Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: HAWKMAN
From stately, space-faring elegance and a simple, straightforward origin story and purpose... to Complete and Utter Ruination, in just a little over three decades. Give or take.
No... I'm not talking about the super-hero genre in comics, here, specifically
(although the metaphor would still hold up, if I were...). 
I refer, instead, to the fumble-witted (mis)handling of one of the most interesting and evocative heroic icons of the Silver Age: that of the winged warrior known (to several generations of devoted fans) as HAWKMAN.
As initially conceptualized, and presented... the original baseline premise was almost crystalline in its storytelling purity. Alien law-enforcement officials (Hawkman, along with wife [and partner] Hawkgirl) come to our planet, in order to study crime-fighting and detection techniques unique to our species and culture(s). Whilst so profitably engaged, the duo -- after utilizing their own "native" crime-busting technology (i.e., artificial winged flight) in the swift resolution of several high-profile cases -- find themselves dubbed "super-heroes"... and decide to make Earth their new, permanent mailing address.
Fast... easy... and perfectly linear: that was the long and the short
of the character's "backstory." So straightforward and unassuming... it
could practically be turned into a child's backyard puppet show.
This admirable simplicity, however, should not be taken as license to infer that the Gardner Fox-scripted HAWKMAN comics ofthe Silver Age were -- in turn -- simplistic. With the obvious exception of the "New Look" issues of BATMAN and DETECTIVE of the period... no other DC series of the day enjoyed such a heady, well-written admixture of hard-nosed science fiction; super-villain slugfests; "drawing room"-style mystery stories; and high-tech cloak-and-dagger doings [see cover, accompanying].
Other comics series' of the day had -- to greater (or lesser) extent -- easily recognizable storytelling motifs mapped and staked out for themselves, from the first issue onward. Marvel's X-MEN, for example, dealt almost exclusively with the conceit of Mutants Good, People Bad; the Batman's franchise was the mystery story (albeit gussied up in spandex, often as not). This served the especial purpose of establishing any given title as the storytelling equivalent of a "McDonald's," of sorts: the reader knew what any given "restaurant" had on its "menu," month in and month out... and could (and did) plan their purchasing "diet" accordingly.
HAWKMAN -- by way of comparison -- was more of a storytelling smorgasbord.
)
The only real "constant" to the title, in fact, was the signal attraction of its long-time artist of record: Silver Age legend Murphy Anderson .
Perhaps the easiest and simplest way to describe Murphy Anderson to anyone
reading these words who wasn't around during the halcyon days of the
Silver Age would be: he was the George Perez of the 60's.
Seemingly all but obsessed by the need to pile detail upon minutely-rendered detail in each and every panel -- give the man an ancient Aztec megalopolis to fuss over, and he was as giddy as Michael Jackson in a day care center -- Anderson executed everything with a ppinpoint and meticulous line that (invariably) invited comparisons to such noted Golden Age stylists as Mac Raboy (CAPTAIN MARVEL, JR.) and Lou Fine (BLACK CONDOR).
At the not-inconsiderable risk of invoking the charge of "heretic --
!" for so stating: Anderson's stuff made the early Joe Kubert-penciled
HAWKMAN adventures (during the character's obligatory"try-out"
period in the pages of SHOWCASE, and what-have-you) look almost slapdash,
by way of comparison. And you kids can just wheel that barrel of molten
pitch right back out of here, goldang it. I said it... and I'm
glad. So there. )
Now that I've "fixed" things so that I'll probably never get that cushy full scholarship into the Joe Kubert Comics Art College... let's take a moment or two to ruminate more profitably on something which no reader familiar with the characters could ever plausibly contest: the notion that the Hawkman's spandexed mate -- the wholly admirable Hawkgirl (later changed to Hawkwoman) -- was the all-time, hands-down, no-arguments- allowed coolest comic book heroine of the Silver Age.
Oh, God... again with the boiling tar, you kids? What... you're
buying the stuff wholesale, now...? )
Okey-dokey,
then. Lemme see if I can s'plain, here...
