Hawkman #26: A Little Tied Up

Just when you think things couldn’t get any bigger, they get bigger. Author Robert Venditti pretty much uses ONE direction in writing this book, “faster and more intense”. This issue starts with the Hawks neck-deep in trouble and only gets “more intense.” If I had one complaint, it would be that there’s a typical “villain explains everything while the good guys tied up” scenario. But this time it actually works, and it works really well. I’m very anxious to see where this book goes long-term. Venditti tends to play the long game, and I have a feeling things are going to get even bumpier on the road back to what will be the new normal for the Hawks. For real, this issue was exceptionally good and it’s built on the foundation of a great story.

Add to that great story great art by Fernando Pasarin aided by inkers Oclair Albert and Wade Von Grawbadger. This art really pops, yet there’s a subtleness to it that makes it almost underplayed. It never hijacks the story, it only adds to it as it should. Pasarin is an underrated artist, but hopefully, issues like this will change that. He’s tasked with drawing some pretty fantastic environments and characters this issue, and he executes them almost seamlessly, keeping them all in the realm of believability, there’s not even one panel that stands out like a sore thumb or is oddly different from the rest. The artists really did a great job building on the foundation that Venditti laid.