Monday, January 9, 2012

Read: The Savage Hawkman #3

Issue: The Savage Hawkman #3
Title: "Razing Kane"
Published Date: Nov. 2011
Generation: New 52 Carter
Retcon Status: In Continuity

Summary: At Prof. Ziegler's lab, Carter Hall examines Morphicius's containment unit, when it mysteriously opens up and a hologram is displayed.  A judge from the High Council explains that Morphicius and his plague have been released, but the hologram shorts out before the judge can explain what the alien's weakness is.

At Dr. Hogarth Kane's lab, Morphicius is strapped down to a lab table, where Dr. Kane explains that he is his latest experiment.  Morhpicius claims that he will kill Dr. Kane, but Kane's assistant Aksana cuts into the beast's chest with a giant saw.

Carter heads to the home of Emma and Prof. Ziegler, and finds out that the only person who had unfettered access to the lab besides the Professor was Terrance.  Hawkman tracks down Terrence, who is being attacked by one of Morphicius's plague beasts.  Hawkman stops the creature and interrogates Terrance, who offers to take him to Morphicius.  

At Dr. Kane's lab, the autopsy is complete, and all that is left is the head and brain.  Kane is excited because it appears that the cellular organisms in Morphicius's body can both heal and destroy.  Hawkman arrives, leaving Terrance on the roof.  Before he can get inside, though, Morphicius's head comes back to life!  Aksana changes form into a humanoid reptile to intercept him, but Hawkman crashes into the lab, and the two begin to tangle.  As they fight, Terrance changes into a Plague beast and shambles to the head of Morphicius, where the alien is reborn!

Review: This is a fairly fast moving issue, with a lot of jumps here and there.  The scenes with Dr. Kane and Aksana in the lab are the most interesting parts of the first half, as the scene with Carter seeing the hologram of the judge doesn't really answer many questions.  It's still a little confusing to me what the deal is with Morphicius and his Plague, which is annoying.  Sometimes you get a "middle issue" and that's what this one is -- the pieces have to be moved together for the finale in the next issue.  Daniel's dialogue fares somewhat better than his story, without some of the clunkiness in the non-costumed scenes we got previously.  I liked Carter's line to Emma of "Actually, I smelled coffee..." quite a bit.  I like Tan's art style, and having him drawing alien monsters and dudes in armor fighting is a strong suit!

Overall, this issue is the least one so far of this series.  I didn't dislike it, but it was not nearly as fun to read as the first two.  Still, if you liked what Daniel and Tan did on the first two then you will be on board for this one as well.

Image: The Savage Hawkman #3, 2011, Philip Tan.

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