Hawkman #27 – What’s Old is New Again

What’s old is new again.

That’s the feeling that can be gained from reading Hawkman #27 as it serves a reminder of what the old days of comic storytelling used to be while also giving us the stellar art that we’ve grown so accustomed to. In the old days, a team like the Justice Society would have an adventure and someone would have an inner monologue to introduce the audience to the cast of characters. Carter Hall makes for an excellent narrator as he waxes poetic about the qualities of his old Society buddies.

Robert Venditti writes Hawkman with a palpable sense of pride in what he believes to be his and Hawkwoman’s greatest life alongside some of history’s greatest heroes in Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Ted Grant, Wesley Dodds as Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat and Sandman respectively as they all fight against the Injustice Society all the while an old enemy is working in the background.

I have always been a fan of the JSA, so seeing the heroes come back in this capacity– as well as the love they’ve been getting since the beginning of Rebirth– only serves to make this book even better. Even the deep cuts of villains like Per Degaton and The Gambler help to show that Venditti knows his Hawkman/JSA history and emphasizes how dangerous the old guard was and still can be. This is exemplified by Carter freezing up during the combat as he realizes that his and Shayera’s final life could be over if they weren’t careful as Vandal Savage and Degaton almost have them dead to rights.

Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Wade von Grawbadger and Jeremy Cox serve as the art team for this issue and they absolutely smash it as they tend to do. Pasarin makes excellent use of body posing to give each hero a certain kind of heft in their movements from attacks, but also pays attention to facial details like expressions of pride or desperation. 

Albert and Grawbadger’s inks really help to make Cox’s colors pop as their smooth lines make the action look beautiful and the shadows seem absolutely dastardly when they’re used. Cox’s colors also stand out amazingly as nothing is left on the table with cool blue magic waves clashing with bright green light as well the high yellow crackle of lightning as Flash tangles with the villainous Brain Wave. The greatest example, however, are the hot reds used when the villain of this arc makes their debut in the final pages amidst hot reds and fiery oranges.