HAWKMAN by Robert Vendetti

My Thoughts

Off the top of my head, I can only think of one true comics-killer besides Fredric Wertham: continuity. Above all the various publishers in the comic book industry, continuity is especially seen as the Achilles Heel, the Kryptonite if you must, of DC Comics. Now, out of all the super-heroes in the DC Universe, continuity is the Kryptonite of our one and only winged warrior, Hawkman. 

However, Robert Vendetti proves to comic readers and DC fans that while continuity does plague the eternal aviator, it simultaneously acts as his own yellow sun: his greatest strength.

Vendetti's Hawkman is a triumph for DC, an unrecognized masterpiece, and easily the greatest run of the character to this day. Spinning out of 2017's Dark Nights: Metal, Hawkman embarks on a journey to seek revelation in his past lives, as a primordial threat from his forgotten genesis emerges to reap vengeance. At the same time, Robert Vendetti begins an odyssey to coalesce decades of continuity dementia regarding the history of Carter Hall into one consolidated prism of reincarnation.

Spoiler alert: he does just that.

You do not need to read anything before this book. Normally, I am a proponent of prior understanding and consumption of ancillary material to enhance a reading, but this run fills in the gaps for an aligned comprehension void of unnecessary fallout from other events. During the second half of Hawkman, Scott Snyder and his cronies laid the foundations for their Metal sequel spinning out of the event-fatigued Justice League run. 2019's Year of the Villain crossover incorporated Hawkman as a member of The Batman Who Laughs' Secret Six; a group of heroes gone rogue after infection via laced batarangs. This is completely irrelevant to the Hawkman run, but Vendetti uses the mandate to allow for a fascinating segue into the climax of the narrative. I don't believe anything from Year of the Villain is required to understand the second half, and Vendetti fills in the blanks pretty well with some well-integrated exposition.

This run is a celebration of Hawkman, bringing together all four corners of his history and meeting the ends to provide a worthwhile and well-deserved rebirth for the Forever Champion of the skies.

Reading Order

[VOL I - Awakening]

• Hawkman #1 - "What's Past Is Prologue"
• Hawkman #2 - "River of Time"
• Hawkman #3 - "Right of Passage"
• Hawkman #4 - "Reunions"
• Hawkman #5 - The Fury & The Titan, Part I : "Half-Lives"
• Hawkman #6 - The Fury & The Titan, Part II : "Earth Shattering"

[VOL II - Deathbringer]

• Hawkman #7 - "Origin"
• Hawkman #8 - Cataclysm, Part I : "Requiem"
• Hawkman #9 - Cataclysm, Part II : "Descent"
• Hawkman #10 - Cataclysm, Part III : "London Falling"
• Hawkman #11 - Cataclysm, Part IV : "A Cast of Hawks"
• Hawkman #12 - Cataclysm, Part V : "Out of Many, One"

[VOL III - Darkness Within]

• Hawkman #13 - "On Common Ground"
• Hawkman #14 - "Shadowed"
• Hawkman #15 - "Shades of Former Selves"
• Hawkman #16 - "Old Ghosts"
• Hawkman #17 - "Black Mantle"
• Hawkman #18 - Tyrant Reborn, Part I : "Dual"
• Hawkman #19 - Tyrant Reborn, Part II : "Better Half"

[VOL IV - Hawks Eternal]

• Hawkman #20 - Death's Doorway, Part I : "Passengers"
• Hawkman #21 - Death's Doorway, Part II : "The Key"
• Hawkman #22 - Death's Doorway, Part III : "From End to Beginning"
• Hawkman #23 - "Miasma of Fear"
• Hawkman #24 - "Side by Side"
• Hawkman #25 - "Taking Lives"
• Hawkman #26 - "Death of A Thousand Hawks"
• Hawkman #27 - Final Justice, Part I : "Seems Like Old Times"
• Hawkman #28 - Final Justice, Part II : "The Nth Degree"
• Hawkman #29 - Final Justice, Part III : "In The End"

Favorite Moments - [SPOILERS]

Hawkman #7 - "Origin"

"I choose to live again."

Hawkman #8 - Cataclysm, Part I : "Requiem"

"Impossibly, amidst all this ruination, you've given me hope."

Hawkman #13 - "On Common Ground"

"But we found a better way instead."

Hawkman #19 - Tyrant Reborn, Part II : "Better Half"

"We would've been so bad for each other."

Hawkman #26 - "Death of A Thousand Hawks"

"Here it comes. Everything."

Hawkman #29 - Final Justice, Part III : "In The End"

"After all the time and space, every millennium and world, these are the legacies that matter."