New History of the DC Universe No. 2: Thanagar Vanishes

 Hawkworld Review of New History of the DC Universe No. 2 

After a pretty poor effort in explaining the Hawks in the first issue, I was a bit afraid to go into the second issue that covers the silver and bronze issues. But I took the plunge and found just a few references about Hawkman and Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman. 

In Hawkman and Hawkgirl's intro into the Silver Age, Thanagar is not mentioned. For those who are surprised by this, I'll explain later in the article. But here they are simply explained as "latest incarnations." 

The Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl make another appearance with the JLA-JSA team ups that started in 1963 and continued until 1984. In these crossovers, there were a few times when the Golden Age and Silver/Bronze Hawkmen were in the same issue. How to explain this? 

1. The history would be rewritten by DC (of course) and these events were either erased or placed on an earth in another dimension. 

2. The Silver/Bronze Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl have been placed on Earth-85. This includes the Hawkman from 1961-1987. Here are some links explaining it. 
   Fandom 
   Reddit 
   Wikipedia 

From Wikipedia

3. Hawkman's lives overlapped. In Hawkman Vol. V No. 5, the Atom describes time as an ocean. He says most people think of time as a river, always flowing in one direction. But in Hawkman's case, because of his reincarnation (and probably the Nth metal), his lives are like the surface of the ocean. Each life is a drop on the surface and the ripples from various lives could overlap each other. That would explain how some overlapped and maybe even caused some lives to happen out of order instead of a straight chronological line. Wrap your head around that one! 

So basically in this new origin, this Hawkman and Hawkgirl were not from Thanagar. That version would come later. 

This needs some clarification, but this is the issue where Hawkgirl officially joins the Justice League of America. She didn't change her name until World's Finest Comics No. 272 (October 1981). To be fair, they may have gone with the JLA: Incarnations issue since the World's Finest issue involves the Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman who was moved over to Earth-85. 

As far as I know, this was the issue when Hawkgirl officially changed her name to Hawkwoman and kept it until the end (Convergence Hawkman No. 2). 

Hawkman and Hawkgirl become advisers for the Justice League of America. Here it lists JLA: Incarnations No. 1 as its reference, but this was not the first time it was mentioned. In Hawkworld Vol. 2 Annual No. 1 (December 1990). 

To be honest, I'm a bit surprised that writer Mark Waid went with this storyline, but with Thanagar's Hawkman and Hawkgirl on Earth-85 and these issues making him the advisor and liason between the teams, maybe it fits the best. 

Here's my article on the history of the Silver/Bronze Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman. This might help a bit.  

I didn't notice Thanagar getting a mention in this issue. Which means the Hawkman and Hawkgirl was both rewritten and replaced on Earth-85. The first first mention of Thanagar will probably come with the Invasion event that happened in 1988, three years after the Crisis on Infinite Earths.  

That's all I noticed from the second issue. It wasn't as bad as the confusing errors and contradictions from issue 2. We'll see how they handle Thanagar and Hawkworld in the next issue. It comes out on August 27! 

New History of the DC Universe No. 1 
Released July 23, 2025, Cover date September 2025
Script: Mark Waid 
Artists: Brad Walker, Michael Allred
Colors: Trish Mulvihill, Laura Allred
Letters:Todd Klein
Cover: Chris Samnee, Giovanna Niro 
Editing: Brittany Holzherr, Andrew Marino, Marquis Draper