shiera Hall who came back, with all of the memories of her past lives intact.  The hows and whys of her return are still a mystery, apparently to be explained in the Brightest Day series.

Any questions?

Read: Brightest Day #0

Issue: Brightest Day #0
Title: "Carpe Diem"
Published Date: Apr 2010
Generation: Modern Carter, Modern Shiera
Retcon Status: In Continuity

Summary: In St. Roch, Carter shows Shiera relics from their past lives, all of which she remembers, along with the details about them and their lives.  Carter becomes meloncholy, wondering if now that he and Shiera are truly back together it will only be a matter of time before they must die and be driven apart again.  Shiera comforts him, telling him that they always have to live for the present, and their time together must be cherished.  The two fall into a passionate embrace (not even noticing Boston Brand, who is mysteriously transported into their presence, but doesn't spy on them).  

A shard of a gem Shiera had in her belt glows violet and snaps onto the Claw of Horus like a magnet.  Shiera tells Carter that the shard was given to her by a Star Sapphire, and is part of the Heart of Zamaron.  They two Hawks wing off to investigate.  They both feel a a strange chill, however, when a group of men working for an unidentified "client" locate the bodies of Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-era in the Himalayas.

Later, Boston Brand recieves a headful of jumbled images, including Hawkman and Hawkgirl coming to blows with each other.

Review: For these reviews, I am just going to be covering the relevant Hawk stuff.  Alright?  Alright.  I have also added a Generation for Hawkgirl, which I think is only appropriate.

Anyways, this was an excellent introduction to what Johns has in store for his resurrected characters, and the dynamics of those characters.  Carter and Shiera taking the trip down memory lane was great, as was Carter's sudden depression and Shiera's comforting.  I really got a great vibe off of this couple and that alone makes me happy.  It seems to me that Johns is going to be running with the retro-active concept that Carter's agression and anger is tempered by Shiera's patience.  Fernando Pasarin is an artist whose work I have really enjoyed on other DC work, including Outsiders, so I am very jazzed about him working on so many classic DCers on this title.  Definitely a great debut issue.

Also, it's not Hawk related but way to go Aquaman!  (If you read the issue, you'll know what I mean!)

Image: Brightest Day #0, 2010, David Finch.