I love the reincarnation aspect that was added to Hawkman's back story, and would love to see a big screen adaptation. His TV appearances have dealt with that, but in my opinion just have not done the character justice. A movie budget is necessary to get his wings right (as in Malificent, for example), The helmet has to be carefully designed as well, so that it looks good from all angles. The hawks starring in an action/love story that spans centuries and reaches from Earth to outer space could be a truly epic film if DC has the will to try it.
Hawkman and Namor shared a wartime adventure way back in STF #208...
If memory serves, the reincarnation aspect was part of the original Golden Age Hawkman's back story. They jettisoned it in favor of the whole Thanagar Policeman angle when the character was revived in the Silver Age.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hall is correct, reincarnation was part of the Golden Age Hawkman's story. In All-Flash #1 (his first appearance,) it was shown that Khufu was reincarnated as archaeologist Carter Hall. For this cover, it's a good thing he also had the ability to breathe underwater, granted by the god Poseidon!
ReplyDeleteJohn Small said...
ReplyDelete"If memory serves, the reincarnation aspect was part of the original Golden Age Hawkman's back story. They jettisoned it in favor of the whole Thanagar Policeman angle when the character was revived in the Silver Age."
Yes, but by the time Flashpoint came along the Thanagarian Policeman had been turned into another incarnation [sort-of] of the Ancient Egyptian... and in fact it turned out that the ancestors of Thanagar's human inhabitants had actually migrated there from Earth via a [magical?] portal thousands of years ago...
I hate to nitpick, but Hawkman's first appearance was in Flash #1.
ReplyDeleteNitpicking history lesson, because the names are confusing: Flash Comics and All-Flash Comics were two different books. "Flash" was an anthology book and the name refered more to the genre, ala "Action" or "Sensation", than a character. Jay Garrick-Flash and Carter Hall-Hawkman, who both debuted in #1, were the two main cover features. After Superman and Batman proved single character books could sell, Jay Garrick got the third single-character book, with the obvious name "All-Flash", soon followed by Alan Scott's "Green Lantern". And when Jay and Alan got there own books, they got kicked out of the Justice Society! (In the National / DC universe, of course. I'm not sure just where "Captain America" fits in the timeline.)
ReplyDeleteAll I know for certain is that this team-up could be the result of an alliance between Namor's cousin, Prince Byrrah, and an exiled Queen of Atlantis named Clea!
ReplyDeleteGranted, the latter is more often a Golden Age Wonder Woman foe. But, the name of Namor's maternal grandmother has never been canonically established (as far as I know). So, it's quite plausible that--in the STF-verse, at least--Clea could be King Thokka's disowned wife.
@Anon: I think you mean "Thakorr."
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about Carter Hall is the "Nick and Nora" aspect with Shiera. I believe they were one of the earliest super-hero "Power Couples". (Did Jay marry Joan in the Golden Age?) Hawkman in the Silver Age kinda became just another sci-fi character - there were so many of them: Hal, J'onn, Katar, Adam Strange. I'm not sure Carter adapted well to the animated JLU, but he seemed to come across pretty well on Smallville. I haven't been following Legends of the DC Universe. If the whole noir thing can be blended with Egyptian mythology Hawkman could be a kinda cool Phase Six (wink, wink; nudge, nudge) movie.
ReplyDeleteThis cover is worthy of being a Golden Age classic.
ReplyDeleteHawkman was featured in JLU animation universe where the shadow thief was just a evil aspect of Hawkman and was in a Batman-Superman (Batman clocked him and took his uniform).
I've never seen that beak-less version of Hawkman's mask before. Pretty funky...
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