DC’s Absolute Universe: A Success for Some, A Disappointment for Others

 DC's Absolute Universe comics are apparently selling like crazy and DC is extremely happy. They've reimagined their front line characters and the fans for the most part appear to be excited about the new universe. The ScreenRant article is now proclaiming that Absolute has succeeded in every area that the New 52 era failed. It's an absolute success and it will probably continue for a while. 

This puts me in the minority. 

I do love DC Comics, and I grew up reading the Legion, Green Lantern, the Justice League and other favorite titles. I even bought Batman once in a while.  But I'm a Hawkman fan, which makes me a DC fan by default, until DC forfeits that status. Which is often. So in other words, my relationship with DC is rather abusive, love-hate, only for neccessity. When I look back it's never really been anything else. 

I first became enthralled with Hawkman back in the late 70s. There was no Hawkman series at the time so I got what I could from the Justice League series, back-up features in World's Finest Comics, and the occasional team-ups with the top guys. Since then there have been some Hawkman series; such as The Shadow War of Hawkman/Hawkman Vol. 2, Hawkworld, Hawkman Vol. 4, and Hawkman Vol. V. Each series was top-notch, made it fun to buy comics again, and made me hopeful for the future. But each and every time, DC wasted the good series. 

The Crisis on Infinte Earths pretty much ruined Hawkman Vol. 2 from going forward. Hawkworld was amazing, but then they put it in the current time line and it died a slow death so awful that DC refused to use Hawkman again for the next five years. Hawkman finally returned in Vol. 4, but the stalkish quality of the story and yet another crisis killed it off. Hawkman Vol. V was like a bolt out of the blue, giving us one of the most amazing stories in Hawkman's history, and even sorted out his past. But DC stopped promoting it and advertising it when Brian Bendis' run started in DC. This is according to Bryan Hitch. The lame Year of the Villain event almost stalled it but then the pandemic came and that was that. That was over five years ago. Since then, nothing. 

And then this Absolute Series took off and I began to wonder if Hawkman might get another chance in this universe. Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter all got books so maybe Hawkman could be next? I can't say what happened next completely surprised me. 

Hawkman didn't get a series. But they brought him in as a full on villain, murdering Green Arrow and apparently being an errand boy for the villains of that universe. He is a traitor to his fellow heroes, and for whatever reason, mummified with Predator-like tusks. The Sky Tyrant did it much, much better. 

I'm not expecting this Hawkman to last too long. He's going up against Superman in a few months and that might be the end of him. We already saw this in Injustice a few years ago. Needless to say, as a Hawkman fan, this Absolute Universe has been a massive disappointment. We have Hawkman and Hawkgirl with small parts in the current JSA series, so at least we have that. 

I'm happy for DC that the Absolute is such a success and that their precious Trinity and other top line heroes are doing so well. But when you have to destroy other heroes like Hawkman and Green Arrow to tell your story, then you're selling off part of your fanbase to get results, and that always ends up as a minus. 

I realize I'm just a fan of a niche character, a fringe hero that DC uses as fodder when it seems fit, so none of this will reach their ears. I'll continue to root for Hawkman and Hawkwoman and hope for something good to happen every 10-15 years. I shrug off stories like Justice League Unlimited, Injustice and now Absolute as non-canon stories written to build up more popular heroes. I understand it's all about money, sales, profits, and the bottom line. I've been hoping that DC would figure out how to make this amazing character profitable, but they haven't figured it out yet. This Absolute version of Hawkman doesn't seem like a success. It feels like strip-mining a character I'll be watching, but for this fan, it's not a success, it's a sell-out.