Living For Each Moment
It's the final issue of our Winged Warrior and while the "definitive origin" aspect of this series had its peaks and valleys in what it was trying to convey, not to mention that our heroes' new status quo that came from that kind of screwed up the timeline with Kendra Saunders, there were definitely some cool aspects to this series. Like the idea of our Hawks going back in time to their former lives when they were a part of the JSA and living that life to the fullest. Too bad that with only one life to live, the idea of death becomes a scary thing and shakes Carter for a hot minute and that's where we left our heroes in the previous issue with Anton Hastor having Hawkman pinned against a wall, threatening to kill him with the cursed Nth Metal dagger...... Don't worry though Hawk Fans...... Carter went and became savage as he showed Anton that he wasn't afraid, by plunging the dagger deep into himself. What a plan. Let's jump into this issue and check out the final flight for our favorite winged couple.
With Hawkman bleeding out because of his brilliant plan, Anton has now set his sights on Shayera, but instead of trying to claim her as his own, it seems that he's over that millennia obsession and just wants to use his horde of the undead to wipe the Hawks from the face of the Earth. With the idea of someone hurting Shay though, that's where we get our "Rocky overcoming all odds" moment....... I'm pretty sure that's a quotable moment, where Carter stands, pulls the blade out of himself, and while using the power of his mace and the dagger together, he tells Anton and us that the dagger was never cursed and it was never the thing that made them enemies throughout time, with the idea that the blade caused the reincarnations, the only thing that had power on that train was the power of fear that Carter gave Anton, but it's no more now and with that the Nth Metal in Carter's hands explode outward, derailing the train and making Anton a bit less pretty.
I have no idea why the mace and dagger coming together would make a bomb that only affected Anton, but that's what it did in this issue and we move past the original rivalry of these three into the idea of what one life left for our heroes means and while it does leave the door open for whatever DC wants to do with Carter and Shayera Hall and spells out the Prince Khufu and Princess Chayara origin of our heroes and how that works with everything else and then move into a nice ending that allows most to be able to close this book with a smile on their face.
All in all, the art in this issue is amazing as always and the slight bit of background storytelling that we were given here was the most impressive bit to the pretty straightforward story of our Hawks overcoming Anton Hastor. Removing the reincarnations from the cursed Nth Metal Dagger and the idea of Anton never knowing that he didn't cause their many lives was some fun that brought a smile to my face and answered a question that I had with how does one reconcile all the Hawkman stories and origins from what we got throughout this series and while I would have liked a reference to Kendra Saunders, Hawkgirl, I liked what we got, even though Anton was easily dispatched in a forced, throwaway manner. He wasn't the story overall though, the love of our characters was and in the end, we get to see that and it leaves you feeling pretty good.
Bits and Pieces:
While all of Hawkman's mysteries aren't completely cleaned up with this finale issue, we do get some interesting answers here to the past and future of our Winged Warriors and ultimately....... we get a nice ending that allows our Hawks to be in the continuity wherever anyone may want to use them. Yeah, Anton Hastor took a backseat here and was quickly dispatched, but with wonderful art and an emotional connection to our main characters, it was pretty easy to move on and enjoy things despite that.
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