Hawkman

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Publication history

Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (1940), and was a featured character in that title throughout the 1940s. This Hawkman was Carter Hall, a reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian prince, who had in the modern day discovered that the mysterious "ninth metal" could negate the effects of gravity and allow him to fly. He donned a costume with large wings to allow him to control his flight and became the crimefighter, Hawkman. An archaeologist by trade, Hall uses ancient weapons from the museum of which he was curator in his efforts.

Related Topics:
Flash Comics - 1940 - Reincarnation - Ancient Egypt - Gravity - Archaeologist - Museum

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Hawkman was a charter member of the Justice Society of America, beginning with All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940). In issue #8 he became the JSA's chairman, a position he would hold until the end of the JSA's run in All Star Comics. He was the only member of the JSA to appear in every adventure in All Star Comics during the Golden Age of comic books. He romanced his reincarnated bride, Shiera Saunders, who also became the crimefighter Hawkgirl. His adventures were memorably drawn first by Sheldon Moldoff and later by Joe Kubert.

Related Topics:
Justice Society of America - All Star Comics - Golden Age of comic books - Hawkgirl - Sheldon Moldoff - Joe Kubert

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Along with most other superheroes, Hawkman's Golden Age adventures came to an end when the industry turned away from the genre in the early 1950s. His last appearance was in All Star Comics #57 (1951).

Related Topics:
1950s - 1951

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Later in the decade, DC Comics under editor Julius Schwartz decided to revive a number of heroes in new incarnations, but with the same names and powers. Following the success of The Flash, Hawkman was revived, this time as an alien policeman from the planet Thanagar, though his powers were largely the same. Created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert, this Hawkman, Katar Hol, came to Earth with his wife Shayera - Hawkgirl (later Hawkwoman) - in pursuit of a criminal, and remained to fight crime on Earth. They adopted the named Carter and Shiera Hall and became curators of a museum.

Related Topics:
Julius Schwartz - The Flash - Alien - Police - Thanagar - Gardner Fox - Joe Kubert

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This Hawkman became a member of the Justice League of America, where he often verbally sparred with the iconoclastic liberal hero Green Arrow. In the 1960s it was revealed that the original Hawkman lived on the parallel world Earth-Two, and that Katar Hol lived on Earth-One. The JLA and JSA had an annual meeting throughout the 1960s and 1970s during which the two heroes often met.

Related Topics:
Justice League of America - Liberal - Green Arrow - 1960s - Parallel world - 1970s

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The Silver Age Hawkman had his own series for a few years, but with declining sales it was merged with that of The Atom. Hawkman and The Atom lasted only another year or so before cancellation.

Related Topics:
Silver Age - The Atom

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In the late 1970s in Showcase and World's Finest Comics, Thanagar went to war with the planet Rann (adopted home of Adam Strange). This led to Hawkman and Hawkgirl severing ties with their homeworld, and later fighting The Shadow War of Hawkman (written by Tony Isabella) as Thanagar tried secretly to conquer the Earth.

Related Topics:
1970s - Showcase - World's Finest Comics - Rann - Adam Strange - The Shadow War of Hawkman - Tony Isabella

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The landmark 1985 series Crisis on Infinite Earths resulted in a massive revision of much DC continuity and led to many characters being substantially rewritten. Hawkman was to suffer some of the greatest confusion as successive writers sought to explain his various appearances. In the revised timeline there was a single Earth which had witnessed the JSA in the 1940s and the JLA decades later. Successive revisions sought to establish exactly who had been Hawkman and Hawkwoman at different stages. For the first few years the pre-Crisis incarnations were still used, during which time they were prominent across the DC Universe and joined the latest incarnation of the Justice League. Then DC decided to reboot Hawkman, in a limited series (which later lead to an ongoing series) entitled Hawkworld originally by Tim Truman, and later John Ostrander and Grant Miehm. In this series, Thanagar was a class society which conquered other worlds to enrich itself. Katar Hol was the son of a prominent official who rebelled against the status quo. He and his partner Shayera were sent to Earth and remained there for some years until Hol was apparently killed.

Related Topics:
1985 - Crisis on Infinite Earths - 1940s - Reboot - Hawkworld - Tim Truman - John Ostrander - Grant Miehm

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This created a host of continuity errors as the new Katar Hol was established as having only just arrived on Earth, raising the question as to who had been around previously. As an attempt to resolve the problem it was established through retcons that the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman had also operated throughout the 1940s up to the 1990s, and that Nth metal came from Thanagar. They had remained active and then joined the original incarnation of the JLA. Moreover, yet another Hawkman - Fel Andar, a Thanagarian agent - had been the one who joined the Justice League during the 1980s, pretending to be a hero but secretly seeking to infiltrate it.

Related Topics:
Retcon - 1940s - 1990s - 1980s

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The series Zero Hour muddied the waters further by merging the different Hawkmen into a "hawk god", who had his own series briefly during the mid-1990s, and who had a small role in the alternate-future series Kingdom Come.

Related Topics:
Zero Hour - 1990s - Kingdom Come

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In the later 1990s, the series JSA untangled Hawkman's continuity, establishing him as Carter Hall, a man who - along with Shiera - had been reincarnated dozens of times since his life in ancient Egypt, and whose powers were derived from Thanagarian Nth metal, which had been retroactively renamed from "ninth metal". The Katar Hol of Hawkworld had also come to Earth during the 1990s, as established. The 1980s imposter spy went back to Thanagar. The status of the hawk god is unclear.

Related Topics:
1990s - 1980s

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With this new continuity, Hawkman was again reincarnated and given a new series entitled Hawkman, written by James Robinson and Geoff Johns, with art by Rags Morales.

Related Topics:
James Robinson - Geoff Johns - Rags Morales

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Hawkman recently made his first appearance in the DC Animated Universe on the TV series Justice League Unlimited. While this version of Hawkman is Carter Hall, his origins are a synthesis of elements from each of the different comic book versions. It remains to be seen how this Hawkman will factor into the on-again, off-again relationship between Hawkgirl and Green Lantern, which has been a staple of the JLU series. The animated Hawkman is voiced by James Remar.

Related Topics:
DC Animated Universe - Justice League Unlimited - Hawkgirl - Green Lantern - James Remar

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