Hawkman #5 Review

Time Is Like The Ocean......... It's Scary

Written By: Robert Venditti

Art By: Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Jememiah Skipper, Starkings & Comicraft

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 10, 2018

My, my, my, welcome back to the wild world of our winged warrior as he tries to hunt down the clues that will bring him closer to remembering his past and with that, hopefully find a way to put an end to the Deathbringer visions that he's having.  Previously, we saw Carter Hall wind up on Thanagar, where he fought his previous self, Katar-Hol, before working together and finding the device that sent our hero down to the Microverse for his next mission.  Is this getting a bit redundant?  Yeah, a bit, but I love Hawkman so hopefully this issue picks up now that Carter's old friend and old teammate in comics, The Atom has stopped by for a few issues to thrill.  Let's check it out.

One of the first things that I realize when I started going through this comic is that it is relying way too hard on you being nostalgic for the old days of the Hawkman and The Atom team-ups and I have to imagine that most of the people buying this book don't need it because we don't need to be sold on Hawkman because we're already here and if we did need it.......... Well, The Atom isn't doing it.  It is what it is though and while I do enjoy Ray Palmer and Carter Hall together, it doesn't feel earned for what we've seen out of the New 52 and Rebirth because we're just getting both of these versions of the characters in the continuity and here it seems like they've always known each other and did have those team-ups that this harkens back to and while I do love a rich legacy and history, I would have loved a natural progression through the story or any of the comics at all that would have allowed me to believe that.  Hell, I don't even know how long Carter Hall was trapped in the Dark Multiverse and was the dragon of Barbatos.

What we have in this issue though is the continuation of Carter Hall trying to find the next clue that will lead him to whatever it is he's supposed to know about his past and the Deathbringers.  It seems to be an Nth Metal weapon of some kind, but what we really get out of the comic is the explanation that Hawkman's lives may be going back and forth throughout time instead of in a straight fashion, allowing all of these lives to happen.  While I like that we get this answer, because it was something that I was a bit stuck on, I didn't like the sit down and let me explain this to you presentation of it.  Really, a lot of this issue spends a whole lot of time catching everyone up on what's been going down in the last four issues, giving us this little answer to the bigger question and then moves on to the normal formula, where Carter has to fight something to get to his next point.  

All in all, I'm continuing to love Bryan Hitch's art in this series, but I'm really going to need Robert Venditti to start picking up the momentum because this story is getting so damn dull with it's rinse and repeat style that I'm getting bored with a character I love, while supposedly getting a situation that will explain Carter's past lives......... which I need explained.  What I don't need though is a location of the month or a guest star of the month to be the big selling point of this book because it's not working for me as a fan.  

Bits and Pieces:

While some fans nostalgia might be kicked into overdrive with the sight of Hawkman and The Atom, this team-up doesn't really feel earned from what we've seen leading up to it and while I continue to love the art in this book, the story is getting pretty bland and I don't know how DC plans on getting non Hawkman fans on the trolley with this approach. 

6.3/10