Imagine being born of privilege, ruler of a country, married to the love of your life, respected loved, revered... Then image dying for that love, giving up everything to be with the one you love for all eternity. Now Imagine you and your eternal love being reincarnated over the centuries, destined to fall in love, again and again fated to die. This is the story of Hawkman and Hawkgirl this is their burden.
In this article I will not revisit his convoluted history, I will deal with what is. Although the relationship between the two characters adds immensely to the strength of Hawkman, there is more to him then his love for Hawkgirl. He is a warrior, adept in the use of multiple weapons. Enhanced strength and senses, a healing factor, and a body able to withstand extreme temperatures, and stress. Think of him as Conan +Wolverine with wings. With this life Carter (Carter Hall) retains all of his memories of his past lives. Centuries of experience and knowledge come into play with every battle...he's a brilliant strategist, savage warrior and refined man of antiquities.
During his latest series Carter remembers his previous lives, Kendra doesn't. Recently he's realized that to save Kendra's life he they must be apart, their destiny as lovers means they're fated to die. Realizing to keep the love of his life safe means they can't be together has added an intensity to their relationship that never existed before.
Hawkman doesn't have the colorful popular rogues like Superman, Batman or the Flash. In fact I'm hard pressed to name more then three of his villians; Lionmane, Gentleman Ghost, and the Shadow Thief, sorry that's all I got. A friend of mine recently said that a great hero is defined by his villians. There is something very logic about that. Through conflict with the villian you get a sense of the hero, his true quality so to speak. Another element that should be added is the title characters supporting players, of which Hawkman has very few (until recently).
Hawkman has had numerous titles and none have been as popular as his current, which was canceled after he was removed from his own book and it was retitled Hawkgirl. So what made this character work for me? First and foremost the story of their forbidden love was a huge draw for me. I don't need slugfest from cover to cover. Not to say this book was slight on action, far be it, this book was high octane action. Which leads me to my next reason for loving this character, Hawkman is a beast, he doesn't shy away from a battle no matter who is opponent is; from Shadow thief to Deathstroke to Black Adam, he's flying at you with his mace in his hands and a snarl on his lips.
Lastly in this latest series the creative team did a marvelous job blending all the past incarnations of Hawkman titles into one making him a well rounded character. And I think that's the key. Look back at Animal Man and tell me who his rogues were, what about Starman, or Booster Gold, I could probably go on.
I'm not saying the villians should be discounted, I'm saying the title character is primary, and if that character is well done then he will have longevity as a character (maybe not as a title).
Hawkman works for me...he's cool, he's dangerous and I'm interested in his life.
1 comment:
Very insightful and on point!
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