Hawkman #21: Deal or…

One of things that Hawkman has going for him is that he has a variety of friends.

Throughout his adventures, Carter has gained allies in the form of The Atom, Hawkwoman and Adam Strange, the latter of which is the most surprising given the histories between the planets Rann and Thanagar. Thankfully, after Sky Tyrant sets off to end all life in the universe, all of Carter’s friends unite to save the life of the Winged Adventurer and stop him before his worse half makes a mistake that he can’t undo.

This issue does an amazing job of utilizing each character to their respective strengths while also showcasing the skill and brutality of the Sky Tyrant as he fights the MASSIVE Titan Hawk head to head. The Titan Hawk is a descendant of Hawkman from millennia past and towers over The Sky Tyrant as if he were the Burj Khalifa (world’s tallest skyscraper). Suffice to say, the fight should have been one sided, but the villainous Hawk held his own throughout while the heroes do their best to keep the super weapon away from him. 

Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Wade von Grawbadger and Jeremy Cox serve as the art team for this issue and they absolutely smash it. Pasarin brings a huge sense of scale and detail during the fight as it mostly takes place on a planet with a lot of foliage and every tree and plant in the background is given said detail even when the shots are pulled out to show how huge the Titan Hawk is attacking the Sky Tyrant. At the same time Grawbadger and Albert accentuate this by giving Pasarin’s lines a thickness for things to stand out.

Of course, Cox’s coloring also helps to please the eye with excellent combinations of Hawkman’s signature browns on the Titan, as well as separate dark and light greens for Sky Tyrants pants and the trees respectfully and bright oranges for lively explosions. All of this comes together to form the perfect package of what a gorgeous looking book should be and really make this a must read experience. 

The characters absolutely astound as well with The Atom, Ray Palmer, giving Hawkwoman and Adam Strange a play by play of Sky Tyrant’s actions while inside of Carter Hall’s skull. These two have had an excellent friendship since their first team up way back in the ‘60s (The Atom #7, 1963) and Ray Palmer’s use of shrinking tech allowed him to make his way inside of the Infected Hawkman’s mind at some point during the last few issues of the series. He cares about his friend and comes to find out that Carter is still around as Sky Tyrant has been seen talking to “no one”, but Ray surmises that it’s Carter.

Adam Strange as well gets showcased as an adventurer and someone that cares for Hawkman as well. While most of his scenes consist of him jet-packing around, readers are treated to a bit of background as to why he and Hawkman are friends, mostly due to shared archaeological interests and superheroism. I personally really like Adam Strange (and can’t wait for Tom King’s Strange Adventures), so his inclusion in this story was welcome for such an oft forgotten character. 

The same can be said for Hawkwoman who marshaled all of the teams moves during this issue and allowed Adam Strange to find and take the super weapon, as well as having Atom incapacitate the Sky Tyrant as he nearly kills the Titan Hawk. Of course Hawkwoman is all about saving lives, but she sees the danger that the villain possesses, especially since the Titan was large and insanely powerful. She knows that The Sky Tyrant couldn’t really be taken on in a head to head fight again, especially after the effort of her last fight with him.