Review: Hawkman #4

While Carter Hall is trying to put together the lessons he“s learned from his various incarnations so far, the Deathbringers have arrived. They are living up to their names. Can Carter figure out the secret of the Hawk God before the Deathbringers destroy more worlds saved by one of the many versions of Hawkman?

Well that is if Carter Hall can survive being attacked by Katar Hol in the skies of Thanagar. One of the things that I have enjoyed in this series so far is how Robert Venditti hasn“t been trying to merge the personalities of the previous versions of Hawman man into a single character disposition. Each version is allowed to be who they most commonly were when they played the primary Hawkman. Katar was and is pretty much a jerk. And while Carter slowly comes to terms of his memories as Kartar Hol“s incarnation of Hawkman, he doesn“t let that overwhelm who he is.

Having been bounced around from ancient Egypt to 20th century America and now to Thanagar, Carter Hall seems to have a much greater understanding of who his previous incarnations were than they did of themselves or of each other. Hopefully he can use this awareness to figure out the Hawk God“s puzzle before it is too late.

Both Venditti and Bryan Hitch have done an excellent job of giving an honest portrayal of Carter as he suddenly remembers important things even in the middle of the fight. Whether is it how he is momentarily distracted by the beauty of Thanagar“s cities – which Hitch has made incredibly beautiful in both the downside and upside – or how his is befogged by the sudden appearance of Shiera it makes sense and plays well in the issue.

Speaking of Shiera, I am glad that she finally made an appearance, even if it is as fleeting as this one is. Venditti and Hitch have to get her back to being a major character in this Hawkman“s life. He still strikes me as unbalanced without her by his side.

As with the other issues in this story arc, the creators have made it very easy to pick up this book at any point in the story and make it comfortable for the reader to jump in mid-tale. It is a much rarer skill than it used to be and it always impressive when it is done well as it is here.

It looks like next issue will wrap up this arc and I am not only looking forward to seeing how this story ends, but I really want to see where Venditti and Hitch will lead the character once they have completed their reintroduction. Who knows? Maybe this version of Hawkman will stick around for a while. I hope he does.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: Robert Venditti
Penciller: Bryan Hitch
Inkers: Andrew Currie, Andy Owens & Daniel Henriques
Colorist: Jeremiah Skipper

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Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!