Book Review: Showcase Presents Hawkman, Volume 1

Showcase Presents: Hawkman, Vol. 1 by Gardner F. Fox

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book presents more than 30 Hawkman tales. Really this should be Hawkman and Hawkgirl tales since she's the series co-star. The concept by Gardener Fox is great. Husband and wife police team from the Planet Thannagar goes to Earth in pursuit of a criminal and sets up shop on Earth.

This book collects several runs of Hawkman in 34-36 and 42-44, the couple get two separate tryout runs for a full book in 1961 and 1962. A guest appearance in the Atom #7, and a run in Mystery in Space 87-90 as one of two features sharing the book with Adam Strange, a guest appearance in team up version of Brave and the Bold in Issue #51 with Aquaman and then there are the first 11 issues of Hawkman.

There are two very good things about the book. The first is Joe Kubert's art in the first two Brave and the Bold runs which is very distinctive for the era and really fun to look at for the first fifth of the book. The next thing that works well is the team up. Without a doubt they're the most compelling stories in the book, Team ups with the Atom in The Atom #7 and Hawkman #9, the Aquaman Team-up in Brave and the Bold #51, a team up with Adam Strange to save both Earth and Rann in Mystery in Space #90, and Zatara appears in Hawkman #4.

Most of the rest of the book isn't all that special. Hawkman #10 features a nice spy tale with CAW and Hawkman #11 features a very involved tale with the birdman known as the Shrike. That comic's the only non-team up story to really use a 25-page format to its full value.

Mostly, the stories and the villains are forgettable. Not as strong as the Atom's rogues, mostly the Hawks faced one-note alien menaces with a key weakness or they faced local crooks. The stories are okay with some fun science lessons thrown in, but I think the awesome idea of Hawkman doesn't really have its potential fulfilled in this book.



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