Waiting In The Wings -- 3/24/2010

Can we expect any new Hawk-type stuff at our shops this week?  Let's take a peek.

Green Lantern #52 -- DC is calling this essentially the first part of Blackest Night #8, so I imagine that we will see something of the BL Hawks before the big blowoff next week.  Considering what we are seeing from the solicits for Brightest Day, it seems like only a matter of time before we see a cover with Hawkman and Hawkgirl on it... but speculation of Brightest Day will have to wait a couple more weeks, sorry folks.

BN Hawkgirl Toy Solicited

From DC's June solicitations:

Included in this sixth installment of the series are Hal Jordan, the personification of the Green Lantern Corps; Wonder Woman, who finds the power of love and joins the ranks of the Star Sapphires; Hawkgirl, who was one of the first heroes to lose her life to the dark power of the Black Lanterns; and The Flash, who couples the power of the blue ring with his trademark speed to carry the message of hope to all.

Looks cool!  Kendra does look like she needs to eat a bit more, but that's how she is rendered in Blackest Night so I can't complain.

Image: Blackest Night Hawkgirl toy, 2010, image retrieved from Newsarama.

Waiting In The Wings -- 3/17/2010

Will there be any Hawk-centric stuff available for purchase on this St. Patrick's Day? Let's find out!

Blackest Night #5 (2nd printing), Green Lantern Corps #46 -- Two Blackest Night books, two chances to see the BL-versions of the Hawks. I know that pickings are going to be slim until the end of the event, but at least DC makes sure to put out a new related issue every week or so!

Hawkman Turnaround Jose Luis Lopez-Garcia

Came across this awesome turnaround for the Winged Wonder, and man, how nice does this look?  Jose Luis Lopez-Garcia's DC stuff pretty much defines the "iconic" look of the DCU for me, mostly because of licensing stuff such as this.  He has never worked on Hawkman for any real comics work, which would be a total dream come true for me.

I really like the use of the hybrid chain-mace here, which combines the chain mace from the very early Silver Age with the more traditional morningstar handle.  The cosmic background of the middle image suggests that this is Katar Hol, which follows.  JLLG's style of trim muscularity is put to good use on Hawkman.  He definitely looks solidly built here, as he should.  I mean, he's Hawkman!  The helmet and wing harness are spot on, no complaints here.

Seriously, I wish this was colored.  Anyone out there seen that image?!

Image: Hawkman turnaround, ????, Jose Luis Lopez-Garcia, image retrieved from Collectingfool.com

Custom Black Lantern Hawkman

We are getting an official Black Lantern Hawkman from DC Direct this summer, but why wait when we can check out this cool custom figure right now?!  

Created by StEvOtoys, this custom takes the DCUC Hawkman (which I still, uh, need to open up at some point... Madballs are easier, I guess), and transforms him into the zombified version.  I like the wings getting their skeletal look like in the mini, and the toothy grin, while a little silly, certainly looks nasty.  The addition of the new chestpiece is a little sloppy but not bad.  All in all it's a good custom job and a good use of an existing figure to make something unique.  You can see more pictures here.

Thanks to Diabolu Frank over at The Idol-Head for hooking me up with this link!

(Appropriately, I am listening to the Gravediggaz as I write this post...)

Image: Custom Black Lantern Hawkman, 2010, image retrieved from FigureRealm.

ECCC Hawkman Print by Phillip Tan

I found this online almost by accident, at Philip Tan's and Francis Takenaga's site, Mutant Asians.  This print of Hawkman is being offered this weekend at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle.  (You can see a bigger copy of it at the site.)

Tan's work, when it is on, is pretty badass, and this print is no exception.  The only thing I don't care for is the overly busy helmet.  Worth noting is the katar, or punching blade, in Hawkman's left hand.  The katar was the post-Crisis, Hawkworld-and-beyond Katar Hol's signature weapon.  Could this be a sign of things to come?

Tan also teases that there is a second print which goes with this one... maybe it's Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman?!  We'll have to wait and see for that one.

Image: ECCC Hawkman Print, 2010, Phillip Tan, image retrieved from Mutant Asians.

Waiting In The Wings -- 3/10/2010

Will there be any Hawk-related stuff waiting for us in our local comic shops this week?  Let's take a look.