Hawkman was inducted into the Silver Age JUSTICE LEAGUE roster fairly early on into the title's run (issue #31, to be precise), and promptly distinguished himself as one of said organization's most valorous and august members [see cover, accompanying]. Even after the late-60's cancelation of his own solo title, the Winged Wonder proved himself to be a vital component of the team's ongoing characterization gestalt.
All well and good, of course, so far as all of that went...
... but: "why" (the question was often asked, by any number of plaintive readers, back in the day) "wasn't Hawkgirl accorded similar fraternal honors and accolades, as well...?"
[Short Form Answer: according to then-member the
Atom [the little fink...!]: "The League has an unbreakable
rule that no two members may possess identical super powers." Honest to
Sylvia Plath, folks; that's what the li'l guy said. And with a
perfectly straight face, I might add. Apparently, "two otherwise
competent and invaluable team members with precisely the same worthwhile powers
and skills" are one of the signs and/or portents harbinging biblical Armageddon
in the DC universe. I'm just sayin', here, is all.)
Now: all the while she was swallowing this sort of Good Ol' Boy codswallop
with a cheery and supportive grin,the
even-scarier-in-a- tussle Hawkgirl continued to function as Hawkman's
Complete and Total Equal, in the HAWKMAN monthly... and: on a good
half-dozen occasions (JUSTICE LEAGUE issues #43, #53, #72 and #145 being the
very best of these), acting independently to rescue both Hubby and
His Teammates from various and sundry perils and death-traps... "official
League member" or no. As opposed
to, y'know, standing off to one side and laughing herself good and sick
while their sorry, chauvinistic hinders got charcoal broiled, I mean.
Eventually, the heroine's almost preternaturally eerie competence flat-out shamed the rest of the JLA into (belatedly) voting the lady "in"... whereupon, she modified her monicker to "Hawkwoman," in a wholly admirable and understandable bit of "neener-neener-neener."
Gawd, but she was cool. )
In any event: after their own title, sadly, went belly-up in the wake of the 60's "Pop Art" Boom-and-Bust, the Hawks hung around in the Atom's comic for a while (which -- in honor of so auspicious an occasion -- briefly re-titled itself THE ATOM AND HAWKMAN), and then -- when that deal went sour, in turn -- busied themselves anew in the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE, as well as the occasional back-up story in the likes of ACTION COMICS; DETECTIVE COMICS; and WORLD'S FINEST. No moping about; no muttering darkly over the increasingly incestuous and hidebound "tastes" of the fan readership base of the soon-to-be post-Silver Age era. The Hawks, you see, knew that their time would come around again, sooner or later.
Unfortunately, however -- before that happy day could occasion itself
-- DC underwent something of a CRISIS. (On "infinite earths," no less.
Geez... so that's what happens when you let two people with the same
super powers join the Justice League...!)
This, in turn, set to toppling a series of "continuity"-style dominoes which forced various writers (of greater and lesser stripe) to "fix" earlier, pre-CRISIS appearances of Hawkman and Hawkwoman, so that said courageous couple could be "smoothly integrated" into the post-CRISIS warp and woof of the DC universe tapestry.
So seamlessly and intelligently was this accomplished, that -- by the time all was said and done -- Hawkman had three (or more) self-contradictory "origins" with which new, bewildered readers had to (somehow) contend; became, as a result, a raving schizophrenic; and finally ended up being excised from the DC Comics landscape, altogether. ;-p
Naturally... I have a plan to remedy this unfortunate (and wholly avoidable, I might add, in retrospect) turn of events.
The next time some writer or another manages to wheedle or extort a chance to "re-invent" the Hawks from the DC editorial Powers-That-Be...
... this time -- just for "kicks," mind -- try bringing him back precisely the way he was BEFORE all of this CRISIS and "continuity" folderol...
... only, this time: let Hawkwoman wear Hawkman's costume.
Betcha that first issue becomes a "must-have, double-bag collector's
item," by golly.
Think about it. ))
OTHER CLASSIC DC/MARVEL
HEROES of the Silver Age
PAGE THREE (Atom, Hawkman, Flash, and J'onn
J'onzz)
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