Title: "Rise Of The Dead"
Published Date: Mar 2012
Generation: New 52 Carter
Retcon Status: In Continuity
Summary: As the host of living dead pour across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, Hawkman swoops around protecting the humans still caught on the bridge. He soon is helped by a mysterious flash of energy, the origin of which is revealed to be the teenaged hero Static. The two heroes determine that the zombies are following the Gentleman Ghost and the Mortis Orb to Central Park, and head for Midtown.
While Static keeps the zombies at bay, Hawkman attacks the Ghost. But Craddock is ready for him, first sending the apparitions to keep the Winged Wonder occupied, and then blasting him with the power of the Orb directly. Carter is able to battle back against the apparitions, as the Orb is making them somewhat more solid -- and thus more vulnerable. But just as the Ghost is about to use the orb, the spirit of the warlock Julius Gates grabs him, and the two undead fiends struggle. As Gates pulls Craddock back into the spirit realm, Hawkman grabs the Orb, and all of the zombies collapse. Static asks Hawkman what he intends to do with the Orb, and our hero says that he will take it "far away." Indeed he does, taking it to Antarctica, where he dumps the Orb into a deep chasm.
Back in his building in the Bronx, Carter runs into Emma and Singh, who are watching the news reports of the mysterious Hawkman in New York. Seeking a little peace and quiet, Hawkman heads ofr a quiet rooftop. But his reverie is short-lived, as he is attacked by the alien shapeshifter Aksana!
Review: The first thing you notice as you open this issue is that the art is not by Philp Tan! Though he does the cover, the interiors are done by Cliff Richards, credited as "illustrator." He handles the hordes of the undead quite well, and the action sequences look fluid and fresh. So, overall, I approve. Tan's work is such that he does need the odd fill-in here and there; I am happy that of his run on Savage Hawkman we only had the one.
Daniel and Bonny are still handling the story and this issue -- being as it is essentially a big battle, being the blowoff to the arc -- is much more satisfying than the previous. There's no logical inconsistencies this time out; we get Hawkman and Static fighting Gentleman Ghost and his zombies. Sounds like a good comic book to me! I also like how Daniel once again uses the trick of introducing next issue's story in the tail end of this one, same as was done in #4.
Speaking of Static, I really enjoyed his little guest spot here. His dialogue was amusing, talking about how he has an algebra test in the morning which he needs to study for, and how he found out about the zombie revolt from Twitter. (Didn't that used to be called Twitterati in the DCU? Or something like that?) I also enjoyed Hawkman's take on the young hero, saying that he "loves the kid's style." And it makes sense for two heroes in New York to run into each other when the the living dead are walking the streets of Manhattan.
Overall, I liked this storyline despite a middling second chapter. Gentleman Ghost is always a welcome villain and it seemed like Daniel and Bonny were starting to hit their stride. Sadly there's only one more issue of this crew with this character, but it's been an intriguing ride so far.
Image: The Savage Hawkman #7, 2012, Philip Tan.
3 comments:
I thought it was a terrible climax. In the last issue, Hawkman caused the main crisis by digging up the orb, then in #7 he doesn't really do a dang thing to cause Craddock's failure. The ghost of a guy mentioned previously just suddenly appears and takes care of the problem for him. Terrible.
Yeah. I can buy that. But we can't always solve the problems we cause.
I think the idea here was that Carter is having his eyes opened to the wider world he has to deal with, and that you can't always just hit problems until they die. Which gets touched on somewhat in the next issue as well (that is, in the form of getting suckered). Is that the point? I don't know, but that was the sort of vibe I took from it.
That having been said would it have been more satisfying to have Carter wail on Craddock? Certainly.
I was not a huge Hawkman fan before, but Tony's run has made me one two bad they are going to completely change him again. I think the alien armor was an awesome idea, yes he is a battle tank, but carrying all those weapons was a bit much. I think if Tony would have stayed on he could have brought more fans in.
Not to say Rob will mess it up, but I really don't know if it is going to stay in my pull list....
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