After a promising first issue, the Hawkman team delivers another great chapter in the mystery of Carter Hall, as Carter battles himself for the sake of the future!
HAWKMAN (2018) #2 “Awakening Part 2: River of Time”
Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Bryan Hitch
Inkers: Andrew Currie, Daniel Henriques & Bryan Hitch
Letters: Starkings & Comicraft
Cover Artist: Bryan Hitch & Alex Sinclair; variant by Stjepan Sejic
Colorist: Jeremiah Skipper
Publisher: DC COMICS
What You Need to Know:
Carter Hall is back from the Dark Multiverse and has been awakening to the memory of an ancient evil he has been destined to defend against. Through his many incarnations across time and space, this mysterious deathbringer has haunted our favorite archeologist.
What You’ll Find Out:
With fragmented and incomplete memories, Carter realizes that the answers to where he’s going just may lie in where he’s been. As he visits the Prince Khufu exhibit on display in England courtesy of himself, Carter finds himself suddenly transported across space and time only to come face-to-face with his past self, Prince Khufu! Khufu adds to the mystery of the deathbringer, confusing Carter for the hidden villain (perhaps Carter is the deathbringer?) until the two finally come to an understanding and Khufu gives Carter the location of a map. Returning to his own time as unexpectedly as he departed, Carter retrieves the map and moves ahead to the next part of his journey of discovery.
What Just Happened?
After the furious pace of the first issue, filled with Wingors and terrifying visions, this issue slows down long enough to take a breath. It is quickly becoming clear that Hitch and Venditti are crafting a deeply layered entry into the mythos of Hawkman with this series, vice some of the “smash and crash” titles we’ve seen the character star in of late. The battle with Prince Khufu and Carter adds an interesting dimension, creating a sense of an almost magnetic history that is drawing these disparate incarnations together and leaving readers with the hope of seeing many more cross-time capers involving some of our favorite Hawkmans over time. When it comes to artistic narrative, its always difficult to parse the responsibilities and idea generation, but the muted color palate being used here, be it Hitch’s idea or Skipper’s, using dominantly blues, greys, and golds, seems to give the narrative an almost dreamlike quality. Coupled with the use of frequent silhouettes of solid black, the color work seems to be writing its own narrative. The entire creative team deserves quite a bit of credit for the craftsmanship that has gone into reviving Hawkman.
Rating: 10/10
Final Thought: Hands down my favorite solo series launch since the first wave of Rebirth titles, Hawkman is busy crafting what appears to be a tale of epic proportions. Epic in the classical sense.
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