Justice League: Rise And Fall Special -- I mentioned yesterday that at the very least Hawkman has a cameo in this issue.  Will he have more of a role?  Hard to say because of Blackest Night, but the very end of CFJ seemed to take place after the end of BN.  Would DC let JT Krul spoil Hawkman's possible return?  I don't know.  This still looks good though.

Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton #1 -- With the New Krypton story colliding with last year's Brainiac story, all hell is breaking loose, I am sure.  The Thanagarians had a minor part in World Of New Krypton, so I imagine that they might factor in here in some way.  

Hawkman in Justice League: Rise And Fall?

If you head over to DC's The Source blog, you can get a preview of this week's Justice League: Rise And Fall Special, featuring the next chapter in the saga of what the heck is going on with Green Arrow.  On one page, we see Hawkman is present in the butt-whooping being dished out by Prometheus (from Cry For Justice #6), and given that he was featured here, and that Green Arrow is the main focus, could the Winged Wonder have a role in this Special?  We'll know on Wednesday, but for now, that's a pretty neat preview page.

Image: Preview page from Justice League: Rise And Fall Special, 2010, Mike Mayhew?, image retreieved from DC Universe: The Source.

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.

Hawkman And Hawkgirl Topps "Foldies"

I got these "Foldies" images from rob! over at The Aquaman Shrine, and needless to say they are more than a little weird.  Way before my time, these guys (with art by Wally Wood!) were designed so that you could flip over the different panels in order to create strange mashups of characters.  For example, you could put together the Hawkman top and the Cave Man bottom to make "Winged Cave Man," or Governor and Hawkgirl to make Dutch Hawkgirl.

As strange as some of these are, the entire set is so bizarre that I considered just making it a link post as a Weekly Dose of Weird over on The Bunker.  Head on over to the Shrine and see the inanity for yourself.

Images: Hawkman and Hawkgirl foldies, 1966, images retrieved from The Aquaman Shrine.

Evil Hawkman from JL: Crisis on Two Earths

Thanks to Shag over at Firestorm Fan, I have this little screencap of what appears to be a Crime Syndicate version of Hawkman from the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths OVA.  Our Evil Winged Wonder appears on a screen featuring lots of evil versions of familiar heroes (you can see more here).

I wonder what the CSA version of Hawkman would be called?  The modern version of the Crime Syndicate's Hawkman was called Blood Eagle, but I personally have always thought the name Raptor would be a good fit, too.  (Much better than Blue Eagle, the Hawkman analogue from the Squadron Supreme!)

Evil Hawkgirl has a role in the film too, under the name Angelique.  

I will have to track down a copy of this one, methinks!

Image: Crime Syndicate Hawkman, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, image retrieved from Firestorm Fan.

Waiting In The Wings -- 03/03/2010

Do we have any Hawk-stuff in shops this week?  Let's find out!

Justice League of America: Cry For Justice #7 -- Hawkgirl and Hawkman both were taken out in spectacular fashion by Prometheus last issue.  I imagine they will at least make token appearances here.  The timeline of all this is confusing (this must happen before Blackest Night, right?) but I have enjoyed this series and am looking forward to reading it all in one sitting.  I like the earnestness to the proceedings, which some folks call "camp" but clearly isn't camp.  

Furthermore, let me also take this moment to address the folks out there complaining about Prometheus taking out the Justice League: THAT'S WHAT HE DOES.  You have to put over your baddies to make them legitimate threats, and I can't think of a better way than wiping out the entire League on the freaking Satelite.  And not just going in and pounding everyone, but using planning and tactics to do it really re-establishes Prometheus as what Morrison intended him to be: the anti-Batman.  That having been said, he'll get his at some point, preferrably from Ollie and Roy.

Batman: The Brave & The Bold Video Game... featuring Hawkman?

Thanks to rob! over at The Aquaman Shrine, we have this first look at the cover of the upcoming Batman: The Brave And The Bold video game for the Nintendo Wii, and who's that on the cover?  Why, it's the Winged Wonder, Hawkman!  No idea if he will actually feature in the game, but why would they put him on the cover if he wasn't in there, right?

Unfortunately I don't own a Wii, so I will not be able to play this one, but it still a great idea for a game.

Image: Batman: The Brave And The Bold video game cover, 2010, image retrieved from The Aquaman Shrine.