In Dark Night Metals #4,Batman and Superman made it to the Forge of Worlds and their hope that Carter Hall can help them. Instead the worlds finest are confronted by a giant hawk creature. This issues gives little away as to the hawk creature, but there are clues if you look closely enough. For the most part we see a man who dreams of flying, then falling night after night. After one such episode, he finally goes on the offense taking the battle to the men-hawks that torment him and other almost familiar prisoners.
Jeff Lemire delivers a story that is for the long term fans. Sure, there are minor parts of explanation, some more obvious than others; but for the most part if you don’t know a great deal about Hawkman, then this book may well feel a waste of time, especially as it fits the tie-in formula of alternative versions and no real major story progression. The dialogue has a certain cadence that reverberates through the book well, giving Carter the feel of an obsessed desperate man. This is an important part of the book, as at it’s core, this is Carter’s story. How this issue fits into the main Metals landscape will have to wait till Dark Nights Metal #5, which could give this book more resonance.
I have been very vocal regarding Bryan Hitch’s Justice League run, where he pulls double duty as writer and artist. Here, it is safe to say, that DC have let him work to his strengths, that being his art. Hitch’s recent work has elements of photo realism, having clearly used different Batman’s (Keaton, Bale etc.), sometimes in the same issue, giving an uneven look to the book, which also suffered from perspective problems in the action scenes. In Hawkman Found, there is no easy references on show and for the most part Hitch’s pencils work well. Hitch is the king of the big panel, using these to draw (no pun intended) the reader into the book. Being “only” the artist gives him the chance to work on someone else’s script. This may seem an obvious thing to say, but I would assume as an artist first, writing for yourself runs the risk of going off script when you get a new idea for an image, potentially causing some of the unevenness seen in the aforementioned Justice League. Working with Lemire gives Hitch a level of focus. There are still minor perspective problems, but I can live with them. Inks are supplied by the fantastic Kevin Nowlan using a heavy line that we have come to expect from Hitch’s art. Alex Sinclair and Jeremiah Skipper provide a standard color scheme that has moved away from the dark multiverse schemes of the majority of the tie-ins.
I had high hopes for this issue. Hawkman, hell the entire JSA, has been MIA for sometime. This book, probably more than others seems to be setting the stage for the new range of books that are feeding off the Metals storyline. As such, I think that that the impact of this book depends on the following issues of the main story.
Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Jeff Lemire
Art by; Bryan Hitch with Kevin Nowlan
Colors by; Alex Sinclair and Jeremiah Skipper
Published by; DC Comics
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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