Hawkman Companion

by Doug Zawisza, Joe Kubert, Murphy Anderson

Instantly recognizable among comic fans, Hawkman is one of the most iconic heroes ever created. Inspired by tales as old as mankind and those much more recent, this four-color legend has left an indelible mark upon the comic industry. Behind a fabulous Cliff Chiang cover, this collection contains interviews and commentary from many who have helped Hawkman soar through the ages, including Joe Kubert, Geoff Johns, Shelly Moldoff, Timothy Truman, Justin Gray, Rags Morales, Ben Rob, Tony Isabella, Roy Thomas, Murphy Anderson, and many other top comics creators. Also included is a copious image parade, profiles on the Hawks through the ages, as well as their allies and adversaries, and a timeline of Hawkman's storied existence throughout the DC Comics Universe.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2008

Reviews

[Carolyn]

"Currently reading" is sort of a stretch at this point--it's still on the floor somewhere with all the other books I mean to be reading. But the very existence of this book cracks me up enough that I sort of had to get it.

The proofreading, sadly, is terrible. I love TwoMorrows, but they should invest in some better copyediting.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice reference book on this Comic character. Good overview of the history from the golden to the modern age of the development of the character. Recommended to comic fans.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has some of the worst editing I've ever seen on a TwoMorrows Press book ("the tenants on which the United States were founded" — sheesh!). And Zawisa overreaches at time, for example trying to show how Hawkman somehow parallels the Star Wars saga.
That said, if you're a Hawkman fan, this is a good, though depressing book. The good is detailed accounts of the different eras of the Winged Wonder, from the Golden Age version through 2006 or 7. That includes the Silver Age space cop, Tony Isabella's Shadow War arc, the hardboiled refugee from a corrupt Thanagar, William Messner Loeb's hawk-avatar (a concept he admits never worked as well as it should), and Geoff Johns' multiply reincarnated warrior.
The sad part is how often editorial interference wrecked things. The Shadow War was a hit until Denny O'Neil told Isaballe to wrap it up ASAP; Messner-Loeb talks about how his editor kept rewriting him to make the book more image-ish. And given how many people interviewed love the married Hawkman and Hawkgirl of the Silver Age, it's remarkable how the marriage has been erased for about 30 years.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Companion books from Twomorrows are a great thing, and I applaud the fact they exist. This book, focusing on Hawkman, is unfortunately not the best example of them. It’s…ok. A lot of the subject matter is a reasonable read, but overall the book is a little dull. There are some odd side roads taken, to Star Wars and Charlie Parker especially, and some of the interviews ( with top creators) are wasted with meandering questions and very little insight.
A lot of content is also just regurgitating what happened in certain issues and runs with little analysis of that material.
Enough decent stuff is in here to make it worth a read, but only just.

[William Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly informative look into the creators of the character, those who've handled him over time, and his confusing history. Excellent assessment and interviews. Now, please start over from scratch and just make a new Hawkman altogether. Thank you.

[Mike Aragona · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a Hawkman fan, there's no reason you don't already own this book. It is an excellent reference for all things Hawkman and involves some great interviews and stories of the Hawk's publishing history. Great stories, great artwork, great Tome.[return][return]Unfortunately, it's one drawback (for me) is the fact that there are a number of transcribed interviews that should have been edited a lot more than they were. I'm one of those people who believe phone interviews need to be edited for clarity (and in some cases to remove the rambling). Other than that, though, this book is a gem for a Hawkman/Girl/Woman fan!

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The TwoMorrows books are such a mixed bag. I applaud the ardor of the fans that write these volumes, but many of them read very much like they are written by fans. This isn't a bad book, but it's a little too unfocused, too padded and not interesting enough. There's some good material here, but there's too much that is unpolished.