Hawkworld Book One: The Byth Saga

Hawkworld #1

by John Ostrander, Timothy Truman (Artist)

A new edition of the classic title that reinvented Hawkman for the 1990s.

In this classic comics series from the 1990s, writer/artist Timothy Truman reinvented Hawkman as a brutal member of a distant planet's police force.

HAWKWORLD follows wealthy Katar Hol as he questions his role in Thanagarian society, joins the police force, is betrayed and disgraced, and then finally finds his purpose as Hawkman.

Collects HAWKWORLD #1-8, HAWKWORLD ANNUAL #1.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

John Ostrander is an American writer of comic books. He is best known for his work on Suicide Squad, Grimjack and Star Wars: Legacy, series he helped create.

Originally an actor in a Chicago theatre company, Ostrander moved into writing comics in 1983. His first published works were stories about the character "Sargon, Mistress of War", who appeared the First Comics series Warp!, based on a series of plays by that same Chicago theatre company. He is co-creator of the character Grimjack with Timothy Truman, who originally appeared in a back up story in the First Comics title, Starslayer, before going on to appear in his own book, again published by First Comics in the mid 1980s. First Comics ceased publication in 1991, by which time Ostrander was already doing work for other comics companies (his first scripts for DC Comics were published in 1986).

Prior to his career in comic books, Ostrander studied theology with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest, but now describes himself as an agnostic. His in-depth explorations of morality were later used in his work writing The Spectre, a DC Comics series about the manifestation of the wrath of God. His focus on the character's human aspect, a dead police detective from the 1930s named Jim Corrigan, and his exploration of moral and theological themes brought new life to a character often thought of as impossible to write. He has also worked on Firestorm, Justice League, Martian Manhunter, Manhunter, Suicide Squad, and Wasteland for DC.

Reviews

[Tom Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best Hawkman series DC has published in my lifetime - yes, this is extremely faint praise, given what a notoriously difficult property he is and what a continuity minefield. But it didn’t have to be that way, and Hawkworld proves it by wiping the slate almost entirely clean and focusing on two Thanagarian cops who’ve been sent on a diplomatic mission to Earth, with hidden agendas on all sides. This first arc focuses on Katar and Shayera learning to trust each other, learning about the virtues and flaws of the country they’ve landed in, and trying to thwart the schemes of Thanagarian crimelord Byth.

It’s John Ostrander writing, which at this stage in his career spells quality: intelligent (if a little didactic) dialogue, tight plotting, plenty of action and brutal twists. The ‘classic’ Hawkman had a rep for being DC’s token conservative, a shoot first read em their rights later type (inasmuch as a code approved comic allowed). Here it’s Shayera Thal - Hawkwoman, as she pointedly isn’t called - who fills that role, chafing against the procedures her assignment with Earth police involves, which of course lets Ostrander demonstrate (or occasionally just scriptsplain) why those procedures matter as well as letting her break them for the sake of a more exciting yarn. Katar meanwhile is a brooding son of Thanagarian privilege, and the intersection of class and other prejudices is one of the comic’s most compelling themes.

High-minded, thoroughly unironic, and hard-boiled without being grimdark - they don’t make ‘em like this any more. Sometimes they make ‘em better (Hawkworld is often exciting but it’s rarely ‘fun’) but mostly not, and certainly never with these characters. As often with DC’s late-80s creative renaissance, the comic wasn’t good looking enough to attract young fans (Graham Nolan does a solid job but is hampered by some murky inking and woeful colouring) and was certainly not traditional enough to placate old ones, who liked the maces, harnesses and tit tape versions of our heroes, thanks very much. But it’s a minor gem, and it’s a real shame DC let it fall almost immediately out of print.

(If it was ever IN print - it was announced, and is dutifully listed in several places, but nobody has an actual copy for sale that I can find and it never seemed to make it to digital release. This review is based on some age-old scans. One clue may lie in the contents - the storyline takes place in issues 1-9, not 1-8 as listed (the Annual is irrelevant either way, though it’s a good story). Did DC realise at proofing stage that they’d solicited a story without its ending, and never get round to correcting that?)

[Rodrigo Tello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clásico de ciencia ficción de DC de los 90, Truman junto a Ostrander siguen la historia de Mundo Halcón que el propio Truman había presentado antes junto a Alcatena en una miniserie de tres números en 1989

[Zac · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally got around to collecting and reading this 2nd series of Hawkworld, which follows on from the 3-issue miniseries I’ve re-read a couple of times. This is a review and summary of the entire 32 issue series + 3 annuals, but I’ll try not to provide too much detail.

