By Walter Simonson, Joe Bennett & Renato Arlem (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1488-3
After a year’s absence from the DC Universe, the fate of vanished Hawkman is finally revealed in this volume collecting Hawkgirl #57-60 and JSA Classified #21-22.
Hawkman and Hawkgirl are immortal Egyptian lovers Khufu and Chay-Ara, murdered by evil priest Hath-Set millennia ago. The heroes are bound by a reincarnation spell to ever reunite, fight injustice and be murdered again by the mad villain. All three souls are equally prisoners of an inescapable deathbed curse.
Due to numerous cosmic crises (company reboots and relaunches, if you prefer) rather than be reborn the last time she died Chay-Ara’s soul somehow possessed the fully grown body of Kendra Saunders when that troubled young woman committed suicide. Consequently Hawkgirl has problems sorting out memories and is unsure of who she actually is.
Lost in the aftermath of the Infinite Crisis (ISBN: 978-1-4012-0959-9) and the Rann-Thanagar War (ISBN: 1-84576-231-2) the male Winged Wonder is the focal point of this collection which starts with ‘Trial… And Execution’ written by Walter Simonson and illustrated by Joe Bennett; a two-part tale which explains that the reincarnated Egyptian warrior has been on the planet Rann trying to stop the Rannian and refugee Thanagarian populations from killing each other.
Alien Queen-bitch Blackfire has been rabble-rousing in a surreptitious power-play, and being a meticulous sort has sent a demented assassin to Earth to remove Hawkgirl. Just in case…
‘Relic of War’ reveals more off-world back-story, culminating in Blackfire (an energy-casting superwoman and evil, older sister of the Teen Titan Starfire) traveling to St. Roch to finish Hawkgirl herself. This tale is bisected by ‘Best Served Cold…’ and ‘Fire and Ice’ (from JSA Classified #21-22), both written and drawn by Simonson, which reveal more of the Hawks last days together in space and follows Hawkman up to the moment Blackfire and Hawkgirl clash on Earth.
The book ends in a tale that sets up the final Hawkgirl storyline (collected in Hawkgirl: Hath-Set: ISBN13:978-1-4012-1665-8).
‘A Cast of Hawks’, beautifully illustrated by Renato Arlem, describes how a doomsday weapon from the hell-world of Apokolips fell into the possession of Hath-Set three and a half thousand years ago. Contemporarily, just as the reunited Hawkgirl and Hawkman are getting reacquainted, the latest incarnation of the priest who has murdered them a thousand times over makes the first move in a plan to remove them and break the curse forever…
Sharp and witty science-fiction epics are Simonson’s especial forte, and the revelatory weaving of disparate plot-threads is accomplished with great style. The glorious variety and power of the art is a joy to behold, and even if the overall feeling is of an engaging interlude, the promise of a blockbuster to come is quite mouth-watering.
Here is high-quality genre entertainment that’s well worth seeking out.
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