Not many creative teams would willingly volunteer to untangle the web of continuity surrounding Hawkman, but Venditti and Hitch are thriving while doing it.
The last time we spoke to Robert Venditti, he was wrapping up the adventures of the Green Lantern Corps. Since then, he and Bryan Hitch have managed to pull off a pretty interesting trick: Making Hawkman into a hero with some buzz behind him.
To be fair, Hawkman has had some good runs in the past. Tim Truman’s Hawkworld comes to mind, as does what Geoff Johns did with the Winged Wonder during his time on JSA. He’s been around since 1940, nearly as long as Superman, so he’s had a chance to shine before.
Too often, though, he hasn’t, often because he’s been dragged down by one of the most confusing continuities of any comic book superhero. Venditti and Hitch have embraced that daunting challenge by tackling it head on, and by doing something simple to a commonly accepted part of the character. Instead of merely being reincarnated throughout time since ancient Egypt, Carter Hall has learned in the first four issues of the new Hawkman series that he’s been dying and coming back throughout time and space for a lot longer than that.
It’s a simple twist in terms of the number of words that it takes to explain, but a pretty bold move for its current creative team overall. So far, reaction to Hawkman has been overwhelmingly positive, something that Venditti acknowledged when speaking to FanSided at New York Comic Con earlier this month.
“I’m really humbled by it, to be honest, because he is a character that goes all the way back to the Golden Age,” Venditti said. “And all I knew going in, before researching the character, was the reputation he had for this massively confusing continuity. That was a challenge that appealed to me: Can I figure out a way to make that work? I thought that the reincarnation across time and space was a good idea but you never know how it’s going to be received, and it is a pretty risky thing to do.”
The first four issues have seen Hall encounter some of his most famous prior incarnations, like Katar Hol of Thanagar, and their foes. In issue #5, however, he makes a stop in a place he doesn’t remember being reincarnated before, the Microverse.
Fortunately, one of his best friends, Ray Palmer, calls that plane of existence home, and offers to help Carter decipher some of his latest clues. He’ll need to do it quickly, though, since he’s in a race to prevent a mysterious new threat called the Deathbringers from tearing through any place (and time, presumably) he’s lived before.
Readers got their first glimpse of the obviously powerful Deathbringers in issue #4, just enough to see that they are big and possibly have something in common with giant robots from Japanese manga. Venditti admitted that these mystery beings have “a mechanical element to them” but said that we won’t learn more until Hawkman does.
“We’re building that mystery,” he said. “We’re discovering it as Hawkman does, right down to the visual appearance of them. Not to give it away, but you won’t see them fully until Hawkman sees them fully for the first time. His reveal is your reveal, which is an idea that Hitch had.”
It’s clear that Hitch is bringing a lot of ideas to the table in this run. His co-conspirator couldn’t stop raving about how much fun their partnership has been so far, and it shows so far in the finished product.
It feels like Hawkman is a character tailor-made for Hitch’s eye for detail and breathtaking backdrops, and Venditti says that the artist has been up for anything that the duo has cooked up for Carter Hall so far.
“Think about the concept of time and space and all that we’re doing with Hawkman: Gorilla City, Thanagar, Microverse,” Venditti said. “Every single issue we’re in a different place with all new designs and all new adversaries, and every issue Hitch comes to it and knocks it out of the park again and again.
More from Miscellaneous
- Caesars, BetMGM and PointsBet Promo Codes Give $1,850 Bonus for ANY World Cup or MLB Game!
- Caesars and PointsBet Promo Codes: $1,750 Bonus For ANY World Cup or MLB Game!
- Win $200 GUARANTEED From $1 Bet Today With Bet365 MLB Sign-Up Promo!
- Taylor Swift may have saved the Yankees after slump-busting outing for Anthony Rizzo
- Claim a $1,250 Bonus for ANY Bet With Caesars UFC Promo Code!
“The volume of ideas and concepts that he pumps out on such a rapid basis is really kind of staggering. I do think he’s the perfect artist for Hawkman, but I also kind of think he’s the perfect artist for everything. I don’t know what he couldn’t draw at this point.”
Venditti also noted how he and Hitch have become friends while working on Hawkman, bonding over the ideas they’ve concocted for the Winged Wonder. Many of those will apparently come to an end in issue #7, which promises to be “where Hawkman’s going to learn a lot of the answers to the mysteries he’s been trying to uncover.”
Dark Nights: Metal may have given Hawkman his most recent new lease on life, but it’s been Venditti and Hitch that have truly gotten him off the ground and flying again. If you’ve followed the hero at all throughout the years, you know how rare that is and should be enjoying this run to the fullest.
Hawkman #5, the first of a two-part story featuring the Atom, is on sale now at DC’s digital portal or wherever you get your new comics.
Add us as a preferred source on Google