Hawkman Keeps Showing Up in the Rankings and Lists

Hawkman Vol. V Cover by Bryan Hitch

    For a hero who hasn't had his own comic in three years, Hawkman shows up quite a bit in comic sites' rankings of this, that, and the other. Just in the past month, several sites have listed several articles. And Hawkman is still in there. Nice to know that he hasn't been forgotten and that the fans realize that he's more than cover-dressing or panel filler. Now if DC Comics would just come up for air from their Batman-fever every once in a while, they might discover some things.  

   Here are a few articles in which Hawkman has been listed recently. 

10 Best DC Heroes Powered By The Gods (CBR.com) 
   Hawkman's power of reincarnation gets on this list at No. 7.

The Most Underrated Superpowers Of All Time, Ranked  (CBR.com)

   Reincarnation puts Hawkman in the No. 9 spot on this list.

Smallville’s 10 Best Superhero Guest Appearances (Fandom Wire)
   The Justice Society of America (with Hawkman come in at No. 9. Michael Shanks appeared in only 4 episodes as Carter Hal/Hawkman back in 2010, but he did such a good job that he remains many Hawkfans' favorite live-action Hawkman to this day. There are only four to choose from, but hey, it's an overcrowded Batman world so...

10 DC Villains Who Should Be Heroes (CBR.com) 
   Two villains who have a connection to Hawkman show up on the list. First up is the Gentleman Ghost. I found it pretty incredible that the writer didn't mention Hawkman once since GG is one of Hawkman's most famous and popular villains ever. It's like talking about the Joker without mentioning Batman, which he did in almost every other entry. The other was the Shade, who Venditti introduced as a friend of Hawkman's in his series in 2019 (#15-17). It was brilliant to make Shade's cane a gift from Hawkman in a flashback scene. 

10 Fantastic DC Heroes Who Deserve More Attention In Modern Comics (CBR.com)
   Hawkman listed at No. 9. 

The Dwayne Johnson Action Failure Finding Life On Streaming (Giant Freakin Robot) 

   I remember reading an article about The Wizard of Oz being a financial disaster when it first came out back in 1939, and it didn't make a profit for the studios until much later. In no way am I suggesting that Black Adam is the new Oz, but reading this article reminded me of that. For fans who can overcome the "expert" critics and see a movie for themselves, Black Adam can be a fun two or three hours. Just seeing the Justice League in action makes it worth the time, even if they didn't even try to get it comic-book accurate.

A lot of these articles are fluff pieces that didn't require much research, but it's nice to know that Hawkman hasn't been forgotten, even if DC Comics seems to have. Hawkman lives on in the fans. 

CBR Article: DC's Couples Ranked (Guess Who's No. 1?)

Mikel Janin

    DC Comics has many iconic couples, most going back decades. Their love and commitment to each other is a constant theme through their stories. There may be times when they fall away from each other, but they always find their way back to each other. Hawkman and Hawkwoman are one of those couples. Geoff Johns (JSA, Hawkman Vol. 4), Bruce Tim (Justice League Unlimited) and other writers have tried to destroy their love story and put them with other heroes, but it hasn't worked. Carter Hall/Katar Hol and Shiera Sanders/Shayera Hol have always ended up back together. 
    As with Superman and Lois Lane, or with Oliver Queen and Black Canary, you cannot tell the story of Hawkman and Hawkwoman without the other. Their story started together back in 1939 (Flash Comics No. 1) and it continues 84 years later. DC Comics may be ignoring one of their great love stories and promoting Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders, who may or may not be bisexual with no real partner in her new mini-series, but when a writer who respects their history and the fans of the characters writes Hawkman and Hawkwoman, you can be sure that they will be together again. 
    In a recent CBR article, Cailyn Szelenski attempts to rank the couples of DC Comics. This is a bold attempt, and it may ruffle some feathers of fans of other heroes, but it's nice to see the Hawks be spotlighted in this way. Let's hope that DC Comics will wake up and give them a home for fans to go visit them once again. 

ARTICLE LINK

We Got This Covered: DCEU's Justice Society vs. Justice League

   
   In the DCEU, which superhero team would win if they went up against each other; the Justice Society or the Justice League? In this match up, we have Zack Snyder's Justice League going up against Black Adam's Justice Society (plus Shazam). If you have 100 writers write this article, you would probably get 100 different results, but We Got This Covered put out an article by Ash Martinez who bravely gave us her own answer of how this battle would end. Hawkman and Batman are pitted together in the matchups. After reading an article that listed Batman as the most powerful DC character 😅, it was nice to see someone write with a bit more common sense and thought. Any article that puts Hawkman over Batman gets a thumbs up for me. To see how Hawkman defeats Batman, and the result of the overall battle, go check out the link! 

