Hawkman #19
Tyson Yurai
Recap
The Year of the Villain is in full effect, but not everyone is on board with Lex Luthor and Perpetua’s vision of Doom. The Sky Tyrant of Earth-3 has been reborn from the mind of Carter Hall and his only objective is to reclaim his status as an agent of death, but can he do so when a figure from his past stands in his way?
Review
When the Sky Tyrant was introduced, the general thought was that he was a mega badass that had to be defeated by four to five heroes on his Earth because he was so dangerous. He was portrayed as a mass murderer that increased Carter’s life debt by astronomical amounts and the last issue set things up that he’d have a knockdown, drag out fight with a returning Hawkwoman. I was excited to see the back and forth action as drawn by Pat Olliffe!
Things did NOT turn out that way.
The book begins with Carter reminiscing over all of his lives having known Shayera Hol and wondering if she remembers. As he thinks over it all, Hawkwoman batters Sky Tyrant, telling him to come into his senses as she still thinks that he’s Carter. Ghost Carter tries his best to reach Shayera, but to no avail. Sky Tyrant, remembering the past life with Hawkwoman tries to use the relationship against her as a ruse and attacks her when he thinks her guard is down.
I was initially kind of apprehensive about Olliffe taking over art from Bryan Hitch, but I have to say that I was genuinely surprised. With Tom Palmer’s inks and Jeremiah Skipper’s colors, the book feels so retro. It feels kind of like an ’80s series with thick lines, hatch shading, rich colors that really pop on the pages and dark shadows. Olliffe’s action scenes feel heavy and really sells the strength of the Hawks.
Hawkwoman sees the deception coming and blocks the attack with her mace and fights with Sky Tyrant as he tries to convince the evil version of her to come on out. He gives her one good blow with his spiked mace, knocking her helmet off and sending her through a wall. He taunts her while she’s down, so the gloves come off. She rocks him with a backflip kick, punches, a knee to the face and eventually impales his shoulder on his mace.
He’s not just defeated, he’s kinda humiliated. Hawkwoman didn’t go full out because she was afraid of hurting Carter and Sky Tyrant is left with no choice but to Zeta Beam back to Hawkman’s ship. Carter laughs at Sky Tyrant’s defeat, but is left in horror when he puts together that his evil self wants to live forever and knows that Hawkman has the means to make it so.
Final Thoughts
I wanted to make fun of this issue for making Sky Tyrant not nearly as terrifying as his concept implies, but I also had to take into consideration that it was Hawkwoman that defeated him. Sky Tyrant is still a brute and Olliffe, Palmer and Skipper did their absolute best to express just that. Sky Tyrant looked tough throughout, but Hawkwoman was just tougher. Robert Venditti is still managing to tell a good story that elevates Hawkman’s already rich lore and it’s still fun and enjoyable.
Hawkman #19: You Got Knocked the #!%& Out
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 7/107/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 7/107/10