Hawkman #1 -
DC Comics
Written by Robert Venditti
Pencils & Inks by Bryan Hitch
Inks by Andrew Currie
Colors by Alex Sinclair
Letters by Starkings & Comicraft
Time to take flight and talk about this newest solo series for Hawkman. After seeing the character get a much deserved spotlight in Dark Nights: Metal, I feel like now is the best time to try to make a solo series work. Let's find out if that is indeed the case.
We find Cater Hall looking for the one thing that's always eluded him...his own true story. He is on a discovery to find out the meaning of his reincarnations and really understand who he is. It goes much deeper than I'm making it seem here, because to me this is a deeply personal mission that he's on. He discovers an ancient prophecy that may lead him to answer, but it also leads him to something else. That something else plays a bit part in the action sequences of this book and shows the risk that he is taking to find what he is looking for. Minor spoiler here (if you want to call it one), he gets what he wants but takes it to someone else for help. If you're reading Hawkman, I'm guessing your a big DC fan, so you should know who this is when you see them. What Carter ends up with is sort of a "more questions than answers" type of scenario, but some of those questions could have deadly consequences if not answered.
Visually, this book really was top notch. Bryan Hitch and the inking team did a fantastic job, especially with the flight and action sequences. I really do love the story, but I wish there was a bit more feeling put into it. I felt like this was a deeply personal mission that didn't come across that way on the page as much. I don't want to dismiss the fact that this could be by choice, and just speak to Hawkman's state of mind going into it. If that's the case, it makes perfect sense. There is nothing wrong with this book, other than the fact that I wasn't 100% drawn in by it. I feel like I got some good story detail, but even the subtitle of the next issue is "The Race Begins!" So you're pretty much telling me things are really getting started in Issue 2. I'll be interested to see if the focus is shifted based on how the book ends, or if both plot points will run parallel with one another. Either way, I'm a Hawkman fan, so I'm sticking around to find out.
RATING: PICK UP