“Showcase Presents Hawkman Vol. 1” is an interesting look at this iconic character from DC Comics. The early Joe Kubert issues are quite good — the energy he captures in each scene is amazing. The later issues, mostly by Murphy Anderson, have no where near the energy and life in them.
Showcase Presents Hawkman No. 1
With each issue, look for some interesting trademarks of a Silver Age Hawkman stories:
- Hawkman and Hawkgirl picking a new weapon that’s conveniently useful in the adventure.
- Those same weapons are always old Earth weapons, but never a Thangarian Laser Gun or something like that.
- Hawkgirl doing her best to be a domestic goddess. She’s often cooking, ironing clothes or performing some other stereotypical 1950s woman “domestic duty.”
- Mavis Trent lusting after Hawkman, because no mere human would satisfy her!
- Hawkgirl smugly enjoying the knowledge that she’ll always be the gal to get Hawkman.
- A frustrating inability for Hawkman to ever have an interesting badguy.
- An equally frustrating inability for there to develop a noteworthy villain that you’d want to see again.
- Hawkman and Hawkgirl talking to birds, because birds are always so interested in what people do.
All in all, it’s an amusing, lighthearted romp through the early DC Universe. One that seems totally removed from connections with DC’s heavy hitters. We see guest stars from Aquaman, Atom and Adam Strange, but no Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman. Oh well, that’s the life of a second stringer.
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