CBR: The DCU Hawkgirl Has an Opportunity to Rectify a DCAU Mistake

   Finally. I've been waiting for someone to write this article, and CBR's Timothy Donohoo did it. The Justice League cartoon was popular, but it made an absolute mess of Hawkman. The show practically ripped everything good about him away to prop up their Hawkgirl-John Stewart romance. Thanks to this horrible version of Hawkman, many kids who grew up in the 2000s learned to love Hawkgirl but hate Hawkman. The only good thing this cartoon gave the Hawks was Hawkgirl's first costume, which is a classic look, but they even took that away and replaced it with a yellow jumpsuit. Let's hope the DCU stays far, far away from the DCAU version and bring the Hawks back together as they should be. Many thanks to Donohoo for writing this article. 

Article Link

CBR Article: DC Comics with the Best Fan Service

 

   We got an interesting article by Ashley Land of CBR. Here she has put together a list of comics that gave fans what they wanted, and it's a great list. Of course, Hawkman is in there! It's the usual light reading and doesn't go real deep, but it's good to see the Hawkman series recognized. And it truly did satisfy a lot of Hawkfans! Check out the article here. 

The Story of Shayera Hol/Hawkwoman and Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl

By Tim Board

   Since the release of the Dark Nights Metal series in 2017-18, Hawkfans have been wondering when Hawkman and Hawkgirl were going to get back together. The current Hawkman series kicked off in June 2018, but Hawkgirl was not a part of the series. We saw her in some of her past lives; Chay-ara, Shayera Thal, and Sherra, but we never saw her as Hawkgirl in the first 18 issues. That all changed in the final 11 issues. We also saw Hawkwoman and Hawkgirl face off in the Justice League series (#14-16). This article is to explain who Hawkgirl and Hawkwoman are and their connection to Hawkman. 

New Hawkworld Social Media: Threads

   A new social media site took off yesterday, and I've wasted no time in adding Hawkworld to it. Threads by Meta is a bit different because I was able to bring over all of my followers on Instagram and invite them to join me so I didn't have to start from scratch like other sites. Hawkworld is already on Facebook and Instagram so might as well! If you have an Instagram site or just getting started on Threads, come give Hawkworld a follow! Address below! 

Hawkworld
Hawkworld Threads 

CBR: 10 DC Comics That Still Need A Sequel

    CBR lists 10 comics that deserve a sequel, and the Hawkman series by Robert Venditti is right in there. The series started out really great, but got derailed a bit by the ridiculous Year-of-the-Villain event in 2019-20. Venditti still was able to keep it going by bringing in Hawkwoman, Atom, and Adam Strange. The last six issues are just as good as the first 13. Vendiiti provided Hawkman and Hawkwoman with a huge setup that could have gone on for years, but DC prematurely ended it in November 2020. It's been almost three years since Hawkman has had his own title now. Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders) will be getting her own title this month, so let's hope a Hawkman and Hawkwoman series is not far behind. As Venditti said in an interview, he left the toy box full, so let's hope a writer will take advantage of what Veditti left behind. Check out the article to see the other titles that need a sequel! LINK

CBR: Best DC Superhero Friends (including Hawkman and the Atom and the Justice Society!)

Art by Bryan Hitch 

   CBR put out a list of "Best DC Superhero Friends" and a friendship that always makes these lists is Hawkman and Atom. These two have been close pals since 1963, when they first met in Atom #7. I wrote an article about the history of their friendship and why the two of them are so close. I hope this friendship will get some spotlight someday. CW's Legend of Tomorrow completely whiffed on that one. 

CBR: The Year-of-the-Villain Tie-In Almost Ruined Venditti's Hawkman

Hawkman Vol. V No. 17 (December 2019)

 

   CBR put out an article today about the ridiculous amount of tie-ins that come with events in recent comic events. Instead of helping the event, the tie-ins are mostly unnecessary and ruin other series. The article brings up as an example, Robert Venditti's Hawkman run in 2019. During 2019, DC Comics had a year-long event going on called the Year of the Villain. It started with a group of six heroes who turn evil. Hawkman was one of them. There was a 4-issue miniseries called Hell Arisen that was supposed to feature the six heroes, but it completely flopped and DC lost so much interest that Hawkman (Sky Tyrant) didn't even show up in the last two issues. 

Gunn Shuts Down Hawkman Spin-Off Plans

   A rather depressing article from a site called The Direct came out today. In an article titled "Black Adam 2: Did DC Cancel Dwayne Johnson's Sequel Plan?" (the answer is yes) by Nathan Johnson, we see the details of what Johnson had planned and also the tidbit again about some plans for a Hawkman spinoff. 

Hawkman and Hawkgirl: A Hawkfan's Collection

 

   Finally finished getting my Hawkman collection back up. Still have some stuff to get up, but I'll figure out where to put it some day. It's a joy to see this when I get up in the morning and when I come back home after a long day at work. A collection 46 year in the making and I'm not done yet!

