Death of Hawkman #1
DC Comics
Written by: Marc Andreyko
Art by: Aaron Lopresti & Livesay
This week sees the release of the first issue of Adreyko and Lopresti’s Hawkman/Adam Strange team-up miniseries The Death of Hawkman. As a general rule; I have never been an Adam Strange fan. I had a pretty good introduction to him in Greg Weismans’ Young Justice Series, but up until that time I knew nothing. Now Hawkman on the other hand, well count me in! Since the classic re-runs of the 1960s cartoon series, I have consistently been a fan. When I heard part of DC Rebirth’s new slate would include a Hawkman/Adam Strange “Out of Time” mini-series, well that colored me interested. When they changed the subtitle to Death of Hawkman well then I was fully engaged.
The life, death, resurrection, and return of Hawkman are staples of the character and his history. If you have been a fan of the character for any period of time you are familiar with the seemingly constant state of change that Hawkman seems to live in. I’m hopeful this story will use that fact and the ‘life, death, return’ aspect of Hawkman can be turned from what some perceive to be a problem with his history into a nice narrative on how the character doesn’t fear death, but embraces it as part of his cycle.
The story opens with a bloodied Hawkman being aided by Adam Strange while evading an unknown foe through a war alien torn landscape. Hawkman, although severely wounded, lectures Strange on the realities of war and the intestinal fortitude required for seeing such things through. As Strange surveys the surrounding area, the story takes a time jump backwards to begin bringing readers up to speed on the current situation.
Although the flashback segment does provide new readers with a nice, quick history of Adam Strange’s origin, the vast majority of the story focuses on Adam Strange’s temporary inability to return to Rann. After discovering some inconsistencies with Zeta radiation throughout the globe, Adam then employs some Justice League resources to investigate his inability to travel to Rann. After visiting a laundry list of locations in the DC universe Strange is forced to return home with no answers and is shortly whisked off to, much to his surprise, an utterly destroyed Rann
Unbeknownst to Adam, his issues with returning to Rann are not on Earth’s side. Adam’s inability to return has come to the attention of his wife Alanna as well as her father Sardath, Rann’s greatest scientist. While investigating why the Zeta teleportation isn’t functioning, the city is rocked by an explosion that destroys their lab. The lab is immediately invaded by Thanagarian warriors attempting to “butcher the scientist of Rann” before it appears to explode leaving Sardath and Alanna’s fate unknown.
All in all this was an enjoyable issue. As I said I was not a big Adam Strange fan before this issue so the comic’s ability to bring me up to speed on his origin, powers and relationships was great. The only issue I have is a small problem with the time jump. I don’t mind time jumps, but I prefer that it be resolved before the end of the issue and this left us a bit short of that. Overall, worth the view if you are a Hawkman fan or want to get to know Adam Strange a bit more.