Hawkman #27 Review

Quantum Leap

Written By: Robert Venditti

Art By: Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Wade Von Grawbadger, Jeremy Cox, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 8, 2020

In the previous issue we saw Hawkman finally break his curse/gift of resurrection when he defeated the Lord Beyond the Void and in doing so saved the Universe from destruction, balancing the scales of the people he slaughtered in his original life and as Shayera and Carter were about to die, the Presence gifted them with one more life. Now you'd think that they'd pick up right where they left off, but apparently, the Hawks mentally chose to be gifted with a Golden Age resurrection, where they picked up their lives with the JSA in the '40s. Let's jump into this issue and see what this means for our heroes as this title winds down and if this is the beginning of yet another Hawkman origin. Let's check it out.

For this issue of Hawkman, we see the Hawks with their team the JSA taking on the Injustice Society and for the most part, we are going to spend the majority of this issue with Hawkman narrating who the members of this Golden Age team are and what they mean to him. Overall, this is nice but really doesn't do much for this new status quo that we find ourselves in with this book. Yeah, we haven't had a proper look at the JSA for the better part of a decade at this point so I understand that you may want to showcase all these other people to newer readers or for fans who are a little starved when it comes to this particular brand of DC goodness.

As a fan I do enjoy seeing Green Lantern, Flash, Wildcat, Sandman and our Hawks taking on Brainwave, The Wizard, Huntress, Vandal Savage, Per Degaton and The Gambler, but it's just thrown at us so that we can have a moment at the end that makes Carter Hall question what it means to him to know that he only has one life to live now. There's just a lot of questions about what our heroes remember about this previous life, like do they know what's coming next for them since they already lived this life, why do they see themselves as their current incarnations, while everyone sees them as their 40's counterparts and ultimately, what does this new status quo mean for Hath-Set and the Egyptian Prince origin for Carter Hall because this is coming at our Hawks next, which seems almost like a step backward since we've already established their "true" origin with this series. It is interesting though and if it leads to some actual answers I'm all for it, I just hope that it doesn't muddy the waters for Hawkman's backstory because we just cleared all that up.

All in all, the art is amazing this issue and everyone and everything is depicted brilliantly, which is something you definitely want when showcasing the JSA proper for the first time in so long (Earth-2, Doomsday Clock, and Death Metal not counting as proper in my mind). As for the story though, we do spend a lot of time just throwing our team and our Hawks into a random encounter with the Injustice Society, but at least it leads to an interesting development psychologically when it comes to Carter Hall, not to mention an old foe of Hawkman and Hawkwoman makes an appearance at the end of the issue that could mean big things for the mythology of Hawkman, but I'm afraid that it's just going to convolute things more than they need to be......... but that's just speculation right now and we'll just have to wait and see what comes of this. This was a fun issue, but I think we could have done with a little more exposition to find out what all of this means for our heroes overall.

Bits and Pieces:

With amazing art depicting our heroes side by side with the JSA taking on the Injustice Society this issue just screams fun, while also foreshadowing some complications coming for Hawkman and Hawkwoman as they continue their lives in the past. I like a lot of what we got here, even if it just a random fight between super heroes and super villains, but the cliffhanger leaves me curious about what could be coming for this series before it ends.

7.5/10