The End of Hawkworld: John Ostrander's Run on Hawkman vol. 3

When I reviewed the Hawkworld ongoing, I noted that the lack of commentary on what succeeded it* was conspicuous: "I don't have much of a sense what Hawkman vol. 3 is like. You can find a lot of write-ups on the Internet about the Hawkworld ongoing, but Hawkman vol. 3 is usually only mentioned for the bare fact of its existence." I didn't find this article until later, but it's basically all I could find. Just skimming the covers and issue descriptions, though, made me think that reading Hawkman vol. 3 in its entirety wasn't going to be for me; it was clear that the series moved away from the science fiction elements that attracted me to the original Hawkworld in the first place.

So I ended up limiting myself to the issues of Hawkman vol. 3 written by Hawkworld writer John Ostrander (#1-6, Annual #1) or that sounded otherwise interesting, which ended up being its "Year One" story (Annual #2) and a Shayera Thal focal issue cover-branded with the title Hawkwoman (#16).

Ostrander's run picks up a few months on from the end of Hawkworld: Hawkwoman (Shayera Thal) is presumed dead, Hawkman (Katar Hol) is missing following a battle, and there's a new Hawkman out there, willing to cross a line the old Hawkman wouldn't. The first issue builds up a lot of mystery as to who this new Hawkman is; the second reveals it's Katar Hol again, so I don't know what the point of that was.

He's essentially a completely different character, though. In issue #6, it's revealed that in the months between Hawkworld #32 and Hawkman #1, Katar discovered his secret past: when his father Paran Katar visited Earth in the Justice Society era, he fell in love with a Native American woman and fathered a child with her; he took them both back to Thanagar with him, though eventually the woman got tired of space life and was returned to Earth. This retcon stretches plausibility even further than the myriad ones during Hawkworld vol. 2 already did. The original introduction of the Paran-Katar-on-Earth retcon made it clear the JSA Hawkman and Hawkgirl didn't know Paran was from space; this version shows they did.

It's clear the point of this is to reduce Hawkman's science fiction elements and increase his tie to Earth. Like all retcons, I judge it on the standard of: is the new thing, if not more interesting, at least equal in interest to the thing it's replacing? Here, the answer is a clear no. The Thanagar introduced by Tim Truman in Hawkworld vol. 1 was a fertile ground for telling interesting stories, and John Ostrander took it some interesting places in vol. 2. Now, Hawkman is yet another angry 1990s superhero.

The main upshot seems to be to give Hawkman "Native American powers"; he can commune with animals (of course he can). Also, now, when he flies into a place, it makes a noise that sounds like the wind. Only this is comics, so this gimmick can only be communicated by having people go, "What's that? It sounds like a tremendous wind only the leaves on the trees aren't moving!" I made up that dialogue, but it's not far off the real thing.

In short, it's mediocre, and I'm sure the post-John Ostrander issues, even if they aren't actually bad, will be devoid of what drew me to the character in the first place, and reading Hawkman Annual #2 validated this, as it's a bunch of mumbo-jumbo about Hawk spirits and reincarnation. The writing out of Shayera is a real shame, too, as she was essentially co-lead in Hawkworld vol. 2, but the trajectory here makes it clear that Hawkman vol. 3 will be focused on just Hawkman. I did enjoy her starring role in issue #16; she's as awesome as ever even if the story isn't that good. More angry vigilantes.

Man, the mid-1990s were a dark time in comics.

* Hawkman is a little tricky to follow through publishing chronology thanks to the changing names of his series. It goes: Hawkman vol. 1 (1964-68), The Atom and Hawkman (1968-69), The Shadow War of Hawkman (1985), Hawkman vol. 2 (1986-87), Hawkworld vol. 1 (1989), Hawkworld vol. 2 (1990-93), Hawkman vol. 3 (1993-96), Legend of the Hawkman (2000), Hawkman vol. 4 (2002-06), Hawkgirl (2006-07), The Savage Hawkman (2011-13), Death of Hawkman (2016-17), Hawkman vol. 5 (2018-present).