15 Deadliest Justice League Members (Screen Rant)

Hawkman Vol. V #7 (February 2019)

   "Heroes don't kill." This was the line that was repeated by Hawkman in the Black Adam movie. While it was noble and all, it really doesn't fit Hawkman. Since his reincarnation began, Hawkman's mission has been to save lives, but as comic book readers have seen in the comics, there have been many times when Hawkman had no qualms about killing the enemy to save other lives. His iconic mace is pretty much proof of that. Hawkman is already ranked pretty high in this Screen Rant article, but if you add in the lives he took before he broke free of the Lord of the Void's control and entered into the reincarnation cycle with Hawkwoman, he would be a solid No. 1. Check out the article by Justin Epps and see if you agree with the rankings. 

LINK

Hawkman in Black Adam: 5 Top Powers of the DC Superhero

 

   SK Pop's Adrita Roy Chowdhury put out an article today on Hawkman's Top Five Powers that we see in the Black Adam movie! The list was pretty spot on and covers Hawkman pretty well. The top five are as follows:

DC Movies Ranked Worst to Best (24SSports)

   

   It's not often that we get a fairly positive review of Black Adam, but this writer for 24SSports had Black Adam ranked higher than I expected, so I was pleasantly surprised. No, Black Adam is not a perfect movie. It definitely had its problems and could have done without some things (Heroes don't kill, Skateboard kid, Snacks, etc.) but it did introduce a lot of new things to the DCU; Hawkman, the Justice Society, Nth metal ship, Hawkman's estate, potential for Isis and Hawkgirl, etc. Not to mention the first ever silver screen version of Hawkman. Finally. Personally, I would love to have a copy of the movie that cuts out the skateboard kid and the needlessly long prison breakout scene. But in my humble opinion, it's not as bad as many make it out to be. Yes, it came up short of $400 million worldwide. WB did very little marketing for it. China banned it. There was absolutely nothing where I live in Japan. Not even in the theater where the movie was being shown. Whatever the reasons, Warner Bros. failed this film. Setting all that aside, there are fans who enjoyed the film and the writer of the article appears to be one of them. He gave Black Adam a pretty high ranking among the DC films. Here are the films in alphabetical order. 

Every Fictional Location in the DCEU Map (So Far) (MovieWeb)

Link to source of map

   With the Black Adam movie, Hawkman and Hawkgirl's homebase is now on the DCEU (soon to be DCU I suppose) map. St. Roch was Hawkman's city during the Vol. 4 and Hawkgirl series (2002-2007) and  the Black Adam movie brought it back in a big way. The soon-to-be-defunct DCEU has made St. Roch a rather important city, so it could be used in the DCU again in some way. It's been established (for now) that Hawkman has a huge estate outside the city limits, and the estate also serves as the headquarters for the Justice Society. This never happened in the movies but since when do movie writers worry about what's in the comics, right? Amanda Waller and her Belle Reve Penitentiary are located near St. Roch as well, which means the Suicide Squad is also there.  

One Fan's Hawkman/Hawkgirl Collection (Updated!)

One of the most enjoyable things about being a comic book fan is collecting things of your favorite characters. I've seen some absolutely amazing collections that fans have shared on social media over the years. And one of the joys of being a Hawkman fan is slowly adding to my own collection of Hawkman and Hawkgirl comics, figures, and other things. Until earlier this year, I had my collection all set up, but my kids are getting bigger, and we need the space, so I gave my room for one of my kids and took most of my collection, and stored them in boxes. I figured I'll get to put it up again someday. In the meantime, I'll keep adding one piece at a time to my collection.

13 Things Most Comic Book Fans Don't Know about Hawkman (But You Probably Do!)

   In 2017, when the Metal series was happening, Dan Greenfield of the 13th Dimension website asked me to write a list of 13 things that many comic book readers may not know about Hawkman. If you soar into Hawkman's history, you will be surprised what a diverse and interesting character he is. There is certainly no lack of information for this list, and it was hard to limit myself to only 13 things. 

Click the link and see how many you know about Hawkman. 

The Hawkman Family (Updated 6-16-2023)

 

Here is a quick introduction to all the members of the Hawkman Family that we have seen over the years. In the Hawks' long history, many characters have been added to their family. 

New Zero Hour Hawkman Figure?

 

Hawkworld Facebook's Mikel Garcia posted a notice from McFarlane today. Apparently, they are coming out with a Zero Hour Hawkman figure in a few months. This is the only news that we have of the figure, so more details might be coming soon. We had one figure of the post Zero Hour Hawkman from Kenner that was released i 1996 (below) but it will be interesting to see what McFarlane comes up with this time. Stay tuned!

Total Justice Hawkman by Kenner (1996