It begins with the Hawkpeople chasing Byth to Earth, where naturally they become honorary cops. Hawkman and Hawkwoman need to do some PR work as the people of Earth haven’t forgotten that Thanagarians attacked them as part of the Invasion! crossover of 1988 (another miniseries that I’ve enjoyed a few times). Shayeera is hotheaded and doesn’t like to do what others tell her. Katar Hol gets pretty inspired (obsessed even) by the Declaration of Independence and discusses this a fair bit with others, even paraphrasing it when inspiring a revolution back on Thanagar. This whole political aspect to the series seems a bit mature for a mainstream superhero comic but it’s an interesting way to explore Thanagarian culture and ideas. This whole arc with Byth got tiring pretty quickly as I think he’s pretty boring as a villain. The art also seems fairly underdeveloped with some lazy backgrounds. However, once this arc has wrapped up, the art seems to get better and I got more engrossed in the story, which probably correlates to when Ostrander takes over full writing and plotting duties.

The next arc sees Shayera back on Thanagar. There’s a lot of scheming and political manoeuvring going on between the ruling class of Thanagar and the Hawkpeople via the ambassador to Earth. There’s also a bit about the religions on Thanagar, where I think there are something like 7 gods that different segments of the population worship, and each god has a representative in the ruling council. I probably enjoyed all of this Thanagar culture and politics stuff the most even though it doesn’t seem very interesting on paper.

There are a couple of issues that tie into the War of The Gods crossover, and I don’t remember what happens so well except that Wonder Woman is involved. There are several issues involving a robot named Attila (who is also pretty underwhelming as a villain) that the Thanagarians are trying to obtain. There’s also an issue where the Hawkpeople fight a Lobo ripoff called Smif’beau. Near the end of the series is an action-packed rebellion on Thanagar that involves a charming sentient spaceship. The final half dozen issues really go downhill, beginning with a white supremacist supervillain, and then a descent into the Netherworld of Chicago where there are a whole lot of rock ‘n’ roll freaks who take drugs to become werewolves. There’s another guy who looks kinda like Lobo called the Thrasher and hypnotises everyone by playing guitar. Those Netherworld issues feel particularly out of place, with Tim Truman returning to an art role and doing something reminiscent of Stephen Bissette by way of Nightbreed. The antagonist Count Viper villainsplains his rather confused masterplan and the series obviously is wrapped up far too quickly.

I forgot to mention that the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl show up from time to time, with the series attempting to intertwine the old and new Hawkpersons a little bit more through time travel and having Katar Hol’s father being responsible for originally introducing Earth to Nth metal. I didn’t mind any of this, and it seemed to make sense on the surface, but I’m sure that the real Hawknerds would have been up in arms about the continuity problems. Even the old Hawkpeople at times admit that they don’t really understand all that has happened to them since the Crisis…

All-in-all, a lot of stuff happens over 35 issues. I’m interested in the politics and culture of Thanagar and enjoyed the story the most when this was being explored, sometimes in juxtaposition with US politics. Having the Thanagarian government be the villains is not very sexy I guess, but that worked a lot better than Byth, Attila and Count Viper. So I think the series was successful to the degree that it stuck with the ideas from the miniseries. It was cool having the action mostly move to Earth so that other superheroes could be involved, and having the series be a part of every weird crossover that seemed to be going on at the time (what the hell was Armageddon 2001?). The art was mostly serviceable, occasionally poor, and never great. The stories were occasionally wack, but the dialogue was never bad and I’m pretty sure it was all told through the immediate words and thoughts of characters, with only a little bit through Katar Hol’s journal entries. I will probably end up rereading it all at some point. It’s a fun little part of the collection that wasn't too difficult to track down.

[ISMOTU · Rating 5 out of 5]

The continuation of Tim Truman's Hawkworld has Katar and Shayera arriving on Earth in the "present" of 1991 in the DC Universe. Hol's fascination with the ideals of democracy and civil rights create tension between him, his partner, and his planet. All the while Byth is still at large.
Truman along with John Ostrander do an excellent job of telling the story and Graham Nolan provides strong artwork.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very 90s take on the characters/world originally created by Timothy Truman in the mini-series. Has some serious buddy cop vibes to it, along with an interesting undercurrent of discovering classic American values as evidenced by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

[Ribrarian Not · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro recopilatorio que finalmente no se publicó. Sin embargo, sigue sirviendo para reseñar The Byth Saga con el principio de la serie regular.

[Index Purga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recopilatorio de Hawkworld posterior a la miniserie del mismo nombre.
Edición aparentemente cancelada, ya que no se encuentra disponible para comprar online en ningún lado.
Se supone que recopila HAWKWORLD #1-8 y HAWKWORLD ANNUAL #1.